"The three of us have no intention to fight unnecessary battles.

"Instead of risking our lives in a fight, we have decided to share this treasure.

"You can do the same with us, or you can fight three of us alone."

Neo was surprised the monster could speak.

He had not expected to meet a monster with intelligence so soon.

"Fine."

Neo clicked his tongue.

He retracted his aura and sat next to the monsters.

Although Neo would've welcomed a battle, a peaceful negotiation was better.

Neo closed his eyes.

Flames of Darkness materialized around him.

They absorbed the essence of Death flowing out of the blood droplet.

The power of Exalted Demigod monster was mixed in the blood.

Neo felt as if he was being stared down by the Exalted Demigod monster when he tried to absorb the blood.

It was suffocating.

The blood was his.

It should've been easy for him to absorb it.

Neo's body started to break.

He could not handle the residual concept of Death, belonging to the Exalted, lingering in blood droplet.

Neo bit his lips.

'Don't joke with me!'

'That blood is mine!'

'Who the hell do you think you are acting like its owner!'

The concept of Death imbued in the blood flared.

It flowed into his body, and destroyed it from within.

'Yeah, let's see if you can kill me first, or if I'll absorb you.'

…

Lysander, the crystalline quadrupled beast, sensed the presence of Death surging in the vicinity.

He opened his eyes and saw Neo trying to absorb a massive amount of blood at once.

He snorted.

'Is he a fool?'

Lysander, Selene, and Alaric had been absorbing the blood for days.

They did it at a slow pace.

All three of them were geniuses yet they did not take the risk.

The power of blood could kill them easily if they tried to absorb it too quickly.

'Heh, as expected, it was a good choice to let him absorb the blood.'

'He'll just kill himself and we wouldn't need to share the treasure after he dies.'

Unlike them, Neo had been struggling to resist the presence of the Death in the area.

He was bound to die if he continued to stay here.

'Hehehe, fool. These humans always overestimate themselves and—'

….!?

Lysander flinched.

Neo suddenly unleashed all of his flames of Darkness and began to absorb the blood droplet greedily.

"Wha-what are you doing!?"

The absurd sight before Lysander's eyes made him dumbstruck.

Neo was dying from the overwhelming power.

He was using his high-mastery of Death to stop it from claiming him, but it was only a matter of time that he fell to its call.

It made no sense to Lysander.

He did not understand why the human before its eyes was rushing headfirst to his death.

The vortex of flames surrounded Neo.

Selena, the spider monster, and Alaric, the humanoid beast, were forced to open their eyes.

Their faces hardened.

The three looked at each other.

"Are you going to let him do this?" Alaric questioned.

"We can't.

"Even if we absorb the blood from his corpse, the purity would fall. We need to stop him," Lysander grunted.

They were not worried about Neo listening to them, since Neo's focus was on absorbing the blood droplet.

They turned to Selena, only to find her increasing the pace of her absorption.

"Selena, what are you—"

"I doubt he reached Adept-mastery by coincidence.

"Since he is absorbing the blood droplet like this, he must have a plan."

Lysander and Alaric frowned.

That was worse.

They could not lose a precious treasure like the blood droplet to the boy.

Just as they were about to make a move, a heavy aura descended.

Unknown to them, Neo had unsealed his blessing to increase the absorption rate.

It took him only a few seconds to absorb the blood droplet.

He felt a surge of power and his Divine Energy pool's capacity increased by a large margin.

At the same time, his body began to crumble away.

Neo was about to die in the Underworld.

He used Immortal.

The skill healed him at the cost of his Divine Energy.

His blood burned, but unlike the contract with Paimon, he knew he would recover this energy over time, so he used it without hesitation.

Neo opened his eyes and exhaled.

The presence of Death lingering in the surroundings started to disperse after the droplet of blood disappeared.

Lysander, Alaric, and Selene were stunned.

They could not believe their eyes.

"H-how are you alive?" Lysander trembled.

They flinched when Neo looked at them.

He opened his mouth.

"You three, tell me.

"This can't be the only place where the Exalted Demigod monster dropped the blood.

"Where else can I find the other droplets?"

Neo had three uses of Immortal — he was saving the fourth one to return to the world of living — and a few hours to spare in the Underworld.

Even if he did not find the droplets today, he could get them later.

The blood droplets gave his Divine Energy pool too big of boost for him to ignore them.

"Exalted Demigod….?" Alaric muttered. "How did you know it was an Exalted Demigod?"

"I saw it obviously."

They stiffened, unable to believe Neo was alive after an encounter with an Exalted Demigod.

Neo had been lucky back then.

His body was an insulator that did not let anyone sense the blood of Monarch within him.

It was same for every demigod.

Otherwise, Neo would've been hunted for his blood already.

Lysander and Alaric grew nervous.

It was clear Neo was not normal.

"W-we don't know."

Neo stared at them for a few seconds.

He opened his mouth,

"Fine."

Just before he left, Selena called out to him.

"Wait! I know where you can find another droplet!"

"Selena, what are you trying to do? He is dangerous. We shouldn't get involved—"

"Shut up," Neo warned Lysander. "Don't interrupt again."

Lysander frowned, but closed his mouth.

Neo turned to Selena.

"Go on. I'm listening."