A chill went through Zoran's spine as he heard that female voice. His whole body shivered as each cell on his body warned him that the incoming danger was not something he could handle.
His first instinct was to run, which was the wisest decision anyone could make when faced with a problem that could not be solved with force. But the magnitude that his entire being trembled was an indication that running with all his might would change nothing.
The primordial feeling that he felt from that voice rivaled only the Supreme Beings. And judging from the fact that he did not feel its presence even once was evidence that this was a being that encompassed the whole Miasma.
He didn't feel any distortion in the space, not even when he already mastered the 4th dimensional leap. This strange being was able to simply move through the Miasma as if it was already there in the first place. It embodied the realm.
"Spare my child, human. And I will spare yours."
In front of Zoran, in the unending darkness of the Miasma filled with nothing but a black scene, two giant red lights opened to shine on Zoran. These lights were bigger than Zoran's whole body.
Only when these two lights focused their intense flares at Zoran did he realize that he was face to face against a gigantic creature's eyes. Those eyes, despite its hostility, observed Zoran with clarity.
Its eyes went from Zoran to the Evolved Panther, and its eyes immediately turned soft. It seemed to worry at the current sorry sight of the Evolved Panther, especially when it was at the edges of death.
Zoran finally took a good long look at the whole creature's body. Its size was incomprehensibly huge, with just its torso similar to that of a small mountain range. Its hind and rear legs were retracted down, with the whole creature sitting down in a relaxed position.
It looked like a normal Miasma Panther, enlarged a thousand times. It's body was darker than black, and the neon lights surrounding its body were golden in color, which perfectly described the ethereal and aggressive aura that the creature was emitting.
Zoran reckoned that the creature's body was composed of Miasma even more rotten and decaying than the solid Miasma that he saw in the ceiling. Even just being a few meters away from it gave Zoran an intense heat that almost started the decomposition process of his body.
He was sure of it. If the Miasma Panthers were normal citizens of their spherical lair, and the Puma Soldiers were the army, and the Evolved Panther was the knight, then this creature of gigantic proportions was their queen.
The Panther Queen stared at Zoran's figure, waiting for his response. Meanwhile, its presence as a being with immense strength akin to that of Supreme Beings came bearing down on Zoran to pressure a favorable response.
Zoran felt his whole body shake and his strength fade away from his own body. The Miasma that was tamed in his body started to go rampant, aiming to take control over Zoran's body and command it to release his grip over the Evolved Panther's neck.
But who was Zoran? He was a man that already faced the wrath of 10 Supreme Beings at the top of cultivation. He experienced his whole being ripped apart by their Universal Laws until he was left with nothing except his primordial atoms.
He was planning to kill them all in the future. He was not one to falter due to a Miasma Beast's pressure. If it wanted to be added to the list, then he would gladly welcome it.
Mythical pure Yi energy flooded his veins and wrestled control over the Miasma once again. It enveloped the rampaging Miasma and reminded it once again whose body it tried to take over.
Soon, Zoran regained control of the Miasma in his body. The Panther Queen invaded his body and tried to release his grip over the Evolved Panther, so in retaliation Zoran tightened his grip on the Miasma Beast even further which led to a small whimper from the Beast.
A flash of surprise glinted through the Panther Queen's eyes as it felt its connection to the Miasma in Zoran's body disappear. For the first time, it did not have full control over all the Miasma in this realm.
Its shock quickly turned into anger as it saw its child suffering even further. It wanted to destroy Zoran at that very moment, but restrained itself at the very last second. After all, Zoran still held all the cards in this situation.
And Zoran knew that and took full advantage of it to prolong his survival. He knew that the moment his grip on the Evolved Panther loosened was the moment that his gravestone would be carved in the depths of Miasma.
The Panther Queen took a gamble and tried to sneakily control Zoran's body and force him to let go of the Evolved Panther, but it backfired. With that, Zoran figured out the importance of Miasma Beast to the Queen.
He thought that the Evolved Panther was just another child of the Queen like the other Miasma Panthers in their nest, but it's focus on this specific beast told Zoran that the Evolved Panther was a main descendant of the Queen.
This was also evidenced by the fact that the body count of Miasma Panthers that Zoran killed was in the hundreds, and yet the Panther Queen did not show herself in their deaths. Even when Zoran came too close to their nest, the worst the Queen did was send her army towards him.
But when the Evolved Panther was near its demise, it suddenly left the comfort and safety of its own home to try and rescue this one creature. With this knowledge in mind, Zoran knew that the Panther Queen would not do anything rash in fear of its child suddenly dying in Zoran's arms.
He stared back at the monstrous eyes of the Panther Queen and said, "I'm not the one who needs sparing."
Zoran pushed the Evolved Panther's body towards the Queen as if showing a prized possession after a hunt. Miasma goo melted off the Evolved Panther's face, evidence from the beating it took from Zoran's tyrannical punch. The Evolved Panther's energetic and prideful demeanor was nowhere to be seen, only a body that was nearing its transition to a corpse.
"I'm only hostile when I need to," Zoran added.
He guessed that the Queen was not aggressive at all and only acted because of the danger that the Evolved Panther was in. If it wasn't, then it would have already killed Zoran when it sensed him coming from a mile away from the nest.
The Panther Queen's eyes glowed with intelligence. This was no mere beast with instinctual urges, but a sentient being who understood Zoran's intent.
"I will bring you no harm after you let go of my child," the Panther Queen said.
Zoran shook his head. "How will I know to believe you?"
The Panther Queen looked him in the eyes and said, "I, the Miasma Panther Queen, ruler of the Mammalian Beasts of the underworld, promise to be in your debt for sparing my child."
Suddenly, prismatic chains wrapped around the Panther Queen out of nowhere. But she didn't seem to care as she looked at Zoran.
"Beings in my realm take words very seriously.