That fleeting window of opportunity — Shen Cong had seized it and delivered the critical blow.

But the Spike King's vitality was extraordinary. Mortally wounded, it still refused to die. Its body curled in on itself, forming a quill-covered ball, and rolled directly toward him — careening forward, trailing blood.

"Just a death spasm." Shen Cong stepped back immediately, keeping clear of its path.

He'd already read the first arrow's result with confidence. The modified hand crossbow had driven the Ape King Arrow with force equivalent to his own direct punch — half a ton of impact, minimum. That shot had hit brain matter. The Spike King wasn't recovering from that. It was outputting the last of what it had.

To accelerate the process, he fired a few more shots at range. No penetration through the quill coverage, but the shallow wounds added up. Three minutes later, the Spike King stopped rolling. Its body uncurled and went slack.

Near-Heavyweight or not — a headshot was a headshot.

"Though honestly, it's weaker than I expected." Shen Cong approached the carcass carefully, Condor Arrow nocked and ready, watching for any response. "I thought even an ambush would get me a few exchanges. It just died."

Something didn't add up. If the Spike King was genuinely this manageable, a coordinated group of ordinary evolved people could theoretically take one down.

That's inconsistent with the near-Heavyweight classification.

The Condor Arrow went into the skull as a final confirmation. No reaction. Actually dead.

He relaxed and moved to check the Activity core data.

The numbers made his brow furrow.

The Spike King wasn't truly near-Heavyweight by strict measure — Lv0.811, Activity Value 1.101H, Talent 1.358H.

Metamorphosis Stage. Activity Value over 1H, yes. But the Talent ceiling barely clears 1.358H — not even past 1.5H. Only marginally above the Dog-Croc's 1.264H ceiling. At this Talent level, this combat output, the honest classification is Lightweight. A Dog-Croc with Activity Value above 1H would probably be stronger.

The Spike King's advantage was its stage — Lv0.811, the highest stage level of any evolved beast they'd confirmed in the…