The extraction this ti was far less complicated than the one conducted on the Thousand-Eyed Devil.
The insect remained asleep throughout the process, obviously not possessing the strong will to survive.
This was hardly surprising, though.
Although the Thousand-Eyed Devil had been captured by Liora shortly after her advancent, he was an Archdevil after all and wielded overwhelming power.
On the other hand, besides the characteristic of seamlessly blending into the surrounding landscape, the insect seed to possess no other extraordinary strengths.
Before long, Liora stood silently in front of two orbs—the "items" that had been stripped away from her opponent.
One of them was crimson and looked quite familiar, as Liora had already seen it in the past.
It represented the demonic energy that the insect had accumulated during its life.
The volu was quite a lot to her surprise, nearly equal to that of the Thousand-Eyed Devil.
But upon further thought, she realized the reason.
"The structure of these insects is quite peculiar."
"If I’m not wrong, they exist solely as forms of pure demonic energy. This is sowhat familiar with the elentals living in the four forbidden areas."
"It’s just that the elentals are made out of elents, while these insects are composed of demonic energy."
This explained why the insect’s accumulation of demonic energy was so much.
However, Liora only briefly mulled over this matter.
The next mont, her eyes landed on the orb floating next to it, which was the only other "extractable" item in the insect’s possessions.
Unlike the previous one, this one was pitch-black. It was not a type of energy, and, of course, it would not be so kind of Devil Technique.
To her delight, it was a concept.
A concept she was actually very familiar with—Devouring.
Upon seeing it, Liora realized that her gamble had paid off and she had made the right decision.
She didn’t hesitate.
Due to the large difference in strength between them, she could extract five items from her opponent.
With only two of them in its possession, she didn’t have to use up all her "slots" nor make any choice.
Reaching out, Liora first grabbed the red orb.
It dissolved instantly, helping the portion of demonic energy she had consud recover.
However, this was barely better than nothing.
It was only when she grabbed the black orb that Liora’s eyes lit up.
The mont it entered her body, the Devouring orb quickly flowed towards her soul space.
It appeared at the edge of this world and rushed towards her Throne, pouring into its body and fusing with it at an astonishing speed.
Liora had experienced this process before and shouldn’t have been surprised by the result.
Yet, the mont the concept of Devouring fused with her Throne, she sensed a great difference from last ti.
Unlike when she combined the concept of "Gaze", the changes now were far more incredible.
The orb did not rely fuse with her Throne, but integrated with the concept of Devouring she already understood.
Countless insights imdiately arose within Liora’s heart.
For a mont, she seed to have transford into an underground insect, whose sole purpose was to devour everything along its path.
The experience was fleeting. However, the insights she gained were real and substantial.
The concept of Devouring she had understood beca far more complete, as if transcending its original boundaries.
At the sa ti, the Throne at the center of her soul space beca less illusory, seemingly ready to take a material form.
Within re monts, Liora discovered that she had taken a big step forward towards reaching the Throne Stage.
Her eyes in the outside world opened, and her pupils seed to have transford into a pair of black holes, sucking the space and everything around them.
This phenonon retreated nearly instantaneously.
However, a brilliant glint remained across them, evidence of Liora’s inner excitent.
She found it hard to keep her composure.
"One opponent!"
"All it took was devouring a single insect, and I made progress that would have otherwise taken years to achieve!", Liora clenched her fists, realizing the importance of this matter.
The source of the mine and Diana’s outburst was quickly placed at the back of her mind.
Rising to her feet, she no longer followed the direction of the looming aura.
Instead, she began to wander through the underground cave, searching for any similar creatures.
It took her quite so ti to et the first insect, perhaps because she had been walking in a straight line.
But this ti, with no other goal in mind and a conscious effort, it didn’t take long for her to locate the next one.
Only a few minutes later, another shrill cry spread.
The Devil Empress’s Furnace smashed into the head of a flying insect, turned upside down, and swallowed it whole.
Within monts, a new set of orbs had materialized. One was put away, while the other turned into nourishnt for Liora’s Throne.
The familiar insights erged in her mind. Albeit slightly less effective, Liora felt that she had taken another step forward.
This only reinforced her idea. She kept hunting down the insectoids, activating the Devil Empress’s Furnace and improving at a rate unimaginable to other Archdevils.
One, ten, one hundred...
Liora soon lost count of how many insectoids she had slain.
All she knew was that the aura of her Throne had beco far more majestic, while it had shed a large part of its illusory nature.
Unfortunately...
"Every good thing is destined to co to an end.", Liora whispered as she glanced at the devastated land around her with pity.
It had been a while since she last t an insect. Their birth rate finally seed unable to keep up with her hunting speed.
Even as she took the initiative to destroy the land itself and check whether there were any beneath the ground, none of them showed up.
Liora shook her head with faint regret. She would have preferred if this situation lasted forever. At least, it would have been great if they were enough to support her advancent to the Throne Stage.
Unfortunately, plans could not keep up with reality.
"Thankfully, it’s not as if there is no chance to improve further."
"If devouring these creatures is so beneficial, then the source of their creation will perhaps be even more suitable for .", Liora comforted herself, raising her head to look into the distance, deeper into the cave.
She had previously been unable to sense the looming aura, rely relying on Diana’s guidance to find her way.
It was only after fusing several Devouring concepts and her control over it growing greater that she finally sensed sothing.
Staring at the unfathomable, nearly bottomless aura that looked like a colossal beast ready to devour the entire world in her field of vision, Liora’s expression beca solemn.
Then, she took a step forward and rushed towards that place.
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