Han Wu picked up the five enhanceable body parts from the fallen Demon Lord and examined each one with care.
[Demon Heart (Purple, Stage 7; Traits: Power Well, Demonification)]
[Tusk x2 (Blue, Stage 8; Traits: Charge, Stabbing Tusk)]
[Brown Armor (Blue, Stage 7; Traits: Disguise, Heavy Armor)]
[Blubber (White, Stage 9; Traits: Defense, Cold Resistance, Rebound)]
Only the Demon Heart showed real promise. Its compatibility rating with him reached 60%, allowing him to harness up to 80% of its power once grafted. The rest fell below that threshold, their quality unimpressive. Without hesitation, he tossed them into his Void Jaw to be digested.
He grafted the Demon Heart to his body and studied its description.
[Demon Heart: The heart of a demon. Helps the demon absorb and store Demonic Energy. Currently has two traits.
Traits:
1. Power Well: Increases strength based on stored Demonic Energy.
2. Demonification: Transforms the body into a demon.]
The first trait offered a steady, passive boost, while the second was active. Demonification consud the Demonic Energy stored in the Demon Heart to amplify all of the user’s stats. Even at its weakest, it could temporarily double his abilities.
However, the stronger the Demonification, the harsher its side effects. It was a trait reserved for the most desperate situations. He hadn’t yet accumulated enough Demonic Energy to activate it, but the potential fascinated him. He dismissed the risk, confident his Cockroach Cells could handle any recovery.
With his newfound strength, his thirst for revenge had beco unbearable. He could no longer restrain himself and resolved to track down Xun. Activating Detection, a trait granted by his Epistian Brain, he scanned everything within a ten-kiloter radius. The search yielded nothing but a massive pack of demons.
“Consider yourself lucky. Next ti, I’ll kill you.” Han Wu scoffed, launching himself toward the cluster of demons.
In one corner of the training ground, a Demon Lord stared up at the colossal demon towering before him. The demon’s body was a grotesque patchwork, grafted with countless enhanceable parts.
Xun struggled to identify it amid the chaotic mass of limbs and appendages, but finally realized it was a demon called Abomination.
The Abomination’s enormous hands seized a nearby Demon Lord and stuffed it into its gaping maw. Xun watched in horror as the struggling figure slowly descended the creature’s throat, futilely resisting. In the end, the Demon Lord was devoured.
For the first ti, Xun felt fear. This was an opponent beyond his ability to defeat. Without hesitation, he vanished with lightning speed, leaving the scene behind.
The Abomination paid him no mind, either oblivious or indifferent, and turned its attention to other demons. Its colossal hands swept up victims indiscriminately, swallowing them whole. Faces pressed and contorted beneath its stretched skin, their cries muffled and desperate, yet none escaped its grasp.
The Abomination paused mid-feast when its nose twitched. A Red body part had caught its attention, exuding a scent so intoxicating it pulled the demon like a magnet. It owed its imnse size to its Red body part’s trait, Abominable Devour. The part had been enhanced to Stage 9, the strongest among all its others.
“I... Want... Eat...” Its rumbling voice vibrated through the air as it dragged its mountain-sized bulk toward the scent. It seed slow, yet it moved far faster than Xun anticipated.
Xun spun around and froze. The Abomination was closing in. He had tried to flee but never imagined it could match his pace. A scream of despair clawed at his throat.
Hunting other Demon Lords had once thrilled him, but being hunted by the Abomination left no room for joy. He pushed himself harder, but it was futile. The monstrous predator gained on him with every step.
“Misfortune! Such misfortune!” he grumbled. “I shouldn’t have accepted the invitation! I could have stayed put for a few decades and beco a Demon King without a single problem. Why did I accept it?”
It was too late for regrets. He was already there, and no action could rewind ti. The only choice was to keep running. Then Xun spotted a large pack of demons to his right and stared at them as if they were salvation itself. He barreled into the horde, intending to use them as bait to distract the Abomination while he made his escape.
As he collided with the demons, Xun realized a Demon Lord was already tearing through them. Clearly, this place had been marked as its hunting ground. Xun knew it was rude to intrude, but politeness held no weight now.
He forced a ek expression and glanced over his shoulder to check if the Abomination was pursuing him. “Hey, would you trust if I said I’m just here to hide?”
Han Wu turned and caught sight of the Demon Lord’s scarlet skin and green tail, then realized it was Xun. He laughed. He never expected luck to hand him the very Demon Lord he had been looking for.
Han Wu raised his weapon, ready to take his revenge, when the ground trembled violently. He glanced past Xun and saw a colossal demon charging straight at them. He instinctively knew he couldn’t defeat the behemoth and imdiately thought of escape. Ignoring Xun, he flapped his wings and soared into the air.
Xun noted Han Wu’s wings and recognized him too. He used Blink, leaped onto Han Wu midair, and pressed the bone blades on his arm to Han Wu’s throat. His tail coiled around Han Wu’s body as he hissed, “Take with you, or I will kill you.”
Han Wu snorted and slamd his Dragon Claws against the blades to hold them off. His remaining four Swordwind Arms summoned weapons and rained blows down on Xun.
Xun detached himself from Han Wu’s back in a fluid motion, relying solely on his tail to dangle from him.
The Abomination finally reached them both. It lifted its massive arms to snatch Han Wu from the air.
Han Wu had no ti to shake Xun off. He flapped his wings with desperate speed and narrowly escaped the demon’s grasp.
The Abomination, intoxicated by the scent of Han Wu’s Red body parts, seethed when it couldn’t devour them. It belched into its hand and hurled a fistful of corrosive stomach acid toward Han Wu.
Han Wu activated Detection and dodged the noxious projectile with precision.
Xun, dangling from Han Wu’s body, lacked Han Wu’s agility and swung helplessly like a yoyo.
His scarlet skin, etched with countless runes, was the result of the combination of two Stage 8 body parts with two defensive traits. Even with such formidable protection, he scread in pain when the noxious filth splashed against him.
Han Wu looked down and saw Xun’s body marred by deep, jagged wounds where the Abomination’s filth had struck. The corrosive substance had burned through flesh in several places, exposing bone.
Han Wu recoiled at the filth’s sheer potency. Is that stomach acid? Or sothing even stronger—like Aqua Regia? Damn. This stuff could effortlessly dissolve corpses, leaving no trace of a murder.
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