Krune realized that he had really underestimated the demons, thinking that they wouldn't be that strong compared to himself, who had five passive abilities and an active ability to rely on. Sadly for him, reality proved otherwise.
At lower tiers, this would have been apparent. But at higher tiers, the strength of the fleshly body was too high to be compared. So, because he was a tier lower, Krune was unable to retaliate properly. On one side, he hadn't faced any demons until now, except for that time when he had just arrived at Layer 2.
Not only that, but he still hadn't gotten accustomed to using his abilities alongside his strengthened body. Krune was still in the process of fusing the two into one battle form, hence the fight with Hazak.
As he lay battered on the floor, Krune thought about the mistakes he had committed that caused him to be put in a passive state. He wasn't quick in defending himself right from the get-go. Rather, he hadn't activated Sonic Radar right at the start but had only done so after tanking the first attack to his face.
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This caused him to lose his initiative, being forced into a passive state where he had to be constantly hit by Hazak. Every hit from Hazak was deadly. Soon, Krune realized that for a Red Demon, killing a warrior at the peak of Tier 4 only took three punches. If the Tier 4 warrior was distracted, then the required number of punches was even lower.
As for Krune, it was only due to his numerous abilities that he was able to last so long. But even when he retaliated, he failed to damage Hazak. His ice sword barely scratched Hazak's skin. He had been confident of the ice sword's capabilities since it had already surpassed his Whale Tooth Sword in sharpness and sturdiness.
The fact that something of such a caliber broke from a single impact from Hazak proved just how strong a Red Demon was. A Red Demon was a Tier 5 Demon, called a Supreme Demon. It weighed between 1400-2000 kilograms.
At present, Hazak was only mimicking a Red Demon that weighed around 1500 kilograms. It didn't even output the peak capability of a Red Demon, not to mention unleashing its true strength that it gained from devouring 70 Blood Essence Crystals.
Thanks to Krune training it every day for the past two-plus years, and feeding it with the yellow fishes three to four times a day, it slowly grew in weight. At present, it was at 1650 kilograms. Once it reached 2000 kilograms, Hazak would become even more terrifying.
As for how to fuel its growth, only the miasma was the key. Once a Demon reached Tier 4, turning into the Yellow Demon that was commonly called the Demon Emperor, it was able to emit miasma from its body.
Then again, it usually had to eat something with rich sustenance to produce it. It wasn't capable of producing the miasma normally. As for Hazak, after devouring the yellow fishes, it began to emit some miasma daily, stuffing it in a training room that it had created for itself.
Once the miasma achieved qualitative growth, it began to live inside it while resting, increasing its weight that way. Thanks to that, it was capable of growing. This was the reason Krune was curious about the miasma.
Once he figured out its secrets, he would be able to rely on it to strengthen himself even more.
A couple of minutes since his fight with Hazak ended, Krune sighed as he got up, fully healed now. Of course, his energy reserves were empty, thanks to it. However, he didn't mind the consumption, thinking, 'The potency of my healing effect has increased tremendously compared to before. Now, as long as I train and upgrade it, it will continue to grow stronger. That way, I should be able to face a Red Demon on my own.'
At present, Krune's plan was to team up with Wrister and Flita to gang up on a Red Demon and kill it. That way, by consuming the Tier 5 Essence, Krune would be able to upgrade his development effect to Tier 5 level and calmly reach the peak of Tier 5.
He had no plans to fight anymore after that one fight. Moreover, his goal was to kill a Red Demon without using his passive abilities. After all, the higher-ups of the city were looking for him. Over the years, Krune's face was shown in the news a couple of times.
However, it was only shown in passing and wasn't given much importance. That's why Wrister and Flita were careful in employing servants in their mansion. Plus, they only employed the most trusted of their employees, those that were willing to shed their lives for Wrister and Flita.
Moreover, once the employees began to work in the mansion, some places were sealed off for them, barring their entry. These places were only for Krune's and Hazak's exclusive use. Once in a while, while they rested in some other room, the servants were allowed to clean up the place.
Other than that, no one was ever allowed entry. Moreover, Wrister built more reservoirs since Krune was using two of them.
Also, he created them in an even more discrete location, somewhere no one would even think of looking. Once it was done, Krune and Hazak worked on transporting all the contents of the two reservoirs in the new ones.
Moreover, as for the appearance, Krune had dyed his hair black. So, he looked normal now, unlike his prior self with rainbow-colored hair. Moreover, he also grew a beard and a mustache, looking like a different individual. It was just a precautionary measure.
Surprisingly, these two changes alone made him look like a completely different person, so he didn't look like himself from the wanted posters. As for Hazak, there was nothing to be done for its appearance. So, it could only live in hiding.
However, it didn't seem to care, devoting itself wholeheartedly to serving Krune.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺