"Idiot, you're also an old man." Feifei lightly smacked Krune on the head, hugging him tightly as she told him, "I missed you."
"I missed you too." Krune hugged in return, feeling the warmth in his embrace as he inhaled Feifei's scent, feeling as if he had returned home. However, just as he was about to say something, his face convulsed as he began to shout, "It hurts! Don't hug so tightly!"
"But, I didn't exert much force, though." Feifei was suddenly alarmed as she stepped back, noticing Krune's condition, shouting with a shrill voice, "Your nose! It's bleeding!"
"Eh?" Krune was confused as he touched his nose, noticing the blood that was leaking out like a stream, failing to understand when his vision spun, losing consciousness as he collapsed.
"Krune!" Feifei caught hold of him, shouting in alarm as she noticed veins popping all over his body, causing it to shudder nonstop.
It was impossible for Krune's energy reserve to last in the ice cocoon under the onslaught of the Black Demons. They would have broken through it in some minutes if they exerted their maximum strength.
That was simply prolonging his death by a few minutes. So, to avoid that fate, Krune had used all the Healing Extract to wrap around him before freezing it, entering cryogenic sleep. The Healing Extract was created using the flesh of the black fishes. So, it had a tremendous reserve of energy.
However, fearing that it wouldn't buy him enough time, Krune had also mixed in all the Blood Essence Crystals into it. This way, he would have enough energy. After all, each Blood Essence Crystal was created from a black fish or through the repeated condensation of more than ten red fishes into one. So, its energy reserve was also astounding.
Adding everything up, he had hoped to buy a decade's worth of time. Then again, as to how long he could last like this was entirely dependant on the actions of the Black Demons. Had all 108 Black Demons spammed their attacks onto his ice cocoon, it would have broken within a month.
He had hoped that Feifei would do something to prevent that. Thankfully, his wager was successful. But the fact of the matter was that he relied on 10,000 Blood Essence Crystals to survive. And accompanying each Blood Essence Crystal was some side effects. Even though he had negated the side effects to a great extent, they still existed. With 10,000 of them, the side effects accumulated to threatening levels.
Even though the healing extract negated quite a lot of it, the remainder took effect now. Thankfully for Krune, he hadn't ingested them and had only absorbed them through his armor over time. Otherwise, his death would have been guaranteed.
Now, he was reeling from the side effects. Krune's body twitched erratically as he spewed out blood like a fountain, reeling from the pain that sent him into shock, knocking him unconscious. His nerves ruptured while his flesh started to deteriorate, thinning out considerably as it was rotting.
"No! No! No!" Feifei screamed as she faced her right palm towards Krune, causing a portal of sorts to open as water gushed out, landing on him, washing away all the blood. The water seeped in through the wounds, beginning to heal them while the side effects continued to damage them.
Feifei faced her left palm towards the opposite side, beckoning for the miasma to gush into her, rapidly replenishing the energy levels in her Energy Sink. She was pouring the healing water from her Energy Sink onto Krune, trying her best to heal him overall.
Had she fed him a pellet of Water Essence, it wouldn't have worked much since his body was deteriorating. It wouldn't be able to digest and circulate the effects of the Water Essence.
That's why she had to resort to such a measure. Thankfully for her, the miasma was endless as Feifei used it to supplement her energy drain, finally sighing in relief once she reached a stalemate of sorts in Krune's body.
His rate of deterioration and healing was now even. As for Feifei, she gritted her teeth, absorbing the miasma as if her life depended on it, trying her best to pull in enough miasma for her needs. It was definitely hard. The quantity of miasma she had to pull even exceeded a Black Demon's.
With that, she had to explode with all her power and pull in as much as she could. Thankfully, once she activated her Supreme Monster Gecko, it headed to somewhere else, pulling the ambient miasma towards itself before pushing it towards Feifei in a concentrated form.
This way, she didn't have to exert herself beyond her limits to pull in enough. Now, with two sharing the burden, she was able to maintain the balance, even going to the extent of increasing the healing rate by a tiny margin.
This way, Krune was healing at a slow but steady pace.
In any case, thanks to Feifei's actions, the terrain had changed. Before, it was dry ground. But now, it was wet thanks to the healing water she had been pumping out nonstop. Moreover, the water formed channels as it began to flow through the desert land, enriching it with vitality before coming across the entrances leading into the labyrinth.
They began to flow into the labyrinth, startling the demons exploring within. But when they touched the water, they were confused as it healed them, also vanquishing their fatigue. To those roaming in the depths of the labyrinth, they soon noticed a tiny stream of water flowing through the path, confused as they wondered what it was.
Unlike the cases with blood, the bone walls only absorbed the water at a slow pace, no different from a normal tree. The influx of water changed the situation completely. As it was just water, it didn't take it long to cascade through the numerous levels, eventually making its way towards a chamber where one of the Black Demon teams was active.
"Eh? Everyone, check this out!" One of the Black Demons touched the water, surprised about its properties, calling out everyone to inspect it as well.
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