Chapter 29: Hunger Zero (2)

Chapter 29: Chapter 29: Hunger Zero (2)

The woman’s features became clearer within the endless darkness.

She possessed striking crimson hair that cascaded down her back like a flowing river of blood. Her beautiful face was almost otherworldly, possessing a presence that could captivate even gods. Her figure was elegant and perfectly proportioned, with long, well-toned legs that moved with predatory grace.

Yet the most peculiar feature was neither her beauty nor her terrifying aura.

It was her hands.

Countless unknown numbers were etched flawlessly across her slender fingers. They seemed to shift whenever she moved, as though the numbers themselves were alive.

Her armor, however, was anything but beautiful.

It was ancient, grotesque, and covered in strange patterns that seemed to writhe beneath its surface.

The woman stared at the bespectacled man.

The man simply adjusted his glasses before flashing her a fearless grin.

"This is my body, you witch. Why do you expect me to give it up so easily?"

For a moment, silence filled the Sea of Mind.

The woman stared at him.

Then she smiled.

"You willpower is tough. I’ll give you that."

"But you’re still useless."

She slowly raised one hand.

"You possess such an incredible ability, yet you’re still so weak.

"Let me show you how real devouring is done."

Buzz!

The instant she finished speaking, Krono’s tiny body began to vibrate.

His entire frame trembled violently.

Buzz! Buzz!

The vibration intensified.

His flesh began to distort.

Then...

Puff!

His entire body suddenly burst apart like a balloon.

But it wasn’t over. Far from it.

The countless fragments of his existence did not disappear.

Instead, they began moving toward one another.

Tiny particles of his being condensed together, compressing at an astonishing speed.

Very quickly, a sphere of crimson energy gradually took shape.

After that—

Woosh!

Woosh!

Woosh!

Crimson tendrils suddenly emerged from within the sphere.

One.

Two.

Five.

Twelve.

More.

And more.

Within moments, the number of tendrils became impossible to count.

They writhed around the crimson sphere like countless living roots, twisting through the darkness of the Sea of Consciousness.

From the outside, the sphere resembled an ominous red virus floating within an endless void.

Then, the real terror began.

BUZZZZZZ!

The crimson sphere erupted with such an unimaginable force thay space itself seemed to distort around it.

BUZZZZZZZZ!

​Very soon, a terrifying suction force exploded outward, rapidly pulling everything nearby toward the crimson sphere.

​The darkness trembled. The Sea of Mind shook.

​Outside, the countless crimson tendrils began devouring everything they touched.

​First, the black soil. Then, the frozen bones buried beneath it. At last, the invisible walls constructed around the prison.

​Crack!

​It started with the outer shell, as the dragon steel began to lose its strong properties. Next, the massive physical bars and runic barriers shattered like brittle glass. The legendary metal, supposedly indestructible, rusted and turned to dust in seconds as the red tendrils drained the elemental mana directly from the alloy.

​The massive structures of the Nephilis Caldera began to cave in. Whole sections of the ceiling collapsed, only for the falling debris to be swallowed entirely by the expanding red sphere before it even hit the ground.

​As the thick, suffocating veil of magical darkness was literally eaten away, the true scale of the prison finally came to light.

​The isolated void Krono had been trapped inside was just one small pocket of a colossal underground abyss. With the pitch-black walls of energy now gone, hundreds of enormous iron cages and chained pillars were suddenly exposed to the dim, ambient red glow of the sphere.

​Inside those cages were the other prisoners.

​There were massive beasts, demons, rogue dragons, and humans who had been trapped in the dark for years all raised their heads.

Their eyes, long blinded by the eternal shadows, widened in absolute horror as they stared up at the ominous blood-red sun that was actively eating their prison.

"What... what is that?"

The voice came from an elderly man standing among the ruins.

His face was covered in wrinkles, and his long gray beard trembled as he stared at the crimson sphere in the distance. Despite having survived countless years inside this dreadful prison, genuine terror had appeared in his eyes.

"Old Ronin, don’t ask me," said the young man standing beside him. "I’m just as confused as you are."

The old man swallowed hard, saying: "You mean you’ve never seen anything like it?"

"Not even remotely."

"ROAR!"

The roar came from a yellow dragon who backed away from the crimson sphere in fear.

"Stop asking useless questions! Can’t you see I’m currently pissing myself?!" it roared.

The young man looked the dragon weirdly

"You’re a dragon," he reminded

"So what?!"

"Nothing. But I heard dragons aren’t supposed to be afraid of anything."

"Then come stand in front of that thing yourself! I dare you!"

"Sigh.. show some dignity, Darnell." said a second yellow dragon.

Heairng hin, the first dragon turned around.

"Dignity?!"

"Yes. We are members of the proud Yellow Dragon Race, remember."

"Of course we are.!"

"Therefore, stop embarrassing our race."

"I’m not embarrassing anyone! I’m making a tactical retreat!"

"You haven’t moved more than three steps."

"That’s because I’m retreating tactically!"

The second dragon stared at him for several seconds, the spat out a single word:

"Pathetic."

"Shut up!"

Nearby, a gigantic blue-scaled dragon slowly raised its head. Its massive pupils were fixed upon the crimson sphere.

"How long has it been since I’ve felt fear? Thousands of years? No... Perhaps even longer."

It stared at the crimson sphere devouring everything in its path.

"But I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s devouring everything."

Soil.

Bones.

Energy.

Space.

Even the invisible remnants of the prison’s barrier were being dragged toward that ominous crimson sun.

Nothing escaped. Nothing resisted.

Everything was reduced to nourishment.

The atmosphere among the prisoners gradually changed.

Even the demons who had spent countless years fighting, slaughtering, and surviving in this prison had fallen silent.

Their faces were grim as their instincts were screaming at them.

They understood clearly: this thing was dangerous.

No. Calling it dangerous was an understatement. It was something fundamentally different. Something that did not belong here.

A horned demon finally broke the silence.

"Demon Lord..."

His voice was unusually cautious.

"Do you know what that is?"

All eyes immediately turned toward the figure standing at the rear of the prison.

Dressed in tattered black robes, two enormous horns protruded from his forehead, and countless ancient scars covered his body.

He had remained silent from the beginning. His crimson eyes had never left the sphere.

For a long time, he said nothing.

Then his expression slowly became serious.

"No."

The surrounding demons exchanged glances.

The Demon Lord continued, "Even I don’t know what that thing is."

After hearing him, he entire prison became silent.

"But I know one thing."

"What?"

"Whatever it is...

It isn’t finished eating. It has only just begun."

BUZZZZZZ!

By then, the devouring force reached in their prison as well.

The ground beneath their feet cracked.

The remaining walls were also collapsing.

"Ahhhhhh!"

Several prisoners were dragged several meters across the ground before desperately themselves.

The Demon Lord’s expression changed.

All because, the crimson tendrils suddenly multiplied.

Dozens became hundreds. Hundreds became thousands.

They spread throughout the prison like a crimson plague.

And then the prisoners realized something even more horrifying.

The sphere wasn’t just devouring the prison.

It was moving toward them.