Evolution: From Little Devil to Devil Empress - Chapter 451: Rapid Improvement

The extraction this time 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 advancement, 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 seemed 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 volume 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 somewhat familiar with the elementals living in the four forbidden areas.”

“It’s just that the elementals are made out of elements, 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 moment, 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 some 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 consumed recover.

However, this was barely better than nothing.

It was only when she grabbed the black orb that Liora’s eyes lit up.

The moment 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 moment the concept of Devouring fused with her Throne, she sensed a great difference from last time.

Unlike when she combined the concept of “Gaze”, the changes now were far more incredible.

The orb did not merely fuse with her Throne, but integrated with the concept of Devouring she already understood.

Countless insights immediately arose within Liora’s heart.

For a moment, she seemed to have transformed 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 became far more complete, as if transcending its original boundaries.

At the same time, the Throne at the center of her soul space became less illusory, seemingly ready to take a material form.

Within mere moments, 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 seemed to have transformed into a pair of black holes, sucking the space and everything around them.

This phenomenon retreated nearly instantaneously.

However, a brilliant glint remained across them, evidence of Liora’s inner excitement.

She found it hard to keep her composure.

“One opponent!”

“All it took me was devouring a single insect, and I made progress that would have otherwise taken me 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 some time to meet the first insect, perhaps because she had been walking in a straight line.

But this time, 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 moments, a new set of orbs had materialized. One was put away, while the other turned into nourishment for Liora’s Throne.

The familiar insights emerged 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 become far more majestic, while it had shed a large part of its illusory nature.

Unfortunately…

“Every good thing is destined to come to an end.”, Liora whispered as she glanced at the devastated land around her with pity.

It had been a while since she last met an insect. Their birth rate finally seemed 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 advancement 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 me.”, 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, merely 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 something.

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 became solemn.

Then, she took a step forward and rushed towards that place.