[Killed Upper Moon Five, gained 600 experience.]
The system notification sounded.
"600 experience, only 200 more than Nakime."
Aoki sighed.
As expected, it wasn't that Nakime was weak. It was that his strength and level were too high now. Experience gains had dropped sharply.
But he didn't need to worry.
At this rate, the demons in this world would be more than enough to get him to max level.
Aoki closed the system.
He was more interested in the changes to Space Traverse than the experience.
He focused for a while, and his eyes lit up.
The change to Space Traverse wasn't big this time. It wasn't as obvious as getting a portable space after devouring Nakime.
But its importance was just as high.
Simply put, it greatly simplified the activation process of Space Traverse.
More directly, there was no cooldown.
The "cooldown" of Space Traverse was actually the skill's activation time.
As his Intelligence and mental strength grew, his control over Space Traverse improved, and his thought speed increased. The cooldown of Space Traverse had already decreased greatly.
It was more than halved compared to when he first learned it.
But recently, increasing Intelligence had reduced the cooldown less and less.
If 1 Intelligence reduced the cooldown by 0.1 seconds at first, now 1 Intelligence only reduced it by 0.01 seconds, or even less.
The relatively complex activation process of Space Traverse meant the "cooldown" couldn't be reduced indefinitely.
But after devouring Gyokko, the activation process of Space Traverse was greatly simplified. It became almost instinctive, solving the problem fundamentally.
Of course, strictly speaking, Space Traverse still wasn't instant.
There was still a slight delay, especially when used repeatedly.
His thought reaction speed was limited.
He couldn't teleport infinitely.
But that was his problem, not Space Traverse's.
Aoki focused again.
Not just Space Traverse, but Space Mark Traverse and entering/exiting the portable space were also optimized.
This wasn't surprising.
Space Traverse was the foundation. Space marks just provided a special coordinate.
The portable space was even more obvious. Entering and exiting was just a Space Traverse.
Gyokko didn't give much experience, but his contribution was top-notch. Among the Upper Moons he had killed, he was probably second only to Akaza, and could rival Doma.
Aoki would give him credit when he defeated Muzan.
Shinobu Kocho looked at Aoki curiously.
Her sister had said Mr. Aomura's strength improved significantly after devouring a demon, but she didn't feel it this time.
Maybe Gyokko was too weak.
Aoki looked up and saw Shinobu Kocho staring at him.
"What's wrong?"
Shinobu Kocho glanced at his back, looking excited. "Mr. Aomura, what about the wings from before?"
She had been focused on Gyokko. She hadn't cared about the wings. Now that the matter was resolved, her curiosity returned.
Aoki said, "It's reasonable for a demon to grow wings, right?"
"Is it reasonable?" Shinobu Kocho asked.
Aoki nodded. "I think it's very reasonable!"
Shinobu Kocho glared at him and stopped asking about the wings.
"What should we do next?"
Aoki asked, "You should be more familiar with this than I am, right?"
He always killed and left the cleanup to others.
"Oh, right!"
Shinobu Kocho came to her senses.
She had been a bystander in this mission. She was a little unused to it.
She thought. "Let's check if any other villages have been attacked!"
Not just because of Gyokko, but also to see if there were other demons nearby.
"I'm sure there aren't any in my search area," Aoki said.
They walked forward.
Shinobu Kocho said, "Upper Moon Five is dead. That means only Upper Moon One and Upper Moon Four are left. I wonder if Muzan will promote new Upper Moons?"
"Not so easy," Aoki shook his head.
In the original story, after Gyutaro, Gyokko, and Hantengu were killed, Muzan only found Nakime and Kaigaku as replacements.
Kaigaku was killed by Zenitsu in one hit. His strength was about the same as a Lower Moon. He might not even be as strong as Daki.
He had only recently become a demon and wasn't familiar with his new powers.
But it showed his strength wasn't great. He only became an Upper Moon because Muzan had no one else.
"That's good! Muzan will be all alone!"
Shinobu Kocho's eyes curved. She almost laughed.
The people in the previous village were pitiful, but she had seen too much death. She knew she had to look forward.
Drowning in sadness would only stop her from moving forward.
Aoki didn't speak.
Muzan wouldn't feel lonely without other demons.
In his mind, he was the only immortal.
But Gyokko's death would still make him furious.
Only two Upper Moons were left.
The Twelve Kizuki system was completely broken.
...
A small wooden house stood at the foot of the mountain.
Firewood was piled outside.
It was a woodcutter's house.
It was late at night, but the door was wide open. Crimson blood flowed from inside, painting a grim trail in the yard.
Inside the house, three people lay stacked, covered in blood, lifeless.
A pale young man with plum-red eyes stood at the door. He held a muscular man. Blood flowed from his fingertips, and the muscular man's expression quickly turned fierce.
"Gyokko is dead!"
Muzan said expressionlessly, "He knew he couldn't win, but he provoked him anyway. Foolish! He deserved to die!"
He had no expectations for these demons.
He wouldn't be surprised if they all died.
"The teleporting wooden board... Is that how he entered Infinity Castle? I wonder if I can use it in reverse... No, that's not the point. The key is to find a way to counter his teleportation ability first!"
Bang!
A soft sound rang out in the room.
Muzan came to his senses and looked up.
He had been thinking. He had injected too much blood into the man, exceeding his limit. His body had collapsed.
"He can't even handle this much blood. He's useless even as a demon."
Muzan threw the twisted body aside and left without a second thought.
He needed demons who could overcome sunlight and demons who could counter teleportation. Not this trash.
---
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