Part I — The Hunt of the Blood-Crazed Tiger
I continued flying at full speed toward my strongest target.
The moment I entered its territory—
ROOOOOAR!!!
The wilderness erupted.
Demon beasts emerged from every direction.
They charged without hesitation, their eyes filled with bloodlust as though my arrival had awakened something inside them.
I almost laughed.
I had been wondering how I was going to acquire a massive amount of Energy.
Hunting the strongest demons one by one would be too inefficient.
It seemed...
The problem had solved itself.
I stopped in midair.
My hands spread vertically beside me.
Energy gathered around my palms.
Then—
SHING!!!
Two enormous blades of crimson Energy materialized in my hands.
Flames immediately wrapped around their edges.
But they weren't my usual Azure Flames.
These flames were different.
Darker.
More violent.
More sinister.
Abyssal Flames.
I stared at them for a moment.
I hadn't consciously summoned them.
My body had simply responded to my desire to kill.
A faint smile appeared on my face.
"Interesting."
The horde reached me.
Hundreds.
Then thousands.
Then tens of thousands.
I lowered my body.
My eyes burned like twin galaxies filled with crimson stars.
And—
SWISH!!!
I disappeared.
The first demon didn't even have time to react.
My blade passed through its body.
SHING!!!
Its flesh didn't simply split apart.
The Abyssal Flames consumed it.
The corpse burned.
Not into ash.
Into Energy.
That Energy condensed around its Demon Core.
The core became brighter.
Purified.
Refined.
Then—
WHOOSH!
My Mental Energy swept across the battlefield.
The refined core disappeared into my System Space.
I glanced at it briefly.
Normally, killing a demon beast meant extracting its core and leaving the rest of its body behind.
But I had discovered something far more efficient.
The body contained an enormous amount of Energy.
The Demon Core was simply the purest concentration of that Energy.
If I could refine the body and feed its Energy back into the core...
The result would be completely different.
The core became something similar to a pill.
A condensed mass of purified Energy.
The Abyssal Flames didn't simply burn.
They refined.
They expelled impurities.
They transformed everything useful within the corpse into Energy and fused it into the core.
A perfect cycle.
My smile widened.
"Then let's see how many I can make."
SWISH!!!
I moved again.
A demon beast charged from my left.
SHING!
Its body became Energy.
Another attacked from behind.
I twisted.
SWISH!!!
Another core entered my System Space.
A massive creature descended from above.
I crossed both blades.
BOOM!!!
The Abyssal Flames swallowed it whole.
Its roar lasted less than a second.
Then—
Silence.
A purified core floated in the air.
I stored it.
And continued moving.
SWISH!
SWISH!
SWISH!!!
I became a streak of crimson light moving through the horde.
Everywhere I passed, demon beasts disappeared.
Their bodies became Energy.
Their Energy became cores.
Their cores entered my System Space.
Tens.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
Then—
Tens of thousands.
All within seconds.
I didn't even need to stop.
My Mental Energy automatically collected every refined core.
The System Space continued filling.
I could have absorbed everything immediately.
But I didn't.
There was no reason to waste it.
These resources would be far more useful later.
I continued forward.
BOOM!!!
My body erupted with speed.
The demons couldn't even follow my movements.
I sliced through the endless horde as if they were nothing more than blades of grass.
Minutes passed.
The entire area had been emptied.
Not a single demon remained.
Yet more were coming.
From the distance...
Another wave approached.
My eyes narrowed.
Then my smile returned.
"Perfect."
CRACKLE!!!
Red lightning erupted around my body.
My excitement continued rising.
The hunger inside me was becoming increasingly difficult to suppress.
My left heart hammered against my chest.
THUD!
THUD!
THUD!
The sound resembled a war drum.
I suddenly burst forward.
BOOOOOOM!!!
I crossed the empty battlefield.
No demons remained in my path.
And within moments—
I arrived.
My feet slammed against the ground.
BOOM!!!
Dust exploded outward.
I slowly raised my head.
Several hundred meters ahead...
Something stood there.
A humanoid figure.
Or perhaps...
A humanoid beast.
My senses immediately locked onto it.
My eyes narrowed.
A Dragon.
Its entire body was covered in dark scales.
Black as ink.
Yet a faint purple radiance shimmered across them like scattered starlight.
Its eyes were strange.
Purple irises.
Red pupils.
And a black-red division running through the center.
A Demon King.
And unlike the countless mindless creatures surrounding this territory...
This one possessed intelligence.
I could feel it.
It was thinking.
Watching.
Analyzing me.
At a certain level of strength, demons could develop intelligence.
But intelligence didn't necessarily mean they could control their instincts.
That was the difference.
Some became intelligent beasts.
Others became monsters capable of reasoning.
And this one...
Felt like the latter.
Then—
BOOM!!!
Something inside my body reacted.
The surrounding Demonic Energy suddenly rushed toward me.
My eyes widened.
Energy from thousands of meters around me was violently pulled inward.
Nearby demon beasts didn't even have time to escape.
Their bodies dried up.
Their flesh withered.
Their Energy and life force were sucked away.
In seconds—
Bones were all that remained.
The Demon King narrowed his eyes.
I didn't pay attention.
My stripes were burning.
The hunger was screaming.
And then—
DING!!!
A system notification appeared.
> [Special Reward.]
> [Myriad Transformation Divine Physique.]
My eyes widened slightly.
Information immediately flooded my mind.
The technique was extraordinary.
The body was no longer restricted to a single form.
Flesh could become stone.
Bones could become divine metal.
Blood could become fire.
Eyes could become stars.
The physique could imitate beasts.
Humans.
Spirits.
Elements.
And eventually...
Concepts.
The original technique had been created by a human.
A human who lacked the natural advantages possessed by pure-blooded beasts.
So they created a way to transform the body itself.
But the System had taken that concept...
And improved it.
My eyes flickered.
I already possessed several powerful physiques.
The Tiger God Physique.
The Flame God Physique.
The Dragon Indestructible Physique.
But as I continued growing stronger...
Wouldn't they eventually become obsolete?
It was simple.
A cheetah was faster than a bear.
A bear was stronger than a cheetah.
Each physique possessed its own advantage.
But each also had limitations.
The Myriad Transformation Divine Physique changed that.
Why choose one?
Why not possess all their advantages?
My smile slowly widened.
Normally, cultivating such a technique would require enormous amounts of time and resources.
But the System had changed the rules.
I only needed one thing.
DEVOUR.
My eyes turned toward the Demon King.
Suddenly...
He wasn't an opponent anymore.
He was food.
The hunger inside me exploded.
My body leaned forward.
The devilish smile on my face became impossible to hide.
"Devour..."
My fingers curled.
"DEVOUR."
The Demon King watched me carefully.
His expression remained calm.
But I could see the uncertainty in his eyes.
He had never seen anything like me.
My Energy was violent.
Chaotic.
Primal.
Almost indistinguishable from the demons surrounding him.
Yet beneath that chaos...
There was an iron will.
Perfect control.
I wasn't a mindless beast.
I was something worse.
A beast that could think.
His eyes narrowed.
Whatever I was...
I was intelligent.
And I had entered his territory.
He couldn't allow that.
His eyes slowly closed.
For one second—
Everything became silent.
Then they opened.
The red pupils transformed.
Bloodlust erupted from his body.
BOOOOOOM!!!
A massive pillar of Energy shot into the heavens.
Behind him—
A gigantic Dragon phantom appeared.
Its scales were black.
Its eyes were crimson.
Reddish flames burned between its scales.
The Dragon opened its mouth.
ROOOOOOOOOAR!!!
The roar shook the entire wilderness.
Mountains trembled.
The ground cracked.
My clothes fluttered violently from the pressure.
The Demon King's body tightened.
His scales became denser.
His muscles compressed.
His Bloodline Energy surged through every part of his body.
The massive Dragon phantom slowly descended...
And merged into him.
BOOM!!!
The pressure increased again.
My eyes sharpened.
So this was a Demon King.
A true one.
The most terrifying aspect of Dragons wasn't simply their Energy.
It was their bodies.
Depending on their Bloodline purity, a Dragon's body could withstand forces many times beyond its natural physical limits.
Their bodies could disperse incoming attacks throughout their entire structure.
An attack capable of turning another creature into dust...
Might only make a Dragon stagger.
Their eyes were equally terrifying.
Their perception could slow seemingly instantaneous movements into something their minds could process.
This wasn't going to be an easy fight.
My blood began boiling.
Not from fear.
From excitement.
My two hearts began pounding.
THUD!
THUD!
THUD!
My left heart was faster.
Violent.
Hungry.
My right remained calm.
But beneath that calmness...
It was awake.
Watching.
Waiting.
Then—
ROAR!!!
A massive Tiger phantom appeared behind me.
Its body was covered in crimson fur.
Blood-red stripes burned across its body like flames.
Its eyes glowed like galaxies filled with crimson stars.
I smiled.
The Demon King stared at me.
I stared back.
For several seconds...
Neither moved.
Then—
BOOM!!!
We disappeared simultaneously.
The wilderness exploded.
The ground shattered.
The heavens seemed to tremble.
And for the first time since entering Neraphyx...
I finally found an opponent worth taking seriously.
I laughed.
"Let's see..."
My body collided with his.
BOOOOOOM!!!
"...which Dragon..."
The impact shook the entire region.
"...is stronger."
BOOM!!!
"Dragon..."
BOOM!!!
"...or Tiger."
And then—
The battle began.