Inside a corridor, Pig God was leisurely savoring various monsters when suddenly, a maw attacked from behind.
"Monster?"
Pig God's obese body was exceptionally agile, and he dodged the attack in an instant.
The attacking monster looked like a bloated ball of flesh, possessing no facial features other than a giant mouth.
Bang!
Pig God lunged forward and took a bite out of the monster's massive body.
"The toughness is actually this strong!"
Pig God was surprised to find that he couldn't tear through the skin. By now, the monster had been enraged.
"Roar!"
Two rows of giant teeth clamped down tightly on Pig God, and then it opened its massive mouth and swallowed him whole.
Bang... Bang...
Pig God struggled frantically inside the monster, but he couldn't break free no matter what.
"Finally found you, Dragon-level executive, Gums."
King appeared in the corridor, but Gums couldn't be bothered with him at the moment, as it was busy digesting Pig God inside its stomach.
"Has he already been swallowed?"
Boom!
King flashed forward and delivered a punch. Pig God was already fighting back desperately from inside the stomach, and Gums could barely hold on. Attacked from both the inside and outside, it could no longer endure it and spat out Pig God, who was covered in acid.
King's blow had enraged Gums, so it lunged at him.
"Why do all the executives of the Monster Association like to eat people?" King raised an eyebrow.
When he fought Elder Centipede, he had been swallowed twice, that experience was not pleasant.
Bang!
King sent Gums flying, then a long bone spur surged from his palm.
"Let me open up your stomach for you!"
Pfft!
The sharp bone spur pierced into Gums' body. Before it could resist, King pulled it horizontally with a violent jerk. Gums' belly was ripped open, and countless blood and mucus sprayed out.
Psychokinetic Impact!
Swish... Swish...
Countless beams of blue light shot out, entering its abdomen through Gums' wounds and destroying its internal structure.
Finally, it pierced through Gums' body entirely, rendering it incapable of fighting.
"Just die like this."
King watched Gums, which had lost its sanity due to the pain and was crashing around the corridor, and waited quietly.
"Who are you?"
'Forgot there was another one.'
King turned around to see Pig God on all fours, striking a ready-to-fight stance. He was currently still in his Monsterization form, so it was no wonder Pig God was hostile.
"If you have time to deal with me, you might as well care about the hostages."
King's words perked Pig God up, he knew their priority this time was to rescue the hostages.
"You know where the hostages are?"
"Of course. A Monster Association executive was just chasing a child, and I stopped them."
"You aren't with the Monster Association?"
Pig God narrowed his eyes.
If King hadn't just heavily damaged Gums, he would have already attacked.
"How should I put this? Our goals are the same: to destroy the Monster Association."
King shrugged.
The overall strength of the Monster Association was above that of the S-Class Heroes, and they should be too busy to handle themselves right now.
"Where are the hostages?"
"Atomic Samurai is fighting a Dragon-level executive, and the child should have run upwards, but whether they will encounter other monsters is hard to say."
Swish!
After hesitating, Pig God chose to trust King and rushed off in the direction he pointed.
"I have to say, he runs really fast."
"Roar!"
Gums roared in pain, and finally, it fell into a pool of blood, unwilling to accept its fate.
[Congratulations to the host for killing a Mid Dragon-level Monster, obtained 50,000 Talent Points.]
[Ding! Mission complete. Killed Dragon-level Monster Gums. Reward: 150,000 Talent Points and one random Talent.]
[Mid Dragon-level Monster, Gums's Talent: Devour.]
[Ding! Devour skill detected. Do you want to merge?]
'Devour again? Merge.'
King was slightly stunned because Pig God's skill was Devour, and this time he had randomly gotten Devour again through Gums's talent.
[Ding! Merge complete. Devour skill has reached Mastery.]
"Ma... Mastery?"
King hurriedly opened his skill panel and saw that an introduction had been added after Devour.
[Devour (Mastery): After devouring, quickly digest the enemy to strengthen yourself.]
'It actually upgraded so inexplicably. Should I...' King glanced at Gums's corpse on the ground.
Ever since he acquired Pig God's skill, the number of uses granted by the Talent Trial Card had been offset. And the digestion after devouring would consume the energy within his body, leading to a decline in combat power. Therefore, he had rarely used this skill, but now that the Devour skill had reached Mastery, he could devour Dragon-level Monsters without any scruples. This was a good opportunity to test it out.
The higher his physical strength, the longer he could use Hero's Heart, and the better he could adapt to physical liberation.
"Screw it, it's just eating. So what if it's disgusting?"
King gritted his teeth and activated the Devour skill.
"Roar!"
A mouth appeared and swallowed Gums's tattered corpse whole.
"So hot!"
King felt Gums, which he had just swallowed, being rapidly converted into streams of pure power, surging frantically into his body.
Crack!
A sound of joints rubbing together rang out, and King felt as if his physical strength had improved by another level.
[Ding! Devoured a Dragon-level Monster. Reward: 50,000 Talent Points. Physical strength upgraded.]
"What is this?!"
King opened the system panel and was pleasantly surprised to find that his physical strength had actually changed from Peak S-Class to SS-Class. And as expected, with the increase in physical strength, the usage time of Hero's Heart had also been extended.
[Hero's Heart: Lasts 30 minutes, greatly increases combat power.]
[First Layer Liberation: Lasts 15 minutes.]
[Second Layer Liberation: Lasts 10 minutes.]
"I didn't expect there to be so many benefits to devouring monsters. The more, the better from now on."
King instantly beamed with joy, the disgust from just a moment ago was thrown to the back of his mind. If he could get stronger, there was nothing he couldn't eat.
'If I could swallow Orochi, what level would my physical strength be able to upgrade to?'
King fantasized to himself.
But at present, he could at most exchange blows with Orochi, and the outcome was still unknown, let alone swallowing the opponent.
"Can you hear me? I've found the location of the hostages, but I've encountered the obstruction of a powerful monster. Can anyone provide support?" Child Emperor's voice suddenly rang out in the communicator.
King knew that he must have encountered an enemy he truly couldn't deal with. Otherwise, given his personality, he wouldn't ask for help easily.
However, it was a pity that there was silence in the communicator. At this moment, all the S-Class Heroes were caught in bitter battles and simply had no time to spare.
'The one who could trap Child Emperor is probably that guy.'
As King kept pushing forward into the underground of the Monster Association, he understood that Child Emperor must have encountered an extremely difficult opponent.
'Besides Psykos and Orochi, it can only be it.'
'Dragon-level monster, Evil Natural Water!'