Before long, Ivan had devoured the entire body of the chameleon Hollow, including the shattered fragments of its mask.
This battle against a Giant Hollow-class opponent had been extremely dangerous, but the payoff was phenomenal.
While his physical length hadn’t increased and remained at roughly ten meters, his Reiatsu capacity had nearly doubled.
His overall combat strength had essentially multiplied overnight.
Ivan was confident that if the chameleon Hollow resurrected and fought him right now, he wouldn’t even need to open the fight with a Cero to blow its tongue away.
He could beat it in a straight fight.
Nearby, the little yellow dog Hollow had somehow managed to scarf down the entire chunk of meat Ivan had thrown it, even though the piece had been thicker than its own body.
As a result, the pup looked noticeably bulkier and sturdier than before.
Woof, woof, woof!
The yellow dog barked happily at Ivan.
“You’re saying you can heal my injuries?” Even though the dog Hollow was just barking like an ordinary puppy, Ivan inexplicably understood its exact meaning.
Following its suggestion, he gently picked the dog up and placed it on his shoulder.
The pup hopped from his shoulder onto his back and began gently licking the two massive, scabbing puncture wounds.
A miraculous scene unfolded: the wounds, which should have taken ages to heal, completely closed up.
The scabs fell away instantly, leaving Ivan’s back looking perfectly pristine, as if he had never been stabbed in the first place.
“I had no idea you had a skill like this.
In that case, tag along with me!” Woof, woof!
Hearing Ivan’s words, the little yellow dog barked twice in cheerful agreement before obediently settling down on his left shoulder.
Ivan used his centipede tail to wrap up the two massive bone spikes that had nearly killed him, and together with the yellow dog, quickly left the battlefield behind.
Inside an underground cave formed by hardened, windblown sand, the little yellow dog was fast asleep in a corner, snoring softly as it digested the Hollow meat it had eaten.
Ivan, however, was staring blankly at the two massive bone spikes in his hands.
He had suffered heavy damage from these things during the fight.
Originally, his plan had been to just eat them, but when he tried, he nearly shattered his own teeth.
His current bite force simply couldn’t handle the density of the bone.
So, he decided to keep them.
The more he looked at them, the more he realized they looked exactly like the spikes that jutted from the neck of a Gillian.
He had no idea how the chameleon had managed to get its hands on them.
Remembering how he had nearly died from acidic blood just from punching his enemy with his bare fists, Ivan decided to repurpose the bone spikes as actual weapons.
Every man from Earth had a martial arts fantasy, and Ivan was no exception.
In his past life, he had even spent a small fortune taking swordsmanship lessons from a renowned master.
He never could have dreamed that the expensive hobby he picked up for fun back then would actually become a literal lifesaver today.
Ivan carefully dug through his memories, recalling the lessons he had paid so much for.
‘The eight basic movements of swordsmanship: thrust, chop, upper cut, parry, circular sweep, tap, flick, and intercept.’ It was obvious that due to their shape and lack of an actual cutting edge, these bone spikes were only suited for thrusting.
Fortunately, true skill favored mastery over variety.
As long as Ivan perfected the thrust, it would be more than enough to deal with the mindless Hollows of this wasteland.
Ivan raised one of the bone spikes with both hands, holding it level with his shoulders.
Aligning his arms perfectly with the spike, he lunged forward in a savage thrust.
The spike tore through the air with a sharp, whistling sound.
It actually felt pretty legit.
And so, repeating the motion over and over, Ivan stood inside the underground cave, fiercely practicing his thrusts against the empty air.
“Phew, being a Hollow is definitely way more convenient than being human!” In his past life, ruined by endless overtime and a severe lack of exercise, just swinging a practice sword twice would leave him gasping for breath.
Now, after executing thousands of consecutive, full-power thrusts, he didn’t feel the slightest bit fatigued.
Off in the corner, the little yellow dog Hollow had woken up.
It stared at the massive creature in complete bewilderment, unable to understand why Ivan was so furiously attacking the air.
Hueco Mundo, the Newborn Zone.
Croak!
A bloated, crimson frog Hollow roughly five meters tall was frantically chasing a small, normal-sized yellow dog Hollow.
The dog was moving so quickly that the frog thought it was going to lose its prey, but for some inexplicable reason, the pup suddenly slowed its pace.
Encouraged by this, the frog Hollow abandoned its thought of giving up and redoubled its pursuit.
Suddenly, the fleeing dog Hollow skidded to a halt in front of a sand dune.
Croak!
The frog Hollow let out a grotesque cry and lunged wildly at its cornered prey.
But the moment its feet touched the ground, a massive, jagged bone spike erupted from the sand, completely impaling it.
Zzt!
At the exact same instant, a violent surge of high-voltage lightning tore through the bone spike and blasted into the frog Hollow’s body, torturing it with agonizing pain.
Croak!
The frog Hollow shrieked in agony.
It glared murderously at the dog Hollow, desperately trying to tear it to shreds.
To its complete surprise, the yellow dog ran straight forward, diving right through the Hollow hole in the frog’s stomach to safely reach the other side.
Ivan burst from the sand with perfect timing.
Gripping the bone spike tightly, he whipped his arms sideways, violently cleaving the frog Hollow clean in half.
“Good job, Buddy!” Standing next to the dune, Ivan began dividing the loot.
He tore off one of the frog Hollow’s hind legs and tossed it to the yellow dog before tearing into the rest of the meat himself.
For the past few days, they had been running this exact play in the Newborn Zone.
Buddy acted as the bait, luring targets into position, and Ivan launched a lethal ambush from beneath the sand.
Using this tactic, the duo had successfully hunted down over a dozen Hollows, including five Strong Hollows.
Their farming efficiency was several times higher than when Ivan was operating solo.
Through relentless actual combat over the past few days, Ivan’s thrusting technique had become increasingly lethal and refined.
Furthermore, he had mastered the ability to sustain his Lightning Arc on the bone spike for extended periods.
It was exactly this technique that had allowed him to instantly one-shot the frog Hollow, which was in the exact same tier as him.
The only slight issue was the length of the weapon.
While the bone spike had been the perfect size for the Giant Hollow chameleon, it was a bit too long and unwieldy for Ivan’s current stature.
But that wasn’t really a problem.
Ivan could feel his internal Reiatsu pool brimming, approaching a critical mass.
He felt that if he ate just one more Newborn Hollow, it would trigger his evolution into a Giant Hollow.
Once his physical size increased, the bone spikes would be a perfect fit.
Determined not to waste any time, Ivan decided to strike while the iron was hot.
He was going to push for his Giant Hollow evolution today!
Roar!
He had barely taken a few steps before a suicidal, crocodile-shaped Newborn Hollow came charging straight at him.
“Well, look what we have here.
Perfect timing!” Seeing the deranged crocodile Hollow, Buddy, who had been sitting on Ivan’s shoulder, obediently hopped down.
The pup blinked its large eyes, seemingly confused as to why the crocodile was so eager to throw its life away.
Ivan didn’t hesitate.
He thrust his bone spike forward, instantly turning the completely clueless Newborn Hollow into a shish kebab!
After the clean one-shot kill, Ivan didn’t eat it immediately.
Instead, he dragged the crocodile Hollow’s corpse straight back to their underground cave.
Since he was on the verge of evolving into a Giant Hollow, he needed an absolutely secure environment to ensure he wasn’t ambushed by another Hollow while he was vulnerable.