Lucifer retreated to a safe distance, his pure black eyes staring at the spatial rift that still flickered with dangerous arcs of electricity.
The chaotic fluctuations and the occasional flashes of energy remnants that didn’t belong to the Demon Realm allowed him to form a judgment in his heart.
“It seems this is the ‘back door’ the Vampire Clan used to infiltrate this realm,” he muttered to himself.
The scale and instability of the rift were consistent with the characteristics of a secret infiltration by a vanguard, rather than a full-scale invasion by an army.
A thought naturally surfaced: should he go in and take a look?
The other end of the passage might connect to the homeland of the Vampire Clan, a world vastly different from the Demon Realm, potentially possessing more resources, knowledge, and even…
‘prey.’
With his current Combat Class of 50,000, he might be able to run rampant there for a while.
But this tempting thought existed for only a moment before he forcibly suppressed it.
The immediate priority was to increase his Physical Strength and solidify his foundation, rather than continuing to chase more Magic Power.
Lucifer calmly examined his own condition.
The 46,000 Magic Power within his body was like rushing lava, surging and clashing within the framework of only 3,000 Physical Strength, bringing a faint throbbing pain and a sense of losing control.
This was a hidden danger that had to be resolved first.
To increase Physical Strength, what was needed was extreme pressure, cruel tempering, and even life-and-death combat.
Judging by the fact that the Vampire King’s Combat Class was only 30,000, the overall level of the Vampire Clan’s world was likely limited.
It would be difficult to provide the ‘anvil’ and ‘heavy hammer’ necessary to temper this body of a Primordial Demon God.
Rather than wasting time in a potentially ‘malnourished’ new world, it was better to use the materials at hand and take advantage of the cruelty of the Demon Realm itself.
“Forget it.” Lucifer withdrew his gaze, no longer looking at that tempting yet dangerous spatial rift.
“With a clear goal, there is no need to look elsewhere.”
With a thought, dense dark magic power erupted from his back, quickly condensing into a pair of broad wings with dark purple patterns flowing along the edges.
With a flap of his wings, he kicked up a gust of air and his figure rose from the ground like a sharp arrow.
He no longer lingered in this camp-turned-ruin, turning around and flying swiftly toward the deeper, darker inner regions of the Demon Realm.
A Combat Class of 50,000, combined with the powerful recovery of the Demon Clan and the life-saving trait of having multiple hearts, gave him the confidence to explore dangerous places.
As long as he didn’t encounter an absolute strike that destroyed all his hearts instantly, he had the possibility of maneuvering or even escaping.
This was one of the things he relied on to dare to peer into the depths of the Demon Realm.
The flight lasted for about half an hour.
The surrounding scenery began to undergo a drastic change.
The dark red sky was gradually replaced by a viscous purple-black that seemed to have settled over countless eons.
The clouds hung low, squirming slowly like rotting internal organs.
The smell of sulfur mixed with some deeper decaying substance in the air was so strong it almost became physical, and every breath brought a stinging pain that burned his lungs. Enjoying the story? Read on at novelping.com.
The land was no longer just rugged black stone; bubbling, churning hot marshes began to appear.
Weird plants like withered bones occasionally stretched out from the marshes, and unnamable dark shadows flashed by.
The invisible turbulence of magic power became even more violent, like countless blunt knives constantly scraping against his magic shield, making a tooth-gritting friction sound.
The temperature was climbing sharply.
When Lucifer finally landed on the edge of a giant rift valley that looked as if it had been carved out by an invisible force, leading to an endless dark abyss below, he could already clearly feel that the ‘heat’ here did not simply originate from magma or subterranean fire.
It was a pervasive ‘environmental toxicity’—a mixture of violent magic power, negative emotions, and some ancient resentment—that tried to erode his body and will at every turn.
Even with his magic power protecting his body, his skin felt bursts of needle-like burning pain, and sweat evaporated as soon as it seeped out.
“Is this…
the ‘entrance’ to the depths of the Demon Realm?” Lucifer stabilized his somewhat ragged breathing.
His pure black eyes scanned the bottomless darkness below, which looked like the mouth of a giant beast, and the even more distorted and hideous wasteland across the rift, shrouded in dark purple mist.
“The harshness of the environment far exceeds the outskirts…
even just the edge has such pressure.”
He moved his somewhat stiff limbs, but unexpectedly felt an extremely subtle itchy sensation of muscle fibers being torn and then reorganized during the process of continuously resisting this terrifying environmental pressure.
With a thought, the Magic Eye of Balor silently opened and scanned himself.
[Physical Strength: 3003]
The numbers were clearly fed back to him.
Although it had only increased by a negligible three points, it meant that in this extreme environment, his physical body was passively and extremely slowly adapting and strengthening!
“It really is effective…
but too slow.” Lucifer frowned.
At this rate, he didn’t know how many years it would take to raise his Physical Strength to a level sufficient to perfectly control his current Magic Power.
He couldn’t afford to wait.
There were too many variables in the Demon Realm.
The Demon King, Belial, and those unknown existences would not give him time to slowly polish himself.
He needed more intense and efficient ‘tempering.’
His gaze involuntarily turned once more toward the depths of the rift and the core of the Demon Realm’s inner region further away, which was shrouded in ominous mist.
‘threats’ sufficient to force his physical potential to its limits.
However, just as he was weighing whether to risk crossing the rift and stepping into the true danger zone where legend had it adult Indura roamed—
“Shua—!”
“Shua shua—!”
From within the heavy darkness of the rift below and the edges of the mist on the opposite side, without any warning, one, two, ten, a hundred…
dense clusters of crimson light lit up!
That wasn’t fire, nor was it magical radiance.
Those were pairs of eyes!
Cold, cruel eyes filled with the most primitive hunger and desire for slaughter!
They were of different sizes; some were like lanterns, others like needlepoints.
They were silently embedded in the darkness and mist, all’staring’ together at Lucifer, the sudden intruder.
Just the focus of these countless gazes brought a scalp-numbing, bone-chilling pressure, as if being locked onto by a natural predator.
Indura…
and definitely more than just one or two!
It was very likely a pack, and among them, there might be many adult individuals with a Combat Class of 200,000!
Lucifer’s heart suddenly constricted, and the magic power surging within his body instantly entered a state of maximum alert.
The wings on his back slightly adjusted their angle, making a posture ready to sprint or climb at full power at any moment.
As expected…
with my current strength, it’s still too risky to force my way into the deepest part of the Demon Realm.
He felt a chill in his heart.
The seven hearts of the Demon Clan gave him a margin for error, but he was by no means immortal.
If he were truly surrounded by a large number of Indura, especially adults, it would only be a matter of time before he was torn apart, devoured, and all his life force completely destroyed.
Advancing might lead to a dead end.
Retreating would mean slow growth.
Lucifer stood on the edge of the rift, the dark purple sky reflecting on his sharp-featured profile, his pure black eyes mirroring the countless crimson’stars’ below and in the distance.
He fell into a brief, silent weighing of options.
The wind from the depths of the Demon Realm, carrying the whimpers of sulfur and blood, swept past him, as if urging him to make a choice.
Maybe it’s not a big deal now… maybe it will be later.
“And If you’re enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!”