Soul Suck, Negación

Time flew by.

Several months had passed since Wien advanced to Gillian.

Unlike those unconscious Gillians, Wien had received the summons from the Forest of Menos but could remain in this forest.

He remembered that long ago, when Jekain advanced, he had not lost consciousness, yet he could not choose his own habitat. Perhaps Wien had been spared the compulsory summons because he was already in the Forest of Menos.

Or perhaps, as the mysterious voice and will had said, the special nature of his existence meant he had no need to seek another place. Or perhaps, by coincidence, the forest beneath his feet was the one that had summoned him.

Whatever the reason, it was good news for Wien.

During Nel's hibernation, Wien had fully digested the knowledge and rules of survival bestowed upon him by the one who called itself the consciousness of the Forest of Menos.

As it turned out, Hueco Mundo was far vaster than Wien had imagined, and it was filled with even more opportunities and the dangers that came with them. Even the ranks were more finely divided than Wien had known, and there were stronger beings beyond them.

Vasto Lorde was not the limit for Hollows. Even King Hollows above them still had the potential to evolve, but for countless years, no one... no, no Hollow had managed to reach that realm.

Over the past month, the fifteen-meter-tall Wien had gradually grown accustomed to his enormous body. He discovered that Gillians moved slowly for two reasons: first, their immense size, and second, the Reishi in their bodies became sparse again after changing vessels. That was also why many High-Level Hollows used the skill Soul Suck immediately after advancing to Gillian.

Because they were hungry!

To put it another way, the Spiritual Power a High-Level Hollow could store was originally a bucket of water. Pour that bucket into a swimming pool, and it was bound to be nowhere near enough.

The emptiness in their bodies made newly advanced Gillians move extremely slowly.

But as time passed and their Spiritual Power grew, they would gradually become faster again.

It was just that, on the long road to advancement, those unconscious Gillians slowly grew accustomed to moving in a way that conserved Spiritual Power and were unwilling to change, or simply did not know how.

Perhaps only when faced with absolute danger would the idea of "run" appear in their subconscious.

Wien was different from other Gillians. Ever since he was a lower Hollow, he had been desperately accumulating and compressing his Spiritual Power. This not only made his advancement easier, but also kept the Spiritual Power in his body from becoming unstable afterward.

In just one short month, Wien could already move his body freely. Although he could no longer use Shadowless Strike, that did not stop him from pursuing his prey. After all, aside from Adjuchas, everything else in the Forest of Menos was far slower than him.

Crack!

Beneath a great tree, Wien slapped the head off an unlucky Gillian, picked up his mask, and stuffed it straight into his mouth. Then he quickly left the scene, paying no attention to the corpse that was still giving off Reishi.

Wien's hunting method was much more streamlined than that of other Gillians: he still relied on sneak attacks. The reason was his own innate ability.

The ability Wien had gained did not increase his attack power or make him faster. It was a support ability.

Its name was Concealment.

It was not merely an outward ability, but more an inherent trait. For Wien, Concealment was absolutely a heaven-defying divine skill. It concealed not only his Spiritual Pressure, but also his form and... his Cero.

An Ordinary Hollow's Cero was dark red, and Nel's Cero Doble was pink. Wien's Cero, however... was colorless.

It was a completely transparent Cero. All one could see was the distortion caused by the air igniting and exploding as it fired.

But Wien himself knew he had yet to fully master this ability. Only when he advanced to Adjuchas or Vasto Lorde one day would he be able to completely conceal his Cero and take an enemy's life without leaking the slightest trace of Spiritual Pressure.

At present, the shortcomings of Wien's ability were also obvious. Concealment could not give his Cero greater destructive power; his only advantage remained the Spiritual Power he had accumulated. Although that meant he needed longer than others to advance, Wien could afford to wait. He still had plenty of time.

Until that person came.

"Burp..." Leaning against a giant tree dozens of meters tall, Wien let out a completely unrestrained belch. Several months had passed since Nel began hibernating. During that time, Wien had fully restored the Spiritual Power in his body, adapted to his Gillian body, and begun compressing his Spiritual Power again. At the same time, he had also begun to wonder whether this Forest of Menos he lived in really had a master, as those two Adjuchas had said.

"What kind of being is the Lord of the Forest North?" Recalling the Lord of the Forest North mentioned by those two Adjuchas-level Menos Grande, Wien could not help worrying. Was the Lord of the Forest North the master of the northern part of the Forest of Menos, or the master of the northern Forest of Menos? Those were two entirely different things.

The forest Wien lived in was the Forest of Menos on the northern side of Hueco Mundo. Ruling one region and ruling an entire forest were not remotely on the same level.

If it was the former, his power would be late-stage Adjuchas at most. But if it was the latter... he could even be a Vasto Lorde-level Menos Grande.

The strength of someone powerful enough to control an entire forest could not be underestimated. Until Wien could protect himself, he thought it best not to provoke someone at that level.

"At this stage, as a Gillian, even if I find a conscious Menos Grande of the same level, it'll only end in a fight to the death. Though it'll be slower, growing stronger on the outskirts will always be safer than venturing deep into the core. Besides, Nel is still asleep. Perhaps after she wakes up..."

Wien's enormous figure paced as he thought. He was not someone who liked taking risks without reason. Especially when he was at a disadvantage, Wien took that restraint to the extreme.

Near the clearing where Nel was hibernating, Wien began building traps. As a Gillian, he was already more agile than ordinary Gillians, so although he was slow, he could still make the simplest traps, such as pits and spikes.

Of course, at this level, there was no point expecting trees and boulders to do any damage to an enemy. Wien only intended to make traps that would control and restrict an opponent's movements, or warning traps that would make noise.

Just like a spider's web, no matter how large it was, as soon as any prey blundered into it, the spider that had woven it would know immediately.

Only after setting up warnings within a kilometer of Nel could Wien relax. He found a huge pine tree, hollowed out a space in its trunk, and hid inside to rest.

The Forest of Menos was only a primeval forest steeped in desolation, but its trees were so enormous that a fifteen-meter-tall Gillian could live there as though he were the size of an ordinary person.

As for cultivating his Spiritual Power, Wien was not worried about that at the moment.

When he advanced to Gillian, the Forest of Menos had granted Wien more than just Cero as an innate skill. There were two others: one called Soul Suck, and the other Negación.

There was little to say about Soul Suck. It was a basic skill every Gillian possessed, and the best way for unconscious Gillians to grow in the Forest of Menos.

Spiritual Power was extremely abundant in the Forest of Menos. Every time Soul Suck was used, the Reishi drawn from the atmosphere was comparable to that of a lower-tier High-Level Hollow. Using it a hundred or so times was equivalent to eating a Gillian.

And how long did it take a Gillian to evolve into an Adjuchas? A few hundred Gillians, perhaps? Wien did not know, nor did he need to. He understood that the Spiritual Power he needed to devour to advance was far greater than that of a hundred Gillians.

The skill Negación, on the other hand, was worth Wien's consideration.

This skill was almost impossible to counter. Once released, not even a Captain-level Soul Reaper could break it. But the skill was also rather useless, because the user could not cast it on himself, and while it was active, no other Hollow could use Negación on its caster.

In other words, it was a skill that had to be cast on oneself by a companion. And that companion had to be someone with whom one shared an exceptionally strong bond. Once the skill was released, its user would become everyone's target. Negación would not disappear unless the user canceled it, was defeated, or ran out of Spiritual Pressure.

For that reason, the skill was rarely seen in use between Hollows.

Whether such a double-edged skill could be used to its greatest advantage depended entirely on the Hollow's own awareness.

Sitting in the hollow tree, Wien opened his great mouth and began using Soul Suck. Reishi gradually streamed toward him, glowing visibly to the naked eye. After one breath and a short rest, Wien continued absorbing it.

Hollows did not grow tired, especially when their Spiritual Power was abundant.

Inside the tree hollow, Wien closed his eyes and savored the wonderful feeling of Reishi entering his body through Soul Suck. Although he did not absorb much Reishi this way, it was effective and safe.

But peace did not last forever. Wien did not know how much time had passed when, just as he was growing drowsy, a roar from several kilometers away, accompanied by a powerful fluctuation of Spiritual Pressure, jolted him awake.

"Is this... an Adjuchas's summons?" Feeling the roar in his mind driving him like an order, Wien grabbed the edge of the hollow to steady himself after nearly standing up without thinking. At the same time, he shook the roar out of his head.

"Just what level of Adjuchas has such a powerful summons? That one probably covered a quarter of this forest, didn't it?" Wien muttered to himself.

"The sound seemed to come from the core of the forest. Could it be the Lord of the Forest North?" Wien did not know what level of powerful being had issued the summons. All he knew was that the owner of a voice whose summons could affect even his consciousness had to be an exceptionally powerful being.

"Should I go take a look?" Wien asked himself.

If he went, he might be able to learn the details of the strength within the forest's core, but he would inevitably face an Adjuchas-level Menos Grande.

If he stayed, he would be safe, but he might miss many opportunities. A brief period of thought did not bring Wien to a quick decision. Only when the second summons came did he stand and head toward its source. It was not that the summons had taken control of his body. Rather, he had understood its meaning.

Its name was... war.