Growth

The Northern Forest was a long way from the Central Forest. Wien and Nel traveled and searched for more than a full year before finally reaching the edge of the Central Forest.

It was not that Wien and Nel had been moving too slowly. Rather, Wien had spent most of that time outside the Garganta, searching for settlements and devouring the Hollow beasts there to recover from his injuries.

After less than half a year of recuperation, Wien finally fully recovered his severed arm. He then compressed and refined the Spiritual Power in his body to what he considered its optimal state. Only then did he set out with Nel, spending the remaining time traveling to the vicinity of the Central Forest of Menos.

"Lord Wien, we've arrived." Beside Wien, Nel shook her head and nuzzled the hem of his clothing. "Are we going straight into the Core Area?"

"No, we'll take our time and roam around." Wien looked down at the figure beside him, relatively small but tremendously powerful.

"We'll hunt our way in from the outskirts, little by little. Right now, I need to advance to Pseudo-Adjuchas as soon as possible. Otherwise, you won't be able to deal with the Pseudo-Adjuchas deep in the core on your own. Besides, a body this big is a real hindrance. I have to get back to the agile self I once was."

"I'll keep you safe." The eyes beneath Nel's mask were full of determination.

"Haha... Mm." Wien looked down and patted Nel's head. "Then I'll leave my protection to you until I advance." Without rejecting Nel's offer, Wien led her step by step into the Central Forest.

Wien had actually given some thought to his choice of the Central Forest.

There were three reasons.

First, compared with the other two forests, this one had plenty of Gillians. The next Holy War of the Forest of Menos had not yet begun, and the Central Forest was currently in a period of recuperation. Its overall Gillian population was at a peak. There should even be quite a number of Pseudo-Adjuchas in the forest.

Second, with so many Hollow beasts, the sources of Spiritual Power and the density of Reishi here were more than sufficient, making it a good place to train and advance.

Third, judging by the timing of the last Holy War, the next battle would be between the Central Forest and the Northern Forest. There were less than nine years left, but that was enough time for Wien to grow to a terrifying extent.

Even without so many Gillians for him to prey on, he could use that long stretch of time to establish a foothold in the Forest of Menos.

Wien was no pushover. He was determined to regain the face he had lost in the Northern Forest, even if it took ten years. That was still better than leaving a threat behind.

In fact, spending nine years training in seclusion in the Forest of Menos was not a long time for Wien. Hollows had such long lifespans that nine years was merely a short stretch of time to them.

If that bug advanced to Vasto Lorde in those nine years, he would naturally head to the Inner Circle. If he failed to evolve, Wien was confident he would not give him another chance!

Advancing from Gillian to Adjuchas did not take long. As long as one kept devouring Gillians, sooner or later one would advance.

Advancing from Adjuchas to Vasto Lorde, however, would take dozens or even hundreds of times as long. Moreover, the chance of evolving again was limited by the Hollow's own potential. The vast majority of Hollows could only remain Pseudo-Adjuchas for their entire lives. Even if they were only one step away from Vasto Lorde, they could not advance an inch.

Some exceptionally gifted individuals, on the other hand, could advance naturally once they approached a breakthrough. It would simply take a very, very long time. Wien did not know whether the Lord of the Forest North could use the Forest of Menos's limited resources to advance to Vasto Lorde-class in the nine years remaining. But one thing was certain: after nine years, Wien, having had time to grow, would no longer fear the Lord of the Forest North.

Upon entering the Forest of Menos, Wien and Nel began their hunt. At Gillian level, ordinary traps could do little more than restrict the movements of some Gillians. Wien therefore abandoned that pointless approach, and Nel, a Pseudo-Adjuchas killing machine, took his place as the best hunter.

On the forest outskirts, not a single Gillian could withstand a blow from Nel. Several enormous masks were soon laid before Wien, while the massive corpses were devoured completely by Nel using her special method of absorption. Not a trace was left.

"Lord Wien, today's haul was quite a good one." On this day, Nel brought back six Gillian masks and placed them before Wien. Wien did not stand on ceremony; he grabbed the masks and stuffed them into his mouth.

The Reishi turned into a warm current that flowed straight through him, prompting Wien to exclaim in delight. He refined it quickly. In less than half a day, Wien had refined the foreign Reishi into his body, compressing and tempering it.

"Mm, a good haul. Nel, thank you for all your hard work these past few days." After finishing the refinement, Wien sat down to rest beneath a large tree, while Nel lay on her side beside him.

At Nel's current level, eating fewer than a hundred Gillians would do nothing to help her advance further. Like Wien, she had been born in Hueco Mundo less than a hundred years ago. Thus, she could not be like the Lord of the Forest North, relying on the Forest of Menos's limitless resources and spending hundreds or even thousands of years accumulating power to reach the peak of Pseudo-Adjuchas in the outer circle.

That was unless she and Wien were also willing to spend hundreds of years devouring the Hollow beasts of the Forest of Menos without regard for the consequences. In that case, they could safely advance even without entering the Inner Circle.

But Wien had said their time was limited. They could not remain in the outer circle for too long. If not for the ten years spent on revenge and consolidation, Wien would not even have been willing to waste that time. But this act of revenge could permanently remove a major threat and provide a peak Pseudo-Adjuchas's Spiritual Power. Why would Wien turn that down?

A tall tree caught the wind; what rose above the forest was bound to be struck down. Wien and Nel were good examples of that at the moment. They had been in the Central Forest of Menos for a year, but Wien had not rushed to build a force of his own. Instead, he had hunted as he went, and not one Gillian passing through his area had escaped his grasp.

As a result, no Gillian in one corner of the forest took so much as half a step toward the core area anymore.

In fact, Wien and Nel were already operating as guerrillas. To avoid accidentally entering the core territory of some Adjuchas, Wien and Nel kept to a limited range, hunting only within a few dozen kilometers.

A year of hunting had not brought Nel much progress, but Wien had grown at a tremendous rate. In that year, he had devoured more than a hundred Gillians. Not only had his Spiritual Power increased greatly, but he had also broken straight through the limits of the late Gillian stage. He was about to undergo his second transformation and advance to Adjuchas.

An ordinary Gillian might have advanced long ago after devouring several hundred Gillians, but Wien was different. His terrifying Spiritual Power Compression had packed the Reishi in his body extremely tightly. Although he had only reached the peak of Gillian, an ordinary early-stage Pseudo-Adjuchas could no longer withstand a direct hit from his Cero.

If Wien encountered Riate now, at least he would not be at his mercy as he had been before. The hundred-plus Gillians had allowed Wien to grow enormously. He was confident that in another half month or so, he would be able to advance to Pseudo-Adjuchas.

"Good morning, Lord Wien." In the dim yellow forest, there was almost no concept of time. Yet whenever Wien woke, Nel would offer that light greeting at his ear.

The habit came from Wien. Just once, after waking up, he had unconsciously said good morning. Nel had remembered the greeting, which she did not understand but which carried a touch of warmth, and had continued using it ever since.

"Morning, Nel." The red light returned to Wien's eyes beneath his enormous mask, signaling that he had awakened from his slumber. "Although we Hollows don't need sleep, taking a nap once in a while makes it feel as though the Reishi in my body has had a chance to rest."

"Relaxing now and then is important too." Nel's antelope body was nestled beside Wien, while her human upper body stretched gently, as if she were stretching after waking.

"True." Wien glanced at Nel, the curves of her upper body fully exposed, then looked away and stood up. "Has the hunting been going smoothly lately?"

"Everything's gone smoothly. As of the last hunt, there's been no sign of any Pseudo-Adjuchas." Nel raised her hand and looked at the towering figure beside her. "It's just... there seem to have been fewer of them on the last few hunts. I remember we could hunt seven or eight Gillians at a time when we first arrived, but lately there have only ever been two or three." Nel was somewhat puzzled.

"They haven't become fewer. Our route has been blocked." The red light in Wien's eyes flashed sharply at Nel's words.

"Blocked?" Nel did not understand what he meant.

"The Pseudo-Adjuchas here are shrewder than I imagined. They didn't send anyone to test us. Instead, they drew away all our food sources, forcing us toward their territory," Wien explained after some thought. "There will be fewer and fewer Gillians along the outer edge of the forest from here on. They're deploying their forces to isolate us."

"Why?"

"Perhaps our arrival has pushed their resources to the limit and disrupted their food supply. You have to remember, we've devoured more than a hundred Gillians since we came here.

"More than a hundred Gillians in a year is already a considerable number for the area we're in. In the Forest of Hollows War every ten years, both sides combined only have around ten to twenty thousand Gillians, and that's before accounting for the losses from Pseudo-Adjuchas and Gillians devouring one another.

"If the whole forest were divided into dozens of territories, the resources in our area might already have been depleted enough to threaten the local lord. That's why they want to force us toward the center of the forest. Then, when we fight, we won't be able to escape."

"Hmph, at least you're aware of that much." No sooner had Wien finished speaking than an immensely powerful Spiritual Pressure swept over them. Immediately afterward, a humanoid Hollow beast roughly six or seven meters tall appeared before Wien.

"You stinking worms, you've eaten so many of my snacks. It's time you paid some interest!" The newly arrived Pseudo-Adjuchas Hollow beast fired a Cero at Wien and Nel the moment he appeared, giving Wien no chance to speak.

Half a year ago, Wien might have had to struggle to dodge it. But now, his scarlet eyes did not flicker with the slightest panic. He simply opened his great mouth calmly and fired back a Cero equally laden with Spiritual Pressure. The two Ceros met, and the massive explosion seemed to set even the air ablaze. The smell of scorched trees spread in an instant. Yet when the smoke cleared, Wien, a Gillian, was completely unhurt.

Though still a Gillian, Wien already possessed Spiritual Pressure approaching that of a Pseudo-Adjuchas. He no longer feared a lone Adjuchas in the slightest. Even if he could not win, escaping would now be no problem at all. What was more, he had a genuine Pseudo-Adjuchas companion beside him. Faced with an Adjuchas who had come to his death, Wien could only say... thanks for the meal.

The Pseudo-Adjuchas lord who had appeared out of nowhere did not cause Wien and Nel much trouble. In that first exchange, the outcome of the Cero clash alone filled the six-or-seven-meter-tall humanoid Pseudo-Adjuchas with shame and fear.

A Gillian with combat strength comparable to a Pseudo-Adjuchas—what did that mean? Allowing someone with such potential to grow would be absolutely terrifying. He had to kill him now!

At that moment, violent jealousy and killing intent filled the Pseudo-Adjuchas lord's mind. The next instant, a gray-white staff made of Reishi materialized in his hand. It seemed to have something in common with Nel's Lanzador Verde. Unfortunately, the gray-white staff could only be used in close combat, while Nel's Lanzador Verde had already pierced his chest before he could act.

"You... you..." Looking at the Lanzador Verde in his chest and the Spiritual Pressure erupting from the pair opposite him, the Pseudo-Adjuchas lord realized he had picked a fight with the wrong opponents today. The killing intent emanating from him was gradually overwhelmed by fear.

"Looks like breakfast will be pretty substantial today." Seeing that the newcomer had lost his will to fight, Wien was no longer even interested in testing his current abilities. He gave Nel an order directly. "Go on, Nel. Make it quick."

Hum! Bang!

As soon as he spoke, Nel appeared before the Pseudo-Adjuchas lord several dozen meters away. Combining Super Acceleration with Sonído, she moved at a terrifying speed Wien could not even see. By the time he focused and caught sight of Nel, she had already smashed through the Pseudo-Adjuchas lord's chest headfirst, taken his mask, and used her absorption ability to dispose of the corpse without a trace.

"This girl... she's getting scarier and scarier." Wien clicked his tongue and made the remark.

Perhaps Wien's luck was good enough, but this lord-class Adjuchas was not particularly high-ranked, having barely reached the middle stage. On top of that, his bulky build did not make him look like a Hollow suited to battle. Thus, for Nel, killing him in an instant was no difficult task.

In less than a moment, Nel walked up to Wien with the mask in her mouth. After advancing to Pseudo-Adjuchas, Nel had gained a human upper body, but she was still accustomed to carrying things in her mouth rather than taking them in her hands. To Nel, those hands seemed to be little more than appendages, like tentacles, that existed solely to use Lanzador Verde.

Wien took the mask Nel offered and shoved it into his mouth. "Living off someone else really is great. Keep living off someone else, and it stays great." Feeling the surging Reishi enter his body, Wien could not help laughing aloud a few times.

"Hm? Lord Wien, it seems you've said something I don't understand again." Nel tilted her head, and her eyes beneath her mask seemed to sparkle with curiosity.

"Don't worry about the details." Wien waved a great hand.

"Ah, you said it again."

"..." Wien had no answer to that. "Let's go. Now that this lord is dead, another Pseudo-Adjuchas will probably take over his territory soon. We can use this chance to expand our own territory and push a little farther in."

"Hm-hm~ Yes, my lord~"