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On a charred, scorching hill, two demons were locked in a fierce battle.

One of them had a massive skull, with straight, sharp demon horns on its head, and excelled at attacking enemies with charges. The other had strong hind limbs and was skilled at leaping. Both demons wanted to prey on the other, their eyes already red with bloodlust as they reduced the surrounding area to a complete mess.

The battle did not last long before a victor emerged. The demon skilled at jumping seized an opportunity and leaped onto the big-headed demon's neck, then sank its sharp teeth into the back of its neck, dealing a fatal blow.

Purple Blood flowed out. The victorious demon stepped on its enemy's corpse and let out a wild howl.

Just as it lowered its head to enjoy its prey, a black shadow suddenly rushed at it from behind. The jumping demon was startled and hurriedly tried to roll away, but the incoming shadow bit directly into its hind leg.

Only then did the demon see clearly what had ambushed it. It was a Three-headed Hellhound. This Hell Hound still looked very small, but the biting force of its three heads was astonishing. After being bitten, the demon desperately kicked its hind legs, trying to throw the Little Hellhound off. Yet no matter how it shook, the Little Hellhound merely swayed around in mid-air with it, stubbornly refusing to let go.

The demon picked up a rock from the ground and smashed it toward the Little Hellhound. However, the Hell Hound released its bite at that moment and detached itself from the demon's hind leg. Unable to stop in time, the demon instead smashed the rock into its own leg.

The demon let out an annoyed roar of wrath and reached for the Hell Hound, intending to tear the little thing in half. But before its hand could reach it, the tiny dog mouth on one of the Hell Hound's heads suddenly spewed out a blast of cold air toward its hand, nearly freezing it stiff.

After spewing the cold air, the Little Hellhound leaped to the demon's other side, and its three heads bit down three more times.

The demon cried out in pain and scrambled to its feet, intending to use its ability to jump out of the battlefield. However, the leg that had been bitten first suddenly went numb, leaving it unable to exert any strength. It staggered and fell to the ground.

Seeing the demon fall, the Hell Hound excitedly charged forward. This time, however, it was careless. The fallen demon rolled on the ground and casually swung out an arm, striking the pouncing Hell Hound squarely. The Hell Hound let out a miserable howl and was immediately sent flying.

It was not injured, but it hurt. The Hell Hound got back up and whimpered twice in grievance.

Along with its whimpers, a voice came from above. "All right, all right. Fat Tiger, you've already done very well!"

The injured demon stiffened and looked up, only to see an even taller demon flapping its wings as it descended from above. It immediately realized that it probably could not escape.

It was naturally Roy. After he landed, Fat Tiger happily wagged his tail and rubbed himself against Roy's feet.

Over the past few days, Roy had been taking him out to hunt in order to train Fat Tiger's combat skills. Fat Tiger truly lived up to the Hell Hound design; he was exceptionally ferocious in battle. Even against demons or Demonic Creatures larger than himself, he would charge forward without hesitation. However, he was still in the Juvenile Stage, so he often could not completely kill prey on his own.

Even so, the support combat ability Fat Tiger displayed was remarkable. He was already a qualified hunting hound.

Roy crouched down and rubbed Fat Tiger's heads as praise, then walked over and grabbed the injured demon. Seizing both of its hind legs, he swung it up and smashed it hard into the ground twice, immediately killing it.

Along with the big-headed demon not far away, Roy had gained two prey in one go. Once their souls left their bodies, Roy put one away and directly fed the other to Fat Tiger.

Roy had discovered this while training Fat Tiger over the past few days. Although he was a Custom Creature rather than a demon, perhaps because Fat Tiger was also a Soul-created Being, he could actually devour souls just like demons could. Every time he devoured a soul, his body size grew a little.

Fat Tiger no longer looked like a tiny puppy barely over ten centimeters long. His body had now grown to around forty centimeters, and his muscles were gradually becoming stronger. His pouncing and biting had begun to carry some power, and his strength and speed had naturally increased as well. Still... he looked like a little chubby dog!

Taking advantage of Fat Tiger devouring the soul, Roy gathered some Charred Deadwood from the surrounding area. After piling it together, he called Fat Tiger over.

Fat Tiger trotted over eagerly. One of his heads opened its mouth and spat a flame onto the deadwood, immediately setting the pile ablaze. Using the fire, Roy began roasting meat.

Ever since getting Fat Tiger, Roy had been able to eat cooked food whenever he wanted over the past few days. That was an unexpected gain. Otherwise, as before, he would have needed to go to the Magma River to get a source of fire. Now, with a single call, Fat Tiger would immediately turn into a lighter.

Roy gave some of the roasted Demon Meat to Fat Tiger. Fat Tiger's three heads each let out an "ao," a "wu," and a "Woof" toward Roy, expressing their thanks before lowering their heads and wolfing down the food.

By Roy's estimate, if Fat Tiger kept eating food and souls every day and continued growing, it might not be long before he reached Roy's original specifications for him.

Roy's expectation for Fat Tiger was that he would become a Combat Pet. Now that he had gradually mastered some combat skills, Roy had begun considering having Fat Tiger fight alongside him.

A One Demon One Hound partnership like theirs was rare in this Shallow Abyss World. Many demons acted alone and simply did not trust other demons. It was easy to foresee that demons who encountered Roy and Fat Tiger in the future would be in for a bad time...

Although he had been training Fat Tiger these past few days, Roy had never stopped exploring. He had already abandoned the nest he had found before, and their current location was now far from it.

Even the Shallow Abyss was vast and expansive. Roy's method of exploration was actually quite unusual among Lower Demons. If demons had the strength, they would generally mark out an area as their territory and prey and hunt there. They would only migrate if driven away by stronger demons.

Roy's approach often led him into other demons' territories and invited attacks. But now that he had the Bloodthirst Technique and Fat Tiger as a helper, Roy was not worried in the slightest. Along the way, every demon that had taken the initiative to provoke him had been killed by him, including some powerful Lower Top Tier Demons.

Roy was now rarely matched among Lower Demons. Unless he encountered someone with an excessively enormous body size, he had no need to take a detour...

As he continued advancing and exploring, Roy naturally made gains. He had already found three places with Abyss Gate Magic Array Altars. Contrary to what Roy had imagined, such altars did not necessarily exist only inside Dead Volcanoes. Some had been placed in open wilderness.

The three altars Roy found undoubtedly covered a large area nearby. As long as an altar existed, demons and Demonic Creatures living nearby would occasionally run to it and respond to summons through the Abyss Gate.

Although Roy did not know who had set up these altars, he guessed that their true purpose was likely more than merely sending demons to other worlds. More likely, they had been established for war. These altars were like Base Station Signal Towers—once one sent out a signal, all nearby demons could receive it...

Besides the altars, Roy had now traveled more than a thousand kilometers through the Shallow Abyss World. Yet from beginning to end, he had not encountered a single Middle Demon. This made Roy rather curious. Did the Middle Demons of the Lower Layer disdain coming up to the Shallow Abyss, or was something restricting them and preventing them from coming up at all?