Middle Demon

The third month after the melee ended.

It was still that mountain peak covered in Death Tribulation Flowers.

Almost time...

Raising his head to sense the will of the Howling Forest, Orsaga knew it was time to leave in the face of its increasingly countdown-like urging.

After constantly hunting all kinds of monsters these past few days, the Evolution Points stored in the system were already more than enough for him to evolve into a Middle Demon, so there was no need for him to keep dragging things out.

Thus, he directly used the power of his mind to convey his desire to leave to the will of the Howling Forest.

In the next instant, his figure vanished from where he stood.

Only that sea of flowers remained, beautiful yet deathly silent.

This was a murky region, filled with distorted spots and lines scattered around without any pattern.

The moment Orsaga appeared here, he understood that this was the transfer point between the Howling Forest and other Abyss Layers.

Through this place, he could reach most Abyss Layers. This was a one-time privilege granted by the Howling Forest and the other starting grounds to every monster that left them.

For most Abyssal monsters, this was also their only chance to travel between the various Abyss Layers.

By probability alone, most fledgling monsters would likely be beaten to death and eaten by other monsters before they ever got far enough in their chosen region to afford an interlayer Teleportation Array.

Take demons, for example. Although they were immortal creatures and did not die of old age,

their average lifespans were extremely short—even shorter than those of humans!

That was because most of them were born and died on the same day. Ninety percent of newborns could not even leave the riverbank before bidding farewell to the world.

And even after leaving the riverbank, they still had a ninety-nine point nine-nine-nine percent chance of dying in all kinds of battles in the days ahead!

Only a tiny minority could truly endure.

Faced with such an absurdly high death rate, it was fortunate that the Demon Eggs along the Styx were nearly infinite in number, with countless Infant Demons being born at every moment.

Otherwise, let alone increasing in numbers, it would already be a miracle if demons did not go extinct!

Closing his eyes, Orsaga carefully sensed the imprints from the various Abyss Layers within this space. He found that most of their information was vague, only noting their own characteristics—for example, what attribute of demons dominated each Abyss Layer.

Fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, poison, metal, space, time...

Beyond that, there was no further information, not even the names of the Abyss Layers. It gave Orsaga the feeling that he had stumbled into a shady agency.

After hesitating for a while, he ultimately chose an imprint containing mostly fire-attribute demon auras.

Although Orsaga possessed all sorts of miscellaneous abilities, at the end of the day, he was still a Flame Demon. Even if he had mutated, he was still a Flame Demon.

So, he decided to first find somewhere with a suitable attribute and make a living there.

After reading the brief information on the imprint, Orsaga thought helplessly, I hope that place isn't too awful...

As far as he knew, some fire-attribute Abyss Layers had extremely harsh environments, with meteor showers and solar storms sweeping the land every day. Aside from fire-attribute demons and fire-attribute elemental creatures, there was not even a ghost there.

If possible, he truly did not want to stay in a place like that...

Once he made his choice, his vision warped, and the scenery around him became like an abstract painting.

Through his perception of space, he could sense that his body was being moved elsewhere by a Great Power, yet he could not comprehend the level of that power.

Before long, when his vision returned to normal, Orsaga found himself standing on unfamiliar land.

Compared to the Howling Forest, which was thick with all kinds of vegetation, the ground here was undoubtedly far more barren. As far as the eye could see, only a few scattered plants grew.

The decaying, damp stench of blood that filled the air was gone, replaced by the High Temperature radiated by the five fireballs in the sky!

Converted into the temperature scale from his Previous Life, it was roughly over five hundred degrees. The air was extremely dry, without a trace of moisture. Ordinary people could not survive here even for an instant.

After lightly sniffing the air, he also caught a strong scent of sulfur and volcanic ash.

There were volcanoes nearby, and more than one or two of them...

Orsaga nodded in satisfaction. He was very pleased with the environment here; it was far better than he had expected.

After using his soul perception to confirm that there was nothing nearby requiring caution, his body slowly sank downward, silently merging into the earth.

He needed to advance into a Middle Demon, and this place would do well enough.

After sinking roughly five hundred meters underground, he saw that the earth around him was gradually being replaced by magma. This meant the nearby region was likely part of a giant volcano, capable of erupting endless magma at any time.

No wonder the surface was so bare...

Though somewhat surprised by the sight, Orsaga did not pay it much mind. After all, the environment of the Bottomless Abyss had never been pleasant.

Once he reached a depth of two thousand meters, he cast several dozen spells around himself for vigilance and protection, then closed his eyes.

Blood mist automatically emerged from the surface of his body, forming a shell around him and wrapping him into a cocoon-like object.

For Orsaga, this was both an ascension and another experience of having his tendons pulled and bones stripped away.

Whenever this happened, he could clearly feel himself being melted away bit by bit, then reforged bit by bit, just like the pupal stage before a caterpillar transformed into a butterfly.

His entire body dissolved, and upon its old foundation, a more perfect version of himself was reshaped!

This pain and transformation did not occur only to his flesh; his soul underwent them as well.

Each time he clearly felt this unparalleled agony, Orsaga gained a certain insight, as though he understood the very concept of pain more deeply.

It was an indescribably wondrous feeling.

At that moment, Orsaga vaguely felt that he himself was the Avatar of pain, able to endure and inflict it with ease. He also seemed to hear the countless anguished cries this land had endured over endless years, as though billions of creatures had crossed the barrier of time to tell him of their suffering.

Carefully listening to those Painful Wails and savoring the thoughts within them, Orsaga seemed to hear the sound of chaos and come into contact with the negative torrent of the entire world.

His soul involuntarily revealed a joy that came from the depths of his heart...

Several days later, the giant cocoon's shell cracked apart.

It turned into a cloud of scarlet mist and returned to Orsaga's body, becoming his reserve power once more.

At this time, his height had increased from over three meters to around four point four meters. His Exoskeleton had become more ornate than before, with countless Death Tribulation Flowers forming all kinds of inscrutable patterns upon it, as though they held some other meaning. The pair of wings on his back had also changed drastically. They had become longer and increased to four in number, their edges covered in sharp barbs. They could serve as both wings and close-combat weapons.

The two horns on his head had not changed much, merely becoming thicker and longer. The originally slender, cone-like tip of his tail had transformed into something resembling both a trident and a Three-Pointed Double-Edged Blade, retaining its original ability to pierce people while also gaining the effect of slashing.

Host: Stewart. Ogarisa. Asaron... Kelifor. Orsaga

Race/Level: Demon—Mutated Flame Demon/Middle Demon

Strength: 107

Speed: 106

Constitution: 111

Mana: 114

Soul: 118

Talents: Self-Evolution—Plunder (Your body is constantly undergoing self-optimization, while combat and devouring flesh and souls will accelerate this process.), Mana—Soul-Eroding Blood Flame (Bloodflame has completely replaced your mana, becoming your most fundamental energy. It possesses the traits of corroding and burning all things.), Exoskeleton—Scarlet (Armor formed from your own scales. It possesses extremely high resistance to all kinds of effects and automatic repair capabilities, while also concealing your aura and enhancing your adaptability to any environment.), Eye of Insight—Void-Breaking (Greatly enhances vision, ignoring ordinary illusions and most matter.), Death Plague Calamity—Death Tribulation Flower (You may freely adjust and control all kinds of plagues according to your will, while Death Tribulation Flowers become their symbol and represent your mark.), Self-Projection—Avatar (You may project Avatars with a certain degree of strength across extremely long distances.), Magic Martial—Crucible (Any spell or combat technique becomes exceptionally simple in your eyes. You can easily innovate upon the old, no longer bound by conventional methods of use, and freely combine the two.), Apocalypse—Awakening (As though guided by divine revelation, all your learning abilities are greatly enhanced, and you possess a certain degree of precognition.), Pain—Torment (As an envoy of pain, so long as you wish it, every action you take can inflict suffering upon others, even a casual glance.), Abyssal Contract (Through the power of the Bottomless Abyss, you possess the ability to voluntarily accept summons and may use Abyssal power as a medium to make contracts with other beings. Note: No one can violate a contract, not even a Demon Prince.)

Abilities: Too long, can't be bothered to list them. Skipped directly. Anyway, they're all kinds of spells and combat techniques...

Evolution Points: 0

The appearance of the attribute list had changed drastically.

Setting aside the various values,

apart from Abyssal Contract, all Talent Abilities had also completed their evolution through mutual combinations and supplementation during this advancement.

They had received tremendous improvements upon their original foundations!

After slightly moving his body, Orsaga casually flapped the four wings behind him, and his body immediately shot toward the ground above like an arrow loosed from a bow. The earth and magma along the way caused him no trouble whatsoever. Every object that obstructed him was effortlessly smashed apart, as fragile as tofu.

In less than a second, he pierced through over a thousand meters of obstacles and arrived high in the sky.

If his previous wings had still needed to flap for him to fly, then his current wings possessed innate antigravity flight. Without moving at all, they allowed Orsaga to fly freely. Flapping them was more for acceleration, simply making him fly faster.