A giant crater.
It was formed when Hope descended from the sky and punched the intersection into the ground, creating a crater like the impact site of a small meteorite.
This place welcomed another "distinguished guest."
The Yendaros Hounds bit through space with their distinctive teeth and landed right at the bottom of the crater.
The youth leaped down from the hounds' backs and carefully examined the ground.
He seemed to catch a familiar scent of flesh.
The youth extended his right hand, palm facing the ground.
For a moment.
The area around his palm transformed into an abyssal cavern filled with fangs. Low growls echoed from within, accompanied by a powerful suction force.
Some matter hidden within the cracks in the ground was slowly drawn out and gathered into a mass of fleshy cells in the youth's palm. Through this clump of cells, he could analyze Hope's recent condition.
"As expected of Hope. The rate of his physical growth hasn't slowed down—it has actually increased. He's become much stronger than during the last Primordial Competition... If we clashed head-on, even I might suffer."
Although Hope ranked relatively low among the Seventh Prime and was fundamentally an inferior Gug Giant.
The Mad Demon Youth greatly admired Hope. What he valued was not bloodline, identity, status, or any so-called "hierarchy of contempt."
In his eyes, there was only one scale by which to measure someone: strength.
Hope's power was utterly invincible among those of the same rank and even surpassed his by quite a bit. That alone was enough.
"Since you're here, I'll take another route."
The Mad Demon Youth voluntarily stepped aside and headed for the church's main district by another street.
In the areas he passed through, only corpses were left behind. There were no excess cries of pain.