Blood-red, fleshy trees covered the ground, their sharp, bone-like branches constantly growing. In the center of this eerie forest, countless branches relentlessly attacked a verdant green orb. Upon closer inspection, a figure could be seen within the orb.
"Will you continue?"
Toreyni peered through the gaps between the countless branches, observing Loyna on the ground, whose face had turned pale. This pallor was a result of the excessive consumption of magic essence. Compared to her, a top-tier elf who had long become a Demon Lord, Loyna, this little one who had just become a Demon Lord, was no match for her at all.
Below, Loyna, her face pale, also heard Toreyni's words, but she didn't reply. Instead, she continued to increase her magic essence output. Unseen by Toreyni, a fleshy tentacle gently touched Loyna's foot beneath the ground.
It was the same tentacle that Toreyni had previously blasted into a cloud of blood mist with a single magic spell. Sensing the restored offspring beneath her, Loyna refused its offer of nourishment and magic essence, and instead controlled it to quietly leave the area.
From beginning to end, Loyna's attacks on Toreyni were merely a delaying tactic to allow the offspring to successfully recover and escape. She didn't want this offspring to die here, because a dead offspring was worthless. Her master had said that an offspring's death must have value.
If she were captured by Toreyni, not only would the possibility of exposing the Mother Nest of All Things arise, but also, an offspring that had grown this large must contain a lot of nourishment. How could she let it die here in vain? Wouldn't so much nourishment be wasted!
'Finally, it's here.'
The next second, Loyna's eyes suddenly flickered as she looked behind her. Immediately after, her small body weakened, and she sat on the ground. The dense blood-flesh trees around her began to collapse, turning into blood-red minced meat that returned to Loyna's body.
In mid-air, Toreyni, seeing that Loyna's attack had ceased, also dispelled the magic shield around her body. Just as she was about to fly towards Loyna,
Whoosh!
At that moment, a figure appeared beside Loyna. When Toreyni in mid-air saw the figure that had appeared beside Loyna, she was about to say something when suddenly, transparent gazes firmly locked onto her from all directions, and a pair of eyes filled with murderous intent stared at Toreyni from below.
"Who are you? Why did you attack Loyna?"
Souei's eyes stared intently at Toreyni, who was trapped by him in mid-air, looking as if he would strike without hesitation at the slightest provocation. But in reality, Souei had secretly tied Loyna up with threads, ready to escape. After all, even the Demon Lord Loyna was no match for her; how could he, a mere Kijin, be her opponent?
Therefore, escaping with Loyna was the best answer Souei could come up with.
"Why is everyone like this? And she attacked me first! Besides, I am the administrator of the Great Jura Forest, the Dryad Toreyni. I have no malice towards you!
!"
When she said the last sentence, 'no malice,' Toreyni deliberately emphasized her tone, as if afraid that Souei wouldn't hear her.
"The administrator of the Great Jura Forest... I understand."
After hearing Toreyni's true identity, Souei raised his head and glanced at Toreyni with a hint of curiosity. He had heard of this legendary administrator of the Great Jura Forest in the Ogre Village. Moreover, if what she said was true, then there was indeed no conflict between them.
"Then, administrator of the Great Jura Forest, since there is no hostility, can we leave now?"
After a few seconds, Souei, confirming that Toreyni opposite him was indeed not showing any hostility, crouched down, picked up Loyna, and asked her slowly.
"Yes. Also, please tell your master that I will be visiting soon."
Looking at the wary Souei and Loyna, who was making faces at her in his arms, Toreyni nodded helplessly, indicating that they could leave, and incidentally mentioned that she would be visiting soon.
Although Toreyni had initially planned to go and see Rimuru directly in a few days, now that she had encountered Loyna and Souei, she would simply have them go back and inform him.
"I will tell Lord Rimuru. Then, we will await the visit of the Great Jura Forest administrator."
Souei nodded after a few seconds of silence, indicating that he would tell Lord Rimuru about this matter.
"Also, Loyna, can you tell me now why you attacked me?"
Looking at Souei, who was about to leave, Toreyni called out to him again, looking helplessly at Loyna, who was still making faces in his arms. Without getting an answer to this question, Toreyni felt that even her favorite potatoes would become unappetizing today!
"Loyna came to play with Big Sister."
Loyna, who was making a face, tilted her small head after hearing Toreyni's words, thought for a moment, and said happily to Toreyni. Although she couldn't lie, Loyna had indeed just wanted to play at first.
"......."
In mid-air, Toreyni silently looked at the empty ground below. The battle, which could be considered a fight to the death, turned out to be because Loyna wanted to play. But thinking that Loyna still had the mind of a child, Toreyni felt that it seemed very reasonable.
"No! Where is the demon I caught?"
The next second, when Toreyni recovered, she realized that the cloud of blood mist that had been floating in the air had long disappeared. In other words, the clue that she had finally managed to find had been broken again. Helpless, out of unwillingness, Toreyni began to search the vicinity again, but the result was that the demon, which hadn't died even when cut into dust-sized pieces, had completely disappeared.
Meanwhile, on the other side, inside a large mountain about several hundred kilometers away from Toreyni's location, this mountain looked no different from ordinary peaks from the outside, but the inside of the mountain had long been eroded. The entire mountain structure had become a flesh and blood organism.
In the deepest part of the mountain, the Mother Nest of All Things, which had grown to a diameter of nearly a hundred meters, was constantly devouring the offspring that had absorbed enough nourishment and returned, and then giving birth to more offspring.
However, this time, the offspring bred by the Mother Nest of All Things all had a uniform appearance. Underneath silver-white armor were dark, sturdy bodies. Atop the nearly three-meter-tall body was a large pig's head. That's right, the offspring born this time were all Pig-Headed Clan in appearance, and even the aura they emitted was exactly the same as that of the Pig-Headed Clan.
A few days ago, under Loyna's command, an offspring had quietly ambushed a Pig-Headed Clan army, successfully killing and devouring nearly thousands of Pig-Headed Clan members, allowing the Mother Nest of All Things to obtain the Pig-Headed Clan's genes. From the moment it obtained the Pig-Headed Clan's genes, Pig-Headed Clan offspring were constantly being bred. The new offspring were all constructed based on the Pig-Headed Clan's genes.
In other words, these newly born offspring were, in a sense, the real Pig-Headed Clan. At this time, the newly born offspring had already been affected by the unique skill of the Pig-Headed Emperor, Geld, [Starving One].
However, in front of Lu Minghao's [Gluttony Sin], the effects of the mere [Starving One] skill had absolutely no effect.
At this time, inside the entire hollowed-out mountain, a dark mass of Pig-Headed Clan offspring was gathered here. Even every minute and every second, a large number of young Pig-Headed Clan offspring were being bred from within the Mother Nest of All Things. And every time a new offspring was born, an adult offspring would take it away, and then devour enough nourishment to grow up in just a few minutes.
Pa!
Suddenly, a huge meatball smashed in front of the Mother Nest of All Things. Instantly, countless tentacles stretched out from within the Mother Nest of All Things, grabbed the meatball, and stuffed it into its body. And after absorbing the offspring completely, the Mother Nest of All Things also received the information contained in Loyna's magic essence.
The next second, an infinite wave emanated from within the Mother Nest of All Things. Instantly, all the Pig-Headed Clan offspring who were sleeping raised their heads, and their scarlet eyes lit up in the darkness. Like a tide, the Pig-Headed Clan offspring began to leave this place along the pre-reserved exits.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
On a plain far away from the mountain where the Mother Nest of All Things was located, countless Pig-Headed Clan members were constantly emerging from the ground. As the Pig-Headed Clan army advanced, the entire earth was constantly shaking, and countless animals and monsters hidden in the forest began to flee in all directions.
"Trample everything!"
"Trample everything!"
"Trample everything!"
The uniform voices resounded throughout the sky. Nearly one hundred thousand Pig-Headed Clan offspring began to follow their instincts and advance in a certain direction. And in that direction, two hundred thousand Pig-Headed Clan soldiers were frantically attacking any monsters they encountered, and devouring them to transform them into their own power.
Half an hour later, just as the Pig-Headed Clan army, which had just broken through several Goblin Village alliances, was frantically gnawing on the corpses of the dead goblins and their own kind, the ground beneath them suddenly began to vibrate, and familiar voices came from afar.
"That is... compatriots?"
A Pig-Headed General looked at the many Pig-Headed people surging like a tide in the distance, and said with a hint of hesitation and uncertainty in his tone. He didn't know when the Pig-Headed Clan had so many more compatriots, but both the aura and appearance on their bodies told him that they were their own kind, and even that these newcomers seemed to have blood ties with them.
"Could it be the compatriots who once separated from our clan, and returned this time because of the King's unique skill?"
At this time, another Pig-Headed General looked at the approaching Pig-Headed Clan army and said after hesitating for a few seconds. In the past, their clan, due to a lack of food, would have some clansmen leave on their own whenever there was not enough food. One was to reduce the burden on the race, and the other was to perhaps find a new habitat after leaving the race.
Pa!
Just as the two Pig-Headed Generals were still communicating, a Pig-Headed man nearly ten meters tall, wearing a scarlet armor, stopped in front of them. His scarlet eyes glanced at them through his helmet, and then he stood directly beside them. And the one hundred thousand Pig-Headed Clan army that followed this Pig-Headed General directly merged into the original two hundred thousand Pig-Headed Clan.
Relying on the same kind and source of aura, this new army of one hundred thousand Pig-Headed Clan members was quickly completely accepted, and under the control of the Pig-Headed Emperor's unique skill [Starving One], they once again headed deeper into the Jura Great Forest.
