Only I Am A Reader

Despite snatching the opportunity through which the protagonist would have achieved Transcendence, the perplexed Geochin that was standing at the distance was currently at the same level as Leo!

It would be a lie if he said he wasn't interested in the alternative that he relied on to achieve the same result, but Leo already expected this. Just like the Heavenly Demon was destined to clash with the Demon Lord, Geochin had to climb the ladder one way or another.

Although he learned it the hard way, Leo understood that some plot points were unchangeable through indirect influence. A more aggressive manner may work, but the consequences probably wouldn't be worth it.

"Ha... Ha... Ho, focus!"

Next to him, Yeon's face was flushed red as she caught her breath in the brief window of rest that opened up. Not only was her expression quite ferocious, but she was also covered in blood and dirt. Yet, her current form had a strange form of charm in Leo's eyes.

'Is this what they call blinded by love?'

Even when he had come so far, the concept of love still felt foreign to Leo. Even if he was supposedly inflicted by it, he still couldn't define what it was. Not that it was the time to think about it now.

Polearms usually required more than one hand to handle. However, by flipping the Mountain Splitter and the Silver Dragon, Leo could use the ultimate form of the Yin Yang Staff. It almost felt like he was using the monsters' bodies as drums, but the blunt force was quite effective with hard-shelled enemies.

Bang!

Leaving aside thwarting Geochin's plans, Leo only had one focus other than his battles. He observed the Heavenly Arrow's occasional strikes that he delivered from his position in the back. Once he got a chance, he would try out the same technique but at a very close distance.

The bow and arrow obviously didn't mix up well with the rest of the weapons, but it gave Leo an overwhelming sense of reach. Even when he struck enemies a few meters away from him, the impact gave him a new kind of excitement.

'Shooter games are popular for a reason.'

Regardless, the whole episode of new emotions that he had been experiencing since the true start of the war was slowly fading away as everything turned cold and calm once more. There were occasional bursts of emotions every now and then, but Leo went back to having full control.

Whether it was his and the other three's side, their teacher's side, the protagonist's side, his little army's side, and the distant Heavenly Arrow, everything was playing at the back of his head, but the most important part was right above his head.

"Do you really just desire to make people suffer more? Can't you get it now after I explained it to you in detail?"

The Heavenly Demon had already destroyed the Sword Dominator... As well as the feathered serpent, the lightning panther... And more, the current destroyed pile of flesh was already the tenth creature that the Devourer had morphed to, yet he didn't show any sign of tiring!

"You can't be breaking the rules of life like this. Even if you are from another world, you can't recover infinitely. Since you like repeating, I will also repeat. I just need to crush you enough times!"

In reality, the Heavenly Demon was already starting to run out of energy. The overflowing Internal Energy which he felt wouldn't be consumed forever had been reduced by close to half. It was just a rough estimate, but Cheon Ma didn't think he would be able to go beyond another ten creatures of the same level.

"You are just as persistent as the old ignorant me. Fine! I can not violate the rules of life and death. However, who said that I need to do so to achieve my current immortal state?"

'Huh?'

Once again, the Demon Lord took a human shape, one that looked different from Cheon Ma, as he tried to use persuasion over aggression, throwing the Heavenly Demon's thoughts into a loop.

"Everything has a cost, that's as definite as the fate that shackles us, but just as you are consuming your energy to pointlessly kill an abomination like myself, I'm consuming something to emerge one time after the other. A fancy way to call it would be life essence, but... It's just nutrients."

It was arguable, but food was truly the essence of life. With food, one can produce all kinds of nutrients. From carbohydrates, protein, and fats to vitamins and all that is needed to construct the human body.

In theory, the human body could completely recover to the point of regrowing limbs as long as there were enough nutrients. However, the human body can't possibly contain enough nutrients, nor does it possess a healing factor that is fast enough to regrow a body part...

In Murim, Martial Artists could use energy to replace these nutrients and accelerate their healing. In fact, some forgo eating as a whole. Nonetheless, that didn't mean that food was useless.

"Nutrients?"

If it was truly just food, then wouldn't killing the Demon Lord have been much easier?

"It might not make much sense, but yes. In truth, the main drive behind my ability as a devourer is food. The only problem you have is that even I can't count the amount of 'Life Essence' that I have in store."

Staying true to his new race's name, the Demon Lord's stomach wasn't a mere organ. It was more like a whole other dimension storing everything that goes through his throat. After analyzing the consumed creature's physique and ability, everything else is reduced to its most basic form, ready to supplement his body's size and frame when he changes shape.

In a sense, shapeshifting for him was the same whether he did it at the door of death or the peak of his health, both consumed enough nutrients to reconstruct the body of his choice!

"Are you still sure that you want to continue?"