Demon King
Chapter 61 The Fifth Evolution [5]

Where is my mistake?

[Oh oh oh oh oh!]

First of all, it is clear that I misunderstood the purpose of the second floor of Jinma Tower. I believe that the way to clean the second floor is to beat the undead with maximum efficiency.

But it didn't. As I defeated the undead in that way, they rose up as if they were waiting. No, it looks like they're regrouping.

Will I be able to win just by repeating what I did?

Not likely. There was no guarantee that I would win just by defeating them twice, and it was impossible to store more stamina and magic. It could have been possible, but I wasn't able to give them enough energy to beat them again.

How do I kill this legion of non-dead? As A says, how do I stop it?

Should I use a special weapon? If that was the case, could I splash the holy water and hope that it would stop them? After all, there was no way to get it now, and since I was unable to open the inventory, I could not use it unless it was already in my hands.

But if the holy water works for the undead, it might as well work on me.

It was impossible to just kill them and smash their bones. At this point, I had no choice but to throw away what I originally thought. Undoubtedly, it was the first possibility I ignored, but that is the only option now.

Ate. I have to eat it.

But it's not just for eating. Just seeing the process of recovering the legions from the ground into fine dust. They were people who returned to their normal form even though they were pounded, cut, shocked with lightning, or slashed by the Blood Shadow. If I eat it after hitting it, I won't have any fun. Ghouls may come back to life in my stomach and eat me from the inside.

I need to use Predation.

It was impossible to defeat them unless it was a skill that completely consumed the target and absorbed it. First of all, it makes sense to think that the second floor is prepared to grow Predation.

[Lv4 Predation]

[You can eat anything. Recovering stamina, mana, and injury just by eating. Some degree of toxicity can be ignored. Improves efficiency when absorbing the consumed ability. Even low-level skills are more likely to be absorbed.]

Predation has grown so much up to now. But when it reaches level 4, some things are left unchanged.

“You can eat anything.” In other words, I cannot use Predation on anything that is not a creature.

[Your neck bone is so fresh! Can I take it?]

[Give me fresh skin, flesh full of life!]

I grabbed the skeleton with the sword bone using one hand and a tall ghost approached from behind with the other hand. While it is impossible to absorb the undead with a level 4 Predation, I cannot conquer the second floor without eating it all.

Isn't this similar to when Lee Chan-yu evolved? He managed to tame the hellhound, which was impossible at that moment. As a result, he evolved into a Beast Commander. It seems impossible, but that's what happened.

Lee Chan-yu believes that he can only dominate wolves with his leadership skills. Still, he was also qualified to make the hellhounds obey his wishes. Not by his leadership skills, but through his strength and conviction. It was not presented in the skill description.

Excellent skill, I will not lie. I use it at will because I can use skills at special levels like Lunatic Trickster, Black Rose, Flame Magic, Ubiquity, and Detection.

But since when did I only have the prescribed skills? I can swing a sword before learning Martial Arts, and I can jump before learning Leap. Just because you don't have the expertise for it doesn't mean you can't do it. Skills only exist to reinforce actions related to those skills.

But skill paved the way to my growth and potential well. At some point, I grasped and used my strength according to my skills. It taught me things I could do well, and I followed them.

In the end, I did not strengthen myself with skills. I adapted to fit the skill.

Already late. But as soon as I realized it, I had to act now. I somehow had to do the impossible using Predation alone.

Lee Chan-yu has done the impossible. From the point of view of being called “Bos” by him, I would not be able to keep my self-esteem if I could not do something like this.

[Ohhhhhhhh!!]

Fortunately, I have an idea of what I should do now. It's no different than what I did before. So far, I have analyzed my attack skills and movement skills then calculated how to be fully efficient. I have to be perfect by managing everything from my movements to my management.

All I need to think about this time is Predation. I have to get a complete picture of how it works and how to take the essence and power of my prey. How do I absorb and why does it not work against the undead.

However, skills cannot be changed in a way that improves their efficiency. So what is not possible only with Predation, I have to do it by utilizing whatever I can beside it — stamina, magic, skills other than Predation, and if necessary, everything else. I can do that. No, I have to do it. If I can't do it, I'll be stuck here forever.

The thing I need is Predation, undead, and monsters that are not undead.

If it's an undead, then where else should I look but where am I? Monsters who were not undead were also here. But there is only one. Even if I die from mutilation or anything that is lost, I will rise again as a whole being.

I put my right hand in my mouth. The thought of doing this disgusts me, but my will wins. As long as I'm sure, I'll do this, and I won't back down.

“I will enjoy this meal.”

I chewed my arm.

Predation, however, is a tool to support me.

Predation using my body makes my strength feel cleaner and expressive. And the more I eat, the stronger I feel.

It's easy to mistake that for something possible because I have this skill. But that way of thinking is wrong. It was born as a skill, and it was mine. This is my strength. It was my own strength, and I had no intention of explaining it.

After understanding his skills, I can understand how Lee Chan-yu can do the impossible. Increase your senses to the maximum.

I felt myself, my arms, my mouth gnawing at my arms, a ferocious power beating within me. I have to deal with this pain. Forgetit.

“Grrrr..”.

[You must be very hungry!]

[I want to too! Your other arm!]

The essence of life overflows through my flesh, bones, blood, and muscles. And a little less, the essence of mana. There is a lot of energy, big and small, but it is always divided into two.

Predation greedily absorbs it all. Initially, it was not easy to digest. Still, I can do it naturally like a human walking on two legs, a flying bird, or a swimming whale.

By eating alone, I sort out my energy, extract it, and return it to my body.

If I can control this power, I can increase my efficiency, but I am blocked by my restrictions. This alone has no chance to grow over time.

After five deaths, I discovered how Predation works. How does it work? I can feel the process of energy absorption.

Now that I have tested Predation on living beings, I guess why Predation does not work on undead. But in the end, I thought I wouldn't know until I actually tried to eat it.

[He ate it!]

[He's crazy!]

Ever since I died fifty times dealing with them, I've understood their behavior. I chased after it mostly as I grabbed the skeleton. He tried to stab me in the chest, but my robe could not be pierced easily.

“I will enjoy this meal.”

[Ahhhhhh! The pain! Dark once!]

I bit his head. As soon as the undead entered my stomach, I understood why I could not devour them with my Predation.

This food is dangerous.

A living corpse is an object that has no life essence at all. If so, how did this immortal legion come to life?

The essence of life begins to disappear when its owner dies. Which is similar too. Come to think of it, when the essence of life was extinguished, mana was even extinguished.

The moment when the essence of life disappeared was when the body finally returned to nature, as well as mana.

To be undead, there must be no essence of life. The living corpse artificially extracts all the essence of life and injects new energy or creates it by changing the essence of life itself. That's how they take care of their bodies.

Magical energy was created to imitate life. The forces that hold mana maintain the body and allow movement. This is called the essence of death.

In this way, objects that move through death are born, not beings that have life in them.

Level 4 Predation divides and absorbs power into two: life essence and mana. If the essence of life and mana were combined, the products of the two would be extracted. The extracted essence will then be made into a skill.

Of course, it was not just the essence of life and mana combined, but there were other variables that were impossible to understand.

Yet the essence of death is not included in being absorbed by Predation for a simple reason.

The unclean essence that attacked my body felt terrible. It was challenging to bring out mana because the death essence held onto it. However, it was impossible to expel the death essence. Meanwhile, the death essence freely roamed around my body and tried to change the essence of my life.

That is why the essence of death functions: reversing the essence of life and assimilating itself. Doing so will make me an undead.

The horror he brought was not good. The moment I became undead was the moment I lost all the essence of my life. I believed that I would be resurrected, but what if it was wrong? What if it doesn't count as death?

[Key show. Kigi Show.]

[It's interesting..it's so fun!].

I desperately increased mana, but the amount of death essence invaded my insides, draining my life essence bit by bit. Moreover, the undead did not leave me alone and continued to attack.

Is that really impossible? Is this the limit of Predation? Does he really only accept living beings?

I don't believe it. It could be possible if it develops more. I need to control the essence of death, break it down, and absorb it. I'm sure it will happen.

But I'm not good enough to do that. Predation is lacking, and I need time. So much so that I can't compare all the other things I've been through.

But if so, what do I have to do so that I can survive and absorb this immortal army?

The essence of death within me has invaded my heart and changed it. They want to turn my living heart into a dead heart.

Then I suddenly thought of a way.

Downturns.

If it was possible to turn the essence of life into death, would it be possible otherwise? Can I restore the essence of death to the essence of life? As I thought about it, my pitch-black heartbeat once before was struck by the death essence, causing my heartbeat to stop.

I improved my senses and focused on the essence of death. The power of things within me and the way they move.

Time ran out, and I became an undead. However, I could not enjoy being an undead as I was immediately revived as a scourge. This time, I caught and swallowed the zombies.

I analyze the essence of death. I noted how it manipulates mana and the way it changes the essence of life. In my analysis, I found a way to fight it using my strength.

Only after the seventeenth death did I know.

[Middle regeneration becomes Lv10 and develops into Advanced Regeneration! Some bodies can be revived!]

The power to transform the essence of death into the essence of life. Until now, I have no such power. I ate and ate more, analyzing the essence of life and death.

[Advanced Regeneration to Lv3!]

I swallowed a ghost trying to eat me. Inside my stomach was an enormous death essence it possessed, battling against my regenerative abilities.

It should not be enough to restore the lost body part. Using the power of Regeneration, I must intercept the death essence directly. And I must absorb all that death essence through Predation.

That is not possible with Regeneration and Predation alone. It was possible with all the skills I had, all the tricks to move my body, control mana, and such.

[That ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh that]

What the hell's going on?

At one point, I realized that I was feeling rejuvenated. From the start of the challenge, I realized that my stamina and magic had recovered significantly.

I raised my head. Hundreds of undead looked at me. But they are no longer something I can't eat.