Wormholes. They were not merely portals that connected two places and transported people to other locations. They were passages that connected one place to another across space and time.
The emphasis lay on "space and time."
They could create a connection between locations, no matter where or when they were. They would establish a consistent passage between places that could be in different galaxies and even exist in different times.
Simply put, there was a possibility that Asher was currently in the past or future, albeit in a completely different place from his galaxy.
That explains why I felt that strange sensation when passing through the wormhole!He recalled the pull and the long time he had spent within the wormhole itself. It was completely different from back then, when he wandered through portals into the worlds of monsters to fight them.
"This layer is also called the Desolate Plain and is ruled by seven Demon Kings and their Demon Lords. Of course, all demons are subordinate to the Demon God, the most powerful demon and one of the three rulers of the Abyss."
Krampus continued his explanation without noticing Asher's pensive state and, as promised, went on to tell Asher everything about the Abyss.
He seemed very proud of his demonic nature and proudly spoke of the Demon God and the Desolate Plain, the home of the demons.
However, it was surprising to hear that Krampus, as an existence on the mystical rank, held only the title of Demon Lord, while the demons in the Endless War Hell would become Demon Kings and high-ranking entities of the galaxy starting at this rank.
This made the power difference between the Abyss and Asher's galaxy all the more apparent and revealed another distinction between the two types of demons, which followed a different system.
Thus, it made sense that not all demons in the Abyss merely strove for power or were battle fanatics.
Krampus, however, was not a good example of this and didn't exactly help confirm the hypothesis.
"…And the Demon King Mephistopheles, whom I serve, is by far the strongest, with his Power of Wrath…"
He continued to rave without end and didn't even notice that Asher paid him no attention and skillfully ignored the seemingly unimportant details while remaining deep in thought.
That was divine multitasking.
"I see," he murmured after a while.
BOOM! Suddenly, a loud explosion sounded a few kilometers away and caused the earth to shake slightly, followed by a shockwave that swept across the plain.
The unexpected shock interrupted them both—Krampus in his talking and Asher in his thinking—as they felt two powerful auras coming from the origin of the shockwave.
Asher and Krampus immediately turned their attention to the north, where the two auras, apparently clashing repeatedly, could be felt and were causing small natural disasters.
The confrontation between two powers continuously sent powerful shockwaves through the plain, wreaking destruction and shaking the earth.
The clash between two mighty individuals was palpable even from this distance, without even having to perceive their auras, and caused great destruction visible even to the mortal eye.
"What is that?"
"Those are… those bastards… on Lord Mephistopheles' territory?!"
Krampus seemed to immediately recognize who the two quarrelers were and was furious.
Had he not run out of energy earlier in his fight with Asher, the atmosphere would likely have started to heat up again.
Asher blinked, slightly puzzled by Krampus' reaction, focused his divine perception into his eyes to enhance his vision, and caught a better look at the two fighters.
Rather than using his divine perception—which, as before, might have been sensed by Krampus—he chose to keep a low profile, unnoticed by the two.
With his enhanced, divine vision, he quickly recognized the two silhouettes in the distance.
One of them appeared to be a rather muscular human with a height of over two meters and a bare, muscular upper body.
The human's tireless attacks—his powerful, bare-fisted punches, which could likely shatter entire mountains—rained mercilessly upon his opponent.
His opponent, by contrast, seemed to be a young elven woman, dressed in a white and green robe, bearing a charming appearance, and wielding a staff in her hand that she swung ceaselessly to cast spells, defending herself and countering the human man's attacks.
The fight between the two powerhouses was fierce.
At first glance, it was easy to see that the man specialized in close combat and enjoyed using his body, while the elf was a skilled magician who always had the right spell at hand to deal with the situation.
While the human acted quite proactively and struck mercilessly, as if facing his archenemy, he couldn't get through the elf's barrier and simultaneously had to dodge her counterattacks.
How strange, to see her so defensive… this is…
Asher quickly noticed something peculiar while observing them. He saw something odd in the elf's actions.
She seemed overly focused on defense and only launched occasional, rather weak counterattacks to keep her opponent at bay.
It was as if she were holding something back, as if she were protecting something that prevented her from going on the offensive and forced her into a defensive stance.
"These damned long-ears and filthy humans—how dare they cause trouble on demon territory?!"
Interesting, he recognized them before I did. Probably because of their auras, which clearly differ from those of demons.
While Asher watched the battle with interest, Krampus seethed with anger beside him.
He took it as a great insult that two quasi-mystical individuals, who weren't demons, were fighting on the Desolate Plain, the homeland of demons, and causing reckless destruction.
It was one thing that they were fighting here as if it were their home, but at the same time, their clashes were wreaking massive environmental havoc, like minor natural disasters. That was simply unforgivable and an insult to the demons.
Normally, Krampus was always interested in fights and a very battle-hungry demon, but at this moment, he felt nothing but rage.
Although he loved fighting more than anything, he was also a very proud demon. He simply couldn't tolerate how these beings were insulting his master and especially the demon race with their actions.
"That is…"
Asher finally seemed to understand what was going on. As expected, this was no ordinary fight between two powerhouses. The fight resembled more a hunt, with the hunter being the human and the target being the object the elf was carrying.
Upon closer inspection, Asher recognized the object in the elf's hands—a large, golden egg covered in scales and radiating an immortal aura.
Given the energies of the egg, it was surprising that he hadn't noticed it earlier, but the clash of the two powerful auras had overshadowed the immortal energies of the egg.
There was no doubt—this egg belonged to a mystical beast!
A mystical beast. It was a designation for animal-like beings with incredible potential and great power. They didn't just have the potential to become godlike beings—they didn't even need immortal energy for it.
They themselves were like generators of immortal energy and only needed to cultivate it.
They were, therefore, a great power that even creator gods would want to claim for themselves.
"Heh!"Asher grinned wickedly as a good idea came to him.
Suddenly, he stepped forward, which confused Krampus somewhat, and stretched out his arms with a sinister grin on his lips.
Formless Chaos!
Asher's body, starting with his arms, began to dissolve into a kind of dark, translucent mist until finally his entire body became a chaos-like fog, almost transparent.
He had taken on his Formless Chaos form.
This form originated from his divine bloodline, which he had obtained as a demon during his time in the Endless War Hell, after he was the first to reach the rank of Demon King.
Through this, he acquired the powerful demon bloodline of the Chaos Demon, which fused with his divine existence and became a divine bloodline.
In this formless chaos form, he became a form- and substance-less existence. Even his energies were no longer perceptible and had vanished inside him.
"I'll be right back."
Asher's voice echoed like a spirit inside Krampus' mind as he simultaneously vanished like dissolving mist from the spot.
Krampus could barely tell what was happening and stared speechlessly and confused into the empty space where Asher had stood moments before.
"You bastard! Leave me alone, damned human!"
The elf shouted at her pursuer with fervor and contempt and activated several different spells by swinging her staff.
Cornered, the elf moved her staff with sweeping motions, casting multiple spells to defend herself as best as she could without damaging the mystical beast's egg in her arms.
Thanks to the spell she cast, three large lotus blossoms appeared around her, serving as a sturdy shield against the human's attacks.
The magical barrier created from the lotus blossoms managed, though only briefly, to withstand the man's relentless blows, though light cracks quickly began to form in the barrier.
Next, a large bud formed above the mage's head and quickly began to bloom.
Once the bud blossomed within seconds into another beautiful lotus flower, it unleashed a stormy fire tempest directly at the man.
Tch. The man merely clicked his tongue at the sight of the attack and protected himself with crossed arms as the firestorm hit him and swallowed him whole.
The flames of the attack were unimaginably hot and filled with the power of a quasi-mystical sorceress. They would have been able to scorch even the strongest defense and turn it to ash.
Yet, when the flames vanished and the man's figure appeared, he was still completely unharmed, without a single wound or burn, as if the flames had no effect on him.
"Hmpf." the man snorted disdainfully at the attack that couldn't even tickle him.
Then he resumed his assault on the elf, gathering strength for a powerful blow and smashing one of the lotus blossoms that had moved swiftly in front of the elf to protect her just in time.
The impact of his fist was beyond any norm and shattered the already cracked barrier completely, as if it were made of glass.
Tch. Damn muscle brute! the elf cursed inwardly as she continued trying to keep her distance.
She quickly realized she was at a distinct disadvantage and held the worse cards.
But the enchanting elf didn't let herself be defeated and continued casting spells to strengthen her defense, occasionally launching counterattacks to slow her pursuer, which barely, if at all, damaged his steel-like skin.
Mm~ Very good, they don't seem to notice me.
Like out of nowhere, Asher appeared in the form of a translucent mist, only a few hundred meters from the two fighters—a distance barely worth mentioning for beings of their caliber.
Thanks to the special traits of his divine bloodline and his formless chaos form, he was able to remain completely undetected and further secured himself with a special technique infused with the power of a Law.
Convergence of Silence!
Using the Law of Silence, he was able to mute his presence, even his entire existence, for a short time and evade all sight and special senses.
This technique of the Law of Silence was so powerful that one would not perceive him even if he stood directly in front of them or touched them.
Very well, then I'll take… this now!
Asher stretched out his invisible, chaos-made hand towards the elf and unleashed tiny, almost imperceptible amounts of energy, seeming to grasp something through the void.
In the blink of an eye, from the mass of gathered mist forming his hand, a basketball-sized golden, scaled egg appeared as if from nowhere.
As soon as he had the egg in his hands, Asher's misty form vanished like a ghost and returned to Krampus.
Asher reappeared in his normal human form beside Krampus, holding the golden egg of a mystical beast in his hand.
"Huh? What do you have there?" Krampus wondered, seeing Asher appear beside him and quickly noticing the conspicuous golden egg in his hand.
Asher merely gave him a blank look without answering his question.
Then, without another word, he simply left, heading toward the shattered mountains that had been reduced to barren wastes from the initial clash between the two.
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