[CH598+ Continued] Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster's Power

Chapter 665

I watch dozens of red-cored demons, dressed head to toe in metallic black armor, step out from the rift. Some carry longswords, others shields, and a few wield axes and hammers.

Their horns vary in height and length, with colors ranging from black to brown to red. The exposed skin on some demons shares these color tones. Even their heights and builds differ—some standing near human height at 2 meters, while others tower up to 5 or even 6 meters tall.

These are all arch demons, ranging from level 5000 to 9000, and their sharp eyes scan the darkness of night with ease, spreading out in multiple directions.

The constant flow of red cores halts after about four dozen demons emerge, and then an orange-cored demon steps through.

It moves forward, raising its arms to begin giving orders to the surrounding demons.

At such a distance, with the interference of the abyss, the True Core-level fight happening in front of me, and the thousands of kilometers between us, I can only make out a few words.

"Survey the lands, and report back the throne's approximate opening time!"

"I want threat levels calculated! This world is located in a 3rd Class Natural Mana Zone. There shouldn't even be enough mana here to create a fully matured Stage 2 labyrinth."

"Scope out potential nearby threats and secure this land to begin the base builds!"

"Lord Vermillion will be expecting your scouting results back in 15 minutes!"

The demons split into two groups.

Some spread out to begin surveying the outside of the abyss as it slowly seeps inward toward the tower, while others get into formation and start glowing white and purple.

At first, my eyes widen as I mistake this purple glow for something similar to the ring I'm wearing, but the longer I look, the more intriguing it becomes.

Their Demon Cores all glow and vibrate with this light purple sensation, and a material emanates from their bodies, giving off the radiation of Qi in the back of my mind, while also simulating the sensation I feel when someone uses Soul Energy.

No mana is being used in these movements, and it clicks in my head what they're using once the base of a structure begins to form on the desert floor.

"Demonic Soul Energy..." I whisper to myself.

It appears that just as mana and Qi can combine to create a far more powerful base, Demonic Energy and Qi can do the same. Demons on this world are usually too weak when they form labyrinth contracts to obtain such a substance, so they're all mana-based creatures here. Only a small portion are capable of wielding demonic energy through their cores, and even less have ever even seen Qi.

However, every single one of these demons is using both of them combined, to an exceptional degree. They are the elite force Pluto spoke of seeing when he was young, an army of Demons lead by the Vermillion family called the Red Cored Demonic Knights...

—

As this unfolds in my mind's eye, the spar between Ember and Abby continues.

In Ember's hybrid form, their speed and battle IQ are similar, but it's clear Ember has far more raw power.

Even the attacks Abby lands only scratch his natural scaled armor, while Ember's attacks can't land either, as Abby's body allows them to seep through like nothing.

Every time her Immortal body is tested, I feel a faint warm ripple of energy coming from her, hitting me and everything in our surroundings. I'm over a kilometer away, and it is very faint, but I zero in on it with my All-Seeing Eye as the battle goes on and discover that energy is being expended and ejected each time. The explanation for how it works is almost as strange as the pulses from Maria's core.