Chapter 104: The Nightmare Monsters

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Bzzzt...

A total of two times Lucifer tried to activate his powers. And both times, the mind energy formed before fizzling out due to insufficient power...

"Wait, no seriously... What the fuck is happening here!?" Attempting to use his other aspects of existence, Lucifer threw punches and shot out devastating bursts of elemental energy!

From an outside perspective, he looked like a little kid who thought he was a kung fu expert. Either that or some dweeb playing around with firecrackers and pop rocks...

"Okay, yeah... Well, shit..." Realizing that none of this was part of the plan, Lucifer's expression became ashen, and his body slumped up against the robust walls of the bunker. "What about the damn plans... How the fuck was I supposed to account for this random ass bullshit in the plans!? What the hell do you mean!? Maybe you should've just been smarter, you moron!!"

Talking to himself and the voices inside his head like a nutcase, Lucifer mumbled to himself for a good five minutes. And just as he thought he might actually go insane, a wild, bone-chilling howl broke the silence that accompanied this new world!

"Uhmm... What the fuck was that...?" Getting up off the ground and taking slow steps toward the cracked hole in the bunker, Lucifer peeked at what lay outside-

"Esceeetch!!"

BANG!

"!!!"

Scaring the shit out of Lucifer, the crazy, feathered head of an eight-foot-tall creature popped up right in front of the bunker crack. Baring its long, numerous razor-sharp teeth, it banged its huge head against the bunker, trying to get at the two meat bags sitting inside it!

"Okay... Well, fucking hell!! What in the name of Dwayne the Rock Johnson are you!?" Backing a few feet away from the frightening appearance of this monstrous feather creature, Lucifer wondered what the hell he was looking at!

Although he couldn't get a clear view of its face with that large, stinky gaping mouth, he could still tell that this thing was strong.

"Even though all my powers have been severely reduced, none of my cultivation bases have vanished or gone down. I am still in the Late Core Formation Realm, and I still have my Gold Rank Body and Mind.

But with my stuff limited to such a degree, it should be the case for everything else as well. After all, this should be an 'Area A.O.E. Limiter', not something specifically targeted against me."

It was because of these deductions that Lucifer was able to immediately gauge the actual strength of this insanely rabid bird creature.

"The Middle... Maybe even Late Soul Transformation Realm...? It can slightly chip away at this bunker material, so it should be at least that strong."

Closely analyzing the bipedal bird creature that was still trying to gobble him up in one bite, Lucifer figured there was no way the thing could get in there with them.

But did that mean he would give up on the large loot bag presented in front of him?

The answer was fuck no!

Sitting down in a cross-legged position and pondering his options, Lucifer recalled that he had more than just his basic aspects of existence. "My Clones," he murmured.

Bringing up his system interface and seeing that all his clones were still there, he used up six quadrillion of his Clone Essence and summoned 6 Clones in the Early Soul Transformation Realm.

While he was at it, Lucifer also took out a few of his other clones. But when they spawned in, he instantly regretted his actions...

"Seems we have a big glutton for today's show! But don't worry, we have more where that came from!"

Working both himself and his clones to death, they gathered rocks and sticks before throwing them into the mouth of the bird creature.

Such a routine persisted for over five minutes...

By the end of these 300 seconds, the bird creature was no longer ramming its head against the bunker like a diptard. In fact, it lay against the side of the bunker with a listless glint in its gaze.

"Hmm... It's beginning to look like a stuffed Thanksgiving turkey gone terribly wrong..." Staring at all the things protruding from the nightmare creature's stomach, Lucifer waited for it to suffocate to death and die.

Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long...

BLING!

[Ding! You have killed a Nightmare Demonbird from the Nightmare Realm. The reward is so large that normal numerical values cannot properly measure it.]

[Ding! Converting to a higher-level form of Clone Essence right away! The exponent feature is no longer applicable!]

[Ding! For killing the Nightmare Demonbird, you have obtained 0.1 Super Clone Essence!]

[Ding! Each Early Soul Transformation Realm Clone costs far less than 0.1 Super Clone Essence. Therefore, with your current Super Clone Essence stock, you can purchase approximately 50,001 Clones in the Early Nascent Soul Realm!]

"Oh... Well, that's quite a lot of pocket change, huh?" Still trying to wrap his head around the absurd amount of Clone Essence he just received, Lucifer walked toward the bunker crack and poked the head of the Demonbird. "Hmm... yep, yep, definitely dead. Now, if I wish to get out of here, I will need to absorb the essence of this beast and see how far I advance."

Putting his thoughts into action, Lucifer activated Demon Assimilation and transferred the cultivation of the Demonbird to himself.

WAAA!

By the end of this process, he could feel that his strength had improved by leaps and bounds!

Late Core Formation Realm (Limit)

Peak Core Formation Realm (Initial)

Peak Core Formation Realm (Early)

Peak Core Formation Realm (Middle)

Peak Core Formation Realm (Late)

Peak Core Formation Realm (Peak)

Peak Core Formation Realm (Limit)

It was only after achieving the limit of the Peak Core Formation Realm that Lucifer felt something obstructing his path forward.

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