The sound came from directly in front of them.
It was just below the tower, only a hundred or two hundred meters away, but the demon's voice seemed to echo in their ears.
The figure of the Devourer emerged from the darkness ahead, the location of his emergence a hallmark of movement, like a portal at the mouth of a worm.
Under Sofia's control, the pure white moonlight overhead focused on the Devourer, completely locking onto it.
"Oh, don't get excited, I'm ready to die!" the Devourer said with a smile.
In the moonlight, Alka's attention wasn't solely on the Devourer. Instead, he looked towards the nearby Trial Tower. The only reason Alka could think of for the Devourer's presence was this tower, so he first observed its integrity.
On the surface of the Trial Tower, Alka saw numerous signs of attack. Numerous scratches were visible, and these marks were very fresh, clearly fresh.
"So you came here to destroy this tower?" Alka asked bluntly.
Hearing Alka's words, the Devouring Mouth smiled and said, "You're getting smarter, Alka."
"Think about it, you inexplicably left the World Scar, leaving without killing me. Isn't that strange?"
"Because you hid. You were afraid I'd kill you and never be able to resurrect. You hid away, and I couldn't find you. There was nothing I could do." Alka looked at the Devouring Mouth and sneered without hesitation.
Faced with Alka's sarcasm, the Devouring Mouth paid no attention.
"There's nothing I can do, my friend. I was too busy looking for allies. Otherwise, how could I have destroyed your world?
Look, now I've found my allies, and they've begun their attack. Naturally, I have time to take a good look at what you're doing."
As he spoke, he patted the tower beside him.
"Is this the God of Trials? It really brings back memories.
My favorite thing to do back then was sneaking into these Trial Towers and becoming the target of a certain level. I'd then brutally torture those who entered, planting seeds of darkness in their hearts, even sending them plummeting into the abyss.
Even harvesting their souls would be so delicious!
Every time this happened, this idiot would fly into a rage.
What a shame, those good days are gone forever."
After he finished speaking, he struck the outer shell of the stone tower with his fist, but aside from a few scratches, the shell remained unscathed.
"However, no other Trial Tower is built so sturdily, so this one is different.
Even with the Trial God dead, it's still functioning.
So, what's the point of collecting these towers?"
"You'll know once I'm done."
Alka suddenly appeared beside the Devourer, grabbing his neck and saying.
Seeing Alka about to kill him, the Devourer wasn't worried at all.
Because the moment Alka arrived, he knew he couldn't escape.
To be honest, he hadn't expected Alka to arrive so soon; he'd just walked right into it.
He had originally planned to conceal his identity and quietly investigate the tower, then figure out if he could set a trap.
But it seemed a bit unlucky.
Because if he left at this moment, he would leave a trace of his presence behind. With Alka and the others' abilities, they would undoubtedly discover he was coming. It wouldn't matter whether he left or not; they'd already been exposed.
After all, his strength in the outside world was only at most the sixth stage, posing no threat to Alka, who had now advanced to the seventh stage.
He was primarily looking for a way to disgust Alka.
"What a shame! Just don't tell me."
Alka said nothing more, too lazy to waste time. A large amount of cloud matter and elemental energy poured into it.
Although this was a body separated from the Devouring Mouth, to possess sufficient strength, it must have contained a portion of its soul.
The entire body exploded into fragments.
The fragments then formed into mirrors and coalesced into a mirror card. Alka looked at the card and saw a cloud of crimson smoke sealed within.
This was a portion of the Devouring Mouth's soul.
Don't be fooled by the carefree appearance of the Devouring Mouth when he died just now; he might be writhing in agony on the scars of the world right now.
The pain of a torn soul is the pinnacle of all suffering.
Exactly as Alka imagined.
Flying through the sky, the Devouring Mouth plummeted, suffering the repercussions of his clone. He crashed into a patch of woodland, roaring in pain as he rolled on the ground.
It took him a long time to stand up.
Memories of the clone's death, along with the soul that hadn't returned with it, resurfaced in his mind.
He didn't need to search his memories to know he had run into Alka.
Next to him was a demon he had never seen before.
"So painful? Your clone outside was killed?" He clearly understood.
He easily perceived the cause of the Devouring Mouth's pain.
The Devouring Mouth glanced at him and nodded. Then he slowly climbed to his feet.
"I don't understand. We just need to gather our strength now and break through here. The entire world will fall completely into our hands.
Why expend some of our strength outside at this moment? Let's focus on this." This demon also appeared extremely rational.
Unlike the Devouring Mouth, this demon's appearance was identical to that of a human.
It didn't even have the demon horns that demons possess. A dark halo crowned its head, and a pair of black, festering wings fluttered behind it.
An angel, fallen from unknown origin, whose appearance had changed so little, clearly willingly.
"I didn't expect you to be so foolish?" The Devouring Mouth sneered without hesitation.
The fallen angel glanced at him.
He shrugged, then suddenly smiled and said, "Although I've only recently entered this world, I've heard some of your deeds.
You're probably going back to find that mortal who brought you shame. And you're right, if you don't personally kill him and wash away your shame.
This mockery may follow you for the rest of your life. I suddenly can't wait to see that day."
Before he finished his words, the Devouring Mouth vanished from its original location, leaving behind only a worm-like portal that closed and dissipated.
At this moment, beneath the Trial Tower, Alka and the others had all arrived.
They had dragged the knights' bodies here.
Mathesha looked at the holes, all of which contained bodies with gaping holes and missing hearts, and sighed silently.
She extended her hand.
A faint, strange light poured into these bodies. Finally, before everyone's eyes, the previously blocked hole inexplicably healed, the flesh buds seemingly coming alive, then forming a scar to fill the gap.
Matresa said, "Although the souls have left the bodies, some power and potential remain within them, enough to restore them to their original state."
Alka nodded.
Then he waved his hand.
The Earth Card controlled the solid mud to form coffins, one after another, into which the bodies were placed.
Then, water flowed in, freezing them into ice.
This ensured that the bodies would not easily rot or be eaten.
After sealing them, they were neatly stacked here, and then a solid, enclosed house was constructed.
After leaving a few inscriptions on the coffins, Alka paused.
He wrote on an envelope that flashed with golden light and then sent it flying toward Rosk's location.
Tell them the information here and, by the way, have them send someone to clean up the mess. After all, these knights were killed because of him.
Then Alka looked at the Trial Tower before him. He could see the wear and tear on its exterior slowly being repaired. Due to the varying degrees of age, the repairs were more noticeable.
In addition to being extremely sturdy and indestructible, the tower also possessed self-repair capabilities.
"So, the Devouring Mouth wants to try to destroy this Trial Tower to disgust us," Jason said.
He couldn't help but stare at the tower.
Alka nodded. "That's right. After all, his current strength makes it difficult for him to cause us any harm from outside.
The success rate of being bewitched by demons far greater than ours is extremely low. He should have given up on the possibility of killing us from outside."
"But even if he's given up on killing us, I believe he's perfectly willing to slow us down and annoy us."
And that's indeed the case.
The Devouring Mouth was perfectly happy to annoy Alka and his group.
"But fortunately, these Trial Towers are incredibly sturdy and difficult to destroy.
And unless the Trial Temple, which controls them, allows it, they'd be difficult to move," Alka said.
That was the only good thing, and why no one had ever considered collecting or relocating them to their own sphere of influence.
It wasn't that they didn't want to move them, but that they couldn't.
Otherwise, if the Devouring Mouth managed to transport a tower and hide it, they'd be completely helpless.
With that, Alka cut the entire tower into pieces and placed it within the small world.
There were already four Trial Towers within the small world, arranged side by side.
Everyone returned to the ship.
They drove the Voice of Dawn towards their new destination.
The fifth Trial Tower was not far from them.
Back on the ship, Alka was still staring at the mirror in his hand, which contained a portion of the Devouring Mouth's soul.
"Is this a portion of the Devouring Mouth's soul?" Sofia asked, standing beside Alka, observing the dancing troupe in the mirror.
Alka nodded.
"I'm thinking, we can't just wait for him to disgust us. I have to find a way to disgust him and send him back."
After all, with a portion of the demon's soul, there are many ways to use it. However, Alka also thought of something that would have a 100% chance of affecting the Devouring Mouth itself.
Furthermore, given the Devouring Mouth's personality, this guy is incredibly afraid of death and rarely puts himself in danger.
So, since he dared to die at Alka's hands and give up a portion of his soul, he must have some means of prevention.
It's even possible that he'll be eternally separated from this part of his soul. While the pain and loss of strength would be unbearable, perhaps that's acceptable to him.
However, Alka's research on soul separation isn't so easy, so we should quickly think of a way to disgust him.
Lucelia jumped onto Alka's shoulder.
She looked at the demon soul fragment in Alka's hand.
"I have a plan. We can release this soul directly and allow it to return to its original form. While it hasn't been separated yet, it will instantly return to its original form and merge into his soul.
Let me think about it. I have it. I'll start now."
Lucelia spoke impatiently, as if she had thought of something.
Seeing this, Alka handed the mirror to Lucilia.
Lucilia immediately transformed into a normal-sized spirit, and a massive cursed sword, wielded with both hands, appeared in her hands.
The cursed sword appeared beside her.
The soul-building aura, coupled with a strange flash of light, was controlled by Alka, allowing it to enter the sealed space within the mirror.
The energy could be seen instantly transforming into a thread, then merging into the demon's soul, seemingly no different from the original.
"Let's release it now," Alka asked.
"So, what exactly did you do?"
Lucelia smiled at this. "Through manipulation of a portion of the soul, a mark was placed on that portion.
The mark can reflect the state of the target's soul and its approximate location.
The most interesting thing is that the moment he returns to the Devouring Mouth, as long as the Devouring Mouth doesn't immediately block his soul out, even a second of return could allow this ability to spread, marking his entire soul."
"Such a mark can be removed, but only by someone who possesses soul control.
I've observed that among demons, those with this ability are around the sixth level, and he doesn't have it.
He's a demon after all. How could he allow others to touch his soul so freely? He'll definitely find a way himself.
As long as he doesn't have the corresponding ability, it will take him a very long time to accomplish this."
After hearing Lucelia's words, Alka and the others nodded.
In other words, even though they released the soul, the Devouring Mouth only had two choices: accept or not.
If it didn't accept, it would have to be cut, so it didn't matter whether it was released or not.
But if it accepted, even for a moment, Lucilia's plan could succeed.
This gave them a way to locate the Devouring Mouth. Locating the entire soul meant locating even the clone.
Because it was also part of his soul, as long as he hadn't cleared it, Alka and the others would be able to track its movements.
While this ability might not be permanent, it was sufficient for a short period of time, allowing them to avoid harassment from the Devouring Mouth.
This choice would also give him a serious nausea.
"Of course, these are just superficial appearances. The most important thing is to leave a point of origin within his soul."
"Point of origin?" Jason repeated, expressing confusion.
"Indeed, a method of soul bursting, a high-end ability I've recently mastered while fully controlling the cursed sword.
I have to thank the cursed sword's previous owner for completely liberating it and storing all his knowledge within the sword."
Lucelia said with a smile.
"We only have one chance to unleash this soul burst. After all, he must be concealed enough to be difficult to detect and eliminate.
But it's only a small burst. If we were to face his true form next time, seizing this controlled soul burst could be fatal."
Everyone understood after hearing this.
It was equivalent to devouring
Plant a bomb within the soul of the mouth.
Let it explode slightly at the right moment.
Although only a tiny explosion, it could be deadly in the heat of battle.
After hearing this, Alka nodded.
Looking at the soul within the mirror in his hand, a silver snake appeared in his hand. As his arm spun, he held it within his palm, unopened.
A strange power further blended into the soul, adding fuel to it, boosting his own luck and lowering that of his enemies.
Although only a tiny amount, it could sometimes be deadly.
Crushing the mirror, the demon soul within the mirror card instantly vanished from its original location.
At this moment, the Devouring Mouth remained within the World Scar.
Standing behind the demon horde, he watched as they surged towards the Demon Hunter Fortress ahead.
Even now, he was still responsible for this area.
Suddenly, he sensed something and frowned.
He felt a soul fragment flying back.
"Another clone destroyed?" he couldn't help but wonder.
However, the moment the soul flew in, he immediately sensed something was wrong. His arm, like a claw, pierced his chest, even touching the soul.
Amidst the intense pain, he snatched out a small, misty fragment.
It was the soul fragment that had just returned.
For a moment, he thought one of his clones had been destroyed.
His clones could carry a great deal of his strength and were not restricted by his original body.
Naturally, with such a useful power-devouring mouth, he had several scattered around.
It was normal for some to be destroyed from time to time.
When he pulled out this soul fragment, his brows knitted together.
His expression became extremely grim.
Because this soul fragment wasn't new, but rather the soul fragment of the clone Alka had killed not long ago.
It had actually returned.
Although he had retrieved the fragment for inspection the moment it returned and merged into his own, the technique used on it had still penetrated his soul.
He could sense several more probing soul threads lingering within his soul.
These soul threads were extremely weak and non-threatening; otherwise, he would have sensed them instantly and wouldn't have allowed the soul fragment to merge into his own.
Though they posed no danger, they could still transmit his soul's vibrations back to the other party.
Having threads that didn't belong to him entangled within his own soul was incredibly disgusting. He didn't have the ability to remove them immediately, and that was the most disgusting thing.
He had been inexplicably tricked again, and just as he'd been disgusted by them, he was being disgusted again.
"Damn it, damn it, Alka!" The Devouring Mouth gnashed its teeth, wishing it could tear Alka to pieces.
Although he was surrounded by demons capable of controlling souls, he couldn't possibly ask for their help.
So he had to bear this loss alone, silently bearing it in his heart.
Furious, he flapped his wings and charged directly towards the front line, ready to vent his rage.
After all, he was a demon too.
On the other side, Lucilia suddenly smiled.
"Haha, it actually worked! I actually merged with his soul. It was only for a moment, but I managed to attach a few threads to his entire soul."
"Honestly, I really want to see his expression right now. It must be amazing."
Everyone around him couldn't help but smile.
When the enemy suffered, they naturally felt happy.