Chapter 904: Scary, Too Scary

The earthworm-type demon beast clones dug through the rocky layer, mostly filling up the path they made behind them as they proceeded forward. This was to ensure the column they dug wouldn't collapse when they encountered something amiss.

Moreover, if a clone died after digging into a field of lava, it would cause the lava to flow through the tunnel it had dug, allowing it to flow through the entire rock section. That would restrict the paths Krune could move through during his escape.

There was also the possibility that if a similar thing constantly happened, before he could realize what was happening, he would be surrounded by tunnels of lava. After that, chances of him making a successful escape would become slim.

That was why all the clones were careful in their movements, tunneling through while filling up the parts they had dug immediately. This slowed down their exploration speed tremendously, but it was the safest approach.

Nevertheless, Krune wasn't pressed for time. He was in here for the experience, to better temper himself through all sorts of situations. Therefore, even the current situation was just a means to train himself.

Well, he also had to stay in the Sub-Realm for ten whole years.

That was a lot of time to consider. Therefore, he wasn't in a hurry. Of course, that didn't mean he could take his sweet time exploring. He didn't know when the surroundings would turn volatile. Besides, Krune couldn't relax after sensing two warnings from the Calamity Laws.

That meant that there was something dangerous, incredibly so, in the rocks that were capable of threatening his life. With that, he had to be careful.

Krune then sensed the dot in his glabella, trying to comprehend the details in it. Though, upon realizing the fact that activating it would release Godly Energy in the surroundings, he refrained from looking at it for the time being, cursing mentally.

'The one who made this is cunning. If I didn't have the Calamity Laws to warn me, I would have pulled out the tablet and triggered whatever danger that rests in this place.'

He could feel his heart thump in long intervals as if it was strained. The beats were intermittent, but some were stronger than the rest. And with every strong beat, he shuddered. It was fear, something he had forgotten long ago.

His back was drenched with sweat while all the hair on his arms stood ramrod straight. The pores on his skin opened while his primitive senses were at full sensitivity. Even the slightest vibration in the rocks caused him to shudder.

The feeling of fear was brought about by many reasons, one of which was because his senses were cut off. Until now, even if his Divine Sense had been restricted or blocked, Krune always relied on his Mental Energy Scan to pull through.

Sadly, he couldn't rely on his Mental Energy Scan in this place. Therefore, he felt like he had become blind and was unable to make sense of his surroundings. Emotions that he never knew he was capable of experiencing emanated from him.

His brows trembled as his breathing grew labored. Unwilling to watch his mental state deteriorate further, Krune closed his eyes, taking in deep breaths as he continued to circulate Godly Energy through his godly meridians. Of course, this was just a means of calming himself down.

Out of the seven fragments Little Krune could split itself into, four were currently inhabiting their own Pseudo-Wisps, exploring through the rocky layer. Two were in his subspace, idle, while the final one was in the Lawless Plains.

At present, it was comprehending the essence of the energy-gathering formation to see if it could obtain something new from it. It was also comprehending the laws related to his subspace to increase its size.

Through their shared thoughts, Krune tried to activate the teleportation formation to see if it worked. Unfortunately, when the Little Krune fragment activated the teleportation formation in the Lawless Plains, followed by a spark, it deactivated.

This meant that the spatial bridge between them was cut off. So, Krune couldn't rely on it to send in Pseudo-Wisps from time to time and replenish his reserves. With that, he only had the 90 Pseudo-Wisps he had brought over with him.

'At least I brought quite a lot. The Godly Energy in them would last me for a long time unless I encounter something overpowered,' Krune thought as he saw from the perspectives of the other four clones.

He couldn't see through their eyes or hear through their senses. That wasn't possible. Though, thanks to their shared thoughts, everything the clones experienced, he felt them as well. On top of that, there wasn't even a fraction of a second's delay.

Among the clones, one proceeded vertically upward while the other proceeded vertically downward. This was in hopes of seeing the ends of the rock layer. Moreover, Krune had a faint hunch that what he saw before wasn't the whole situation.

And just as he had expected, three hours later, the clone that had proceeded vertically up bit through the last stretch of rock in its way, coming face to face with a sea of lava that gushed into it. It seemed that the top of the layer of rock was covered by lava.

Instinctively, the clone used Godly Energy to save itself. Godly Energy gushed out of its body and turned cold, slamming into the lava. The laws of gravity were also used to push the lava away until it was cooled enough to solidify.

Unfortunately, a couple of seconds after it had used Godly Energy, the rocks surrounding it broke into tiny fragments. Surprisingly, they weren't crumbling. Rather, having absorbed the Godly Energy, the rock fragments had gained sentience.

They were tiny organisms that were similar to viruses and would come alive when in contact with Godly Energy.

The clone immediately increased the freezing energy in an effort to freeze them all. But instead, something strange happened. Even after they were frozen, the Godly Energy in the ice was constantly absorbed by the frozen rocks as they grew in size. Eventually, the ice shattered when it lost most of the Godly Energy that formed its foundation, while the rock it had frozen turned big enough to shatter it from inside.

This way, the attacks it used were just fuelling their growth. Eventually, a piece of rock grew a pair of limbs as it hopped through the tunnel and latched onto the clone, greedily absorbing its Godly Energy before it was swatted away.

The clone began to pant, having lost a lot of Godly Energy in the process as the space in the tunnel was reducing at an alarming rate. The rocks were growing in size as they absorbed its Godly Energy and became sentient. They then began to attack it, lunging straight at it to absorb its Godly Energy.

The clone immediately changed elements, switching to poison, corrosion, wind, acoustic, and so on. But no matter what, the Godly Energy in the attacks was absorbed by the rocks to grow stronger.

After all, no matter what element the clone used, the rocks existed in one of the states of matter. As long as it wasn't something that disintegrated matter itself, no attacks harmed them. After all, when the clone used the law of fire to melt them, only their form had changed. They weren't killed.

And, as lava, they absorbed the Godly Energy in the fire to increase in volume. The lava then moved towards the clone and attacked its tail, burning through the flesh. Seeing how the clone was almost a goner, Krune thought of another way to experiment.

The clone instantly increased the volume of flames it spewed forth, melting through the rocks as it entered the sea of lava. It erected a barrier of Godly Energy around itself and moved through it.

His expression paled as Krune noticed how the lava was the same as the rocks. Well, they were indeed the same, only their states of matter were different. The lava absorbed the Godly Energy from the barrier. As it was in a fluid state, Krune couldn't determine if it increased in volume or not.

After all, being unable to use either Divine Sense or Mental Energy, Krune was unable to determine that. The clone burst with all its speed as it moved through the sea of lava, expending Godly Energy at a passive pace.

Every second, the energy expended equaled to the amount of a First Stage Godly Fusion Realm cultivator. The expenditure was massive.

Seeing how its speed wasn't optimal, the clone thought and immediately changed form, turning into a massive whale-type demon beast. Moreover, the barrier of Godly Energy shrunk until it formed a thin layer over its body.

This way, it would maintain its streamlined shape and swim better through the lava. The clone didn't turn into a smaller fish because the density of lava was beyond the likes of water. On top of that, it needed enough muscle strength and flappable area to move through that.

Each flap of the whale-type demon beast clone caused faint ripples as it moved forward at speeds faster than before. Unfortunately, the expenditure was also greater than before. After all, with a bigger body, the surface area in contact with the lava had increased.

This meant that the area where its Godly Energy was being siphoned from was also higher. But overall, the efficiency of travel was greater than before. That was why the clone took this form.

Time passed in such a fashion with the clone already exhausted. Unfortunately, the resistance it faced had increased to the extent it could hardly move forward. To survive, the clone created a platform of godly energy under its tail.

It used a tremendous quantity of Godly Energy to make the platform last a couple of seconds before it was completely absorbed by the lava. Its body then shone with rainbow light as its tail slapped on the Godly Energy platform, resulting in a tremendous repulsive force.

This force sent the clone flying forward as it seemed to have torn through a membrane of sorts, noticing how all resistance had vanished. What it saw now was hollowness, without anything of substance, including air. It was like one was within space, but the gravity here was tremendous as the clone's body instantly accelerated.