Uriel opened his eyes. All he saw was endless darkness — no sign of clouds or fog, nor the demon.
The darkness made it very difficult to see, but it was not difficult to find out where he was. The smell of rotten egg permeated his nostrils, his ears picked up the sound of splashing water, and he felt the whole place moving constantly. Moreover, he remembered the situation he was in before he appeared in that place where there was only a sky and a demon. All these factors helped him identify which place this was.
'...This place is inside the eel, probably.'
When he was facing the eel, it had opened its huge mouth as if it wanted to devour him — and it seemed that it had succeeded.
He was inside the stomach of a giant eel, however, a sigh of relief escaped Uriel's lips. He knew that the situation could be much worse, such as he could have been digested and killed.
He had come back.
—And he had a way to escape alive from inside the eel.
'I can feel it.'
Something was coursing through his body at a rapid speed, coming out of his heart and moving between his veins — it was not blood.
Uriel clenched his fist and saw a green light faintly shining around him. This light was dim, but he knew it was powerful enough to knock down a wall with one punch. It was closer to "feeling". Maybe this was how a Ranker felt? He could feel the power overflowing into his body. He felt that as that green light covered his body, there would be nothing he couldn't do.
However, at the same time that this feeling was great, it was also dangerous. A sense of danger crept into his mind as he considered the possibility of getting drunk on the power.
What if he happened to become so confident that he would end up facing someone very strong and die?
Thinking this far, Uriel erased that omnipotent feeling and calmed his trembling heart.
"First of all, I need to get out of here."
He was so engrossed that he was forgetting that he still needed to escape from inside the eel and destroy the black ball, to pass Headon's test. Forget about fighting strong people like a Ranker, if he continued in this place his only end would be to be digested by the eel and turned into dung. That was certainly not an end he found pleasant.
But how would he get out of this place?
He looked around. On the sides, there were grotesque walls, similar to the top and bottom. In addition, there was only one straight path from two opposite directions, with him in the middle. One of these paths would lead to the eel's head, while the other would lead to the place where he would be turned into dung.
Walking down these paths was out of the question, after all on the head were three rows of teeth that would destroy him at any moment should the eel notice his presence, and as for the other path... well, it wasn't a very pleasant option.
'That's also a good time to test my strength.'
How strong had he become at this moment with this demon's powers? Uriel was curious.
Opening and closing his palm, he realized that his physical strength had also increased. He didn't hesitate a moment as he walked towards one of the walls located on the sides of the eel's stomach. Reaching there, he clenched his fist tightly.
If it were before, a punch from him would probably have no effect, however, what now? Uriel closed the distance between his fist and the grotesque wall and punched it.
Bang—!
His fist sank in an instant into the wall. A loud noise suddenly resounded, and the place began to shake wildly.
Groooown—!
"Whoa?!"
The place took a huge three hundred and sixty-degree turn and knocked Uriel over.
He was surprised by this, but quickly got up and looked anxiously at the spot where his fist had landed.
"Puhu... Hahaha!"
He couldn't help the laugh that erupted from his throat.
'Great! Great!'
A hole was in the wall. The hole wasn't very big, but it was shaped identically to his fist and had pierced a good amount of dough. It was the demon's power, but technically it was also his power — he felt proud of himself.
'I can imagine the look on that shitty demon's face looking at me — although he doesn't have a face... Kuku.'
His excitement was short-lived, however.
A green goo began to appear as a liquid from one of the paths. Most likely it was the acid that the eel used to digest its food.
"Shit... Already?"
Uriel frowned.
However, it was not a good time to keep cursing, considering that that liquid kept coming up and getting closer to him.
He knew he wouldn't be able to escape from that place by piercing the eel's skin with punches. After all, he might have done some damage, but there was a lot more mass for him to pierce and that would take time — time was the one thing he couldn't waste at this point.
'Looks like I can only rely on shinsu...'
If it was before he could not rely on his shinsu control to pierce these strong intestinal walls, however, after acquiring some of the demon's power, he was more confident.
He closed his eyes and focused on the flow of shinsu around him, hoping that his confidence would not betray him once again.
The result was shocking.
"───!"
Uriel's eyes widened, completely surprised. He could sense the shinsu around him with much greater clarity than before, he even felt that he could control much of that shinsu. To confirm whether he was right or wrong, he controlled the flow of shinsu to form a bubble in the palm of his hand.
The result was what he expected, but it didn't stop him from being surprised.
'So big!'
A huge ball of shinsu was floating above his palm. To grasp the ball, he would need at least two hands. It wasn't just its size that was big — the density of shinsu inside the shinsu ball was much higher than the small shinsu bubble he had formed earlier.
'How many baangs can I form with that amount of shinsu?'
"Two? Three?"
As he thought about this, Uriel's breathing became irregular and his lips kept rising.
The very formation of a baang was something difficult for people on the Lower Floors of the tower, yet this ball of shinsu he had formed had at least the strength of three baangs. If he trained properly to form baangs, Uriel had a feeling that he would be able to form more than five. That would put him on the same level as Regulars who had already crossed the D Rank!
However, it was not a good situation for him to be distracted by this.
"────Ghk."
Uriel emitted a grunt of pain as he felt a burning coming from his foot. Looking down, he saw that the acid had already come into contact with the sneaker covering his feet.
'Damn. I got too excited and completely forgot about it...'
Being reminded of his situation, Uriel squeezed his eyes shut. He should escape quickly — that is, if he didn't want to have his feet digested, and soon it would be his legs.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, facing the wall he had punched. Then he stretched out both arms with open palms. The shinsu ball floated in front of him.
Most likely, the shinsu ball was similar to a baang and he did not know how to fire a baang. However, as a reader of Tower of God, he had some idea of how to fire a baang.
'Expel all the power inside the shinsu ball at once... Come on!'
With an internal war cry, he opened his eyes and released all the shinsu from inside the shinsu ball. The shinsu ball glowed in a flickering blue as if it was about to explode and he focused all this release on a single point. As soon as all the blue sparkling glow covered the whole shinsu ball, the shinsu inside was expelled outward.
Kuooooooh—!
The shinsu was released as a beautiful pillar of glowing blue light.
It was not only beautiful but powerful, as it easily pierced the eel's stomach wall and its flesh. After a few seconds, the burst of shinsu diminished, before dispersing completely.
Fuoooh—
The ball of shinsu disappeared from in front of him after releasing all the shinsu from within it, but Uriel could only stare open-mouthed at the gigantic hole in the eel's stomach. His bewilderment didn't last long — the light from the side woke him up and made him immediately move outward.
He broke through the layers of the eel's body and jumped out.
"Whaaa! Hahahahah!"
'I survived! I survived!'
There were bits of flesh and blood covering his body, but he had never smiled so brightly.
He looked away with his smile intact.
He looked at the reason he had met with the demon and almost killed it. He expected it to attack him immediately even with a huge hole in its body, yet Uriel was surprised to meet his gaze.
"Uh? What's up?"
It was ridiculous to ask a monster that, but still, he asked.
"You, are you afraid?"
The Red-Eyed Eel's body shuddered as Uriel looked at it.
The more he looked at it, the more Uriel frowned. It made no sense for the eel to be afraid of him. Even if he was much stronger, the eel that faced Urek showed no fear even after Urek showed himself far superior.
'...What is that?'
He looked into the eel's eye and saw something.
He saw his reflection.
In its head, more specifically at the right end, he could see a huge horn sticking out of its forehead. Since the reflection was clouded by the red of the eel's eye, that was all Uriel could notice that was different, but it was enough to leave him speechless.
He raised his hand and grabbed the spot where his horn was thought to be. When he felt his hand grasping something, shivers ran through his body.
"...A horn?"
He remembered that something similar happened when Baam used the demon's power, however, Baam's was much more stylish, when to his—
'It looks like an ox horn...'
—It was extremely large for his head, at about 30 cm.
Comparing the one of himself to Baam's, Uriel felt a twinge of jealousy.
"...What the hell am I thinking at that moment?"
Shaking his head to disperse his useless thoughts, he looked at the eel. It didn't look like it would make any moves against him there. It looked frozen in fear, but its bright red eye with its body trembling in fear somehow looked adorable.
'Do I have to kill this cute eel? It is truly a shame that I will have to kill it to pass the test—'
Kill it? Uriel suddenly stopped in his tracks. He let out an "Arghhhhh! How could I forget?!" and grabbed his head. He remembered the real factor in passing the test which was to destroy the black ball.
Finally remembering the ball, he looked around for it. It was right behind him to his surprise.
"Good. Now I should destroy it," Uriel muttered, and walked towards the ball.
In a few steps, he arrived in front of the ball that was floating a few inches off the ground. Raising his hand, he formed a shinsu ball-smaller than the one he used to go outside the eel in his palm.
"It's time to finish. That was fun, I guess?"
Raising an eyebrow, he stopped talking. The shinsu ball flickered, and he fired a burst of shinsu at the black ball.
Kuooooh—!
Crack—! Crack, crack────!
The blast of shinsu formed a small crack, which spread all over the black ball and completely destroyed it.
Then a white light enveloped Uriel's body.
***
Uriel blinked his eyes and the landscape in front of him had changed. He knew immediately where he was.
"I────"
"Wow! what was that, baby?! That was awesome! His eyes are green... That horn is pretty cool too!"
Before he could say anything, Urek jumped in front of him and grabbed his shoulders with shining eyes and an excited smile. Although perplexed by his sudden appearance, Uriel replied.
"Ah. Well, let's just say it's only a temporary state..."
"That was amazing! What kind of state is that?"
"Let's say I take the powers of a demon."
"A demon? Huhut. From the way you described it, it doesn't have a name. How about Death Demon Horn Transformation?"
What the fuck kind of name is that? Uriel held those words back.
"...For now, let's just call it Demon Mode."
"Although it's not as amazing as my Death Demon Horn Transformation, it's fine for now... Ugh! I really want to fight it now! Hey, Rabbit, can I?"
"Hmm, unfortunately not," Headon shook his head.
"I see—"
"Ugh..."
"What happened, baby?"
Ignoring Urek's question, Uriel clutched his head in throbbing pain. It wasn't hard to identify the reason for the pain, after all, he felt as if a weight was being released from his head. Followed by this sensation came Urek's comment.
"Your horn is gone!"
Placing his hand on his forehead, where the horn had appeared, Uriel confirmed Urek's words. The horn that had been there was completely gone.
"...It looks like Demon Mode is over."
He could still feel the power of the demon and could use it whenever he wanted, but it seemed that its use would tire him out.
'It's still fine. Someday I should be able to use it without limits.'
Stroking his head, Uriel dispersed his thoughts. At that moment, Headon spoke.
"Sorry to have to interrupt your dialogue, however, you two have now given teleported to the 2nd Floor."
"Hey, rabbit, wait────"
"I wish you good luck, kids."
Ignoring whatever Urek wanted to say, Headon smiled and waved his staff.
Just then, a black substance covered Urek and Uriel's bodies and both slowly disappeared from Headon's sight.
"...What a pair," Headon muttered as the two disappeared.
"Demon Mode. Kuku. A human from another world, with a demon on the outside inside of him. Although—"
Smiling, he turned to the cage and raised his staff. A dangerous gleam shone in his eyes.
Peng—!
The eel from inside the cage exploded, scattering its remains all over the cage.
"—Just be a weak demon."
"I'll be waiting for your growth, demon from another world."