5-Life energy!

Swain slowly opened his eyes and looked around. He was in the same place as before he fell asleep. The dark and cold walls of the cave offered him a shelter.

"My wounds have stopped bleeding. I think I've been sleeping for a day." Swain said, examining his wounds in detail. He had managed to escape from Hollow's attack, but it had cost him dearly.

All of his tooth and claw wounds had stopped bleeding and started to heal. His left leg, however, was not in good shape. His left leg was still bleeding from some places and had not entered the healing phase yet. This wound was his biggest weakness right now.

The reason why his left leg was in this condition was also because he had suffered heavy damage from the inside. Swain took support from the ground and slowly got up. Even if he couldn't use his left leg, he could walk slowly with the help of the objects around him. But he couldn't go far like this.

The reason why he came out from behind the rock was to find a safer shelter. The fact that no Hollow had come here for a day did not mean that they would never come. Swain was taking a big risk right now. If the Hollows found him, he might not have the strength to run or fight.

"I won't go into the depths of the cave and I'll stick to the wall on my left side." Swain said to himself. He hoped to find a place where he could take refuge without being attacked by the Hollows. But this hope was very weak. Because Hollows could be anywhere at any time.

Swain's bright purple eyes pierced through the darkness and allowed him to see clearly around him. As Swain walked, the cave narrowed and the stones on the walls crumbled. He walked for about two hours until he heard a sound.

"Is that a cry of sorrow? There shouldn't be anyone here." Swain said to himself and carefully approached the source of the cry.

He was only two minutes away from the source of the sound. The source of the sound was a spirit, a crying spirit. This spirit was two meters long and had a skin that resembled a lizard man. The head of the spirit looked like a mixture of an ogre and a lizard man. It had a tail about one meter long. The tail grew longer as he walked and had a sharp point at its tip.

"A lizard man!" Swain exclaimed in surprise.

Swain thought that no lizard man had survived when Asgard attacked this place long ago. lizard man hated sunlight and built their homes as deep as possible. They were also very proud and arrogant, never working under anyone else's command. Asgard attacked this world because they did not care about working for them either.

Swain thought about these things after noticing that the body of the spirit shone white and was slightly blurry.

"Did they all die?" Swain asked himself

Swain had never been in a battle field in his life and had never seen a spirit with his eyes. Now he was facing the lizard man like man in front of him, who looked very much like the spirits he had read about in books.

Swain decided what to do before making up his mind, and wanted to get a better look at the lizard man. So he slowly approached him. Swain heard him shout angrily when he got close to the lizard man.

"Monster!"

"I will kill you when I find you!"

"You killed my family!"

"I swear I will kill you!"

*Is he really saying that from Asgard? No, that's impossible. Asgard attacked this place hundreds of years ago.* Swain thought and continued to watch the lizard man carefully.

His anger was so great that it shook the air around him with every word he said. Swain noticed that a dark energy was accumulating around him as he talked.

*Is his spirit turning into a Hollow?* Swain wondered in surprise.

Swain was thinking about this while the dark energy around the spirit intensified and a white mask appeared on his face.

*No! I have to stop him!*

Swain was heavily wounded at the moment and a hollow could easily kill him.

"Hey you!" Swain shouted.

The lizard man, hearing Swain's shout, hesitated for a moment and then turned around and looked at Swain. When he saw Swain, he showed a great surprise on his face and the mask that had formed on his face disappeared before it was completed.

"Who are you!" lizard man shouted. His face and voice clearly showed great fear.

Swain was slightly surprised when he saw the lizard man fearful expression and started to talk.

"Don't worry, I don't want to harm you." Swain said.

"I just want to help you." Swain added. As he said this, he extended his right hand to the lizard man friendly and slowly walked towards him.

The lizard man relaxed a bit after hearing Swain's words and examined Swain's body.

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"Did that monster also attack you?" he asked, hesitating for a while.

"What monster?" Swain asked.

After hearing Swain's question, the lizard man hesitated a bit more and started to talk.

"There is a monster that is 25 meters tall, with a completely black body and a white mask on its face. This monster attacked my village." He said as he said this, he clenched his teeth and his face became angry.

*Is it a Gillian? May it be cursed.* Swain thought and smiled confidently at the lizard man and walked towards him with his right hand friendly and slowly.

"Don't worry, I will help you and your village." Swain said. As he said this, his blue eyes sparkled.

"Now tell me where your village is!" Swain demanded. When the eyes of the lizard man and Swain met, the expression on the face of the lizard man quickly softened and he started to talk as if he was under control.

"My... village is from here to there... one day after walking for a while..." The lizard man said. His expression was very unstable.

Swain said "Great!" with a big smile on his face when he heard these words. Swain's eyes quickly lost their brightness and returned to their normal state.

The lizard man looked at his hands in astonishment and then looked at Swain with anger.

"What did you do to me!" he shouted.

"I'm just helping you." Swain said with a smile on his face.

"See you later." he added with the same expression.

"What are you talking ab-" lizard man couldn't finish his sentence as his spiritual body trembled and flowed into Swain's right arm. The lizard man’s spiritual body disappeared in seconds.

"It tastes very good." Swain said licking his lips. He had used up all his demon energy reserves and he had to wait a long time to refill them or feed on spirits.

"So there is a keratinous creature-like village nearby. I don't know how they survived until now, but thanks to them, my demon energy reserves will be completely full and even grow!" Swain said with a big greed on his face.

The power that forced the lizard man to answer was coming from his eyes. He could make them answer his questions correctly by making eye contact with them. He had noticed this power when he was very young, but he had never used it properly. The reason for this was that his power was very weak at the moment and it only worked on those with weak wills. Someone with a strong will could give false information or even break free from his control. The keratinous creature-like man had just died, so his will was shattered. This made him an easy target.

After using this ability, Swain's eyes started to hurt.

"I'm still very weak!" Swain said, rubbing his eyes.

"But I will definitely get stronger!" Swain said, with a great determination on his face.

"I will show my power to those in Asgard!" he added and started to walk on the path that the lizard man had described.

The lizard man had told him to walk for a day to reach the village, but Swain's leg was injured. So the journey would definitely take much longer.

Swain was walking towards the lizard man village and there was no sign of a village here even though it had been four days. Another reason why this journey took so long was that Swain had taken many breaks. Swain was about to find a new resting place and rest when he noticed that the wall in front of him was hollowed out.

"I finally found it!" Swain said, happily. He had been walking for four days.

Swain slowly approached the hollow and then entered it. The hollow was very narrow and he had to stand sideways to move forward. He walked in the hollow for about ten minutes and then finally came out of it.

The scene that appeared before him after he came out of the hollow looked like a large square. There were ten stone buildings in the middle of this square and he could see the lizard man inside these stone buildings.

"This must be the hole that Gillian entered." Swain said, looking at the collapsed wall in front of him.

"As far as I understand, the lizard man built this wall to protect themselves from Gillian, but it seems that it didn't work very well." Swain added.

After saying this, he moved towards the lizard man village in front of him. The architecture of the buildings in this village was very bad and they were barely standing. Swain was actually surprised how these buildings were still standing.

Swain stopped thinking about this and walked towards the lizard man village, limping. Considering the intact houses in the village, there should be about twenty lizard man here. If it was before the Gillian attack, then about fifty lizard man could easily live in this village.

Swain did not feel any danger as he approached the village. After all, the lizard man were a weak race and their intelligence was not good enough. They usually acted on their instincts and mostly used spears. Fighting them was no different than child's play for Swain.

He had read in books that it only took a day for Asgard to destroy the lizard mans and their empires. Actually, Asgard could have done it faster, but they only thought it was enough to send a mid-level divine being here.

The mid-level divine being sent here was Roland, the commander that Swain had killed. Roland, along with a thousand soldiers, had destroyed the lizard man empire in a day. This proved how powerful and successful a commander Roland was.

Roland, although very powerful, was killed by Swain. Swain had no chance of defeating Roland in a normal encounter, but Swain had managed to kill him by cunning.

Swain approached the village and walked towards a lizard man who looked like a guard. This keratinous creature-like man had a long spear in his hand and rags on him. The lizard man was sleeping, leaning on his spear.

In the world of lizard men, they sustained themselves by hunting subterranean larvae. These larvae were easy to catch and their meat was quite delicious. The lizard men would use the hides of these larvae to create simple yet durable clothing.

As Swain approached the lizard man, the creature swiftly opened its eyes and pointed its spear at him.

"Who are you?" shouted the lizard man.

"I am the one who will kill you and all the lizard men in this village," replied Swain. His wide grin made these words even more ominous. Swain considered the lizard men weak and foolish. Killing them was a form of entertainment for him.

The lizard man furrowed its brow in anger and hurled the spear at Swain with a gust of wind. The spear was aimed directly at Swain's neck, but just before it could strike, Swain uttered, "CEASE!" The moment he spoke, an eerie crimson energy enveloped the lizard man, freezing it in place.

"What... what is this?" stammered the lizard man.

"Dead men need not know," Swain said, seizing the spear from the lizard man's hand. In one swift motion, he severed the creature's legs. As the demonic energy dissipated, the lizard man collapsed to the ground. Swain reveled in the sight of the creature writhing in pain.

"AAAAAGGGHHHH!" the lizard man wailed. His face contorted, and he was on the verge of fainting from pain.

"Please... please spare me," he pleaded, looking at Swain. Tears streamed from the lizard man's eyes, and his expression was one of desperate supplication.

Swain's grin widened as he observed the lizard man's face. Throughout his childhood, he had been tormented for his weakness. Now, Swain had found someone even more powerless than himself.

"I must admit, this is quite entertaining, especially when dealing with a corrupted race like the lizard men," Swain remarked, his smile still in place. The lizard men were indeed a corrupted breed. Centuries ago, their king struck a pact, drawing power from a dark dimension. In return, the lizard men slaughtered all other intelligent races living in this world, offering them as tribute to the ruler of the dark dimension.

Swain paid no heed to the lizard man's pleas. He walked slowly toward him, bending down by his side. The lizard man looked at Swain with a helpless, fear-filled expression. He was so terrified that he couldn't even beg for mercy.

"Fear not, it won't hurt," Swain assured him, gently placing his right hand on the lizard man's head. Swain's eyes glowed with an eerie intensity as he stared at the creature. As the lizard man met Swain's gaze, he calmed down and remained still.

"That's it, stay calm and don't move," Swain murmured, activating the demonic energy. Swain had never attempted to consume the soul of a living being before, but now was the moment to try.

What surprised Swain was that alongside the lizard man's soul energy, there was another energy. This energy was green and quite low in intensity.

"What is this energy?" Swain wondered aloud, using his demonic energy to absorb a portion of it. As he did so, the lizard man's skin faded slightly and became rough. Swain instantly recognized what this energy represented.

"Life energy!" exclaimed Swain, taken aback.

As Swain continued to absorb this energy, he noticed his wounds healing rapidly. All the injuries on his body closed up, and the bleeding from his left leg stopped. Thanks to this energy, Swain felt stronger and more alive.

"This is incredible!" Swain exclaimed with delight. He flowed within the life force, rejuvenating his body.

"I just need to absorb the life energy from one more lizard man. Then my wounds will be completely healed," Swain declared, greedily eyeing the lizard man before him. He intended to further empower himself by draining the life energies of the other lizard men in the village.