"What kind of powers?" one of the Black Demons asked.

Making eye contact with one another, Grotak motioned for Doit and Leat to lift up the ice cocoon. "First of all, they seem capable of using elemental powers more or less similar to what we can using Spiritual Energy."

"Second, they can create a mysterious beast to attack, defend, flee, and so on," Grotak continued, nodding once at Leat.

Leat flapped its wings and took off to the air, unleashing numerous lightning bolts in the area surrounding the group of Black Demons. All the Black Demons looked with a frown when their gazes shuddered for a moment, noticing charred bodies appearing in their midst.

"And third, they're all invisible until they come into contact with us. When Doit was flying around, he seemed to have attacked some of them, causing their bodies to be revealed. That's how we were able to discover them," Grotak concluded.

"They had been hiding near us all along?" Some of the demons muttered, noticing tens of Monster Gecko corpses surrounding them right now.

For a moment, all of them felt a chill when Grotak said, "Their fighting prowess isn't spectacular, nor can they make use of the miasma like us. However, they aren't affected by it either. Only the humans are affected by the miasma. So, these creatures should be our priority first."

"How do you suppose we fight them?" One of the Black Demons came forward, asking with a frown. "Wasn't our plan to leave this world anyway? Why should we waste our time in this endeavor?"

'As expected, this guy is opposing us.' Grotak frowned, saying, "Feater, it's not guaranteed that we'll be able to leave this place. Even if we determine the method, we'll still need a lot of time to do so. As to how long we need, it cannot be said. Are you saying we let this threat develop until it hinders our plan?"

"The humans have it," Feater, the opposing Black Demon, replied. "Once we reach the Water Column, we should be able to leave this world. The octopuses have the means to achieve that. Once we steal the method from them, leaving this place would be simple. Since there are all of us here now, we'll just storm a city and head towards the Water Column. It should be easy once all of us combine our strengths."

"The Water Column prevents our miasma from working, so our strength would be suppressed once we head there. Plus, there are strong ones even among the octopuses. We can't take them lightly," Grotak said in response.

Immediately, they entered an argument, sowing discord as both sides had plausible backing to their claims.

"All of you, stop!" Suddenly, a voice resounded as everyone stopped speaking, parting way for a Black Demon to walk forward. A single glance was enough to display that it was head and shoulders above the rest of the Black Demons.

"Hwait" Grotak muttered, turning silent as a result. Hwait was the oldest and strongest of the Black Demons. It was also the one who managed to figure out a way to harness Spiritual Energy from the cities to cultivate.

Everything else the Black Demons did using Spiritual Energy were offshoots of what it had created. It was unknown as to how long it had been alive. After all, it was the first Black Demon to have been created by the Demon Nest.

Just considering its ability to use Spiritual Energy, it wielded at least three Spirit Abilities. It was unknown as to what its real strength was. Nevertheless, Hwait was the Black Demon that every other Black Demon looked up to, sharing a common goal of leaving their current world to head into the wider one beyond.

So, once it turned up to speak, everyone else turned silent, watching what it had to say with bated breaths.

Hwait approached the ice cocoon, gently placing its hand on it, feeling the intense chillness emanating from it. It clenched its hand, noticing that it was only able to make a tiny crack in the ice.

It relaxed its hand when the miasma swirled towards it like a typhoon, condensing into a tiny sphere that seeped into the crack, beginning to drill into the ice when it was frozen. Upon sensing that the temperatures turned even colder the deeper one went into the ice cocoon, Hwait frowned. "If they have as many numbers as us, the demon race is doomed."

Its statement was like a boulder being smashed upon the minds of every Black Demon. For a moment, there was only silence in the area as all the Black Demons gazed in disbelief at Hwait, watching it probe through the ice some more.

Finally, after probing enough, Hwait asked Grotak, "What did you say he was called?"

"Krune," Grotak nodded as he replied. "That's what I noticed based on the information exchanged between him and someone on the ground. They were communicating about something. I'm unsure as to what it was as I was only able to sneak glances at some of them."

"So, he's called Krune." Hwait nodded, saying, "He's not from this new race you speak of. He's human."

"Human? How?" It was Grotak's turn to be shocked now. "It's impossible for a human to be this strong."

"Didn't you notice Wrunt is missing?" Hwait asked in response. "It was killed by Krune. His aura contains Wrunt's presence. And that's not all."

"I received a message from the Demon Nest," Hwait continued, shocking everyone. "It seems a Red Demon named Hazak has become a Black Demon. I'm sure you've fought it before. How was it? Was it the same as the rest of us?"

"No, it had abilities similar to Krune," Grotak answered. "And, it was subservient to him for some reason."

"It all doesn't make sense," Hwait said, suddenly flashing past as it appeared beyond the crowd of Black Demons, staring into the air as it spoke, "Right? What do you have to say about it?"

Hwait was seemingly staring into black space, confusing all the Black Demons, when a figure slowly revealed itself to them. Spanning a size of a hill, it had an imposing presence, though it was nothing compared to any of the Black Demons gathered in the place.

However, the fact that it could grow to such a size indicated differently in Layer 2. It was Feifei's active ability, the Supreme Monster Gecko that had arrived to spy in on their discussion.