'Abomination? What the fuck are you high on? Can't you see that I'm a fucking human?' Krune bellowed in his mind but was unable to utter anything as his opponent tightly gripped his neck.

He seemed like a man around his sixties, sporting a cropped beard and a bushy mustache that accentuated his rectangular face. His raven black hair glistened in the sunlight as his eyes stared straight at Krune, smirking upon seeing the opponent struggle.

Dreams of the HeartOcean Turbulence!

Krune used the remainder of his strength as he froze his opponent's hand while lifting his body with wind currents, also using Moving Ripple on the ice-covered hand around his neck to slip away like an eel. He also blasted a beam of Neon Radiance into the man's eyes, blinding him as he used the opportunity to slip away.

Using the wind currents, he propelled his body, swiftly arriving at the bridge connecting the battlefield to the city when he paused abruptly, his body immobile as he spat out a mouthful of blood that froze the moment it touched the ground.

His eyes turned red as veins popped all over his body, causing him to spasm like he was electrocuted. His body turned hot, almost neutralizing the effect of Frozen Blood as he began to bleed from his orifices.

His skin cracked as the blood vessels on it ruptured. The side effect of the Blood Essence Crystals had finally kicked in. He had consumed plenty of Blood Essence Crystals, putting off their side effects until now. And now, all the accumulated side effects had kicked in all at once, causing him to spit out blood nonstop as his body turned brittle.

He focused the remainder of his power in his Ocean Turbulence, fusing the healing effect of his Ocean Heart into his Frozen Blood. This way, he planned to mitigate as much of the damage as possible so that he wouldn't die.

But, a second after he had activated it, Krune suddenly felt a tremendous force slam into his sides, breaking a lot of his bones as he skidded on the bridge, causing a large trail of blood to appear. His vision grew blurry as he noticed the grin from the rectangular-faced man. He was the one that kicked him. And now, he arrived before him and slammed his leg on his head, knocking him out.

"This piece of shit dared to attack me," the rectangular-faced man cursed as he lifted up Krune like a ragged doll, thinking for a moment as he held one of Krune's arms, exerting a bit of strength as he snapped them into two like twigs.

He did the same to the remaining three limbs, smirking as he looked at the lady beside him. "Put him in prison and torture all the information out of him. This human-like demon bastard might just be what we need. Do a good job if you wish to get a raise, Raka."

"Yes, Master." Raka nodded, slumping Krune on her shoulder like he was a piece of wet cloth and sprinted towards the city at superhuman speeds.

"Hoh, look at her go. The scent of money always gets her riled up." The rectangular-faced man smirked as he noticed the red demon staring at it from far away, glaring in anger. He flashed his middle finger at it as he shouted, "Come and get it, bitch. Let's see if you can live after facing me once again."

"Hmph!" The red demon snorted as it stomped the ground once, creating a massive crater as its hands flashed once, hitting all the rocks that flew up. It then vanished from its spot, retreating back into its army.

But, more than twenty humans standing around the crater suddenly dropped dead, with their heads bursting out like water balloons that got pricked. Staring at their deaths, the rectangular-faced man cursed, "Petty bastard."

The battle continued nonstop as more humans arrived while the exhausted ones retreated into the city. As for the demons, an unending stream of them continued to pour into the battlefield nonstop.

"Gah!" Krune woke up with a start as he felt piercing pain on his thigh, alarmingly close to his groin. The pain caused him to shriek as his eyes failed to make sense of his surroundings, failing to see anything beyond a blurry outlet.

A couple of seconds later, his eyes adjusted themselves, clearing up the blurry atmosphere as he noticed that he was in what looked like a prison cell. Rather, more than a prison cell, it seemed like a torture chamber.

There was no semblance of light in the place. The only source was a dim glowing stone that was embedded into the ceiling. It emitted red light and was dim to the extent it made it hard for him to see.

"Hoh, you finally woke up." A lady's cheerful voice resounded as she moved closer, positioning herself right before Krune's face, staring deeply into his eyes as she continued, "So, why don't we start with introductions?"

'W-What?' Krune was about to speak when he realized that he was gagged, unable to even grunt or make a sound. Only now did he notice that he was sealed up in a chair, bound to it. When he struggled to move, he realized that he was unable to exert strength in his limbs.

They were broken.

He also had numerous injuries in his chest as some of the broken bones had pierced his lungs, causing them to bleed. Krune felt that it was difficult to even breathe as he realized that it wouldn't be long before he died.

Upon seeing his reaction, the lady chuckled as she said, "Well, don't bother speaking. When I said about introductions, I meant mine."

She flashed her pearly white teeth, taking out a knife as she plunged it into Krune's knees, wedging it between the joint as she moved it to and fro, causing incomparable pain to Krune.

Seeing the nerves protruding on his neck due to the pain he felt, she chuckled as she said, "I'm Raka, Head of Torture Divisions. Basically, my job is to torture the captured demons and extract valuable information from them."

She let go of her hold over the knife, grabbing hold of the knife plunged in his thigh closer to his groin, pulling it out as she noticed that it had frozen up. "You're one interesting demon. You're able to shed your skin and mimic a human. Interesting. I'm curious as to how many of your companions are present or have infiltrated into our city?"

She then sat on his thigh, leaning on his body, using him like a chair as she yawned. She then nonchalantly took out a rectangular slab from beside the chair. But upon seeing it, Krune's eyes widened in shock.

'That's my tablet!'

"Now, let's see." She yawned, slumping one of her hands around his shoulder, lifting her leg as she used them to rest the tablet, using her hand to scroll through it happily.

But whenever she moved, Krune felt like he would die. It was because she was heavy, tremendously heavy if he said so. When she sat first, he felt something in his legs was getting crushed. And now, he was unable to feel anything below his hips.

"I see, I see. You have 3372 Godly Points. I don't know how you demons managed to obtain the treasure that's exclusive to us humans." She then stared at his eyes as she asked him, "So, what had been your plan? Were you planning to infiltrate our city and grow using our methods and then kill us from the inside?"

She then smirked as she said, "You did put a magnificent show out there, displaying magical abilities as you weaved through the battlefield without killing a single human while wounding the demons alone. I must say, you looked just like the hero from our oracles."

"But you've made a minor mistake." Her gaze turned malevolent as she continued, "A hero is summoned, a blessing from our celestials. A hero won't arrive from deep within the demon territory. Too bad for you, but we won't be fooled by your abilities."

She tugged the part of the Monster Gecko skin armor around his neck, tearing it apart as she fully stripped him bare. "Hmm, below this skin, you look exactly like a human. Are you even able to mate with our kind now?"

She then gazed at him, expressing a bright smile as she told him, "We'll take our time as you spill all our secrets, right? I wonder how the demons managed to make you look like this?"

Suddenly, the door behind the prison opened as a soldier cupped his fists. "Madam Raka, the City Lord is requesting for your presence."

"Alright, I'll be there." Raka nodded, turning around as she winked playfully at Krune. "The two of us will spend a great time together in the future."

She then rolled up his Monster Gecko skin armor into a bundle, carrying it in one hand and the tablet in the other. Before leaving, she looked at Krune and said, "You have quite the mysterious items in your bag. I'm wondering what you planned to do with them."

She then left the room, instructing a couple of guards as the room doors closed. Krune felt his vision was hazy from the pain as he was unable to even think straight. There was a constant ringing sound in his ears while his entire body burned up.

He hadn't even reeled from the side effects of the Blood Essence Crystals while Raka had caused him further damage. On top of that, she was incredibly cunning. Upon seeing that his blood froze the moment it came in contact with air, she inflicted numerous wounds, guaranteeing that he would die.

Even though she tortured him immensely, it was as if she knew the limits beyond which he would meet his death. She stopped right beneath that line, cunningly so while giving him the greatest pain.

'Dammit! Hero, my ass! Fucking bastard pieces of shit!'

Krune was unable to even think straight, unable to even take in deep breaths as a searing pain emanated from his lungs when he did so. He was at his absolute worst condition now. His entire body was burning up like he was lit on fire. Adding onto the torture he had experienced, Krune's heart seethed with hatred.