Chapter 381: Chapter 247: What Right Does a Defeated Foe Have to Bargain with Me?

Balenzuo lay there, unmoving, but his voice was a furious roar.

Fang Zhen remained completely unmoved. He gave a faint smile and said, "You should be more precise with your words."

"I just told you that if you gave me your true name and the real situation, I would *consider* not killing you."

"I only said I would consider it. I never said I actually wouldn’t kill you."

At this, Fang Zhen’s tone turned cold.

"Besides, what right does a defeated foe like you have to negotiate terms with me?"

Upon hearing this, Balenzuo let out a furious roar like rolling thunder.

Balenzuo forced his body up, trying to leap to his feet and lash out with his claws to attack Fang Zhen again.

Although his true name was known, diminishing his Spirit before Fang Zhen and greatly weakening his power, he could still manage a forced attack.

But at that moment, Fang Zhen didn’t hesitate. He pulled the trigger of the sniper rifle in his hands.

With a BOOM, the bullet shot out and tore through the center of Balenzuo’s forehead.

The bullet passed through Balenzuo’s forehead, piercing straight through his head. The demon fell silent in an instant, a gaping hole punched through its skull.

After all, this was the body of a demon, far tougher than any normal human. Although the bullet had gone straight through, it had only left a hole the size of a baby’s fist in his forehead, from which purple blood now flowed.

Seeing Balenzuo’s gruesome state, Fang Zhen didn’t let his guard down.

It was a demon, after all.

He raised the sniper rifle again and fired two more shots into Balenzuo’s head.

Two more shots—BOOM! BOOM!—and finally, Balenzuo’s head was blasted into an unrecognizable pulp.

And just then, Fang Zhen felt a strange sensation. Three points of light had suddenly appeared within his consciousness.

The three points of light were somewhat similar to the sub-space coordinates he had sensed earlier, but they weren’t exactly the same.

By concentrating his consciousness, Fang Zhen could see the three points of light clearly. He could even make out that they were purplish-red, diamond-shaped, and about the size of a fingernail, glowing with the luster of gemstones.

Fang Zhen didn’t know what they were, but his intuition told him it was related to having learned the demon’s true name.

The fact that these three light points only appeared after the demon’s head was obliterated proved that his first sniper shot hadn’t truly killed Balenzuo. The two follow-up shots to finish the job were what had actually killed the demon.

’What tenacious life force!’

Fang Zhen marveled inwardly.

His sense of caution sharpened once more.

’I have to be extremely careful when facing strange creatures like demons. Even more resilient monsters might appear in the future. I have to remember to always secure the kill. I can’t afford to get careless and screw up on the home stretch.’

Balenzuo was well and truly dead.

Fang Zhen put away his sniper rifle. It dissolved into a phantom image and was absorbed into the King’s Belt.

A wave of relief washed over Fang Zhen. Finally, the greatest source of his stress had been eliminated.

He had found the Demon Duke and killed Balenzuo.

’The main quest is pretty much complete.’ 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

’It’s just that a lot of new questions have come up.’

According to what Balenzuo said before he died, demons and devils existed in this world, and the concepts were similar to what Fang Zhen already knew.

In truth, there was a specific reason for this similarity to his own knowledge.

Because Fang Zhen possessed a mystical linguistic ability, when he said the words "demon" and "devil," others—especially Otherworldly People from different cultural backgrounds—didn’t necessarily hear those exact words. Instead, they perceived a closely related meaning or concept.

The reason they could communicate using the concepts of "devil" and "demon" was that his mystical language talent allowed the meaning to be directly understood at the level of consciousness.

It was likely that the "demons" and "devils" Balenzuo spoke of were extremely similar to the two types of creatures in Fang Zhen’s own knowledge base, which was why he had heard those specific names.

And Balenzuo’s appearance proved that, within the cosmology of the Nameless World, there were higher-tiered worlds.

Powerful beings from these higher-tiered worlds might be able to enter the Nameless World under certain special circumstances. This put Fang Zhen on alert. Moreover, he felt this pattern was somewhat similar to his "Instance Life Game."

The Instance Life Game featured world settings of varying difficulties.

’Do these different world settings correspond to the various different worlds that exist in this reality?’

Fang Zhen had a faint feeling that the "Instance Life Game" might possess a single, overarching cosmology.

He hadn’t experienced enough worlds yet to effectively piece together what that cosmology might be.

He shook his head slightly. The information he currently had wasn’t enough to resolve this question. ’Looks like this is something I’ll have to study slowly after this instance is over.’

But his gains had also been substantial.

He had been feeling that the King’s Belt was becoming less useful. It was fine for carrying weapons and equipment, but it was inadequate for carrying supplies—especially for an entire army. He needed more effective spatial storage equipment.

Now, things were looking up. With a period of perception and study using his Spiritual Power, it was entirely possible for Fang Zhen to claim the sub-space left behind by Balenzuo’s death for his own use.

After putting his sniper rifle away, Fang Zhen scanned his surroundings.

He suddenly realized that at some point, a large, tight circle of people had formed around him. It included the Mages of the Mage Corps, as well as soldiers—at least several hundred people were staring at him.

A large portion of these soldiers belonged to Balenzuo’s army, but after seeing their Duke transform into a demon, they had completely lost their fighting spirit and looked ready to surrender.