Once Hal heard the footsteps of the Tretch King, he covered Marla in a protective Dome made purely of Cosmic Energy.

Marla did not protest.

She was well aware that she was only there to observe and to see how Hal dealt with an opponent against whom he would have to go all out.

Till date, she had never witnessed such. Every opponent Hal faced in her presence was usually defeated in a relatively easy fashion.

She had of course heard that he had received a beatdown from the possessed Melinda, however, having never witnessed the fight, she was not convinced.

Hal had told her many times that while he was resourceful, he was far from being the invincible expert she had taken to see him as.

It was not that he was being modest. He was confident that, given time, he would surpass them all, but in there lay the real issue,

Time.

Marla, however, insisted that the images she had of him, while great, was well within his capabilities.

"What happens next?" She asked as she waited for the arrival of the Beast whose footsteps still resounded.

Hal smiled,

"Minions" he said and almost immediately, a series of sounds, from shrieks to howls, drowned at the sound of the Tretch king's footsteps.

From their surroundings, from deep within the forest dashed out numerous Demon beasts. All of them were at the Peak stage of the Pearl beast Realm.

Equivalent to the Peak of the Cosmic Pearl Realm.

The lords of Tretch forest.

Hal smiled as he watched them dash towards him. He could recognize their emotion and what drove them to attack.

It was fear.

Fear of the Tretch King who had commanded them to attack and kill the intruders.

Hal could even recognize four of the Demon beasts as the ones that had attacked Valerie and her entourage once before.

The Virile hare was one of the beasts at the forefront of the attacking beast mob. The moment it saw Marla surrounded by the Dome of Astral energy, It unleashed an immense amount of its quills to strike at her.

Seeing this, Hal could not help but snort as the Dome negated the attacks easily.

He had not been sure before when he had met the Hare for the first time and it had pierced Valerie with one of its quills, but he was now convinced that the hare was a pervert at heart.

After all, it saw Hal standing practically defenseless, and yet it still attacked Marla first.

'A kindred huh?' Grimoire said with a chuckle.

'All the more reason to kill him, how dare he be a pervert?

It's like my darling Marla once said, only I am allowed to be a pervert' Hal said with a mild grin.

'Are you not too greedy?' Grimoire said with a pout.

Hal's mind shrugged at the rhetorical question before he went after the Demon beast mob.

There was no need for him to use any extra abilities. This was the perfect moment to test his body against that of this Demon beast that shared his Realm of cultivation.

He let out the pressure of his Cultivation base and the Beasts could now feel that he was at the peak of the Cosmic Pearl realm.

The Demon beasts felt the pressure and agreed,

He was quite strong.

But what was with the look in his eyes that seemed as though he was challenging them to give it their all.

At their level of strength, while they could not yet speak like humans, they were still intelligent enough to reason and resist the impulse of their Beast instincts.

Of course, without a connection to an ancient Bloodline, their intelligence growth was stunted.

It was why at the Energy sensing realm, Sassy rivaled them in intelligence.

That said, they were more than smart enough to know that going against this intense looking youth, one by one was far from wise.

So they attacked as a group.

However, it was unfortunate that it did not matter how much they outnumber this monster, or how smart they were to attack in a group...

"Third-grade skill: Natural Disaster"

...they were merely the opening act and Hal was not prepared to waste his time on them.

The Three circled ring he had summoned slammed into the ground and immediately imitated an Earthquake that shook the beasts to their core.

The effects were limited to the spot the Beasts stood and did not spread further than that, however, the Earthquake-like Tremor was merely the Skill's way of trapping its targets.

Its real offensive abilities were only just starting.

Trapped and unable to move, the beasts were shocked to see the very earth they stood on morph to create spikes and small hills that wrecked their whole being and rocked them from the inside out.

For some, the ground opened up and closed the moment a part of their body was trapped within it before it twisted their torso and caused them to howl in pain.

"Arrrgggggghhhhhhhh"

Just that one skill immediately rendered the beasts incapable of making any more moves.

They were completely incapacitated and some of them could not bear the pain and succumbed to their injuries.

While the skill had been activated, Hal still had control over it and it continued to drain his body of Comic energy at rapid speeds.

The Natural disaster skill was divided into a series of different imitations of Natural disasters. This was only the one to imitate an Earthquake and the only one Hal had learned to use.

The Skill, (Whichever of the series of Natural disasters chosen for use) was a high-tier Third grade skill and Hal was only able to bear using it thanks to his strong body and his comprehension of the Primordial Cosmic Art.

That said, he had to stop its attacks so that it did not completely weaken him before he could even face the Tretch king.

Once he deactivated the Skill, the damage had been done and there was no single beast left to stand against him in the mob.

"Amazing" Marla could not help but comment.

*Roarrrr!*

Out of the thicket of trees finally emerged the reason they were here, the reason the Southside had deteriorated to this extent.

Out of the thicket of trees emerged the Tretch King who eyed Hal with its crimson eyes.

The Tretch King resembled a bear at first glance but that it was soon clear that the similarity was limited to its head.

From the neck down, it had what resembled the physique of a heavily muscled man standing at about 10 feet in height.

Its whole body was covered with Black fur matted with blood, some of it still looking fresh.

Its gaze was menacing and the pressure it gave off quickly identified it as a Late-Stage Natured beast, which was equivalent to the Late stage of the Cosmic Armament realm.

"So you dealt with them huh?" It said as it gestured to the downed beasts.

Hal's eyes widened, a natured beast while possessing near-human intelligence lacked the ability of human speech so it was a little surprising to see the Tretch king possess this ability.

However, once he began to wonder if the beast was even more powerful than he thought, he turned to Marla and noticed that she gave no indication that she could understand what the Beast had said.

If she had, she would have shared his surprise.

Listening even closer, for the beast was now muttering, he could hear the underlying growls and he could now understand why he could understand its speech.

It was because the beast had crossed the threshold of Demonhood. It was qualified to be called a quasi-demon now.

Or better still, quasi-fiend.

As a Devil prince and son of the Progenitor of Demons, Hal could easily understand all Demon speech.

"Yes I did and they were all weaklings as well" Hal boasted.

The Tretch king's eyes narrowed, it seemed surprised that Hal had understood him.

"Is that so? Well, I didn't really need them to get rid of you. You survived them but you won't survive me" The Tretch King snarled and bent low as though to charge but Hal thrust his hand forward,

"Before we fight, can you at least tell me who helped you become this way?" Hal asked.

From what he had learned from his sources, this beast had been the strongest in the forest long before it began its occasional burst of Bloodlust that had now become the order of the day in Tretch forest.

It was clear to Hal that someone was the cause but he was not so optimistic to think the Tretch king would answer just because he asked.

And sure enough,

The Tretch King snorted,

"You really think I'll tell you?"

Hal shrugged,

"Then I'll beat it out of you"

And with his hand still outstretched, he used the Third-grade skill: Natural disaster against the beast.

Just like before, the three circled ring slammed into the ground and warped it.

Since the target was a single person this time, the energy was more focused and strengthened, and yet...

"Roaaaarrrr!"

...the Tretch king broke free of the skill with its strength.

Seeing this display, Hal was not disheartened.

He had expected such as the Tretch King was more than strong enough to resist the effects of the skill.

"This is about to get physical" he muttered and the Tretch King could not agree more as its eyes turned an even brighter red and it sprout horns on its bearlike head while claws extended from all ten of its fingers.

Hal's eyes also turned Blood-red as he summoned Executioner, he would not take those claws lightly.

Feeling the pressure Hal now gave off, the Tretch King's eyes widened,

"You're a Demon?"