The Seven Beasts were extremely special creatures. In Area 6, as long as Whale King Moon wasn't around, they were the absolute rulers.
As for Don Slime, he hadn't revived yet, so there was no way he could dominate the continent.
After ruling Area 6 for so many years, the Seven Beasts had grown used to running wild. In the original story, even a single Stardust River was enough to draw one of them—the Corgolem—over.
Now, with so many ANOTHER fry gathered here, the attraction was naturally far stronger. Even the usually sluggish Turtle King Pandora had come.
But the aura Ichiryu released wasn't something the Seven Beasts could compare to.
Their capture levels were only a little over four thousand. Because of their special traits, their actual combat strength might reach around five thousand at most.
That kind of level meant nothing in front of Ichiryu.
Even without using any ingredient as a weapon, Ichiryu could easily overwhelm one of the Eight Kings. If he drew on Don Slime's power as well, then even the Eight Kings would be nothing in his eyes.
And now he had consumed two ingredients.
At his current strength, the Seven Beasts weren't even qualified to challenge him.
The moment he released his aura, the surrounding sea began to churn violently. The ANOTHER fry were affected too, but they quickly realized the aura wasn't aimed at them.
After a brief disturbance, they calmed down again.
The Seven Beasts, however, couldn't.
This aura was even more terrifying than the one deep within the sea belonging to Whale King Moon.
They were arrogant—but not stupid.
They knew exactly who they could provoke and who they couldn't.
If it were just someone coming out of Blue Grill, they wouldn't hesitate to attack. But the aura before them was more frightening than that of the Eight Kings. If they acted recklessly now, the consequences wouldn't be something they could survive.
Under that crushing Intimidation, none of them dared move.
All greed vanished from their hearts. What remained was only regret—and fear.
It wasn't that they didn't want to run.
They just understood one thing clearly: if this aura surpassed the Eight Kings, then the owner's strength did too. Trying to flee in front of that kind of power was nothing but wishful thinking.
If they stayed still, maybe they'd be spared.
If they ran, they might provoke him and be wiped out in a single move.
So the Seven Beasts froze in place, not daring to budge.
"Your aura's getting more and more terrifying," Jiji said as he looked at the motionless Seven Beasts outside. "Is it because you strengthened yourself by eating two ingredients?"
If this had been Ichiryu's old aura, it would still have intimidated them—but not this completely.
Ichiryu had clearly grown much stronger.
Ichiryu nodded.
The boost from the Earth's Full Course was truly significant.
But he didn't intend to eat all of it.
His plan was to consume six ingredients at most. The reason for that was Don Slime inside him.
There were eight ingredients in total. Once all eight were eaten, the outcome would be absolute—either the human survived, or the Gourmet Demon revived. Only one could remain.
According to Don Slime, if Ichiryu chose to eat all eight, he would fully merge with Ichiryu and become his true appetite.
But what kind of person was Ichiryu?
There was no way he would calmly watch a companion sacrifice himself like that.
He had considered fulfilling Don Slime's wish—but Don Slime had rejected the idea as well.
The two of them had long since treated each other like family. Neither would allow the other to disappear just so they could survive.
Even if fusion technically wasn't death, only one consciousness would dominate in the end.
Neither of them wanted the other to lose themselves.
In the end, at Don Slime's suggestion, they decided to eat only six ingredients.
GOD and CENTER would never be touched.
Because once GOD was consumed, the Gourmet Demon would temporarily revive and separate from the human body. After eating CENTER, the final outcome would be decided.
But once GOD was eaten, the devouring and merging process would become irreversible.
So they would stop at six ingredients.
That would push their strength to its peak—without either of them dying.
"Let's go. There's no need to kill them," Ichiryu said.
He had no intention of wiping out the Seven Beasts. They were the administrators of Area 6. Unless Kael needed something from them, Ichiryu wouldn't act.
The only reason he had targeted Monkey King Bambina before was because Kael had information they needed.
For something like that, even Ichiryu would make a move.
But without a reason, he wouldn't casually attack them.
Even if they came looking for trouble.
Kael didn't object.
As for harvesting some Golden Material while they were here, he felt it wasn't worth it. Extracting Golden Material wasn't as simple as taking it directly from the Seven Beasts. It had to be slowly drawn out over a long period of time.
It was similar to ultra-special cooking ingredients—many of them required specific methods. Brute force alone wouldn't work.
They didn't have time to waste here.
So Jiji piloted the Megnaticalm away.
Only after they had left for quite some time did the frozen Seven Beasts finally begin to move again.
Their first reaction was unanimous—
Leave.
As for the ANOTHER fry? Whoever wanted them could fight over them. They wanted no part of it anymore.
That single burst of aura had made them truly taste death.
Even the presence they had once felt from Whale King Moon or Snake King Mother Sanke hadn't compared to this.
They felt incredibly lucky.
If Ichiryu had truly intended to kill them, none of them would have survived.
This experience served as a harsh lesson.
In Area 6, they might be able to do as they pleased—but they would have to be careful of outsiders.
Especially powerful outsiders.
For a long time to come, whenever the Seven Beasts encountered outsiders, they would probably choose to run immediately.
The psychological shadow Ichiryu's aura left behind was simply too deep.