"Crunch, crunch!"
In the silent Desert, a grating chewing sound continuously echoed.
Before long, the Lizard Hollow, over two meters long, was completely devoured by Ronan. Yet, Ronan felt no sense of fullness, as if he could consume another hundred Lizard Hollows and still clean them out.
After fully digesting the Lizard Hollow, Ronan felt his overall spiritual pressure increase by one-twentieth.
And Ronan noticed that his body size seemed to have grown slightly.
During the consumption process, Ronan found that the spiritual power provided by the Lizard Hollow's entire body accounted for less than forty percent of the spiritual power gained, while over sixty percent of the spiritual power came from those few broken masks.
"The texture is quite unique, a bit like a compressed biscuit."
Feeling the significant increase in spiritual pressure within his body, a satisfied smile hung on Ronan's pale, large face.
...
In the days that followed, Ronan, as before, wandered through the Desert, constantly searching for other Hollows. After half a month of relentless exploration and delving deeper, Ronan finally encountered more Hollows.
However, all the Hollows Ronan encountered were like the Lizard Hollow he met earlier—unintelligent and only capable of savage combat. Clearly, someone like Ronan, possessing human thought, was an anomaly.
On this day, Ronan hid his entire body beneath the sand, leaving only half of his head exposed on the surface as he continuously stealthily moved.
"Roar!"
Accompanied by a piercing roar, a black-red beam of light, carrying terrifying high temperatures, shot from a distance, grazing past Ronan, who was hidden beneath the sand, and striking a forty-meter-long earthworm Hollow directly in front.
Under the intense impact of the black-red beam, the earthworm Hollow shrieked in agony, being directly cut into two halves. The aftershock of the black-red beam struck the sand, raising large clouds of dust, terrifying Ronan, who was trembling in the sand.
"This is… Cero!"
Although Ronan had seen this essential technique of the Hollow countless times in the original anime in his previous life, it was far less shocking than witnessing it live this time.
Ronan followed the source of the Cero and saw a massive, entirely black giant, nearly a hundred meters tall. A ring of deep white bone spikes grew around his neck, and a white bone spike was connected to the pure white mask on his face. His entire body exuded terrifying spiritual pressure!
"This is a Gillian!"
"No, this is not a regular Gillian!!"
This half-month of exploration was not Ronan's first time seeing a Gillian. He still remembered seeing a group of Gillians in the distance three days ago, heading towards the area in the depths of the Desert known as the Great Hollow Forest.
The Gillian in front of Ronan was much larger than the group of Gillians he had previously seen, and the style of his mask was fundamentally different from the other Gillians.
"An anomalous Gillian!"
Ronan, beneath the sand, gasped, immediately understanding that the Gillian before him was an anomalous one with intelligence.
Ronan clearly remembered that in the original work, a Gillian was formed when over a hundred extremely hungry Hollows devoured each other and then fused together.
And during this initial evolution process, because the intelligence of Hollows was generally very low, or even nonexistent, most Gillians would completely lose their individual consciousness after advancing.
However, this was not absolute; a very small number of Hollows retained their intelligence after advancing to Gillian, knowing to devour other Hollows to continue growing stronger. Such a Hollow was an anomalous Gillian. As long as such a Hollow did not die, it had a good chance of becoming a middle-level Hollow, an Adjuchas, if not the highest-level Vasto Lord.
At this moment, Ronan, lurking beneath the sand, felt his heart in his throat. Although his current body was not as large as that giant earthworm Hollow, he could still be considered a small dessert for that anomalous Gillian.
Just then, an unexpected turn of events occurred. The upper half of the giant earthworm Hollow, which had been pierced by the Cero, split in two, and lay motionless on the ground, suddenly plunged into the sand. It was desperately fleeing in Ronan's direction.
"Holy crap, don't come over here!"
Seeing that the giant earthworm Hollow, now only half a body, was actually rushing towards him, Ronan immediately felt a headache. If it attracted that anomalous Gillian, he would only be able to play along with it.
When that anomalous Gillian saw the giant earthworm Hollow's actions, a hint of mockery appeared on his deep white masked face, and his massive pupils revealed disdain for his prey.
"Whoosh!"
No sooner said than done, this anomalous Gillian flashed, his massive body instantly displacing to appear on the giant earthworm Hollow's inevitable path. Then, his huge right hand, covered in sharp bone spikes, grabbed downwards, lifting the panic-stricken earthworm half-body.
Sonido! This anomalous Gillian actually used Sonido! According to normal procedures, Sonido could only be used after becoming a middle-level Hollow, an Adjuchas, or an Arrancar. This anomalous Gillian had actually mastered it in advance!
Seeing this scene, Ronan, hiding not far away, was truly terrified.
"Am I going to die before I even start, after finally transmigrating?" Thinking of this, a hint of bitterness arose deep within Ronan's heart.
The anomalous Gillian held the earthworm Hollow with one hand, opened his gaping maw, and, like chewing on spicy strips, swallowed it whole, continuously chewing.
In two or three bites, he completely devoured the giant earthworm Hollow, then left without looking back.
"That was close, I almost got exposed!"
Just as Ronan, hidden beneath the sand, was celebrating that the anomalous Gillian had not discovered him, the Gillian, who had already walked far away, suddenly turned back and looked towards the sandy area where Ronan was hiding. A mocking expression appeared beneath his massive masked face.
Then he turned and left!
"He… he discovered me, but he thinks I'm too weak, so he disdains to devour me?"
After understanding the anomalous Gillian's gaze, a sense of humiliation rose in Ronan's heart, but at the same time, he also felt a little lucky.
"Alright, alright! So you want to play like this? When I advance to Adjuchas or Vasto Lord one day, I will definitely make you experience what I feel today!"
Looking in the direction the anomalous Gillian had left, Ronan at this moment only dared to mutter quietly deep within his heart.
He then waited for several hours, confirming that the anomalous Gillian had truly gone far away, before slowly crawling out of the sand. A smile appeared on his face as he looked at the remaining lower half of the giant earthworm Hollow's corpse, which had been killed by the anomalous Gillian.
Although the upper half, which contained the most spiritual power and the mask, had been completely eaten by the anomalous Gillian, the remaining lower half, though considered leftover scraps by that Hollow, was a complete tonic for Ronan at this moment!
"Thanks for the gift, Gillian brother!"
Ronan had already decided that when he eventually beat up that anomalous Gillian, he could go a little easier.