Hoganberg gave a sinister smile. “Kid, take one last look at this world, because you’ll never get another chance…” When he spoke the first part, it was still his body talking; as he said the second part, a stream of black mist emerged from his body. His body collapsed like a ragged sack, while the black mist condensed in midair into the shape of Hoganberg, who continued speaking.

The black mist plunged straight toward the center of Gaia’s forehead, but something unexpected happened.

He was supposed to enter through the spot between the brows, but something was blocking the acupoint there, so he couldn’t get in. Hoganberg let out a surprised sound, gathered himself, and tried again—only to get the same result. He just couldn’t get in.

If he couldn’t enter Gaia’s body, he couldn’t destroy his soul and seize the body. And Hoganberg’s own body was already dead; if he delayed any longer, his soul would dissipate completely.

“This is impossible!” Hoganberg roared. “What the hell is going on?!”

Although Gaia was still bound by golden battle aura, his gaze was calm. “There’s something I didn’t tell you. This body isn’t originally mine either—I took it from someone else, though I did it unintentionally, while you’re doing it on purpose. I entered this body from this exact spot. Do you think I wouldn’t know you’d try to come in the same way? Do you really think I’d be so stupid as to leave that passage open for you? I sealed it off long ago.”

“I don’t believe it!” Hoganberg shouted in fury, ramming the center of Gaia’s forehead again and again, but he just couldn’t get in. Gaia looked at him with pity as his body slowly dissolved, soon leaving only a head. He sneered, “Actually, if you’d immediately turned to seize Anderson’s body just now, at least you wouldn’t have been utterly destroyed. Too bad… Whether it’s favors or grudges, they all get repaid—you tried to take my body and my life, and now I’ve turned the tables and killed you. Now we owe each other nothing!”

Hoganberg instantly understood: Gaia had deliberately drawn his attention and provoked him, causing him to overlook his last chance at survival and waste time in a pointless struggle with Gaia.

“Ah—” Hoganberg roared, “But I can still kill you…” As he shouted, the black smoke completely dissipated. Almost at the same time, the golden battle aura wrapped around Gaia suddenly activated, tearing open his flesh with a ripping sound, and blood spurted from Gaia’s body.

He fell from midair. For most demon abyss youths, with their strong bodies, this would be nothing, but for Gaia, the fall made his vision spin and his ears ring.

He groaned inwardly: It seems that the only benefit of that infinite devouring body was just that—my own constitution hasn’t improved at all.

Hoganberg’s final strike had done him serious harm. He lay on the ground, gasping for breath, unable to move for a while.

“Young master!” Suddenly, a startled cry came from outside the cave. Gaia was overjoyed, but then his heart sank. He was about to warn Anderson to watch out for the two armored skeleton soldiers at the cave entrance, but Anderson had already rushed in like the wind. The two armored skeleton soldiers didn’t move at all. Gaia breathed a sigh of relief; it seemed that with their master dead, the two skeleton soldiers would remain motionless without orders.

Seeing Gaia covered in blood, Old Anderson hurried over to help him up. “Young master, what on earth happened?” Gaia coughed twice, sighing inwardly at how frail this body really was.

He pointed at Hoganberg’s corpse. “Go, see if that guy has anything on him.” Old Anderson helped him sit down, then went over and searched Hoganberg’s body, finding a money pouch and a ring.

“Looks like a spatial ring, but he’s not a mage—how could he have a spatial ring?” Gaia was a bit puzzled. The owner’s imprint in a spatial ring disappears when the owner dies, but since neither Gaia nor Old Anderson were mages, they couldn’t open the ring and could only keep it for now.

Old Anderson counted the coins: there were thirty-six gold coins and twelve silver coins in the pouch. For a ruthless man like Hoganberg, there was no need to carry much money—he could just rob what he needed.

However, for the two of them, these thirty-six gold coins were a windfall. Old Anderson said joyfully, “Young master, a full thirty-six gold coins—we’ve struck it rich!” Gaia thought for a moment. He was injured, and after glancing at the two motionless armored skeleton soldiers at the entrance, he said, “Anderson, ride to the nearest town and rent a sturdy wagon and two good horses. These two armored skeleton soldiers are valuable—we must bring them back to the territory.”

“But young master, you…” Anderson was worried about leaving Gaia here alone. Gaia waved his hand. “It’s so cold—no one’s going to come to this desolate place. Go quickly and come back soon.”

“As you command.” Anderson brought in some firewood, stoked the dying campfire until it was blazing, then mounted the old horse and headed for town.

Gaia looked at Hoganberg’s body and said, “You tried to harm me one last time, so what you left behind will be my compensation. Whether it’s favors or grudges, they’re all settled now—we’re truly even.”