Baal's glaring is both a false and true show of bravado and confidence. It is true because he truly believes himself to be strong and capable. He is not making that part up but he also doesn't want everyone to gang up on him because he can't take on all of them at once. It is always good not to fight if a fight can be avoided. In this situation where a fight can not be avoided, it is best to be able to choose your fights and not be ganged up on.
The glaring dukes eventually look away and race into the distance. They disappeared into the plane in search of their target. It will be foolishness to fight and die when their aim is not even in sight. So they will shelve their conflict for when it is necessary. Baal also went past the fortress of the house of Chaos in the domain of high-rank demons and went deeper into the plane. His destination is the towering pillar of energy in the middle of the plane.
He couldn't fly around openly like this before they left for the Zargoth plane. He would have been hounded by the forces of the demon lord and the demon nobles. Now he can move about without much fear. The irony of the situation is that he doesn't fear anyone in the abyssal plane anymore. It is his fellow demon dukes of the same house that he has to be afraid of. Even so, the relative peace is a welcomed change. It allowed him to contemplate his situation and make plans.
There are few dukes that Baal can consider his equal and only one that he truly considers a threat. There used to be a lot he considers his equal but that number has reduced to 9 since he acquired the half-divine rank. It might just be entry-level stat at 55 but it comes with a state of existence of 17, the same as the demon lord he came to hunt. Those competitors and threats of his will be his main obstacle to becoming a Herald as much as Beelta will be.
There are 4 ways to become a Herald. The first is to kill the demon lord. The second is to become the new demon lord. The third is to impress the lord of chaos. The last option is to kill the most dukes. There are a total of 6 spots for Herald. That is not a lot of spots for 100 demon dukes to share amicably.
Only 1 demon can earn a spot through the first two options. That leaves 4 spots that can be earned through the 3rd and last option. The 3rd and the last options are not mutually exclusive and they have a larger possibility of success too because of the number of spots that can be earned through them so most of the dukes will focus on them.
He has chosen to aim for Killing the demon lord. The major reason why he decided to focus on the demon lord is that the demon dukes know about his abilities and are wary of him. Plus they have Accumulation and they can run away.
He would rather hunt the demon lord. She can run away but she won't because she will have to forfeit her position as the demon lord if she does. Anyone can begin to bind the energy well to themselves as long as she is not there to stop them. The process will be slow if she is still alive but it isn't impossible. Her escape means he will have a chance at clinching the criterion of becoming the demon lord.
He has chosen to focus on her, but he will the others if they obstruct him. The other demon dukes are sure to obstruct him when he tries to kill Beelta or when he tries to replace her and he is confident of defeating most of them. This brings us back to why he is glancing around at his competitors. He is sizing them up and preparing countermeasures to them.
The few that he considers his equal will be the true obstacles that he won't be able to overcome easily, especially if they gang up on him. Then there is the one that he considers a real threat. She is the first subordinate of the lord of Chaos. She is number zero. And he can't find her.
"Where is she?" He asked himself worriedly.
He can't find her no matter how much he looked. He is the first and last demon duke to leave the portal to the plane but he didn't see her leave the portal. He made sure to count and there were only 99 dukes. That means one of them is missing.
It also means that it is unlikely that she pretends to look like others so that she can't be found. He would have been very suspicious if there were a total of 100 dukes who went by without her among them. So she must have hidden somehow. Whatever method she used is enough to fool his senses even when he is actively searching for her.
He is sure that they all entered the plane together and yet he can't find the entity he considers a real threat. It wouldn't have mattered if she were some other duke but she isn't and it is very important that he finds her. He is looking for her because the lord of Chaos said that if he can't find her then he can't beat her. He didn't understand back then but now he knows. How is he to fight something he can't see?
He gritted his teeth and cursed. "Fucking snake. And yet she can find you. What is she anyway?"
The greatest thing to fear as a demon is the unknown. He needs to know how she keeps herself hidden or he won't know how he dies. He needs to know something so that he can have a fighting chance against her.