Chapter 66
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: Hungry Slayer 66
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River was more stunned than the person involved.
“You—what did you just say? That you’re going to marry Dane?”
Pravan didn’t waver at River’s question.
She simply continued her dazed ramblings, as if she just wanted to say what was on her mind.
“I was scared. I didn’t have the confidence to spend my whole life here, married to someone I didn’t like. It’s something every Liyayan has to do naturally, and it’s what keeps Lord Avaris watching over Liyaya... but I really wanted to marry someone I loved.”
She fell silent for a moment. Tears welled up in her eyes as she gazed at the sky.
“When I was chosen as Nimbelle’s woman, it was so hard. I even thought about sneaking away from here. It was impossible, but I figured it might be better than this. And then... that’s when you showed up.”
Pravan struggled to prop herself up and looked at Dane. Her body swayed, scattering the tears that had gathered.
“If it’s your child... I could have it.”
Dane had never felt more flustered than he did in that moment.
The mural flashed in his mind for a brief instant, and suddenly the meaning of the pictures that followed clicked into place.
A man and woman wearing flower crowns, hands clasped. People submerged in water, clapping their hands. A baby sitting atop bright red meat.
River couldn’t stand the brief silence and tried to wedge herself between them, but Pravan collapsed first.
“Hnng...”
Dane let the falling Pravan be.
Having forced herself upright had been too much for her. She lay there, murmuring a few words over and over like a baby babbling.
Marriage, child... things like that.
It was a minor commotion, but there were onlookers.
Those still capable of normal thought and movement helped support and soothe Pravan. Others wept alongside her, as if sharing her pain.
The butcher squad kept their eyes fixed on Pravan as she returned to the residential quarters with the others.
No one moved to restrain the butcher squad or tidy up the situation. They simply watched from a distance, their gazes filled with longing, awe, and reverence. Some of the women looked on with envy.
The butcher squad sat down with their backs turned, moving as naturally as possible.
They could no longer blindly follow the Liyayans’ whims. It was time to talk things over.
“You... didn’t jump at the chance for a wife. Are you really planning to marry and have kids?”
Bankers asked in a voice laced with amusement. River and Priscilla waited anxiously for Dane’s reply, half hoping.
“No plans.”
“Why not? Not your type? By human standards, she’s definitely pretty.”
“...Not really.”
“As expected, your tastes run high in every way. This seems like a nice spot. Monsters everywhere, and they’re treating you like royalty. Hell, you’re already king. If I became king of the Krukushu, we could rebuild the eastern triangle together, haha...”
“Marriage or kids... now’s not the time.”
Bankers muttered on about how there’s no set age for marriage, how reproduction is the foundation of life, and such—but no one was listening.
They couldn’t even laugh anymore.
The captain’s mood was ice-cold, and so were the squad members’.
Dane spoke up.
“I was planning to go through tomorrow’s ritual, then get hunting permission from the Liyayans. But today’s tournament changed my mind. I’ve got a rough idea what the third day’s ritual entails.”
“Me too.”
River agreed curtly, then continued.
“They kept going on about the cycle. They’ll eat us or offer us up to their god. Though Dane, you’d probably get to have a kid first, then get killed—or live here like royalty.”
She’d clearly connected the mural to the situation herself, but her words carried a sharp edge.
Dane knew River got prickly whenever women came on to him. Now, it was even more blatant.
Dane wondered if River liked him. But he couldn’t figure out why Priscilla looked pouty too.
‘I can’t let Dane get away.’
That’s what Priscilla was thinking.
She’d been dreaming of a lifetime together, of opening her body to him every day in blissful happiness. It was a reason Dane couldn’t even imagine.
Bankers’ interjection thankfully broke the awkward moment.
“No way... for real? I thought this was a great place.”
He wasn’t entirely wrong.
From the butcher squad’s standpoint, they hadn’t taken any real damage yet.
Cases like earlier aside, these people were supplying them with meat willingly—a boon.
It had let them devour a ton of new monsters in record time.
Dane said,
“Yeah. If they’re not scheming, it could make a solid meat supply spot.”
Everything about the Liyayans was suspicious, but what intrigued him most was the origin of the monsters endlessly provided for slaughter. Capturing them alive was so impressive, he wanted to know their method.
“The answer’s probably there.”
River glanced at the cliffside temple.
The monsters had been carted in from near the temple.
Geographically, the temple sat at the heart of Liyaya territory—the starting line of the zone the squad had planned to hunt.
“If we’re leaving, let’s at least check that place out first.”
The butcher squad agreed to slip away before dawn.
* * *
While the Liyayans dragged their heavy bodies back to the communal dorms to sleep, the butcher squad stayed awake.
They’d eaten more than usual, but they were seasoned overeaters. Their digestion outpaced the Liyayans’ by far.
Once the bedtime bell rang and the door was locked from inside, breaking out—door, window, or wall—wouldn’t have been hard if they’d wanted. But the squad opted for stealth.
First, they made sure no one sleeping nearby would stir at their movements.
Priscilla stealthily slipped doses of the Kreptonos paralytic poison River had stockpiled into the Liyayans’ mouths.
They used the same trick on the one holding the key.
Dane scouted the outside presence. The moment the guard stepped away briefly, they slipped out effortlessly.
It was the hour of twilight moonlight, and all was silent.
Bankers eyed Dink and the carriage, left alone on the plain, and murmured lowly.
“Leaving Dink behind okay?”
“They’re all stuffed—they won’t notice till morning. But let’s not be late getting back.”
The butcher squad crept toward the temple.
A skilled hunter was little different from a master assassin.
Their baseline skill: approach prey undetected and end it in one strike.
Like stalking quarry, the squad scanned for presences while suppressing their own, swiftly navigating the cliff path to reach the temple perimeter.
They hunkered down in a good hiding spot and scoped it out.
Two guards on watch. They wore sturdy armor and longswords over standard Liyayan garb.
Dane circled behind one guard. Priscilla tailed the other.
The instant both dropped, Bankers and River darted out to bind them.
“Let’s go in.”
A massive stone door sealed the entrance. Bankers took point.
-Shing.
A powerful scent blasted through the crack.
“Huh?”
“What’s that smell?”
Intensely sweet and nutty. It bordered on foul, yet drew you in mysteriously.
Less appetite-piquing than pure, burning curiosity: what is this? You had to know. A truly bizarre aroma.
Bankers, ever the instinctive one, rushed inside. Dane yanked his tail lightly, snapping him out of it.
The four moved as one, tracking the thickening scent step by careful step.
The broad stone tunnel was lit by lanterns everywhere—not dark at all.
The smell now rose like shimmering heat haze, almost visible.
At the tunnel’s end, in a wide corridor, lay the source.
“What the hell is that?”
Bankers stared at the unidentified thing in the corridor’s center.
Vast expanse of bright red meat, splayed wide. A long, pointed pillar thrust up from the middle. Smaller versions dotted the edges.
‘Plant-type monster, Avarisana...’
Dane bit back the name that sprang to mind.
-Pfshh!
Faint particles erupted from the giant flower stalk, and the butcher squad collapsed as one, like falling asleep.
* * *
The butcher squad awoke in bonds.
Bars suggested a prison. Dane checked on his comrades.
“Everyone okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Not too bad.”
“Fine.”
They sat with hands bound behind their backs, no different from Dane.
The leg irons looked thick, solid metal. His wrists felt the weight of similar restraints.
“Handcuffs that’d hold a mid-tier monster—no point struggling. Lucky we tested lizardman strength ahead of time.”
Gurbannan glided up to the bars and spoke.
“What’s the meaning of this?”
Dane demanded.
In a spot like this, you had to hit ’em with the classics.
Gurbannan smiled as if he’d been waiting. A kindly smile, but off from before.
“I regret it too. You don’t deserve this treatment. Your comrades are just getting their due a little sooner—no need to take it personally.”
“Due? You mean sacrificing us to your god?”
“As expected... you figured it out and came. Nimbelle will end with Lord Avaris satisfied.”
“Bragging about worshiping a monster plant as a god.”
Dane’s scoff drew a bigger laugh from Gurbannan.
“Hahaha! What’s so special about a god? If it lets us thrive in our home without worry, that’s plenty. Lord Avaris summons monsters for us to eat. You lot just need to be good feed to keep him strong. That’s the cycle.”
His attitude brimmed with brazen confidence.
“Why bother with outsiders when monsters do the trick?”
“Lord Avaris takes ages to digest monsters. He can’t wield his tempting power while feeding. Humans and beastkin are prime resources—for us and him. And this time, an elf to boot? He’ll love that.”
Gurbannan’s eyes roved over Priscilla’s form. She glared daggers back at the old man.
River’s voice cut cold.
“You think every Liyayan’s fine with you pulling this?”
“No need to tell them everything. Too much knowledge breeds misery. That’s faith for you.”
Dane smirked.
“For someone preaching that, you’re awfully chatty.”
Gurbannan’s eyes gleamed strangely.
“True. I have a proposal.”
“A proposal?”
“Some already hail you as the King of Slaughter. It was symbolic before, but this time it’s real. You’ll gain much.”
“So you want me to stay here?”
Gurbannan replied with gentle eyes.
“Please produce fine stock steadily to feed Liyaya. A woman to bear your children is ready.”
“You mean Pravan.”
“Not just her this time. Every available woman will be mobilized. Liyaya’s been sealed so long—seeds like you are rare.”
“You think I’ll obey someone who wants my comrades dead?”
Gurbannan eyed each squad member in turn.
“I promise. Follow my counsel, and they live. We’ve got Liyayans aplenty for Lord Avaris’s altar. If you want to live, convince your captain.”
With that, Gurbannan departed, chuckling leisurely.