Chapter 43
Chapter 43
Chapter 43 Hungry Ghost Realm.
'Shit... does this even make sense?'
Even ordinary people would instantly become hungry with 32 times the hunger and thirst, but my body wasn't even a normal body to begin with.
A body that demonstrated different power even with the same stats due to the existence of countless traits including Yeong-min's Body.
Since the level of the hardware itself was different, naturally the required calories were also on a completely different scale.
"If I had known this would happen, I should have filled up completely before coming..."
I thought being moderately hungry would help with concentration, so I deliberately didn't eat anything after having ramen.
But that was a mistake.
My body, which was already feeling slight hunger, instantly entered a state of starvation, and was searching for food.
It felt like I would starve to death if I didn't eat something right away. Is this how the sinners of hell trapped in the Hungry Ghost Realm feel?
The thought of needing to understand more about the trial disappeared completely, and only the thought of blocking something and surviving filled my head.
"Haa... haa..."
Hunger reached its peak and the boundary between what could be eaten and what couldn't began to disappear.
My mind began to be cornered to the point where I had extreme thoughts like whether I could even chew and eat the grains of sand rolling on the ground.
I thought I could flexibly endure any pain, but this was a completely different pain.
Finally, the moment I was about to put my hand on the ground and grab a handful of dirt to eat... they appeared.
Black and dark energies gathered around me and heteromorphic monsters began to be born. They were different from monsters.
Demon King didn't react.
They had the body of wolves, but their form was indescribably horrible.
They were truly hideous creatures that made Eve's past appearance like a tattered golem seem ridiculous.
They even contained energy similar to what the Demon King's avatars possessed inside.
If I had to give them a name, calling them 'Demon Beasts' would be appropriate. But such things weren't important at all.
Because 'something edible' had appeared before my eyes. It didn't matter if they were demon beasts or monsters.
I clutched my starving stomach and immediately rushed toward them.
The demon beast was certainly several times stronger than monsters, but that strength wasn't enough to surpass me.
I felt neither the process of cooking nor the necessity of cooking.
I only wanted to chew that flesh, drink blood, and soothe my hunger and thirst.
I crushed its throat with pure strength to prevent resistance, and brought my mouth to its nape.
And took a big bite.
"Fuck..!"
I felt the worst taste among everything I had eaten so far.
This wasn't food, but felt like chewing living poison.
With each bite, my stomach was torn, my esophagus burned, and bitter, fishy, metallic blood tastes tangled in my mouth, causing dry heaves to surge up.
The gamey smell and rancid odor stabbed my nose, and the toxicity and demonic energy deeply rooted inside spread throughout my body, giving pain as if my entire body was being slashed with knives.
The toxicity tried to cut off my breath, and the demonic energy tried to collapse my body. They were truly things that would kill me. Originally, this was food I shouldn't even put in my mouth.
But this was more important than all kinds of delicacies right now. If it was to survive, I could devour even worse things. Being in pain is better than dying.
If the bloody meat was this bad, how much toxicity and demonic energy must the pure blood contain?
But I had to drink it. My throat felt like it would burn up after just consuming the meat. I needed to drink something to survive.
I began gulping down the blood gushing from the torn shoulder.
Nausea surged to the tip of my throat and I wanted to vomit immediately, but I had to endure it. I couldn't wastefully spit out the food I had obtained with difficulty.
If I vomited, I would have to put the vomited food back into my mouth.
Because I didn't know when 'food' would appear again.
The blood taste was disgusting but it partially relieved my thirst.
And the toxicity and demonic energy began spreading throughout my body more directly than before. Blood vessels bulged red and my skin color changed, giving violent pain to my body.
It hurt. It hurt so much.
This was the first time I was in such pain since the training of deliberately giving my limbs to Baal's avatar.
But the pain resistance included in Superior Comprehensive Resistance made my mind clearer even in this pain.
I couldn't go crazy even if I wanted to. That was the existence called Han Yeong-min. I had to clearly receive all this pain.
'I never thought raising resistance mindlessly would come back like this..!'
I actively circulated the energy of Infinite Heavenly Light Divine Art to try to absorb the toxicity and demonic energy.
Also, the effect of Myriad Fierce Beast, Super Adaptation Body, activated and tried to adapt to the demon beast's blood.
For that, I had to devour more of this shitty stuff. I really didn't want to eat it, but that was the correct answer.
I wasn't someone who delayed answers even knowing the correct one.
I opened my mouth wide again and chewed the demon beast's meat. Gulped down blood.
I wished my taste would be paralyzed, but my senses were too detailed. They conveyed that disgust to the end, and the pain that invaded my body showed no signs of ending.
Still, since I didn't delay the answer, I could see the path.
[Skill: Lowest-Grade Demonic Energy Resistance (Lv1) acquired.]
[Lowest-Grade Demonic Energy Resistance integrated into Superior Comprehensive Resistance.]
[Superior Comprehensive Resistance level increases.]
A new type of resistance joined. And it held together my body that was about to collapse from demonic energy.
Resistance to toxicity rose even more steeply. Even in the maddening pain, a stream of dopamine flowed through my head.
Dopamine didn't make me forget the pain, but it could give meaning to this pain.
"This... is resistance training..?"
[Everyone in Pantheon and Pandemonium looks at you in shock.]
As hunger and thirst were partially relieved, I had a little more room to think logically.
Even this situation felt like a growth opportunity to me.
I'm not just talking about the growth of resistance.
Predation was absorbing possibilities bit by bit even from eating with my mouth, not from abilities.
If I devoured all of this, I felt I could obtain the same amount of possibilities as when using abilities.
'It feels like something lacking is being filled...'
This was the first time I was eating demon beasts.
Absorbing demon beast possibilities was certainly also a first, but I felt like it was scratching an itchy spot.
It was such a vague feeling that I couldn't know its identity right now, but I felt I could get a grasp if I absorbed more demon beast possibilities.
I repeated eating, feeling pain, gaining resistance and possibilities, and eating again before hunger started.
That time felt very long but wasn't actually so.
[Remaining time: 165 hours 32 minutes]
The time it took to discover the demon beast and devour it all was about 2 and a half hours.
I still had to endure 165 more hours.
Expressed differently, I could say I still had 165 hours left to train resistance.
My body was rapidly consuming calories even after just filling my stomach. Certainly, fuel efficiency had gone to hell because of 32 times hunger and thirst.
I set out to find new prey.
When the demon beast was created before my eyes earlier, many individuals were wandering around, whether demon beasts had appeared simultaneously in other places too.
They were even fighting and devouring each other, and individuals that devoured other demon beasts through victory emitted stronger energy than before and their physical abilities improved.
It wasn't like Baal's Predation that stole even the opponent's possibilities, but the fact that pure weight class went up was certain.
I rushed at a lion-shaped demon beast that had just won, devoured its enemy, and grown one level.
The one that lifted its huge front paw and swung it as if to kill me in one blow. It was fast and strong, but no matter how hungry I was, I hadn't fallen enough to take such a hit.
Unless it contained at least the mystery of nothingness or had enough weight class to overwhelm me, taking such a thing was impossible.
I tried to strike down its head to kill it in one blow, but perhaps because it was sturdier than the demon beast I met earlier, its breath wasn't cut off in one hit.
Its skin was as tough as if wrapped in steel. There was a separate method to easily deal with such guys.
Suppressing with just strength was also possible, but shouldn't I minimize the calories consumed as much as possible right now?
I used Golden Python Grip to dig into the armpit of the guy raising its front paw again and applied a joint lock.
CRACK.
The soundless wailing of the demon beast with its arm bone pulled out echoed.
Just because its body was hard didn't mean its joints were also strong, so joint locks worked well on such guys.
As if truly being a demon beast, pain didn't become a reason to stop moving, and even with one arm not working, it did its best to kill me.
But a lion with its mainly used front paw blocked was no longer any threat.
I rode on top and broke its neck bone, and after thrashing for a while, it stopped breathing.
Since I had leisure this time, I took out a Heroic-grade butchering knife and divided it by parts.
I collected blood separately in a bucket, and since I was thirsty first, I had a drink while butchering.
Because thirst came even faster than hunger.
"Ugh... the taste is even more like garbage."
The blood of an individual that had evolved by absorbing other demon beasts contained even more toxicity and demonic energy.
Concentrated toxicity and demonic energy meant more pain, and more pain meant more growth.
[Superior Comprehensive Resistance level increases.]
There were no materials around to make a fire separately, but surprisingly, I had the ability to make fire.
I lit hellfire from my hand.
Originally, it wasn't an ability meant for such use, but all abilities are meant to be used.
"Ah... can't I even use seasoning..?"
[Items that cannot be taken out of inventory.]
Honestly, I thought it was natural that food couldn't be taken out, but I didn't know even seasoning would be prohibited.
'What is this place. I was chewing raw flesh earlier.'
I tasted the demon beast meat grilled with hellfire.
It felt like chewing tires and the taste was still fucking terrible, but it was definitely more edible than raw.
And I felt that toxicity and demonic energy were definitely neutralized more than before grilling.
'Good... no, it's not good?'
Reduced pain was a good thing, but it meant that resistance growth was also reduced together.
"Toxicity and demonic energy shouldn't be reduced. This is all my resistance experience points. I should just eat it raw."
[Everyone in Pantheon and Pandemonium looks at you in shock.]
No, I'm only saying correct things, so why are they shocked?
Really, it's incomprehensible.
Other Earthlings besides me would have made the same choice in this situation.
Probably.