Gluttony (Voracious Eating)
Gluttony (Voracious Eating)
How much time had passed since entering the blood pond?
Countless voices began to ring out.
They were the past Tsars of the Frozen Lands, who had fallen into becoming wraiths of the sanctuary.
-Ah! Has a new body arrived!
-It's a young and sturdy body! How long has it been since...
-Compared to the bodies that have challenged the Coronation of Dragon Blood all this time, it's quite puny, but... hehehe! Give me your body right now!!
The history of the barbarians was always one of violence and struggle.
If you want it, you take it.
If you don't like it, you just smash it.
The vengeful spirits of the Tsars wandering the Black Dragon's Blood Pond were no different.
New life,
New youth and warmth;
The vengeful spirits of the Tsars who had not reached the rest of death swarmed in, demanding a sturdy body.
"You're really acting like complete lunatics, you damn wraiths."
The wraiths of the Tsars continued their invasion and contamination repeatedly, like heinous plunderers. However, as expected, they couldn't exert any influence on Alexei's ego.
Vessel of All Things.
That was the power of the half-wit fool.
Absolute immunity to mental corruption.
A near-unlimited capacity to hold any kind of magic power.
In the middle of the original work, <Splendid Days of the Golden Empire>, the ability of the Tsar who was exiled from the Frozen Lands is revealed. It was the scene where he accepts the Demon King's vast power without any restrictions.
'Vessel of All Things. It's definitely a power close to infinite, but... there are too many fatal flaws. It's as if it embodies Alexei Berkut, who was born as the legitimate heir to the Tsar but is indecisive and weak.'
Cannot learn.
Cannot grow.
That was the flaw that the Vessel of All Things carried.
It is merely a vessel to hold powers.
Therefore, its own independent blossoming is impossible.
That was the reason why the Alexei Berkut of the original work did not realize the power he possessed until the moment he was exiled by the tribal chiefs of the Frozen Lands and flowed toward the Demon King.
-Weak descendant! Hand over your body to me right now! This time, I will lead the brave warriors of the Frozen Lands and conquer the world!!
"You fucking asshole."
Something rushed at me with a fierce lion's roar.
It was a reddish-brown wraith with a hard, uneven shape.
Pueok-!
It flew in like a fastball.
But it couldn't invade my ego and ended up being caught in both of my hands.
-How, you piece of trash who's weaker than a frost rabbit...! How did you repel my invasion! Give me your body, give me your living body right now!!
"How did the Alexei of the original work accept the Demon King's power again.... Ah, damn it!"
Grab.
I gripped the reddish-brown wraith tightly.
And opening my mouth wide, I bit into the Tsar's wraith, which was thrashing about like a live fish.
"Ugh...! This tastes fucking terrible, it tastes like rotten humus."
It was a terrible taste that reminded me of the mud dumplings I stupidly ate when I was in elementary school. However, every time I chewed on the reddish-brown wraith, I experienced vast energy overflowing like fruit pulp.
Power.
It means the heterodox power accumulated over a lifetime.
I can make such vast divine authority of the Tsar my own exclusive property solely through 『Gluttony』.
As I completely devoured the reddish-brown wraith, a fierce torrent wrapped around my whole body and struck. It was the result of new power being added to the vessel of the Vessel of All Things, which hadn't contained any contents.
'Cough, cough...! Giant Hunter Harald. I ate a pretty good power.'
At the same time as I ingested the power, fragments of memory flashed across my brain.
Through that, I learned the identity of the wraith I had just devoured.
Harald.
Giant Hunter.
The Tsar who hunted the steel giants of the Frozen Lands.
A superhuman of monstrous strength who wielded an axe of immense weight.
The Giant Hunter's absolute monstrous strength was absorbed through the numerous blood vessels of my body. It was a change signaling that the power devoured through Gluttony had taken root in an instant.
"Next is...."
I raised my head and looked around.
The Black Dragon's Blood Pond was still full of countless wraiths trying to usurp control of my body.
Boris Berkut was, in every sense, no different from an apostate who had deviated from the common sense of barbarians obsessed with valor and honor. The cause was that he had realized the limitations and savagery of his compatriots who only cried out for frontal breakthroughs.
Despicable rhetoric and schemes.
He reigned as a leader who ruled barbarians in the most un-barbarian way possible.
Valor and honor? What use are such things?
In the end, if you die on the battlefield, you just return to a handful of dust.
Boris came to feel sincere disillusionment at such savage appearances of his compatriots. That was why he came to harbor the ambition of subjugating all the savage compatriots and ascending to the position of Tsar of the Frozen Lands.
"There's no way he's still alive, but... if the guy is alive, he must be killed in one blow."
"Ugh! The cave is completely filled with the smell of blood."
"If we slit his throat and then tear his whole body apart, the tribes of the Frozen Lands will surely just think that Tsar Alexei died a dog's death at the Coronation of Dragon Blood."
Mobilizing every means and method at his disposal to erase even the slightest variable. That was the strategy by which Boris Berkut subjugated the numerous tribes of the Frozen Lands, including the Golden Eagle Tribe.
He allows not a shred of carelessness,
Nor a shred of arrogance.
That was how he removed and slaughtered all the political rivals who threatened him.
Alexei Berkut.
Kill the weak Tsar.
Boris even ordered the assassination of Alexei by sending his subordinate assassins to the sanctuary.
"Over there..., the Tsar is in the center of the blood pond."
"Did he die standing up?"
"I can't tell from afar. I will check the guy's status."
As soon as we entered the hollow of the blood pond, we faced Alexei.
He was full of openings.
He was just standing blankly in the blood pond.
The assassins slowly stepped into the blood pond with sharp daggers drawn.
Chalpak-. Chalpak-.
No matter how well-trained an assassin was, their presence was bound to be exposed in a puddle.
However, they pressed on without hesitation.
Alexei Berkut was nothing more than a weak ordinary person, no different from a deer in the snowy mountains. Even if the guy struggled desperately, they were confident they could slit his throat in an instant.
"Keuk!!"
When they reached almost within arm's reach,
Alexei, who had been frozen like a stone statue, moved.
He grabbed the assassin's face.
And with just the grip strength of his hand, he shattered the facial bones.
"Euuu! Kyaaaaaaah──!!"
The lead assassin screamed while clutching his own face, which had become tattered like a rag. Then, the assassins who had entered the blood pond hurriedly raised their daggers.
They didn't know the detailed situation.
But they didn't hesitate.
They must not tolerate variables.
Because they had to complete the mission in any situation.
The assassins with raised daggers rushed at Alexei from all sides.
"Kill Tsar Alexei!"
Countless blade tips rushed in.
In response, Alexei swung his fist.
"Keuheok!"
"Damn it! What kind of fist is...!"
Jjeoeok!
Peuheoeok─!!
Every time the fist struck down, a sound like beating raw hide rang out.
It broke bones and crushed flesh.
It was as if they had been hit directly by a heavy battering ram used in a siege.
Because it was a mission to hunt a weak Tsar, they had been harboring complacency. But the assassins' complacency was shattered by the fist that struck down with a ringing sound of air being torn.
Puwhaak──!!
Blood gushed up like a fountain and fell into the blood pond.
It was because Alexei had pulled out the assassin's head along with the spine.
"Uaaaaak!"
"He pulled off his head...! What a monster!!"
The overwhelming monstrous strength that had reached the realm of a superhuman was enough to subdue the assassins. Every time the fist, which was almost comparable to a battering ram, was swung, the number of assassins sent by Boris decreased rapidly.
Astonishment. Screams.
Terror that stiffened the whole body.
The sharp blade tips that had been aimed at the prey were trembling.
"Is this the Giant Hunter's monstrous strength? I'll have to learn to control and calibrate it in the future."
Tuk-.
Alexei threw away the head and spine he had pulled out with one hand.
Then, the assassins screamed and backed away.
How much time had passed since the Coronation of Dragon Blood began?
Three days.
Or a week.
Perhaps a month might be required.
To the question of the tribal chiefs who attended the scene, "When will the Coronation of Dragon Blood end?", the old woman presiding over the Black Dragon's Lair only repeated ambiguous answers.
"How long has it been since the Tsar entered the Black Dragon's Lair following the shaman?"
"Probably..., three hours have passed."
A giant wearing a black leopard cloak appeared. Then, the tribal chiefs who were waiting for the Tsar's return saluted by placing one hand on their chests.
Boris Berkut.
He was the Tsar's uncle and the Great Chief of the Golden Eagle Tribe.
Was he going to confirm the death himself?
Or was it curiosity about the Coronation of Dragon Blood?
The uncle who had forced the Coronation of Dragon Blood, which was no different from suicide, upon his nephew, shamelessly appeared.
Kwak-.
Milena glared at Boris and gripped her sword hilt.
If her colleagues from the Gray Wolf Tribe hadn't stopped her, she would have pulled out the sword hilt for sure.
'By now, he must have been swallowed by the wraiths of the past Tsars. Or his body must have been torn to rags by the powers of the past Tsars.... Actually, there was no need to send the assassins of the Steel Tooth Tribe, but it's better to handle any matter surely.'
There is no possibility that Alexei will return alive.
Thirty people.
He sent a whopping thirty assassins.
It was an arrangement that seemed to prove his personality was close to paranoid.
Boris felt confident as he watched Milena, who was revealing blatant murderous intent. This was because he could even feel the poison boiling in her violet eyes, like a widow who had lost a child right before her eyes.
"Uaaaaak!"
"Ts, Tsar...! Tsar Alexei?!"
The shouting of the tribal chiefs, which was close to a scream, rang out.
And,
Alexei, covered in blood from head to toe, appeared from the Black Dragon's Lair. In the young Tsar's grip, the head of the assassin who had attacked the sanctuary was dangling.