Chapter 143 — More! II
6 min read ·
[Giant Encampment - Commander Vorgath’s Command Tent]
Commander Vorgath sat in his command tent, his massive frame making the structure look small despite being designed for Giant proportions.
His subordinate commanders stood in a semicircle before him, their expressions grim, their reports devastating.
"Tell me again."
Vorgath’s voice was low, controlled, but carrying an undercurrent of fury that made even his veteran warriors nervous.
"How many teams have we lost in the past week?"
The senior subordinate, a scarred warrior named Thrain, stepped forward.
"Five patrol teams completely eliminated, Commander. That’s more than hundred D rank warriors who’ve gone silent and failed to report. We’ve found some of the bodies, but..."
He hesitated, clearly uncomfortable with what he was about to say.
"But what? Speak plainly."
"The bodies we’ve recovered were... mutilated, Commander. Not just killed in combat, but torn apart with extreme violence. And many soldiers are completely missing. No bodies recovered at all."
Another commander added his observations, his voice carrying genuine unease.
"By the time our response teams reach the locations where attacks occurred, everything is over. The enemy kills entire patrols in minutes, then disappears before reinforcements arrive. We’re always too late."
CRACK
Vorgath’s massive fists clenched on the table in front of him, the wood groaning under the pressure.
"What about the humans? Have we located their main group?"
"No, Commander. They’ve gone to ground somewhere in this portal world. We’ve searched systematically but haven’t found their hiding place."
Thrain paused, then continued with obvious reluctance.
"There’s something else, Commander. Many of our fallen warriors have bodies that are... partially consumed."
Complete silence crashed through the tent.
"...Consumed? Explain."
"Eaten, Commander. Bodies with bite marks and flesh torn away. Some bodies are missing entire limbs or organs that appear to have been removed and consumed."
The subordinate commanders exchanged troubled glances, none of them wanting to voice what they were all thinking.
"Humans don’t do that. They don’t eat sentient species. It’s culturally taboo for them as it’s considered fundamentally wrong even in warfare."
Vorgath stood slowly, his ten-meter frame dominating the tent.
"Then we’re not facing just humans. There must be some kind of a predator beast native to this portal world. Something that hunts and feeds on whatever enters its territory."
His tactical mind worked through the implications.
"That would explain the extreme violence, the consumption of bodies and the speed of the attacks. We’re dealing with an apex predator that views both humans and Giants as prey."
The commanders looked relieved to have an explanation that made sense, even if the explanation was terrifying.
"What are your orders, Commander?"
Vorgath paced slowly, his strategic thinking evident despite his size.
"We can’t keep sending D rank patrols out alone. They’re being slaughtered too easily. Reorganize the remaining D rank warriors into larger groups. I want C rank commanders leading each team now. Mixed-rank formations with proper coordination and communication protocols."
He turned to face his subordinates directly.
"Spread out and search every corner of this portal world. Find the humans first and eliminate them quickly. Then we focus all our strength on hunting down whatever predator is killing our warriors."
"And if we encounter this predator, Commander?"
"Kill it. We have over two hundred C rank warriors in this camp. Whatever it is, it can’t stand against those numbers with proper coordination."
Vorgath paused, his expression darkening.
"I’ll join the hunt myself in a few days once I’ve fully recovered my strength. The forced passage through a C grade portal when I’m B- rank myself, caused significant internal injuries. My body is still healing from the dimensional strain."
The commanders saluted with fists to chests, acknowledging their orders.
"Move out immediately. I want results within three days. Find our enemies and eliminate them. Show whatever is hunting us that Giants are not prey."
As the subordinates filed out to execute their orders, Vorgath stood alone in his tent, staring at the reports of mutilated bodies and missing soldiers.
’Something is wrong here. The pattern doesn’t match natural predator behavior. It’s too systematic and too focused on our patrols specifically. Almost like...
No! Impossible! Humans wouldn’t do this. They couldn’t possibly do this... Could they?’
****
[Somewhere in the Portal World - Damian’s Hunt]
Damian crouched over the corpse of another Giant warrior, his hands and face covered in blood, his eyes wild with something that had long since stopped being human.
He’d been hunting for days. Maybe a week. Time had lost meaning somewhere between the hundredth and two-hundredth kill.
All that mattered was the hunt!
His Devourer Body Art ran automatically now, cycling constantly and breaking down Giant flesh and blood into energy that reinforced his physical form.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━
...
Strength: 290 → 385
Speed: 300 → 410
Stamina: 295 → 400
Vitality: 310 → 425
...
Will: 230(40)
Perception: 160(30)
Aura Control: B(D)
...
━━━━━━━━━━━━━
He didn’t check his status anymore. Didn’t notice the debuffs mounting and didn’t see how his mental stats were plummeting while his physical capabilities skyrocketed.
The last shreds of rational thought that had kept him checking his condition had burned away somewhere around the fiftieth kill.
Now he was relying purely on instinct!
Hunt! Kill! Feed! Repeat!
Kuro watched from a nearby tree, his red eyes filled with concern that grew deeper with each passing day.
But the raven couldn’t stop him.
Every attempt to intervene just made Damian more aggressive and more volatile.
So... Kuro followed, watched, and absorbed the death energy from Damian’s kills, growing stronger himself even as his bond partner descended into madness.
CRACK.
The sound of branches breaking drew Damian’s attention.
Another patrol had found their way towards him.
It was larger this time. He could sense them approaching.
And this time, not just D rank warriors anymore. These Giants felt different, stronger and more dangerous.
C rank Giants!
Finally, a prey worth hunting!
Damian’s mouth split into a feral grin that showed too many teeth.
He’d stored his axe in his spatial ring days ago, during one of his last moments of clarity.
Now he fought with just his body, his bare hands transformed into weapons through the Devourer Body Art.
His Slaughter Intent had been flowing constantly for so long that it had begun changing.
It was intensifying and becoming something more than it had been.
Where before it had manifested as dark red Aura that leaked from his body, now it erupted like translucent flames, wrapping around him in a visible shroud that pulsed with each heartbeat.
Anyone looking at him would see a figure completely engulfed in ethereal fire, the Slaughter Intent so intense it affected reality itself, making the air shimmer and distort around him.
He’d become the epitome of a vessel for killing intent, his entire existence focused on and defined by the act of slaughter.