Chapter 147 — You Taste Salty

Damian chewed, swallowed, his eyes never leaving his enemy as he consumed the Giant’s arm in front of the entire army.

"...You taste salty."

His voice carried across the sudden silence, casual and conversational.

"But the C ranks are much better quality than D ranks. They have more Aura-rich flesh."

He tossed the partially consumed arm aside and smiled, blood staining his teeth.

"Who’s next?"

Commander Vorgath’s face contorted with rage and horror.

"FALL BACK! ALL UNITS RETREAT FROM THE HUMAN! GIVE ME SPACE TO ENGAGE!"

His massive voice boomed across the battlefield, snapping his warriors out of their shock.

The Giants pulled away from Damian, creating distance as their formation collapsed into scattered groups.

THUD THUD THUD

Vorgath stepped forward, his ten-meter frame making even the massive warriors around him look small.

He spoke in heavily accented but clear human language, his voice carrying disgust and genuine fear.

"I thought the beast was responsible for eating my soldiers. That fucking raven! Never imagined it would be a human engaging in such... abomination."

He raised his hammer, the weapon’s runes glowing brighter.

"What kind of monster are you?"

Damian wiped blood from his face with the back of his hand as his expression became cold and empty.

"The kind that does whatever is necessary to protect what’s mine. Your men killed people who trusted me... You made this personal."

POP POP

He rolled his shoulders, joints popping, his enhanced body ready for what came next.

"So I became a monster. And now I’m going to kill every single one of you. Starting with you, Commander."

Vorgath’s face twisted into a snarl, but underneath the rage was genuine unease.

This kind of human shouldn’t exist! Couldn’t exist according to everything Giants knew about human capabilities.

Yet here he stood, having slaughtered hundreds of warriors, having consumed their flesh to enhance his own body, challenging a B- rank commander without any visible fear.

"Come then, abomination. Let me end your twisted existence."

Damian’s smile widened.

"You can try."

****

The battle began without ceremony.

Vorgath’s hammer came down with speed that should have been impossible for something so massive, the air itself screaming as the weapon descended.

Damian activated Sonic Blink, his body flickering out of existence and reappearing fifteen meters away as the hammer cratered the ground where he’d been standing.

BOOM

The impact created a shockwave that flattened nearby trees.

’His reach is enormous. Can’t let him hit me even once or I’m dead. I have to stay mobile.’

Damian charged, closing distance with his axe raised.

Vorgath swung horizontally, the hammer moving in a wide arc designed to catch him mid-approach.

Macro Vision activated, reading the Giant’s muscle movements, predicting the swing path.

Damian slid under the hammer, the weapon passing inches above his head, and came up inside Vorgath’s guard.

His axe struck the Giant’s shin, the blade biting through armor but not deep enough to cripple him.

Vorgath’s boot came down in a stomp that would have pulverized him.

Damian used Sonic Blink again, appearing on Vorgath’s opposite side, his axe opening a wound across the Giant’s thigh.

"You’re fast... Irritatingly fast."

Vorgath’s voice carried grudging respect.

"But speed alone won’t kill me, human."

He began swinging in wide, unpredictable patterns, the hammer creating zones of certain death that Damian had to avoid.

But Damian wasn’t fighting conventionally.

Multiple afterimages appeared as he activated Sonic Blink in rapid succession, his enhanced speed letting him move faster than Vorgath could track.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM

Five, six, seven Damians seemed to exist simultaneously, attacking from different angles, each one striking and disappearing before the Giant could respond.

Cuts opened across Vorgath’s legs, arms and torso. Not deep enough to be immediately fatal, but accumulating... making him bleed.

"ENOUGH!"

Vorgath’s Aura exploded outward in a shockwave, his B- rank power forcing Damian back, disrupting his movement pattern.

The Giant’s hammer glowed with accumulated power, runes blazing.

"MOUNTAIN SPLITTER!"

The hammer came down with technique behind it now, the weapon’s special ability activated as the force magnified beyond mere physical strength.

Damian finally couldn’t dodge. The attack was too fast and too wide-reaching.

So... he didn’t try to dodge at all!

His telekinesis grabbed every loose object in range – rocks, trees, Giant corpses – and hurled them into the hammer’s path.

BOOOM

The improvised barrier lasted maybe half a second before the hammer obliterated it.

But half a second was more than enough.

Damian was already moving, using the debris as cover, getting inside Vorgath’s reach again.

His axe struck the Giant’s arm, the blade enhanced with Abyssal Slaughter, carrying conviction of death.

One strike... Two strikes... Three strikes to the same location!!!

BAM BAM BAM

The arm came free, severed at the elbow with blood spraying in a massive arc.

Vorgath screamed, his remaining hand dropping the hammer to clutch the bleeding stump.

Damian grabbed the severed forearm before it hit the ground.

And... bit into it.

CRUNCH

Right there... In the middle of the battle, while Vorgath watched in horror.

"..."

"..."

The watching Giants and humans stood frozen, unable to process what they were witnessing.

This wasn’t combat! This was something else!

Damian chewed and swallowed, his Devourer Body Art already working to integrate the B- rank Giant flesh.

"You do taste better than your subordinates... More refined and more potent. Far better than the beasts I ate before."

He then tossed the arm aside casually.

"...The higher the rank, the better the flavor. Who knew?"

Vorgath’s face had gone pale with blood loss and sheer disbelief.

"You... you’re insane. No rational being would–"

"Rationality is overrated when survival is at stake."

Damian interrupted, his voice conversational despite being drenched in blood.

"You Giants are genuinely weaker mentally than physically. Your species evolved for raw strength, not mental fortitude... Which makes you vulnerable to this."

His improved Slaughter Intent concentrated and lashed out like a weapon, the mental pressure slamming into Vorgath’s mind with focused intensity.

"Argh!!"

The Giant stumbled, his eyes going unfocused for just a moment.

But a moment was more than enough.

Damian used Sonic Blink to appear directly in front of Vorgath’s face, his axe swinging in a vicious arc.

The blade took the Giant’s left eye, the orb bursting with vitreous fluid and blood spraying.

"AHHH!"

Vorgath screamed, his remaining hand swinging wildly, trying to swat Damian away.

But it was too slow.

Damian was already gone, reappearing on the Giant’s shoulder, his axe opening the throat partially before he had to dodge the Giant’s desperate grab.

"Hmm, I don’t want to eat that."

Damian looked at the ruined eye he’d extracted, examining it critically.

"Tsk tsk... Looks filthy."

He crushed it in his hand, the eye bursting between his fingers, then wiped his hand on his already blood-soaked pants.

The Giants watching were making sounds of horror and disgust.

"Bleurgh!"

"The fuck–"

"Insane... he has gone insane!"

The humans were pale, several vomiting, unable to reconcile this monster with the boy who’d led them and protected them.

It seemed as if Damian always became more ruthless and creepy every time they met him.

THUMP

Vorgath was on his knees now, blood loss and injuries finally overwhelming even his B- rank constitution.

Damian walked around him slowly, his axe dragging through the dirt, leaving a trail.

"You know what’s interesting, Commander? You’re incredibly strong. B- rank puts you above almost anything I’ve faced before. You should have crushed me easily."

He stopped in front of the Giant’s remaining eye.

"But you’re slow. Your size makes you powerful but also limits your mobility. Thanks to you guys forcing me to go through an insane experiment, my physical attributes are off the charts!

And your mind is vulnerable to my Slaughter Intent. Those weaknesses make you beatable despite the rank difference."

Damian’s axe came up, the blade resting against Vorgath’s neck.

"...Any last words before I finish this?"