Berserk of Gluttony (LN) - Volume 2 - Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

The Black Scythe Reaps 

I TOLD SET TO REMAIN INDOORS with his daughter, and not to leave his house under any circumstances if he wished to live. Then, I stalked out the door. 

The night was a moonless, murky black, but with my Night Vision, the gruesome scene played out before me as clearly as though it were happening at midday. I heard shrieks above and looked up. Villagers had been snatched into the sky, screaming and thrashing, as the swarming gargoyles devoured them alive. The monsters’ wings blotted out the stars more thoroughly than the clouds. Human blood rained down in thick crimson drops. 

It was too late to save the villagers. I drew the black sword from its scabbard and prepared to defend myself from the incoming gargoyles, quickly using Identify on one within range. 

Gargoyle Noa, Lv 27 

Vitality: 890 

Strength: 760 

Magic: 1,390 

Spirit: 1,230 

Agility: 980 

Skills: Fireball (Spell) 

So, these guys can cast fireballs. If they take to the sky and all fire at once, it’s going to be bad news for me. 

I quickly transformed the black sword into the form of his First Level, the black bow. I aimed it at a gargoyle chewing messily through a villager’s stomach and launched my opening shot. The magic arrow flew without hesitation and pierced straight between the gargoyle’s eyes. 

Gluttony skill activated. Stats increased: Vitality +890, Strength +760, Magic +1,390, Spirit +1,230, Agility +980. New skill added: Fireball (Spell). 

Nice! Got my first spell! 

But it was no time to celebrate. The dead gargoyle plummeted from the sky, clutching the villager’s chewed corpse. The two of them, twined together, landed with a thud near my feet. The corpse was the body of the village elder, the one who had so callously ordered my death. With him gone, who else could take control and lead the survivors to shelter? These villagers had made it clear that they weren’t about to listen to me or Set. 

The remaining gargoyles were unfazed by their fallen comrade. Drunk on the taste of human flesh, they readied themselves to attack their next meal. 

“Fate, there’s a rain of magic coming,” Greed warned. “It’s time to unleash the scythe!” 

I transformed Greed into his Second Level, the black scythe, and leaped onto the roof of Set’s house. At the very least, I would protect him and his daughter. 

The instant after I landed, the sky erupted into scarlet flames. Thirty fireballs blazed toward the village like magic meteors. It was a terrifying combination spell with a huge area of effect, summoned by thirty gargoyle noas working in deadly concert. Such a spell would pummel a house to embers, erasing it from the earth itself. 

I couldn’t stop all the fireballs, but I cut down two as they streaked toward Set’s house. The moment they touched the scythe’s blade, the flames fizzled into air. Greed had bragged that the Second Level would cut anything down to its essence, but in actuality the blade had very specific limits. 

The scythe could negate any skill-created phenomena. The gargoyle noas’ fireballs were produced by a skill, so I could extinguish them with a slice of the scythe’s blade. However, phenomena that occurred as the indirect result of a skill fell outside the scythe’s scope. That meant it was powerless against the mundane fires the rain of fireballs ignited. If the scythe could’ve extinguished such things, it would truly have been unstoppable. 

That minor flaw aside, the black scythe was more than proving its worth in a battle of magic. 

Around me, the village blazed, the flames illuminating the surroundings in a hellish false daylight. Villagers fled their burning homes, flinging themselves to the ground and rolling to douse the flames on their hair and clothes. This only led them to throw themselves into the waiting claws of the gargoyles, who pounced and devoured them with glee. 

I counted thirty gargoyle noas, and they made short work of the villagers. In moments, I estimated fewer than half of the villagers remained. But the ravenous gargoyles were far from satisfied. They flicked their glinting eyes toward Set’s little home, the only house to have escaped their inferno. We were their next target. 

Fine by me. They’d be easier to handle as a single tight-packed group. 

The thirty gargoyles turned to face me, standing on the roof of Set’s house. Rather than approaching, the monsters launched another rain of fire. They’d seen me deflect two fireballs, and now banked on the notion that they’d overwhelm me with thirty. The fireballs flew toward me, a wall of searing flame. 

Finally. It was time to use the strategy I’d practiced on the goblins of Seifort. 

“Are you ready, Greed? I’m going to do it.” 

“Can you manage it without screwing up? I admit, I’m a little worried, but…sure, go on. Give it a shot.” 

I spun the black scythe with all the power I had and launched the weapon at the gargoyles. The cursed blade passed through the incoming wall of flame, extinguishing it in a single swoop. Then it collided with the hovering gargoyles, still spinning, shredding them to pieces. 

Its job complete, the black scythe spun in an arc like a boomerang and returned to my hand. The “thwack” of the black metal hitting my glove felt good. Practice pays off. 

The pieces of twenty-eight gargoyles tumbled from the sky around Set’s house. 

Gluttony skill activated. Stats increased: Vitality +24,920, Strength +21,280, Magic +38,920, Spirit +34,440, Agility +27,440. 

Only two gargoyles remained. With their comrades cut to pieces, they mutually decided on the same course of action: turn tail and run. 

“Not so fast!” I shouted. 

I transformed the black scythe into the black bow and shot the gargoyles down. The metallic voice informed me of their deaths by way of a stat update. 

I turned Greed back into a scythe. I knew that packs of monsters always had a leader. There was no sign of one here, which meant… 

“Fate!” Greed’s warning rang in my head. “Above you!” 

“I’ve got it!” 

Overhead, a black shadow swooped down from on high, a huge fireball growing between its talons. I used Identify to reveal the name of my new foe as it dove toward me. 

Gargoyle Neo, Lv 47 

Vitality: 12,890 

Strength: 11,760 

Magic: 23,390 

Spirit: 23,230 

Agility: 12,980 

Skills: Fireball (Spell), Fire Resistance 

Having observed its underlings in battle, the neo had decided its best bet was to kill me at close range. It was clearly a more powerful spellcaster than the noas had been, and thanks to its Fire Resistance skill, it could launch a point-blank fireball attack. 

Still, in the end, it was just a monster fighting solely on instinct. Could it fully grasp the threat of the black scythe? 

The gargoyle neo sped toward me at tremendous speed, preparing to engulf both me and Set’s house in the flames that swirled within its spell. I waited until the monster was just within its own point-blank range, and I struck. 

Just moments before it released its spell, I swung the scythe, slicing the gargoyle into ragged halves from top to bottom. The two sides of the gargoyle’s body hurtled past me, propelled by their momentum, until they hit Set’s thatched roof in two wet chunks. 

Gluttony skill activated. Stats increased: Vitality +12,890, Strength +11,760, Magic +23,390, Spirit +23,230, Agility +12,980. New skills added: Fire Resistance. 

With that, I earned a second fire-elemental skill. I used Identify to examine it and discovered that Fire Resistance lessened damage from fire spells by half. Unfortunately, that resistance only covered fire summoned by spells and magic. It was useless against real fire. 

Gluttony’s bottomless hunger had been slaked, at least for now, by this banquet of gargoyle souls. The warning throbbing in my right eye subsided. Spattered with monster blood, standing on the singed rooftop…I felt fantastic. 

My mood stood in stark contrast to the rest of the village, which was the image of desolation. Except for Set’s house, the entire place had been razed to the ground by the storm of fireballs. The scorched earth, blackened by the gargoyles’ spells, made me think of fields burnt in summer. 

The village’s few survivors crawled from the charred remains of their homes, covered in burns and ashes. The price of our battle had been steep. From the rooftop, I counted four survivors. Including myself, Set, and his daughter, that made seven in total… There was nothing I could do for the rest. 

I took in the smoldering ashes and the still burning homes, a reflection of my own memories and conflicted emotions. The village had burned to the ground, reduced to little more than ashes. A hole had opened in my heart. Seven people… In no world was that enough to populate a village. 

I sat down heavily and stared at the embers drifting over the ruins. As I watched, Set and his daughter peeked out from their door and looked up at me. 

“Fate,” Set said. “What in the world…?” 

“It was a swarm of gargoyles,” I answered. “I fought them off as best I could, but…there were too many fireballs, at too great a range. It was all I could do just to protect this house. This is the result.” 

I returned my gaze to the ashes I had once called my village. Set said no more. He was in shock. His daughter had forgotten how to even cry, and she clung to her father’s leg as though she would never, ever let it go. 

It had been a horrible, rotten village. Shit, all the way to its core. But now that it was gone, my dark feelings were little more substantial than the smoke rising from its ruin. All that remained was a loneliness I couldn’t quite place. Perhaps this was what people called nostalgia… But I didn’t really know. 

Only one thing was clear to me: the place I had once called home was now lost to us all.