Berserk of Gluttony (LN) - Volume 3 - Chapter 23

Chapter 23:

Power that Transforms 

THE WAVE OF MONSTERS poured in from the south, colliding with Lady Roxy’s army, which stood ready and waiting. The vast majority of the monsters were green-skinned orcs, but a significant number of crowned beasts ran among them. However, Lady Roxy wasn’t the only holy knight in this battle. The monsters didn’t have the upper hand. Not yet. 

My Gluttony remained quiet. It felt no threat from anything fighting in the battle. I breathed a sigh of relief and continued to watch from my vantage point high above. Then Greed sensed something. 

“There’s something heading this way,” he said. “It’s coming from the east, and it’s coming fast . ” 

I turned to look. “There’s nothing there…” 

As far as I could see, it was just barren wasteland. 

“Is it strong?” I asked. 

“It is.” 

“Then there’s no reason for me to hold back any longer.” 

If I couldn’t see it approaching, then I had to make it so I could. It was time to use the skill I’d learned in the battle against Haniel. 

“Were you listening when I told you not to be reckless?” Greed asked. 

“It’s too late for that now.” 

I took a deep breath, calmed my heart, and readied myself. I couldn’t see the incoming threat, but I would devour it. It was me or them. Life or death. I called forth my Gluttony. 

For an instant, my right eye burned with intense heat. I had successfully engaged Gluttony’s half-starved state. 

“You’ve gotten much better at doing that,” Greed remarked. 

“It’s all that training you put me through.” 

“Hah! ‘All that training?’ That was nothing. You’ve still got a long way to go with me.” 

Even in my half-starved state, I felt calm and in control. I could really give it my all now. My eyes traced the flow of magical energy, and I looked eastward again. 

“What is that?” 

Something huge moved under the ground, swimming through the earth as though through water. It was still much too far away to Identify. I scanned the rest of the battlefield, making sure nothing else unexpected was approaching. The field was otherwise clear. 

I turned back to study the swimming shape. If it kept on its current path, it would burrow right underneath Lady Roxy and her troops. Would she sense the monster while locked in battle? It seemed unlikely. Even if she did, there wouldn’t be enough time to warn her soldiers, let alone respond. The sheer size of the monster would cause serious damage. I was looking at the makings of a fatal pincer trap. 

“We have to stop it before it reaches the army,” I said. 

“This is the biggest battle you’ve ever been part of. Don’t lose yourself to it.” 

I could feel it—the strange mix of pressure and excitement in the air. Bloodlust and destiny. This was no ordinary battle. Greed was right. There was a chance I’d lose myself to my Gluttony, no matter how stable it seemed now. 

“Get ready, Greed,” I said. 

“Oh, you want to use that . Very well.” 

This would have been the perfect time to use the black bow’s secret technique, but the Bloody Ptarmigan attack required ten percent of my stats, and I wanted to save as many of those as I could. Orcs wouldn’t bring my stats back up quickly enough. For that reason, I wanted to try a tech-art I’d modified, one that required me to be in my half-starved state. 

I’d gotten inspiration for this tech-art while fighting the undead in Hausen alongside Aaron. My Gluttony had somehow affected him, and he’d experienced a limit break—a phenomenon in which an adventurer broke through their maximum level. I’d wondered whether I could do a similar thing to my own skills. By experimenting, I learned that I could change my tech-arts with my skills, much like I did with my elemental arrows or my orichalcum-enforced scabbard. 

With practice, I developed the modified tech-art I called the Spiral Charge Shot. By itself, Charge Shot increased a bow’s range. With the Spiral Charge Shot, charging the bow with magic meant one’s range increased—accompanied by a drastic increase in the piercing power of the arrow. 

“The most fascinating idea you’ve had,” said Greed, “was adapting the skills you don’t use to match my weapon forms.” 

“Well, I can’t always rely on your secret techniques, or I’ll run out of stats.” 

“Big words, little man.” 

Then I’ll show you, I thought . It’s not words that will fire this arrow. 

Now that one of my eyes was stained crimson, it was all too easy to follow the movements of the massive monster swimming through the earth. I took aim and loaded the bow with magical energy. The black arrow flickered with sparks of electricity, but it wasn’t enough. As I poured more magic into the arrow, the bow itself sparked audibly, and my left hand numbed as I pulled the arrow back. Just a little more . 

The monster dove forward, but I followed even its smallest movements. Then, when the arrow seethed with magic, I fired. 

The arrow did not falter. It pierced the air as it shrieked eastward, cutting a black bolt through the sky. It vanished into the earth, never slowing as it plunged toward its target. 

After a moment, the earth rocked wildly. Just as I thought the quake was over, the area where my arrow had disappeared erupted. An enormous, translucent monster shaped like a blue whale burst through the crumbling earth and flew into the sky. 

“Did you see that? We got ourselves one hell of a catch!” 

Greed bellowed with laughter. “It’s a big one, all right!” 

“I’ve never caught such a huge monster,” I said, a bit awed. 

Still, it wasn’t dead yet. Before it could dive, I had to reach it, and fast. 

I leapt. As I fell, I kicked the outer wall with all my strength and launched myself through the air, to the east. I couldn’t help laughing as I descended. 

“What’s so funny?” the black sword asked. 

“I was just thinking, ‘What would the old Fate have thought if he saw me throw myself off a giant wall like that?’” 

“You’re going to give me all sorts of grief if you don’t wake up to your potential soon, Fate. You’ll hurt yourself too, soon enough.” 

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” 

As I landed, I engaged the full power of my strength and agility, carving up the earth as I ran. The blue whale-like shape still floated in the sky, rippling as it reoriented itself. Each of my steps carried me hundreds of feet. I’d reach my target in about ten paces. Clutching the black bow, I closed in. When I got in range, I used Identify. 

“Show me what you got.” After using Identify, I couldn’t hide my shock. Are you for real? 

“Probably shouldn’t be so surprised,” said Greed. “This kind of thing is common in Galia.” 

“Seriously?” 

It was a crowned beast, yes, but I still couldn’t believe what I saw. Had it gotten so big because of Galian nutrition? All the monsters of this type that I’d seen in the past had been much, much smaller—even cute, in a way. 

As for the monster’s stats, I had to read them a second time before I could accept the truth.