Berserk of Gluttony (LN) - Volume 6 - Chapter 15

Chapter 15:

The Terror of the Beast

ALL OF MY STRIKES LANDED. I still felt like the holy beast wasn’t in complete control of its stats. There was no rhyme or reason to the way it moved. Every response to my attacks was instinctual and reactive. It was unable to read or predict my movements. And if the beast’s movements were simple and basic, it was all the easier for me. Even if Greed’s blade only scratched the scorpion’s outer armor, as long as I could focus on one point and keep attacking, eventually I would break through. At the very least, I wanted to lop off one of the monster’s pincers before Undivided Mind wore off.

“Round two, Greed!” I shouted.

“Be careful you don’t get caught in those pincers—or you’ll be cut in half!”

I had already realized this. It was one sword against two pincers. Even if I was able to fight off one claw, the other could still destroy me. Not to mention that I still had to be wary of the holy beast’s ever deadly tail. All in all, it was less like a one-on-one battle and more like one-on-three.

Nevertheless, I trusted Eris, and I was counting on her support to handle the tail while I fought the rest. I raised the flaming black sword over my head and prepared to strike, setting my sights on the right pincer. I dodged out of the way as an attack came from the left and brought Greed down in a mighty swing. It would take time to expand on the tiny scratch, but I could feel each attack making an impact. At the same time, Eris fired ceaseless salvos at the holy beast’s tail, keeping it from launching a clear attack. 

This is good! Just need to keep up this tempo! I knew that getting overconfident was dangerous, but the tide was turning in our favor. I could entrust the flow of the battle to Eris’s judgment from the mid-range position. Knowing she was there for support lessened the burden on my shoulders, and I finally felt like I understood why adventurers favored fighting in groups.

Eris’s support role went well beyond just her attacks. This time, a bullet wrapped in blue magical energy hit me, and in the next instant, all trace of my form vanished. 

So this is the Vanishing Bullet?

This was the perfect buff to use against an enemy that fought purely on instinct. Realizing that I had vanished without a trace, the monster suddenly stopped swinging its pincers. I wouldn’t let this chance slip from my grasp. The holy beast’s stinger also hovered, swinging from left to right as it searched for a now invisible target. At its hesitation, Eris switched her target to the left pincer.

Nice. Now I can focus completely on the right.

While Eris supported my ability to attack, Roxy helped Eris by handling any darkness that tried to close in on her. Perhaps it was just my imagination, but Roxy’s movements seemed sharper and smoother than before. I wondered if she had earned enough spheres from the fallen darkness to level up.

The fight was going completely to plan. Undivided Mind was about to fade, so I put everything I had into a combo attack on the right pincer.

Cra…crack!

The sound of shattering swept across the desert, and for a moment, the right pincer sunk into the desert sands. It had swung wildly in search of me as soon as I’d gone invisible, but now the pincer was rendered useless. 

“There’s not a moment to spare, Fate!” said Greed. “Cut that pincer off before it heals!”

“Way ahead of you!” 

It was just like Greed to tell me what I already knew. Really, he just didn’t trust me to make the right decisions without him. If I managed to lop off that claw, perhaps I’d earn a little of that trust at last.

Because the holy beast was still unsteady on its feet, it was easy to target the pincer. If I could land a strike that carved into the beast’s flesh, I was certain I could cut straight through. I raised the black sword high and, with all the strength I could muster, I brought it down on the joint connecting the pincer to the scorpion’s arm. 

When Greed met the monster’s armor, I felt a tremendous shock. The force of it launched me soaring past Eris, all the way back to Roxy’s position.

As she moved to catch me, Roxy cried out, “Fay!”

The force was stronger than I realized, and Roxy groaned as she braced against the impact.

“Thanks, Roxy,” I said. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine. Are you hurt?”

“Thanks to you, no problems.”

Roxy was relieved to see me ready for another round. I looked out at the holy beast in the distance. A black pattern of some kind was beginning to appear on its scarlet carapace. It reminded me of the tattoo on my father’s face.

“What…is that?” I muttered.

“Fay! Look! The darkness, they’re converging?!”

The countless darkness that Roxy had left for dead suddenly swarmed toward the holy beast. We had no idea what was happening, or what would happen, so we simply stood in place watching, dumbfounded. 

However, Eris seemed to comprehend. “This… This is bad! The damn thing… How is it doing this unconsciously? Fate! Roxy! We need to kill all of those darkness. Don’t go near the holy beast!”

“What’s going on?” I called out as Roxy and I proceeded to mow down all the darkness we encountered on our way to Eris. I ignored the metallic droning voice informing me of my rising stats. “Eris—what’s going on?”

“The holy beast is trying to devour the darkness.”

“What? Is it like the Gluttony skill, then?”

“No, it’s different. They’re just food to that monster.”

“So…”

We fought and killed every darkness we could reach, but it wasn’t enough. More and more of them emerged from the desert sands. The holy beast had seemingly drawn them all to this place even before we arrived .

Even though the darkness weren’t in the Domain of E, we were facing several hundred of them. Over time, they’d start to agitate my Gluttony. As expected, I felt it rumbling even as I tried to keep it under control. I could almost hear Luna, protecting my soul as she cried out for me to stop. 

The darkness piled onto the holy beast, melting into it.

“It’s like the monster is simply absorbing them,” said Roxy.

When the flood of darkness finally stopped, the monster was completely healed. On top of that, it now exuded an even more fearsome aura than before. The black pattern covering its red outer shell was now clearer and more defined, and a halo of divine light floated above the Zodiac Scorpion’s gigantic body. Looking upon that radiance felt almost like staring into the face of a god.

“You probably realize that this…is pretty bad.” Eris laughed ruefully. Her face grew pallid as she withstood the overwhelming pressure of the transformed holy beast. She had put on a façade of battle-ready confidence, but even before the fight, something hadn’t sat right with her. 

I caught her before she collapsed. It was clear now that she could no longer fight.

“It’s her trauma resurfacing,” said Greed, his voice grave. “Whatever she went through with Libra, holy beasts are a part of it. Given how hard it is for her, it’s amazing she fought for as long as she did.”

“But without someone to make tactical decisions…” 

“Without her, it’s over. Eris was the one controlling the flow of battle and forcing openings. We have to retreat for now.”

“Retreat?”

Even if we wanted to, where would we go? Now that the holy beast had absorbed all of the darkness, it looked primed to hunt us to the ends of the earth. Its eyes focused squarely on us, and they burned with determination. With that in mind, falling back to LeChoix was completely out of the question. Staying in the desert would mean running in circles while we prayed that Eris made a miraculous recovery. 

I watched the holy beast, waiting for it to move while I considered my options. I sensed Roxy’s gaze on me, so I turned to her. “What’s wrong?” 

“No, it’s just…I’m sorry. If only I were stronger, I…”

I smiled and shook my head. “Roxy, you did everything we asked of you. I won’t demand any more than that.”

“But…”

“We need to get as much distance from that monster as we can, and we need to establish a better position for our next assault. Now let’s go!”

I hefted Eris onto my back and checked behind me once more.

Huh?!

The holy beast was gone. I hadn’t felt it move in the slightest, so I’d assumed it had stayed right where it was. 

Greed was the first to notice where it had gone. “Fate! Beneath you!”

“What?!”

A giant pincer shot silently out of the sand below. I was taken off guard, never having imagined that it could move so smoothly that it wouldn’t cause the slightest tremor. I couldn’t respond in time. I couldn’t avoid the attack. 

I pushed Eris and Roxy out of the way as the pincer moved in to chop me into bloody chunks, then leaped up into the air, hitting the pincer with the black sword as I twisted to evade its attack. But I couldn’t get out of the way entirely, and the errant claw tore a gouge out of my side. Fortunately, my vital organs were spared, meaning my flesh began knitting itself together within seconds thanks to my Health Regen and Health Regen Boost skills. However, the pincer waiting for me as I landed wasn’t going to grant me the precious seconds of reprieve I needed.

“Fay!” Roxy cried as she moved in to offer support.

“Stay back!” I snapped.

With her stats where they were, Roxy didn’t stand a chance against a monster in the Domain of E. She was just as aware of that, but it was in her nature to take reckless risks if she believed that she might help. That was why I had to speak forcefully. I could apologize later, so long as we made it out of this alive.

As the pincer closed in, I realized that I wouldn’t heal in time to survive a second attack. My only hope was to counter the pincer head-on. I could barely stay on my feet, but I gripped the black sword tight in hand and readied myself.

“Huh?”

The pincer never found its mark. Someone had come between us. They easily blocked the holy beast’s pincer with their black spear. As I took in the silhouette before me, I realized it was a person I had long looked up to.

“Dad?!”

“You simply refuse to change, don’t you?” he said. “I told you not to do this, but you did it anyway. I’ll tell you right now—you get that from your mother.”

Dean Graphite knocked the pincer away and turned his head so I could see his profile. His eyes met mine as a sardonic grin spread across his face.

“Can’t do anything by yourself, can you?” he said. “But if you can still fight, then follow me.” 

I said nothing.

“Well, what are you going to do, Fate?” my father asked.

There was something nearly daring in his tone, and his choice of words took me back years and years. Back to forgotten memories of being a competitive, fiery child. He had always asked me that question in just that way, and it always lit a fire inside of me. That was why I wanted to be like my father; he was the impetus for my youthful memories of running around swinging tree branches like they were swords, pretending to be an adventurer.

I was no longer the boy who had looked up to that man. Fighting as an adventurer to get to where I now stood had changed me. I didn’t know the reasons for my father’s actions, and for all I knew, he was my enemy. But at least for now, I wanted to believe in him…like I had when I was young.

“I’m in,” I said.

I stood next to my father and brought Greed up into a fighting stance. My father smiled, satisfied. In front of us, the Zodiac Scorpion climbed up from the sand, eyeing my father with something like surprise.