Your party has slain [Lak'anjir - Terror of the swamps [Boss]]Your party obtained [15 400 exp]you have obtained [2 200exp]

“It’s dead… the monster is really dead…” Villagers couldn’t believed their own eyes. “Thank you! Thank you! We have no idea how we could even repay you!” “Fortunately for you, we know. All we want is to stay for some time in the village and corpse of the monster. In the end you did not send request to the guild, so we shouldn’t really be here…” Jericho acted quickly “Thank you one more time! Of course, please stay as long as you want!... and what were we supposed to do with carcass anyway… to come despite not being paid… such a noble hearts… S…sir?” some discouragement could be heard in voice of the elder. “Yes?” “I… I think your companion is… eating… the monster…”

Ha, that would be me…

“FOR FUCK SAKE! ZARI! COULDN’T YOU WAIT A BLOODY MINUTE?!” “Oh, sorry, I grow tired of being FUCKING BLIND! Plus, it is best to eat your food still warm. It grants faster absorption…” “I am not sure how eating a monster corpse can help you cure blindness but… M…monster is all yours… just please, if you wouldn’t mind moving it into some more… isolated place… kids are watching.”

I raised up still chewing part of flesh with rubber-like texture.

“Fine. Oh, and if I would have eyes, I would roll them right now.”

Someone chuckled from behind. Must been Marika. I came to her, embracing her with one arm and pulling bit to myself. Gisele and sibling were about to help villagers deal with damages that hydra made, Nyx was resting on the ground replenishing mana used after maintaining such a strong gravity well for so long, Jericho would now made few more deals with elder, and then probably scold Rus. She deserved that. Idiot. So I took the humble job of keeping company to the fairy.

Most damages were fixed in span of two hours, in the end the whole village worked with aid of three ridiculously powerful warriors. Then, they started preparation to the feast. Nice of them.

All this time I was gently petting Marika’s head, I didn’t even notice when she felt asleep.

“How is she?” Jericho walked to us from behind. Despite my boosted senses I did not felt his presence at all. “Exhausted. Probably more mentally than physically. We will have to watch over her a little after she would wake up. In the end she just achieved something she was hungering for few past years. She may be confused in world in which she lost her reason… Guild master… I have a favor to ask.” “What is it?” “Can we go investigate its lair? Not today, of course.” “Why? Something you intend to find there?” “Yes. Answers.”

Feast was loud. Almost deafening. I stayed there for a moment or two, courtesy required that. After 30 or so minutes I excused myself and walked to storage room, where body of hydra was transported. Gisele followed me.

“May I know why I was honored by your company?” I tried to tell her to leave me in as nice way as possible. “You are really going to eat it like that? I mean… raw?” “I am not sure if I have other option. High temperature destroys protein. I am afraid that cooking it may damage… something… I wish to get from it. Or that’s only my assumption. In the end I ate few roasted chickens in guild. The fact that I didn’t receive anything from that means either that I have to kill it myself, or at least partake in killing it; flesh needs to be in original condition, or needs to be more or less fresh. And as I don’t intend fighting with another Hydra anytime soon, I will not experiment with it. So yes. Raw.” “…H…how does it taste like?” She was curious of something. Something she didn’t want to ask directly. “Horrible. Someone told me it will taste like chicken. Bullshit, I tell you. Chewy, rubber-like texture, taste as mud and grass. Not my favorite. At least it’s not moving. I am tired of eating still alive creatures.” “So. You can get stronger by… eating.” “That’s the case.” “How long you have to wait till you are able to… transform into your meal?” “Depends on far too many factors. One, how strong I am compared to my meal, size of my core that will store the power of beast…” “Just asking… you look like human… cuz you ate humans?”

That’s what was itching her.

“Sunshine, I see what you want to know. No. I look like human, for I used to be one. That’s how I looked before I achieved that blessing...”

She breathed loudly with relief

“…So I didn’t really got much from humans I ate.” “WHAT!?” “What?” “You are trying to tell me that you actually…” “Sunshine…” I looked left and right “… for a moment I wanted to lie. But no. Bastards were witchhunters, and I was badly injured. I needed blood to not die from anemia. I do not regret, and if once again I would find myself in similar situation I would not hesitate. Something more you want to ask?” “J…just to clarify! You are not… hunting for humans?” “No. You didn’t ask if I am hunting any other intelligent race, like elves or fairies though.” “D…DO YOU!?” “No. Anything more you want to know?”

Now. That’s the moment when everyone usually turn away from me, calling a monster and such, so if you want to…

“I see. Life must have been hard for you too…” “No need to be… wait what?” “You may not realize that, but you have two patterns of behaving. One, sarcastic strong loner that tries to offend everyone around him, and guy that joke and laugh and really, really care about their comrades. You want to know my theory?” “No.” “See? First type. I think that humanity disappointed you greatly, and whenever you meet somebody new, you are trying to keep them on distance. And then there are you who climbed dozens of floors in the Tower just to save me. Completely alone. This is why I want you to open your heart to rest of the guild, I know all of them longer than you and I assure you, they are more than just trustworthy. You don’t have to suffer. And surly, not alone.” “… Do we have full moon?” “…We do… Depending about which moon you are asking… why does it matters to you?” “Tell me that you are not going to confess your feeling to me! I feel as if I was put into some weird romantic novel… Shitty one, atop of that!”

Her laugh disturbed quiet night.

“SEE?! That’s what I am talking about! Each time anyone shows you support you are turning it into a joke! Well, it doesn’t really matter to me. One day we will make you toss away all your worries.”

Ha. You are welcome to try. Finally we reached the storage room. I opened the door and walked inside. Gisele followed me again.

I stopped by carcass, kneeled. And waited. And waited. And then I waited some more.

“It is very rude to stare at someone’s plate.” I pointed out. “Oh, I am not staring at plate. Bah, I am pretty sure that it’s even more rude to eat from the floor while being accompanied by lady, yet I have no problem with that!” “That’s why I am not going to start till you leave. See? I am doing everything to not offend you!” “Eat!” “For mercy of Luxia…”

I gave up. Bones of my jaw begun to shift, my teeth became bigger and sharper, while rest of my body turn into shape of snake.

“Ew. Nasty.” “That’s why I didn’t want you to watch!” “NOPE! I am going to learn everything about you! I am going to see all of your faces, face all your sins and uncover your darkness. And as I would know every detail about you, I will accept it! That’s how I am going to make you trust me!” “Calling my way of eating [nasty] isn’t really boosting my self-confidence, you know?” “Go on. I already miss those pretty eyes of yours.” “… if I would have my eyes…” “…You would rolled them. I know. That’s you favorite saying…” “Well, I see no problem with that..” “Just… eat.”

Toying with her is so simple yet enjoyable. I focused my attention back on body without heads.

“Holy crap… it’s heart is still beating…” “After all the beating it received its still alive?! HOW!?” “No. It’s dead. Yet it still absorb mana from environment and use it to active some basic processes. It heart will beat for few seconds… then its muscles would move, maybe it would even breath once or twice… yet all those… actions, are not coordinated. Like fish that has its head cut off still moving its lips… Did I mention that I hate when my food is moving? Fuck…”

I started cutting bigger parts of flesh, pretty frequently bigger than human mouth, just to spread my maw like monster from children’s nightmares and swallow it whole. Methodically I kept “digging” deeper and deeper looking for one specific object.

“Here you are, my precious!” I said while piercing monsters kidneys and taking out fist-sized orb. “Hm? You want to use it? I heard that some magicians are using monster cores as mana batteries or… Did you eat it?” “That’s very best thing I could eat from it! It’s like… cream de la cream! The very essence of its being! It this won’t gave me what I want, nothing will!” “So… there are… more and less… tasty… parts?” “Of course there are! Ask yourself! As you are eating pig, you prefer its chop, or nose, tail, hoofs…” “Ok, stop it. I get it… how does … the core taste?” “It’s tasteless, but feeling that comes while digesting…. Bliss!”

I activated healing magic on myself, mostly to boost metabolism. Devouring such a huge specimen was quite the feat at took some time.

“I can’t believe it…” Gisele whispered “In one sitting you ate something… 10 times bigger than yourself? It defies logic! Where did you fit it!” “I don’t know, and to be honest, I don’t want to know. Damn, I won’t be able to look at meat for next week…” “So, what are you going to do now?” “Hm? Well, I have to digest so I would probably stay in this form till morning…” “It’s not what I asked! After your eyes are back, what do you intend to do?”

Great. Another one.

“Why everyone think that I have everything planned? Or that I am using everyone as pawns in some twisted game? I don’t know! I just want to enjoy myself! Listen, I know that my… ancestors, were bit… violent, but I am not even related to them by blood! I want to stay as far as possible from all kind of mess, wars and politics. I don’t want to plan anything, I just want to go back to the guild, screw around annoy few guyz, and then take another quest from the board that I would find interesting, just to see where my legs are going to lead me!” “… I am sorry….” “I got enough of all of this. This is why I don’t trust humans. In the end everyone would view me either as mindless monster that only wants to feast, or some idols of beast from dark prophecy that uses everyone as pawns to unleash war as terrible as hell. I am… tired. So very tired. Of proving that I don’t care about such things, that I have no hidden intentions, that I don’t bath in blood of virgin nor torment innocent beings for sole purpose of having fun. I am afraid of hiding. Of running. Of lying. But I can’t stop hiding, because always someone is looking for me. I can’t stop running, because always someone will chase me, and I can’t stop lying because no one truly knows what I am. Not even myself. And do you know, what people do when they discover something they don’t understand? They start feeling fear. It’s unknown, it’s strange, it may be dangerous… so, to prevent possible damages, they intensively begin to hate it. And when something is being hated, it is removed. Yes, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering… but why it always have to be MY suffering. I am so very tired… You know, I still remember the day when I took those powers. To save villagers that took me in. But in the moment I lost my humanoid vessel and turned into monster to defeat another monster… well, let’s just say it was miracle that I wasn’t stabbed with pitchforks. That’s how humans shows their gratitude. I know no other prize. I am so very tired… You think I like eating monsters? That flesh and blood gushing from my mouth is enjoyable feeling? Sometimes it is, for a moment, but then I kept wondering how much of human is it left in me. I am struggling, Gis, I am wondering what is worth more? On one hand, I used to be human, I took the gift because the human-me decided so. You have no idea how it feels like, when I change my body, what a wonderful feeling it is to SEE new colors, to HEAR things that nobody else can hear, to SMELL like a dog, even to feel heat and vibration, the thrill of running and hunting the freedom… And then, sometimes, I have that though. Shouldn’t I abandon being a human completely? Humans are weak, slow, dumb, able only to hurt each other and hatred being their most primal feeling… You think that they build society for purpose of living together?! NO! They simply hate other society even more and want safety that number can provide! They are so… filthy! Disgusting! Dirty! And… and ungrateful… and…”

I didn’t notice when Gisele came closer and hugged me. First, she simply put her arm on my shoulders, but with every word spoken grip was tightening. In the end she once again forced me back on her lap and start brushing my hairs.

“Gis…” “Yes?” “Aren’t you afraid of me?” “Hm? It’s hard to answer, you know? I know that you are you, and I know that you are not going to hurt me. There is simply no reason for you to hurt me, If you wanted me dead you could simply not ran after me in the tower, if you wanted to kill me personally, you had more than one occasion, in this matter, it’s not longer a faith, I simply know it. Since I met you, you show me nothing but kindness… on the other hand… Have you seen yourself? Damn! You are soooo ugly right now! If on the quest board I would find an order to exterminate monster with your description, I wouldn’t hesitate for a moment to take it!”

I chuckled.

“Yet you are still brushing my hair.” “Oh, nothing for free! Our carriages are so uncomfortable! I simply hope that you will let me use your legs as pillows.” “And here I though you have a good heart!” “Ha! Who? Me? You ask dragon to NOT be greedy?! “Gis…” “Hm?” “Thank you.” “No problem at all!” “Gis.” “Hm?” “If you ever tell anyone about this conversation your death will be painful and slow.” “Sure thing sunshine. Sure thing.”