'No… something is wrong.'
Maya acted as an aloof spectator to everything that was happening inside the Domain of Gluttony. She started coming up with her own theories as she watched Gluttony's mouth digest the participants' spells.
'Mana can bend the law of equivalent exchange, but Eren can't break it outright. If he has devoured all of those elemental spells then the devoured mana has to be utilized in some form.'
Maya's eyes shone with brilliance as she looked at Eren's image shrouded in the mana cloud. She was looking forward to what the butcher could do with his demonic Ability.
Some of the participants started feeling an unbelievable amount of hunger all of a sudden when the quality and quantity of gluttony mana inside the domain began increasing. Their mental faculties started getting affected because of their sudden urge to devour something– anything.
"I… fuck… what is happening to me? This... This hunger."
"Damn. You... are you feeling that too? It's like my hunger is taking over me… Aaaaargh!"
"Kill him… let's kill him before it gets any worse."
A bunch of participants closed in on Eren. They launched some more attacks at him while approaching, forcing him to step out of the mana cloud and react in some form. They needed his reaction to continue with their assault.
In the wake of the newly launched attacks, the previous gluttony mouths vanished, and new ones appeared out of thin air to receive the new attacks. The wide-open mouths devoured everything that was thrown in their direction before producing a subtle munching sound.
This didn't look like a showdown among Expert-ranked entities anymore. That's because there was no significant damage to the battlefield and its surroundings. The elemental attacks failed to produce their intended effects. The non-elemental attacks barely managed to cause any disturbance on the battlefield.
It was as if a bunch of Novice rankers were engaging in mortal combat with each other. Unlike the Domain of Wrath which unleashed death and carnage on the battlefield, the Domain of Gluttony looked actually quite peaceful.
The only question was– how long would the peace last?
There was another group of rankers who were not part of the attackers. These rankers were waiting for Eren to show himself. His exit was sealed by these rankers securing a perimeter.
Alas, they did not yet understand that Eren did not plan to run away from them in the first place.
Blink. Swoosh. Pichook.
One of the rankers who was securing a perimeter felt as if somebody had grabbed his neck and made him shut up. The next thing he felt was his neck getting stabbed by something.
This ranker's mental faculties were already compromised by the sense of extreme hunger he was feeling at the time. So when he received such an attack from his unknown attacker, he couldn't react the way he should have.
The ranker's body started shriveling up like a mummy all of a sudden. He couldn't even make a sound because it was his neck that had been pierced.
Other members of the perimeter detail realized one of their companions had been attacked. They couldn't help him because they couldn't even see his attacker.
The shriveled-up ranker's neck gushed out a few drops of blood as if someone had taken the pierced object out of the neck. Four distinct finger-sized puncture wounds could be seen from which blood was leaking.
After being subjected to the effect of the Domain of Glutony, the ranker's blood condensed and turned thick. The Life Force integrated into the ranker's blood had been extracted, messing up the blood's viscosity with demonic magic. Therefore, the puncture wounds did not leak as much blood as they should have. As if it were dead blood, the leaking blood looked dark red and black.
Another ranker had mysteriously died while the main force of the participants was busy dealing with Eren's shadow shrouded in the mana fog. Two deaths shortly after the Domain of Gluttony was raised.
"Be aware. He has Sage Loxley's beaked mask. He can turn himself into an assassin when he needs to."
Gondel spoke out loud with his voice imbued with mana to let other participants be aware of Eren's capabilities. After all, it wasn't in his favor if the butcher managed to kill any more participants this easily.
The participants, who were about to launch a close combat assault on the shrouded Eren, stopped in their tracks when they heard Gondel's shout. They all turned towards the second victim only to see his mummified body hit the ground lifelessly.
The participants screamed in anger when they saw another ranker dying at Eren's hands. All of them used various Perks and spells at their disposal to force Eren to show himself.
Eren's invisible body first started looking blurry before it was forced to show itself. A frustrated look appeared on the butcher's face as he dispersed his mask artifact once he became visible. He looked at Gondel the geek before speaking out in a low-key threatening tone.
"I had told you not to interfere in this matter, you fat fuck. Guess some people are just ready to suffer the consequences of their runny mouths."
Eren was irritated that he didn't get to use his Assassin class anymore. He really liked the combination of the assassin class with Life Drain and Hero's Heart. The butcher didn't even need additional weapons anymore because of Life Drain.
His Life Drain-enhanced fingers served as capable assassination tools for him. Using Domain of Gluttony, Eren's fingers devoured the very defense layer of his targets - allowing him to penetrate their fragile bodies. It made his job as an assassin a lot easier. He could make full use of his beaked mask this way.
The butcher felt as if he was dipping his fingers into a soft and warm chunk of cheese. So when he attacked his recent victim on the neck with his bare hands, his fingers managed to pierce his larynx straightaway.
That's why the puncture wounds were very clean.
Warning: The might be disturbing to read for some readers. Skip it if needed.
