Chapter 88: Sacred Banquet, Birth of the Glutton Demon

While Garos slept in the Steam Rift.

In the distance, a crowd of Shi Ju was migrating through the wilderness in the rain, searching for a suitable settlement.

There were eleven of them in total; six were not yet youths, minors of varying ages between infancy and adolescence.

Among the other five Shi Ju.

There was one vigorous elder Shi Ju over two hundred years old, three young Shi Ju, and one adult Shi Ju.

Giants and dragons are both long-lived races; their lifespans, depending on the species, are about one or two hundred years shorter than dragons, and their age classifications are roughly similar.

The difference is.

At the same age classification, dragons rank more than a tier higher than giants.

The giants' advantage lies in their greater numbers, tight social cooperation, and, at equal levels, fierce combat power comparable to dragons.

The level of an adult Shi Ju ranges from 8 to 10, equivalent to a young dragon among dragons, or a teenager among lower-sequence dragons, such as a young white dragon at the tail end of the sequence.

The level of a vigorous Shi Ju is 10 to 13.

This group of Shi Ju comes from the Stone Heart Clan.

Their leader and other higher-level warriors died in the war against the Blue Dragon Clan.

The strongest remaining now is the vigorous Shi Ju elder.

It is responsible for leading the remaining Shi Ju to migrate to a safe place, a suitable new territory.

Rest and recuperate, and rebuild strength.

Hoping one day to return and reclaim their homeland.

The rainy season in the wilderness continues, and the drizzle gradually thickens, quickly turning into a downpour; the Shi Ju press forward through the heavy rain in silence, migrating and fading into the distance across the wilderness.

Under the same sky.

Wind and rain lash together, lightning flashes and thunder rolls.

The ogres of the Bone-Chewing Clan, situated in the fertile hills, did not go out hunting, did not sleep or rest, did not mate or breed; all gathered in the central hall to hold the 'Sacred Banquet'.

The protagonists of the banquet were the old chieftain and its nine offspring.

The cause was that, as the old ogre chieftain aged, its strong, vigorous offspring watched hungrily, coveting its position.

To maintain its rule, the old chieftain cruelly devoured two of its own children.

But it knew it would sooner or later have to choose an heir.

After devouring two children, it still had nine direct offspring.

To select the strongest among them, the ogre capable of replacing its position, the old chieftain held the most sacred ritual among the ogre race.

And this ritual is called—the Sacred Banquet.

For ogres, the meaning of life is—eating.

Their appetites are excellent; they can consume fresh meat, bones, and even stones and metal.

The more an ogre can eat, the stronger its body and the higher its talent.

The Sacred Banquet revolves around eating.

Whoever has the strongest stomach, whoever can fight through to the very end, is the next king of the Bone-Chewing Clan.

During the Sacred Banquet, the old chieftain and the other nine ogres participating in the banquet will begin eating without sleep or rest, day and night.

Until now.

The banquet has been held for some time.

The contestants, starting at ten, have now dwindled to three.

The old chieftain and its two most favored offspring.

Ugo Bone-Chewer, Karu Bone-Chewer.

Three ogres surrounded a dining table formed of marble slabs; light cast three mountain-like shadows, and grease dripped through the cracks in the stone table.

More ogres surrounded the hall so tightly no one could squeeze through, watching the ongoing banquet.

The slab table was piled with maggot-infested dead sheep.

Ugo was as strong as a mammoth draped in ogre skin.

Every time it swallowed a lump of maggoty sheep carcass, its belly bulged slightly.

Its gaze was fierce; it ate quickly, striving to finish first, its eyes full of longing for the 'throne'.

Karu did not care about the throne.

It stared at the dead sheep, its eyes full of love for 'delicacies'.

It tore off chunks of rotting flesh and ate the meat along with the maggots on it, its face beaming with a happy and joyful expression.

In less than three minutes.

The three ogres finished all the maggoty dead sheep.

Ugo finished first, then Karu, and finally the old chieftain.

With age, the old chieftain's appetite and digestion speed could not match those of its two strong children, but it did not admit defeat, letting the banquet continue.

The banquet continued.

The Bone-Chewing Clan had nearly emptied all its stockpiles, serving up 'delicacies' that even ogres would frown upon.

These foods were deadly poisons to other races, but for the ogres vying for the throne, they were the ultimate trial to prove the strength of their stomachs.

After the maggoty rotting dead sheep came wind-dried rhino leg bones covered in sharp bone spines.

There was not a scrap of meat on them; the sharp bone spines would cut the ogres' mouths, esophagus, and intestines, bringing pain while eating.

Ugo was the first to pick up the leg bone; blood flowed from its mouth, its face twisted in a grimace, as it chewed loudly with huge bites.

Then came the old chieftain; frowning, it supported its large belly with one hand and began to eat.

Finally came Karu; although pain came from its mouth and belly while eating, it was still full of joy, treating all food with a solemn and serious attitude, licking and eating even the smallest bone fragments.

Lightning flashed and thunder rolled, heavy rain pouring down.

The banquet continued.

Heart-piercing worm sashimi, rusted-nail stewed troll toes, raw-cured thunder-rhinoceros bladders, sliced poisonous mushrooms—foods other biological races dared not touch—were constantly brought to the dining table, placed before the three ogres.

Half an hour later.

The ogres had finished the chitinous wings of the rotting-bone beetles; their great stomachs were bloated and round, like three mountains of flesh.

"The banquet continues!"

With the outcome undecided, the old chieftain let out a burp and spoke, ordering the clan's kitchen butchers to bring more food.

"Chieftain, all the food has been eaten."

The kitchen butcher said, "The clan's stores are completely exhausted."

Ugo suddenly stood up and announced his victory in a muffled, resonant voice: "I always finish the food first; victory and glory belong to me!"

If all the ogres had persisted until the end,

then eating speed would be the most important criterion for judgment.

The old chieftain swayed as he stood up, preparing to announce the result of the sacred banquet.

Just at that moment, green light like that of a hungry wolf flashed in Karu's eyes, and he growled, "No! I am not yet full."

The next second, he suddenly stood up, walked toward the old chieftain, and, under the old chieftain's puzzled gaze, swung his massive fist down onto the old chieftain's crown.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

With those sudden, powerful heavy blows, the old chieftain died on the spot.

Karu turned to look at the butcher, grinned, and said, "Divide the father's corpse and the food in his stomach into two halves, and place them before me and my brother."

"The banquet continues."

Silence fell over the hall.

The ogre butcher grunted gloomily, then chopped open the old chieftain's body, dismembered it, and presented the pieces to the two ogres.

Ten minutes later.

Ugo finally could eat no more.

His belly was like a balloon pushed to its limit, the surface covered with crack after crack; his stomach had burst. In contrast, Karu's belly was equally round, yet with every bite swallowed, after his belly swelled slightly, it quickly tightened and contracted.

Whether it was an illusion or not,

the ogres watching this feast belatedly realized that Karu's figure seemed to have expanded by a circle compared to the beginning, and not just his stomach.

He had originally been less strong than Ugo.

But now, beneath the skin of his bloated body, muscles swelled as if stuffed with asphalt and oil, making him appear even larger than Ugo.

The clan's wisest two-headed ogre mage turned both of its heads, glancing at each other.

In the small eyes of its other head, it saw expressions of shock and ecstasy.

"Karu has awakened the Gluttony Talent! He will lead the Chew-Bone Clan toward glory!"

Both heads spoke in unison.

Ogre variant—Gluttony Demon.

Gluttony Demons can digest all food, efficiently utilize food energy, and gain terrifying power from it, enough to shake mountains.

In the ogres' records, the glory of the ancient era is recorded: once, a Gluttony Demon established a magnificent empire composed of ogres!

Ugo finally surrendered, kneeling before his brother.

Opposite him, Karu chewed on the old father's arm and, in a muffled tone, declared himself the new chieftain.

This gluttonous carnival feast ultimately crowned the greediest stomach as king.

After devouring the old father's flesh and bones, Karu looked around the messy hall and muttered, "I am still not full."

Every ogre he saw instinctively averted their gaze, afraid to meet his eyes, afraid of being swallowed alive and flayed.

"Clan members! Follow me to hunt."

Karu shouted, and all the ogres responded.

During the banquet, ordinary ogres had suppressed their hunger for too long, and with the clan's stores completely exhausted, hunting to replenish supplies was urgently needed.

Not only fierce beasts and demons,

but also the monster clans stationed in the surrounding areas would become the targets of the Chew-Bone ogres.

(End of this chapter)