Chapter 34 All You Can Eat Buffet

Enforcers, the law-bringers, and the government of the Kingdom of Asrich. They work directly under the Council, originally tasked with gatekeeping the capital where the royal family, The House of Augustus, resides.

As the Kingdom flourished and prospered the Council grew more ambitious - the Golden Ages had that effect on all realms, with each Empire or Kingdom aiming to venture as far as they can within the lands below.

Asrich was no different, the King decided to recruit more talented knights to the Enforcers, and over time the functions of the Enforcers became a blur. No longer was it just a private body guard force or a delving organization for the Council, it grew and became more than that. They delved deep into the dungeons and labyrinths, establishing a headquarters far down in the dungeon, and became the new government of Asrich.

In this way the Enforcers solidified its already considerable strength and paved the way for Asrich as a whole, making its claim on a small part of the dungeon. Now, centuries later, a new king rules the Kingdom, however, the Enforcers' authority and duty still remain the same.

Excerpt from 'Origins of the Enforcers - Down the Timeline' by Paris Humes, Historian, and Politician within Truatsall.

***

Ethoss's razor-sharp teeth ripped into the skin of the warthog corpse, opening a gaping hole beneath it in less than a second. Blood spilled over like a water leakage. He spared no time, gulping down the fatty meat which still had the brown fur of the warthog connected to it.

[You have gained 1 biomass]

Ethoss didn't have a preference, food was food. Returning to take another bite out of the corpse, he aggressively laid two of his claws on top of the corpse's face and body, then pushed down as he yanked at the skin to get a better biting force.

His gouging sharp claws pulled away a few strips of its fat flesh and his long, flat tongue ate away at it. The popping sounds of the rib cage and spine of the warthog being snapped by the force of his claws filled the air.

Within minutes, all of the bloody carcass was devoured. The last bits of the corpse that were not eaten by Ethoss would either be decomposed into the ground and turned into mana or scavenged by weaker monsters if they were fast enough to claim it. However, there was nothing else Ethoss could do with the tiny leftovers of skin and meat that desperately hung from the bones of the carrion.

"Gra..h"

The sound of weak growls escaped the mouth of the next monster that was closest to Ethoss. He snapped his neck turning in the direction of the growling monster, who was now staring up at him, frozen in fear. Its eyes grew wide when it noticed how much bigger Ethoss looked compared to itself.

Ethoss stepped closer toward the monster, hissing arrogantly, his tongue hung out of his mouth and the scales around his mouth lifted to reveal his glistening teeth. This gave the image of a devilishly smiling reptile. The creature opened its jaws, lowly growling once again, however, it became visibly terrified. It began to tremble violently until its entire body shook uncontrollably.

It attempted to stand, however, which resulted in its legs making a moderately loud cracking sound. Immediately, the monster slumped back onto the ground, letting out cries filled with pain. With one swift movement, Ethoss reached forward and sliced his claws cleanly through one of its legs.

"Grahhh!"

Ethoss completely ignored the cries and sliced his claw through another of the legs, then another. Until finally the monster was laid on its side, with only one leg.

[Claw Swipe has reached level 5, upgrade available]

Ethoss momentarily paused his movements to acknowledge the mechanical words, this was his goal from the beginning, it's why he had chosen to attack the monster even though it was already defenseless and weak. Ethoss decided to worry about all his upgrades later. Now he could properly end this and continue to eat as much as his stomach could carry.

He focused back on the whimpering monster only to find it It trying to move its body, turning itself away from Ethoss, yet, it was useless, it couldn't even move its body due to all the pain it was enduring. Ethoss walked closer and placed his large, heavy claw on top of the struggling monster's leg, then he opened his maw.

The creature lifelessly stared into the mouth of Ethoss, the pink insides of his mouth dripping with saliva onto its face. Seconds later the dripping saliva began to evaporate and the back of Ethoss's throat glowed orange, then red, the creature could feel the burning heat against its face. Mana merged and condensed forming a fireball that exploded upon impact on the monster's face.

[You have defeated level 4 Vipera Lynx]

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[You have gained XP]

[You have achieved level 4, One skill point awarded]

'Finally' Ethoss thought.

The impact from the explosion destroyed the creature's head entirely, the blood that attempted to spurt was incinerated along with its head.

The robotic voice returned, this time giving even better news. He had finally leveled up again. It had been a while since he leveled up again, after his evolution his growth had definitely slowed. However, he wasn't done there were still more monster corpses and crippled monsters left, Ethoss looked around and then continued with his 'all you can eat buffet'.

After stuffing his large stomach full of as much food as he could, Ethoss gained a bunch of rewards. Surprisingly, after killing all of the monsters that were still alive, he gained two cores, which he absorbed right on the spot.

His level had reached level 6, his skill, Lethal Venomous Bite had leveled up to level 2, and he gained loads of biomass. His belly was heavy and full. Ethoss flicked his tongue, then hiss in dissatisfaction, the grotesque and disgusting scent still roamed within the forest.

He decided he would worry about the humans after he had improved himself with mutations and upgrades, he activated his camouflage again and stealthy headed back to his territory.

[Discoloration Camouflage has reached level 2]

During his travel back to his territory the mechanical voice rang out within his mind. He was gaining lots of levels today, it seems. This was good, he would need this when he clashed with the humans. Ethoss knew that he would meet the humans at one point, it was inevitable.

From what he could tell, these humans were different from the weak ones he met previously, not only that, they were moving through the forest expanse like a wave, and at some point, they are definitely going to enter his territory.

He ascertained that these new humans were hunting certain monsters within the forest, possibly only the stronger ones, he personally observed how they lured monsters in using their loud footsteps along with the unknown yellow balls they carried. He witnessed what the cursed yellow-colored balls did to his sense of smell.

Fortunately, he found out about the humans before they found out about him, this was a nice advantage. Perhaps he could use this advantage to grow himself even stronger.