NOVEL NEXT Chapter 141: Devourer
Jack stood there, swaying slightly, his body trembling with the effort of maintaining itself against the constant health drain. Blood dripped from his armor in steady streams. His breathing came in ragged gasps that sounded more animal than human.
[-163 HP]
[-163 HP]
[Jack HP: 1,457/3,250]
The hunger screamed at him to move, to kill, to consume. But there was nothing left to kill. Eight hundred demons lay dead.
The battlefield was empty except for corpses and the two figures on the ridge who were clearly beyond his ability to harm.
So Jack did the only thing his frenzy-addled mind could process.
He returned to the corpses.
More hearts. More blood. The pile of torn-open bodies grew larger as he worked through them with mechanical desperation.
Fifteen hearts consumed. Twenty. Twenty-five. The taste had stopped registering. They were just fuel now, desperately consumed in hopes of satisfying the hunger that wouldn't end.
[-163 HP]
[-163 HP]
[-163 HP]
[Jack HP: 968/3,250]
Time became meaningless. Jack moved from corpse to corpse, tearing them open, extracting hearts, consuming them.
His movements grew slower as his health continued to drop. The red energy coating his body flickered, beginning to fade as Demonic Frenzy struggled to maintain itself against the mounting health drain.
[-163 HP]
[Jack HP: 642/3,250]
His hands were shaking now. Each heart took longer to extract, his claws moving with less precision as exhaustion set in. The hunger remained constant, but his body was failing. The passive drain was winning.
[-163 HP]
[Jack HP: 479/3,250]
Twenty-eight hearts. His vision was starting to blur. The corpses around him seemed to multiply, his frenzy-addled perception struggling to distinguish what was real.
[-163 HP]
[Jack HP: 316/3,250]
[WARNING: HP approaching critical threshold]
[Demonic Frenzy health drain reduced to -33 HP/sec]
The change was immediate. The red energy coating Jack's body flickered more violently, the power that had sustained him throughout the battle beginning to fail.
He dropped to his knees in the pool of blood, his clawed hands sinking into the lake.
[-33 HP]
[Jack HP: 283/3,250]
The hunger was still there. Still screaming. But something else was pushing through now.
Exhaustion so profound it felt like his bones were turning to lead. His body was shutting down, the demonic enhancement finally reaching its limit.
He tried to stand. His legs wouldn't support him. He collapsed forward, landing face-first in the blood pool with a wet splash.
[-33 HP]
[Jack HP: 250/3,250]
The red energy around his body sputtered and died.
[DEMONIC FRENZY: DEACTIVATED]
[HP reached minimum threshold: 10%]
[Side Effect Activating: Blood Hunger]
[All Stats reduced by 80%]
Jack lay there in the pool of blood, barely conscious.
The world was spinning. His body felt too heavy, too weak, every muscle screaming in agony. The hunger was still there, but now it was joined by something worse.
Memories were starting to filter back.
Fragmented. Disjointed. The taste of hearts.
The sound of screaming.
The feeling of his claws punching through flesh.
What had he done?
[-33 HP]
[Jack HP: 217/3,250]
His hand moved weakly, searching through his system storage.
Cho's heart, the one he'd never finished consuming.
Jack pulled the heart free with trembling fingers. The hellfire demon's essence still potent even in death. He raised it to his mouth and bit down.
The taste exploded across his tongue. not the overwhelming flood of power from before, but something steadier.
Cleaner. His body absorbed the essence desperately, using it to fight against the Blood Hunger side effect.
[Consuming Nightmare-Class Hellfire Demon Heart]
[+10 Demonic Essence]
[Current Demonic Essence: 58]
[-33 HP]
[Jack HP: 184/3,250]
He finished the heart in three bites, swallowing the last piece just as his vision started to tunnel.
The hunger eased slightly, not gone, but manageable.
Enough that he could think, could process what had happened.
Eight hundred demnoons. Dead. All of them.
And he'd eaten their hearts like a beast.
Jack's eyes closed. The pool of blood was warm against his face.
Above him, he could hear voices, S saying something, but the words were too distant to make out.
Corvin's concerned shriek.
Fluffy's rumbling growl.
---
Time passed. Seconds? Minutes? Jack couldn't tell.
His eyes opened.
He was laying face-down in the blood pool, the dark liquid pressing against his cheek.
He didn't move. He couldn't move. His body felt like it had been run through a meat grinder, every muscle screaming in protest at the mere thought of moving.
But his mind was awake now. Fully awake. And with awareness came memory.
Everything.
Every kill.
Every heart.
Every moment of the frenzy played back in crystal clarity.
The taste of Permafrost's heart as he tore it from the demon's chest while he still lived. The sound of bones cracking as his claws punched through hundreds of creatures.
The feeling of absolute hunger that had driven him to consume nearly thirty hearts in desperate succession.
'What have I become?'
The thought was his own this time. Not the layered voice of whatever had controlled him during the frenzy.
Just Jack, lying in a pool of demon blood, trying to reconcile what he'd done with who he thought he was.
[DING!]
The system notification exploded across his vision, and Jack flinched despite his exhaustion.
[Battle Analysis Complete]
[Demons Slain: 759]
[Calculating Rewards...]
[+537,000 Death Tokens]
[+2,325,000 EXP]
[+750 Dread Cores]
[+9 Nightmare Rank Cores]
The numbers kept scrolling, each one larger than anything Jack had seen before.
His mind struggled to process the scale of what he'd accomplished.
He'd killed more creatures in one battle than most warriors killed in their entire lives.
[DING!]
[Congratulations! Arc Mage has reached Maximum Level!]
[Congratulations! Soul Warden has reached Maximum Level!]
[DING!]
[Achievement Unlocked: Horde Slayer]
[Requirement: Slay 500+ enemies in a single battle]
[Reward: +30 Stat Points]
[Reward: +15 Skill Points]
[DING!]
[Achievement Unlocked: Demon Bane]
[Requirement: Slay 500+ Demons]
[Reward: Soul Capacity increased by 1!]
[New Objective: Visit the Soul Warden's Castle to claim additional rewards]
[Reward: +250,000 Reputation Points]
[DING!]
[Title Upgraded: Demon Slayer → Demon Slayer (Level 2)]
[Effect: Damage against Demons increased by 20%]
The notifications kept coming, each one accompanied by a chime that felt like someone was hammering nails into Jack's skull.
He wanted to tell the system to stop, to give him a moment to breathe, but the flood of information continued relentlessly.
[DING!]
[Congratulations! You have consumed a large number of demon hearts!]
[Passive Skill: Devourer has ranked up to Level 5!]
[Effect: Gains from consuming hearts increased by 50%]
[DING!]
[Congratulations! Enhanced Constitution has leveled up to Level 5!]
[DING!]
[Milestone Achievement: 30+ Demon Hearts Consumed]
[Reward: +5 to all Stats]
[Next Milestone: Reach 100 Demonic Essence]
[Current Demonic Essence: 58/100]
The final notification hung in Jack's vision longer than the others, and something about it made his blood run cold.
Fifty-eight demonic essence. More than halfway to the next milestone. Each heart he consumed pushed him closer to something he didn't understand.
'System,' Jack thought, his mental voice weak but determined. 'Is there anything I can do about the demonic essence? Can I... reduce it? Remove it?'
The system was silent for a long moment. Then:
[Demonic Essence is permanent once acquired]
[Cannot be removed or reduced through conventional means]
[Warning: Demonic Essence affects host physiology and psychology]
[Current corruption level: Low]
Jack's heart sank. 'If it gets too high... will I turn into a demon?'
Another pause. Longer this time. When the system finally responded, its tone was different. More clinical. Almost apologetic.
[Unknown]
[Recommendation: Avoid consuming additional demon hearts unless absolutely necessary]
'Absolutely necessary,' Jack thought bitterly. Like when the Blood Hunger side effect left him no choice.
Like when his body screamed for sustenance and the only thing that would satisfy it was tearing hearts from demon corpses.
He was trapped. The more he used Demonic Frenzy, the more hearts he'd need to consume to survive the Blood Hunger.
And every heart pushed him closer to the unknown threshold that might transform him into something inhuman.
[Jack, if you are afraid of becoming a demon, than just eat the hearts of a different creature and balance your body]
'Wait… like what? What do you want me to eat now?'
[Consume the Dragon Heart in your storage or find another powerful creature to devourer to balance your body]