Chapter 570: An Ancient Fallen Deity

“…Hmm…” I walk through the “city” around my mother’s castle. My magic is so compressed and hidden that you can only sense my presence if you’re within a meter of me. With this, I can explore without them fleeing from me.

’Urgh…this place stinks…’ I’m on top of a strange “house” looking around. There are many nests with eggs. As it happens, lots of monsters lay eggs. Why? Because eggs are biologically the best choice for survival.

Normal gestation, with the baby in the belly, forces you to carry your child, hunt while getting slower and weaker, and defend the baby in the womb from threats. With eggs, there’s no weakening of the body.

You don’t have to go out hunting with your child, and with an egg, you can abandon them and flee if an emergency arises. This made many species focus on laying eggs.

After all, if you’re hungry, why would you waste time chasing the mother when her eggs are enough for a meal? It’s just basic logic.

“…” I use the darkness to generate a tentacle from the shadows. The tentacle steals an egg from one of the houses and brings it to me in a way that the monster inside doesn’t even notice. A little test for my stealth.

“…Eggs…” I stare at the egg in my hand. It’s pretty big, easily half my size. But hunting eggs isn’t fun. I let the egg fall from the top of the house, smashing it on the ground as the smell spreads.

“Looks like every place has its rats.” I look down, watching some weak monsters cautiously approach, searching for what they think are leftovers.

’Let’s see if it works like I thought…’ I release particles so tiny, using my divine weapon’s ability, that they’re smaller than atoms. My weapon goes extremely fast towards the enemies down there and enters their bodies.

’Hmmm, less precise than I’d like.’ The magic inside their bodies messes with my perception of where the weapon is inside them a bit, but I think it’s enough, so I snap my fingers.

The seven monsters down there look up, and before they notice me, my weapon expands like a spike ball in all directions, violently expanding their bodies.

All that’s left is a puddle of blood as my weapon shrinks and returns to me. They all died pretty easily.

“If they had enough resistance, the weapon’s expansion would have been blocked…” From what I can see, my weapon respects the laws of physics. If it’s “trapped” in a closed space, it can’t just grow without first breaking its prison.

“More?” A few other monsters show up, attracted by the smell. They seem like the scavenger type that approach by scent without caring much about danger. They’re weak, probably around level 100 million.

’No fun.’ I leave the rooftop, wandering through the city. There are many monsters here, most above 500 million. But because they’re strong, they’re more restrained, not going around fighting.

“Doom…”

“W-Wait up! No need for that!” Someone speaks, emerging from the ground to where I’m pointing, ready to use the Doom element.

“And you are?” I ask, uninterested, killing some monsters with my weapon just to test variations.

“Therytar. I’m the ’eyes’ of Echidna! She might be able to see everything in the Abyss, but her comprehension of what she sees isn’t perfect! I see directly for her!” Therytar speaks boldly.

“Hmm…stop following me. It’s unpleasant.” I generate a needle with my weapon, testing how fine I can make the tip while the handle is still holdable, like a real needle.

“Hahaha, sorry, I’m just curious. About the favorite daughter, you’re smaller than I expected.” She speaks, putting her hand in front of her eye and framing my body between two fingers as if I were a miniature.

“I can show you how big I am, if you want.” I say maliciously as she raises her hands. Before she realizes it, I shoot the needle against her skin, without any sign or pain coming from her.

“Take it easy, princess. No need to be so mean to me. I don’t want to see how big you are in any sense.”

“What do you have to say about the Abyss?” I ask curiously, crushing the head of a powerful monster in a nest. My weapon starts dragging the body so I can bring it to me and eat.

“I don’t know what you wish to know, princess.”

“…How pathetic. An eye so blind is useless.”

“…I’m very sorry, but I don’t serve you. So why should I say anything?” She smiles with a huge, malicious grin.

’At least she’s loyal…up to a point.’ The body finally arrives here as she stares at my weapon, which has taken the form of a glove to have fingers and grab the body it dragged over.

“Am I so insignificant that you’d rather eat than talk to me?” She asks as I tear off the monster’s body’s arm and start chewing.

’Would my mother really keep an eye on me like this? Is she curious about me? Or does she just not trust me?’ I look at her emotions, and I see pure rage towards me despite the goofy smile on her face.

“My meal is worth more than you.” I say, going back to chewing. The cracking of bones echoes loudly. The taste is shit, as expected.

Her colors darken: rage, hatred, envy, various negative feelings. Even lust is in there. It’s an explosion of colors.

“Ok…sorry for interrupting.” She maintains that stupid expression, as if deep down she weren’t hating every cell of my body.

“Yes, you are interrupting. So if you know that, could you leave? Or maybe I’ll have to hunt you. That seems fun.” Because of my level of 5 billion, going out to hunt seems tedious since almost nothing will provide a good hunt.

That’s why my focus will be on hunting everything and devouring a bit to try and steal useful traits using what being a Representative of Gluttony affords me.

“You have a magnificent tail.” She says, looking at my tail which is lashing the ground as a threat towards her.

“No need to hide the hatred. I can see it easily.” I say with a disinterested yawn.

“…A lot of people hate you. You should watch your back…”

“Are you threatening me?”

“Never. I would never threaten Echidna’s daughter…I’m just saying, accidents happen. The Abyss is dangerous…”

“The Abyss is more like a hole.” I say mockingly, interrupting her. An insult that makes her whole body bristle with rage.

“How dare you…”

“I dare because I can. Of course, for a bitch born in this hole, it’s all you could ever have anyway.”

“I-” Before she can speak, a blade slowly comes out, slicing her belly and coming to my hand. She gasps in pain, looking at the wound. The giant eye behind her gets its veins bulging. Seems the needle really was imperceptible, even hitting her.

“I can kill you any second. Don’t try to seem interesting to me.” I say, licking my lips.

“You’re almost managing to captivate me. And if you catch my interest, I might not be able to hold back enough.” All the rationality I show my mother and sister evaporates as I look at Therytar as if she were just a piece of meat trying to seem more delicious than she really is.

“Message received…so, I guess I’ll be going…” She says, staring at me licking her blood that remained on the blade. My weapon is already inside her body, ready to shred her into a bloody mess if necessary.

“Sure, you can go, Therytar. Have a nice trip.” I say sarcastically.

“…” She stares at me for a few seconds as if expecting something. But when nothing happens, she retreats, disappearing quickly.

“She really tried to poison me…” I lick what’s left of her blood, savoring the taste of the poison. Her audacity in trying to deceive me is almost as delicious as a decent meal.

“Well, I guess that’s it…” My weapon, which has already spread as particles throughout the city, kills a few hundred monsters and starts dragging their bodies to this place.

’Too crude. I still need some practice to refine the long-distance use of this weapon…’ I stretch, preparing my mouth to taste the various new flavors these bodies will have.

I’ll also try to steal as many traits as possible. There must be something useful that helps me, even just a little.

…

…

…

“Sure, you can go, Therytar. Have a nice trip.” Pandora says to me as I stare at her, waiting for the poison to work. But some time passes and nothing happens, so I retreat.

’Damn it!! Damn it, damn it, damn it!! Why didn’t she die?!’ I ask myself, fleeing from her as if I were the inferior one. It’s so pathetic of me to have been wounded without noticing. The wound is nothing special, but the threat is dangerous.

“Ahhh, why did it have to be her?” My eyes spill a purple liquid like tears down my face. I’m so full of envy and hatred for that girl who monopolized Echidna’s interest.

“Fuck! I didn’t need a Mini-Echidna!!” Pandora also gives me so much lust. She’s like a miniature Echidna: bold, arrogant, proud, and with a way of speaking that sends shivers down your spine.

“Damn it…why can’t I get the attention I want…” I start gnawing on my fingers with growing frustration.

“I want so badly to tear a piece off both of them.” I start drooling, wanting so badly to taste a piece of a goddess. I ate a piece of a divinity in the past, and the taste is literally divine. It’s the best thing I’ve ever eaten.

I spent millions of years waiting for the chance to taste such a flavor again, but I don’t have that luck.

I don’t know which goddess it was, but once, one of them fell here into the Abyss. Well, her corpse fell here. If she had been alive, I couldn’t even have devoured her. Some of us who serve Echidna were lucky enough to eat that body.

But I can’t get that taste out of my mouth. It’s addictive. The magic in the flesh is so dense it’s like a sweet poison. Each drop of blood is so heavy it’s like eating a piece of a planet. The bones are so hard you can gnaw on them for thousands of years without destroying them.

And the organs are so dense in nutrients that with a single piece, you practically never need food again.

“I want it! I WANT IT!!! I want so badly to taste that again…” I’ve been serving the goddess of the Abyss for years, trying to get even a tiny sliver of her. But she’s too strong, and the most I’ve ever gotten were drops of her sweat when she used magic to create her eggs to generate Pandora and Azraelith.

And now there’s Pandora, an actual goddess. She has the same wonderful smell. But unfortunately, she’s too strong, and Echidna adores her too much to let me make her disappear.

“There must be something I can do…or something I can use to…forget it…” I stop muttering to myself, going back to doing what I’m supposed to do. I shouldn’t lose myself in unpleasant feelings, even if having these two special meats wandering around stirs my hunger.

Anyway, it’s not like Echidna hasn’t noticed that many of her servants want to eat a piece of her if they get the chance. We’re all monsters; it’s the most natural thing.

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