Translator: AnubisTL
While Garos slumbered in the steam rift, the stone giant clan migrated through the wilderness in the rain, searching for a suitable settlement.
There were eleven giants in total, including six juveniles and adolescents. The remaining five consisted of a two-hundred-year-old elder, three young adults, and one adult.
Like dragons, giants were long-lived, though their lifespans were typically one to two centuries shorter. Their age classifications were broadly similar.
However, at comparable stages of life, dragons far surpassed giants in power.
The giants' advantages lay in their greater numbers, close-knit social cooperation, and formidable combat prowess that rivaled dragons of similar rank.
Adult stone giants ranged from levels 8 to 10, equivalent to juvenile dragons or late-sequence adolescent dragons like the white dragon, a young dragon of the lowest tier.
Mature stone giants, on the other hand, reached levels 10 to 13.
This particular group belonged to the Stoneheart Clan.
Their leader and other high-ranking warriors had perished in the war against the Blue Dragon Clan.
Now, the strongest remaining member was the mature stone giant elder, tasked with leading the survivors to a safe new territory.
They rested and recuperated, gathering their strength anew.
They hoped that one day they would return to their homeland and reclaim what was lost.
The rainy season in the wilderness persisted, the drizzle gradually intensifying into a torrential downpour. The stone giants, braving the storm, continued their silent migration, receding further and further into the desolate lands.
Under the same sky,
wind and rain raged, lightning flashed, and thunder roared.
In the fertile hills, the ogres of the Bonechewer Clan neither hunted nor slept, neither rested nor mated. Instead, they all gathered in the central hall for a sacred feast.
The feast's central figures were the old chieftain and his nine descendants.
The reason for this gathering was that as the old chieftain aged, his strong and vigorous descendants, in the prime of their lives, began to eye his position with predatory hunger.
To maintain his rule, the old chieftain had cruelly devoured two of his own offspring.
Yet he knew that sooner or later, he would have to choose an heir.
After consuming two of his children, he still had nine direct descendants.
To select the strongest among them—the ogre capable of succeeding him—the old chieftain initiated the most sacred ritual in ogre culture.
This ritual was known as the sacred feast.
For ogres, the meaning of survival was simple: to eat.
Their appetites were insatiable, capable of devouring fresh meat, bones, even stone and metal.
The more an ogre could eat, the stronger its body and the greater its innate talent.
The sacred feast revolved entirely around eating.
Whoever possessed the strongest stomach, capable of devouring everything in their path to the very end, would become the next king of the Bonechewer Clan.
During the sacred feast, the old chieftain and the nine other ogres participating would begin an endless, day-and-night feasting frenzy.
So far, the feast had been underway for some time.
The original ten contestants had dwindled to just three:
The old chieftain and its two most favored descendants, Ugo Jawbone and Karu Jawbone.
The three ogres surrounded a marble slab table, their mountain-like shadows looming under the light. Grease dripped through the cracks in the stone.
More ogres crowded the hall, their numbers so dense that not a drop of water could seep through, all watching the ongoing feast.
Maggot-infested dead sheep lay piled on the slab table.
Ugo was as massive as a mammoth draped in ogre skin. With each gulp of the maggot-ridden carcass, his belly swelled slightly. His eyes burned with fierce determination as he devoured the meat rapidly, desperate to finish first, his gaze fixed on the 'throne'.
Karu, however, cared nothing for the throne.
His eyes were fixed on the dead sheep, burning with a passion for 'delicious food'.
He tore off chunks of rotting flesh, devouring both meat and maggots with a blissful, contented expression.
In less than three minutes...
The three ogres devoured all the maggot-infested, rotting sheep.
Ugo finished first, followed by Karu, and finally the old chieftain.
As the old chieftain aged, its appetite and digestion speed couldn't match those of its two robust sons. Yet it refused to yield to age, insisting the feast continue.
The feast raged on.
The Bonechewer Clan nearly emptied its entire stockpile, serving up "delicacies" that even made the ogres grimace.
These foods were lethal poison to other races, but for the ogres vying for the throne, they represented the ultimate test of stomach fortitude.
After the maggot-ridden, rotting sheep came sun-dried rhinoceros leg bones bristling with sharp, bony spikes.
Devoid of any meat, these bones would lacerate the ogres' mouths, throats, and intestines, inflicting agonizing pain with every bite.
Ugo seized the leg bone first, blood streaming from his mouth as he gnawed ferociously, his face contorted in a savage grimace.
Next, the old chieftain, frowning and clutching its swollen belly, began to eat.
Finally, Karu, despite the searing pain in his mouth and stomach, approached the food with solemn reverence, treating every morsel with utmost respect, even licking up the tiniest bone fragments.
Lightning flashed and thunder roared as torrential rain poured down.
The feast continued unabated.
Heart-piercing worm sashimi, rust-nailed troll toe stew, raw pickled thunder rhino bladder, and thinly sliced poisonous mushrooms—foods that other races wouldn't dare touch—were continuously brought to the table and placed before the three ogres.
Half an hour later, the ogres had devoured the rotbone beetle carapaces, their massive stomachs bulging like three fleshy mountains.
"The feast continues!"
The old chieftain, burping loudly, declared the competition still undecided and ordered the ogre butcher to bring more food.
"Chieftain, all the food is gone," the butcher reported. "The clan's reserves are completely exhausted."
Ugo suddenly stood up, his booming voice declaring victory. "I always finish first! Victory and glory belong to me!"
If all the ogres had persisted until the end, eating speed would be the decisive factor.
The old chieftain swayed to his feet, preparing to announce the results of the sacred feast.
Just then, Karu's eyes flashed with a wolf-like green light as he growled, "No! I'm not full yet!"
In the next instant, Karu suddenly stood up, strode toward the old chieftain, and, under the chieftain's bewildered gaze, swung his massive fist down on the chieftain's skull.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The sudden, powerful blows instantly killed the old chieftain.
Karu turned to the butcher, grinning. "Divide my father's corpse and the food in his stomach into two equal portions. Place one before me and the other before my brother."
"Let the feast continue."
The hall fell silent.
The ogre butcher grunted dully, then hacked apart the old chieftain's body, dismembering it into chunks and presenting them to the two ogres.
Ten minutes later, Ugo could eat no more.
His belly bulged like an overinflated ball, its surface crisscrossed with cracks. His stomach had ruptured. In contrast, Karu's belly was equally round, but with each bite, it would swell slightly before rapidly contracting and tightening again.
Whether it was an illusion or not, the ogres observing the feast belatedly noticed that Karu's physique seemed to have expanded by a full circle compared to when he started—and not just his stomach.
He had originally been less physically imposing than Ugo.
Now, beneath its bloated skin, the muscles bulged like they were stuffed with asphalt and crude oil, making it appear a full size larger than Ugo.
The clan's most intelligent two-headed ogre mage turned its heads to face each other.
In the small eyes of its other head, it saw a mixture of astonishment and wild joy.
"Karu has awakened the Gluttony Talent! He will lead the Bonechewer Clan to glory!" both heads declared in unison.
Ogre variant: Gluttony Demon.
Gluttony Demons could digest any food, efficiently extracting its energy to gain terrifying power capable of shattering mountains.
Ogre legends spoke of an ancient era of glory—when a Gluttony Demon had established a magnificent empire ruled by ogres!
Ugo finally conceded defeat, kneeling before his brother.
Across from him, Karu chewed on their father's arm, declaring himself the new chieftain in a slurred voice.
This gluttonous feast culminated in the crowning of the greediest stomach as king.
After devouring their father's flesh and bones, Karu surveyed the ravaged hall, muttering, "I'm still not full."
Every ogre that met its gaze instinctively averted their eyes, fearing to look at it directly, fearing to be swallowed whole and skinned alive.
"Clanmates! Follow me on the hunt!" Karu roared, and every ogre responded with a resounding cheer.
During the sacred feast, the ordinary ogres had suppressed their hunger for far too long, and with the clan's reserves completely depleted, they desperately needed to hunt for sustenance.
Their targets weren't limited to ferocious beasts and demonic beasts.
The monster clans entrenched in the surrounding territories would also become prey for the Bonechewer Clan.
(End of the Chapter)
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