The Devouring Dragon

[Devour] has been used on [Gar] [Dire Wolf Commander] - Level 29

You have gained:

+425HP (22,795/22,795)

+45 MAX HP (22,840/22,840)

+95 STR

+90 END

+45 AGI

+4 INT

+200 XP

+ 45 [Harden] Skill XP! 

+ 15 [Devour] Skill XP!

+ 35 [Global Communication] skill XP!

[Devour] has been used on [Yomu] [Dire Wolf Commander] - Level 35

You have gained:

+750HP (22,840/22,840)

+75 MAX HP (22,915/22,915)

+105 STR

+105 END

+110 AGI

+20 INT

+400 XP

+ 70 [Harden] Skill XP! 

+ 15 [Devour] Skill XP!

+ 50 [Global Communication] skill XP!

"I never knew eating could be so tiring," I groaned, casually grabbing another commander's corpse from the pile and holding it up to my mouth. I took a bite into it, and another notification appeared.

[Devour] has been used on [Scar] [Dire Wolf Commander] - Level 39

You have gained:

+900HP (22,840/22,840)

+90 MAX HP (22,915/22,915)

+120 STR

+125 END

+120 AGI

+25 INT

+500 XP

+ 80 [Harden] Skill XP! 

+ 15 [Devour] Skill XP!

+ 70 [Global Communication] skill XP!

I didn't think the constant hunger in my gut could ever be quelled, but I was getting close. I'd eaten thousands of wolves at this point - yes, literal thousands - and now the corpses were starting to look less appealing.

Not unappealing though. They still looked like a big piece of steak in my body's eyes, but more like a microwaveable one than a filet mignon one. 

If it wasn't for the constant stat boosts, I might've considered stopping my meal.

"Do… you, um… want me to… help?" Raya asked shakily, the girl looking uncomfortable as she was caked in blood and watching me devour the many corpses of her kind, "I can… bring them to you… if you want?"

I felt guilty as the girl stuttered her words out, obviously not sure how to handle the sight in front of her but still wanting to help.

"I'm fine," I said dismissively, trying my best to smile gently at her, but it didn't work very well considering the blood coating my lips, "You should go rest, or clean up if you know of any rivers nearby."

She nodded at my words, stopping for a second as her eyes trailed down to my bare chest, which was coated in layers of blood and glistening. Then, she blushed again and quickly started walking away.

I glanced down at my blood-caked body. I could really use a bath.

My starting outfit was pretty much completely gone at this point, as the last threads of my shirt had been ripped away earlier that day during my XP far- I mean, during the fight with the rest of the wolves.

My pants were much the same, with just a few threads remaining around my crotch area. It was barely enough to cover up my you-know-what, but it did the job. The wolves were strangely nice about not going for any cheap shots.

I turned to the final two corpses, which I had poetically laid side-by-side and saved for last. 

I grabbed Torn's body, raising it up to my lips as I bit into it.

[Devour] has been used on [Torn] [Dire Wolf General] - Level 45

You have gained:

+1,250HP (22,915/22,915)

+120 MAX HP (23,035/23,035)

+140 STR

+150 END

+100 AGI

+15 INT

+675 XP

+ 100 [Harden] Skill XP! 

+ 15 [Devour] Skill XP!

+ 75 [Global Communication] skill XP!

[Quest Update!]

Defeat the Four Dire Wolf Generals

[3 / 4]

Rewards:

The next step to taking down the Great Wolf King

+100 STR

+100 END

+100 AGI

[Harden] will be evolved!

Failure:

Eventual Death.

I was once again reminded of the shit overall quest rewards as I compared them to the stats I got from Torn.

Though, I guess it made some sense. The quest system probably wasn't designed with [Devour] in mind. 

If I didn't have this cheat skill, then I would've been painstakingly grinding out each stat, and this quest probably would've been a huge boost.

Now? It was essentially just an extra dire wolf general in my stomach,

I turned to the other wolf general, grabbing Gorn's large body and raising it up to my mouth. A moment later, it dispersed into blue dust.

[Devour] has been used on [Gorn] [Dire Wolf General] - Level 57

You have gained:

+1,450HP (23,035/23,035)

+145 MAX HP (23,180/23,180)

+155 STR

+155 END

+140 AGI

+75 INT

+800 XP

+ 120 [Harden] Skill XP! 

+ 15 [Devour] Skill XP!

+ 85 [Global Communication] skill XP!

[Quest Complete!]

Defeat the Four Dire Wolf Generals

[4 / 4]

Rewards:

The next step to taking down the Great Wolf King

+100 STR

+100 END

+100 AGI

[Harden] will be evolved!

Skill: [Harden] is being evolved!

Skill: [Harden] has been evolved into [Reinforce]

[Reinforce] - Reinforce anything by making physical contact with it.

Reinforce? The hell?

I looked down at my hand, willing my new skill to activate. It did, as my skin hardened, looking the same as when I had used my unevolved [Harden],

Though, I assumed it was at least a bit tougher than before. More importantly…

I walked forward, placing my palm on a nearby tree. I willed my skill to activate again, and my eyes widened as I watched it work.

The wood on the tree seemed to shift slightly, the brown color becoming a lighter, almost metallic silver color.

I pressed my finger into it, but the bark of the tree didn't budge. It was as if I was trying to push my finger into a metal wall.

I looked appreciatively at the result. 

It wasn't bad. It wasn't an insane upgrade from [Harden[, but it was still an upgrade. I could already envision the versatile ways I could utilize it.

As I was staring at the tree, my attention was pulled away as a sudden light shone to the side of me.

Due to your efficiency in completing the side quest, the mainline quest has been upgraded!

[Quest Update!]

Defeat the Great Wolf King

Rewards:

All [Territory] owned by the Great Wolf King

All [Subordinate]'s owned by the Great Wolf King

+1,000 STR

+1,000 END

+1,000 AGI

+All unclaimed [Wolf] related skills!

+All [Wolf] related skills will be raised to level 15!

Failure:

Eventually Death.

Wait, is the quest system automatically adapting? 

I assumed that the system didn't intend for me to take down all the generals so quickly, as it had only been roughly a day since the quest started.

This was likely meant to be a multi-week, maybe multi-month, endeavor that would consist of me having to constantly grind up my stats before taking on the next one.

Instead, over the course of one day, I had taken down all the generals. The king's not going to know what hit him.

"I'm back," Raya spoke from behind me, drawing my attention back to her. Apparently, the river was close by, as the woman was now clean of all the blood and gunk that had been covering her.

"You seem like you're… done?" Raya asked, pausing for a second as she looked at the now relatively clean small open area, which had previously been full of wolf corpses.

"I am," I nodded, then paused.

Wait, I've been quite literally eating hundreds of wolves in front of her, and she hasn't questioned it?

I had expected to have to come up with an excuse, especially considering that the wolves literally burst into blue pixels when I used [Devour] on them, but Raya hadn't questioned it.

"You, uh, don't mind, right?" I asked hesitantly, not sure how to broach the subject, "That I, uh, ate them all, y'know?"

Raya blinked, tilting her head at me cutely, "Of course not. You defeated them, so it was your right to feed on them."

That made sense - this was a 'kill or be killed' type of forest anyway, but for her to accept a human casually eating hundreds of wolves was still a bit strange.

I blinked again as an idea came to me. This was a forest of beasts - have they even seen a human before?

"Do you know what a human is?" I asked abruptly, and Raya looked curiously at me again.

"A human?" She hummed, tilting her head at me again, "...I've heard of them before, but I've never seen one personally. My grandfather told me they were dangerous, and to avoid them if I was ever near one."

Ah, that explains it a bit. She doesn't even know I'm a human - she just thinks I'm another beast in this forest. 

Granted, considering that I can literally turn my hands into blades and that I savagely ate everyone I defeated, I don't know how human-like I am anymore.

"Can you lead me to the river?" I asked her, glancing down at the blood coating my body. I could really use a bath.

"Sure," Raya nodded easily, "It's not far. We can get there after only a few minutes of walking."

I followed Raya through the dark forest, and sure enough the dark trees above soon faded away. Soon enough, we arrived at a small river running in between the trees.

"Thanks," I grinned and stepped forward towards the water as my hand grabbed the small remaining bit of clothing over my crotch.

"S-Should I leave?" Raya asked behind me, her face flushed as she watched me walk towards the river.

I blinked, freezing in place. I had expected that she would leave to give me some privacy, and my brain was telling me that I shouldn't be getting naked in front of a girl I barely knew.

However, my body felt strangely calm. I wasn't sure if it was because I was becoming more beastly or not, but I didn't feel uncomfortable at the idea of her watching.

"Do whatever you want," I said simply, pausing for a second to give her a chance to leave. When she didn't, I merely grabbed the remaining bits of clothing over my crotch and pulled them off.

I heard a gasp behind me, but ignored it as I entered the river. I had been wanting a nice bath for weeks, and I was going to enjoy it.

"I-I didn't know it could be that big…" Raya muttered behind me, and my face turned slightly red at her words as I realized what she was talking about.

While my body was a bit bigger than it had been in my past life, my you-know-what was a lot bigger. I ignored her words anyway, wading into the river and leaning against the bank as I let out a comfortable sigh.

"We can take a break for a while now," I ordered, enjoying the feeling of resting in the surprisingly warm water. It wasn't a hot spring by any means, but it at least wasn't freezing as I had expected.

My body was also rather tired from the constant fighting. Even though my HP was full from utilizing [Devour], I still wasn't at full strength as mental fatigue weighed on me.

As I glanced over my shoulder, I could see that Raya was the same. Her face showed that she was exhausted, and she sat down and leaned against a tree with a relieved sigh at my words.

The next target wouldn't be as easy as the generals - we were going to take down the Great Wolf King himself.

"Tomorrow," I hummed, a strange feeling of desire and pride welling up inside me, "This whole kingdom will be mine."

Raya looked over at me from the tree, her face unreadable for a moment. Then, she smiled softly and nodded.

"It'll all be yours."

And so, my final night as a 'normal' and 'unknown' person began. When I went to sleep next, I would be a Great King, and the world would never be the same.

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AN: Thank you for reading! The next chapter will be out tomorrow, or you can read ahead at Patreon.com/Koyon !