Burgers (2)

Watching Navi chow down on her burger, I look down at my own. Curious at to what Pata would recommend me, I lift the top part of the bun.

Hmm, thinly sliced pickles on a piece of melted cheese. I put the bun back on top, flip the burger and take a look below. The same dark reddish sauce as Navi has but mine has it spread below the beef patty, causing it to soak into the bottom part of the bun.

I restore the bun to its former glory and take a bite. The pickles give a weak but satisfying crunch as my teeth pierce through them and reach the meat. From below the savoury yet slightly sweet flavor of the sauce assaults my taste buds as the juice flavor of the meat explodes in my mouth.

The beef patty has been cooked to perfection and it's juices alone are superb but combining it with the slight sourness of the pickles and the savoury sauce that still contains a hint of sweetness takes the composition to the next level.

The first bite I took was small, barely enough to explore the taste. My next bite is larger, directly making a third of the burger disappear. With more of the burger in my mouth the explosion of flavors is also amplified and I chew with gusto as Pata already sets down another plate with a burger on it in front of me.

And so I start tearing into these burgers like my life depends on it. Navi, do you know what this sauce is?

Still, the final product is amazingly delicious. I would totally buy this sauce to put it on anything at home. I feel like it will make anything taste good.

I can't afford that. That stuff probably goes for a sky high price because anyone who has tried it gets addicted.

I suppose.

I slowly devour a few more burgers when suddenly, Navi becomes rigid as she stops mid bite. Sauce spills from her lips but she's clearly preoccupied with something else. Her eyes dart to me before darting over to where Darwin is sitting.

I hurriedly look over and see an almost malevolent smile plastered all over Darwin's pudgy face. His expression is akin to that of a demon that is about to break out of hell to bring carnage to the world. His usual friendly or lazy demeanor is nowhere to be found.

"Did something happen?"

I'm almost afraid to ask the question out loud but Navi seems genuinely stressed by what is happening.

Darwin's smile grows even larger and more pronounced. His mouth almost seems to split his face into two separate parts. No human could ever smile like that without their skin tearing apart.

"You see, Guy. I have been hunting in a few dungeons since the incident. I had to stop due to the thing with the train inside the white tower. But just as I get the clear to go out again, a bunch of fools have assembled to take me down. And one amongst them belongs to a certain hall. I think you have heard of them before. That mutt belongs to. the. butterfly. hall."

Darwin's voice becomes more guttural with every word and by the end it sounds like he's speaking multiple languages at the same time. His entire body trembles, waves of jiggling body mass undulate along his fat body.

His maniac grin doesn't falter as he looks into my eyes. All I can see in those eyes is an endless desire to take, to eat, to devour until nothing is left. It seizes me like a tidal wave washing over me and threatens to drown me.

A hand touches my shoulder and pulls me away from facing Darwin.

Navi enters my sight and her eyes hold deep concern.

"It's not real, Guy. Whatever you say wasn't real, it's just Darwin's skill."

"Don't underestimate the man! He wasn't pulled into one of those illusions others tend to see. He saw my hunger, my unending hunger."

"Glutton."

It's all I can think of right now. It feels like forever ago when I tried to see Darwin's skill and all that came up was that he's a glutton. But that was spot on. Gluttony, the sin of over indulging in food and drink.

Darwin does so much more. I could only vaguely see it. There should have been anger, rage, something but all I saw was hunger. Not because there was no rage. But because he consumed his anger, devoured his rage and created an endless hunger that cannot be stopped.

"Yes, my sin is gluttony. I eat and eat because that is all I can do. All I could ever do. And since it's what I'm good at, I decided it was what I would do to get to my goal. Consequences be damn. Now excuse me as I go devour those fools who dare challenge me."

Darwin grabs each of the twenty or so skewers that Pata used as a buffer, shoves them vertically down his gullet and pulls them back out with no burgers left on them.

In less than ten seconds all the skewers are empty and Darwin walks out of the employee dining hall. I watch his large back with my eyes. My brain is protesting at the exertion and blood begins to flow out of my nose. But that doesn't matter, because I can see.

[True Gluttony]

only one instance of this skill can simultaneously exist in all the realms. It's user can endlessly consume all things known to existence. His only limit is the speed at which he consumes things. Anything that is consumed is perfectly digested and used to strengthen the user. Nothing the user consumes can have any negative effect on the user.