119. Cannibalizing one's friend.

Filled with wrath, Luke stated in a hoarse voice: "Promise me that you will devour my corpse and avenge Evie's death."

Shocked, Gab stuttered: "I can't just eat a friend of mine."

To which Luke merely commented in amusement and cold at the same time: "Too bad since you have to."

While replying to Gab, Luke casually broke up a sharp bone pierce before gripping it tightly with his shaky hands.

"You know, I never wanted to die. But sometimes there is no escape from it," sighed Luke as tears fell from his cheeks.

"Luke… please reconsider," whispered Gab as even he had to tear at the sight.

But Luke merely shook his head before closing his eyes and calming himself down. Unfortunately, the calm didn't last. The moment he opened his eyes, his face twisted into a state beyond recognizable, and with gnashing teeth, he rammed the sharp bone spike right into his chest.

A furious howl came out of the tent as Luke screamed in pain, and Rados hastily left the tent to stay guard to avoid watching the horrifying execution.

Luke erratically breathed while smiling like an idiot towards Gab, who lost his stoic face.

"Let me end you, my fellow comrade," whispered Gab, who could no longer bear it, but Luke merely shook his head before coughing blood.

"You have to dirty your hands on Alex. I want to spare you from executing me… my fried," stuttered Luke before his face turned furious.

In the next moment, thousands of needle-thin bones grew out of the bone rod, piercing through his body.

Gab didn't dare to move as he stared in silence at the dying Luke, who died with a smile.

But only after his former comrade fell down did Gab choose to take action. With his eyes closed, he first absorbed the blood of his fallen comrade while tears flowed down his cheeks like a waterfall.

The blood tasted bitter and rotten for Gab as he felt no joy compared to all the other times he absorbed blood. Only after he had absorbed the last drop of blood did Gab open his, by now, crimson eyes before shakily making his way to the withered corpse.

Sobbing, he turned his comrade's body, only to be greeted by the damn smile that infuriated him even more.

Sighing loudly to calm his mind, Gab stabbed his hand right into Luke's chest, not caring for the needles boring into his hand. Only after his hand reached Luke's spine area did he find the bone core that by now had fused to his spine. Fuming, Luke grabbed onto the cold, hard bone core and yanked it out with a powerful jerk.

Holding in his hand, Gab saw how that bone core's tentacles squirmed slightly as if it was a living being.

'What the hell has Odebus given us?' went through his head before shaking his head.

Thinking about it now was a waste of time. One should rather concentrate on one's objective, was Gab's justification, to put such thoughts aside.

The tentacles slowly grew towards his chest area where his blood core should be, and Gab grimly pressed the bone core on his chest. The thing immediately tore a hole open before boring itself into and closing it.

The searing pain Gab felt at that moment was unbearable. He forced his own body to the floor, where he lay twitching in the fetal position while facing a pain that humanity could not comprehend.

The reason for that was quite simple. The core Gab gained had already matured.

Well, it adapted to a different body in which he matured. But since the body of his new host was different, the bone core had to reshape Gab's body till it fit the core's needs. Only after that could even a merge between the bone and the blood core happen.

Screaming in pain bone rods began to grow out of the twitching Gab piercing through his body, the ground, and even through his tent.

People ran anxiously to the tent, fearing someone was currently assassinating their leader. Rados, who stood guard and had goosebumps due to Gab's bone-chilling screams, had to quickly explain to them that everything was under control.

"Everyone, GAB doesn't want to be disturbed due to being in a critical breakthrough situation," shouted Rados. A few comrades immediately joined him to guard Gab's tent.

Seeing how a few of the strongest warriors stood in front of Gab's tent, nobody dared to step closer, even if they wanted their leader, except for one person.

Enota didn't even blink an eye before telling Rados coldly: "I'm going inside and guard there."

"Wait, Enota," whispered Rados, but before he could even grab her arm, she went already inside, and the sight disturbed her.

By now, Gab was no longer screaming in pain and had lost his mind. The integration of the bone core took a toll on him, and even if he wanted to abstain from eating Luke, he couldn't. At least if he wanted to survive.

Enota, who saw the man munching at Luke's corpse, breaking the latter's bones with his bare teeth, merely shook her head with a stern face, ready to kill Gab personally.

Without even blinking, she slid out a golden sword while breathing calmly.

"It seems like I have to replace my dear general.~" sighed Enota before closing her eyes.

Fortunately, Rados rushed inside at the last second, stopping her before she could take action.

"The situation is complicated, but to keep it short, Luke killed himself and demanded that Gab would devour his corpse," explained Rados while standing between Gab and Enota.

The latter merely shook her head before sighing: "You know that opens more questions than it answers."

"Anyway, I'll kill him if he dares to attack anyone else. But till then, I demand an explanation of what truly happened," demanded Enota, who took a seat before muttering to herself: "Please devour me? Y'all are a crazy bunch."