Chapter 136 - My soul

He looked up to see that there were a countless number of gods in the holy grounds.

They were not actually countless, but the evil gods had such peculiar appearances that it was impossible to tell through a single glance where one god ended and the next began.

A god with a body covered in carapace that was differently-colored on the left and right sides, looking like a combination of a crustacean and a beetle, with jewel-like compound eyes in multiple places.

A god that appeared to be a mass of various organs entwined around each other to form the shape of a large, carnivorous beast.

A god whose right side of his body was that of an attractive young man while the left side of his body had no skin, leaving his muscle fibers exposed.

A god consisting of a headless monkey riding a headless cow, holding an enormous eye in its right hand and an enormous nose in its left.

In contrast, a god who had the appearance of heads of all kinds of animals… a mountain of severed animal heads.

The sight of Elder Dragons, as well as gods with the appearances of ordinary humans, standing among these evil gods was quite shocking.

'This is just bewildering.'

Ryuu thought, but the gods were thinking the same thing. They were thinking this because they were looking directly at the shape of Ryuu's soul. Vandalieu already made them horrified despite being an evil god but Ryuu was more grotesque than they were.

For Vandalieu, There were numerous eyes and mouths positioned randomly around his head, and his arms were made of multiple human arms joined together in bundles.

And the Demon King's fragments were growing from his body in a chaotic manner. Horns, carapace and coagulated masses of blood protruded from his body. His arms were covered in countless suction cups, and he was glowing ominously here and there.

While Ryuu, his soul appeared an enormous serpent which appeared to have a red scale yet upon closer inspection would see that they were flesh of small humanoid creatures growing and overlapping like a hellish landscape of grotesque flesh with numerous body parts growing and disappearing.

On top of it his head resembles a lion with mane made from flesh as well and eyes that were formed from smaller eyes. It constantly expanded in a horrifying manner as if wanting to consume everything close to it.

'How can someone have such a terrifying soul!!'

The evil god felt dread just looking at his soul as staring at an abyss ready to devour them whole. Vandalieu's soul couldn't even hold a candle on how much the evil god tried their best to maintain close to Ryuu.

Afterwards, they discussed a few more things with regards to Vandalieu becoming an emperor to guide everyone and receiving a demon king Fragment to him. Ryuu decides to have the fragments in fear of being consumed by Vandalieu's [ abyss ] skill.

He was worried that his body might recognize as Vandalieu, which would be troublesome. Regardless, his already surpass Vandalieu in regards to everything else

In the end, he only listening consider hw already seen the scenario unfold and only curious about one thing.

"Hey Van, can I have some?"

Vandalieu was holding pulsating fist-size flesh that he was eating, making the evil god dumbfounded by his action. The meal he was eating was none other than Ravovifard.

Ryuu may have destroyed some of his flesh with his previously unawakened [ Soul Breaking ] skill and was able to escape a piece of his soul.

It was possible for to revive himself after another hundred thousand years but unfortunately he was nothing more than food.

"Here, it is quite delicious. As expected of An evil god."

Vandalieu commented, making the other evil gods to panic and hoped not to get devoured as they watched him share the flesh with Ryuu smelling indescribable aroma..

It made his urges increase even more and took a bit from the wiggling fleshed devouring it without hesitation. Ryuu's soul formed a mouth in order to consume the flesh that caused his soul to react, making the evil god flinch seeing his form expanding further, turning a grotesque hellscape.

'It tastes unexpectedly delicious! Maybe I should devour more evil gods.'

He thought while continuing to eat the flesh and soon finished eating his meal at the same time as Vandalieu.

"That's amazingly delicious even though it wasn't cooked. Maybe I should hunt a few more evil gods."

Ryuu knows that there are few hidden evil gods in the continent and tasting the flesh of these beings only made him hungry. The evil god shivered seeing that there weren't only one but two being capable of consuming the flesh of a god.

"Putting that aside, may I ask a question?"

"W-What could that be?"

"No need to be stiff, it's not like I'm going to eat you."

He reassured that only made them more anxious since he was well capable of devouring them if he wanted to. It is fortunate that Ryuu is good natured for the most part.

"Can you tell me what my soul looks like?"

It would tell him more about himself since his intuition knew that he had those cliche hidden background. Ryuu vaguely guessed that his form would be grotesque from an endlessly devouring monster like mindless beast.

"Your soul?"

The evil god was bewildered by his request thinking that he would like a piece of their flesh to devour since his serpentine form mouths with razor sharp teeth while long elongated tongue wiggling like worm.

"Is that all you want?"

"It is. If I'm not wrong then my soul appears grotesque even for you evil gods."

"Indeed, to put simply, your form can be described as…"

Ryuu unfazed from what he learned but to his surprise his form held similarity to his persona of Yaldabaoth. In the religion of gnosticism it was described the false god to be what he is currently. A serpent body with a head dog lion but added eldritch twist.

'Am I still human? Nah, as long as I feel human then I'm human.'

He denied the thoughts similar to Vandalieu who refused to be called anything beside a human. In a sense that he is only a mortal. After a while they existed in the divine realm of the gods and Ryuu immediately saw that his skill level had increased.

"That was really scary! I didn't know that your soul would be like that!!"

Miia exclaimed after hearing his true form be described. For someone who could only be compared to a Veteran C Class was overwhelmed by the presents of the gods.

"Now that you heard that, are you still certain to be with me?"

"Absolutely! My mate, who can be the strongest?? Who wouldn't want that!"

Ryuu wryly smiled seeing her devoted eyes shimmering then headed back with the others to share the news and head back to Talosheim.

"Oh shoot! I forgot to recall about Ervine and those Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords!"

A secret force of the Amid Empire which consists of A Class to near S class individuals that only few knew the members of this secretive group. He along with Vandalieu teleported back to Talosheim where they were greeted by an insightful scene.

'Hmmm if I remember correctly that elf is a whip User while that other guy uses a sword that has a holy attribute.'

He gave an observing them gauging their skills, finding that they could prove more troublesome even more considering one held a relatively strong holy artifact. Ryuu tried to heal his wounded allies and found that his flesh was refusing to heal them.

'Is it because of the holy attribute?? How troublesome.'

Ryuu changed his approach, letting Vandalieu heal the other while he turned to their enemies. They kept trying to negotiate with Vandalieu thinking he was afraid of the Amid Empire.

"Oi! Elf boy!"

He was extremely pissed hearing their voices thinking that they had already won, making all of them shiver upon seeing Ryuu's abyssal eyes feeling their primal urge to be released.

Ryuu used [ Shundō ] , appearing before the elf guy, shocking his allies by taking him a distance away before slamming the guy into the ground. The elf, Ervine, bewildered that someone could be this strong but his an A class adventurer for nothing.

He took out his weapon and attacked Ryuu who took steps sensing that it had some Holy attribute. Ryuu saw that his flesh burned from the effect of the holy attribute.

'Vandalieu was supposed to fight him but I wanted to see how strong I am using only my base attribute.'

Ryuu decided to gauge himself without using any magic besides his [ Hivemind magic ].