Chimaera's Conquest: The Legend Of The Devourer
Chapter 67: Minotaur’s Bane (3)

Chapter 67: Minotaur’s Bane (3)

The tribe might have turned on him, but Adrian still needed to find out what happened the day before. However, it was difficult since no one was willing to talk to him, not even A’Mila.

It wasn’t until Akila came to him with some leftover food that Adrian got to know what happened once he blacked out.

From what he told, Rina, one of the guys who gave Adrian a hard time, came across a monster during the hunt. The beast killed the rest, but Rina somehow managed to flee and inform the tribe about the creature.

The tribe mobilised and headed into the forbidden forest when they heard the roar of a minotaur-like creature from the other end of the forest. Everyone rushed towards the noise to find the beast covered in blood and thrashing about, destroying everything.

A’Mila wanted to wait and see what the creature would do next. But some of them attacked the beast and got killed within seconds. A’Mila instructed everyone to retreat, but it was too late. The monster was on them.

Their attacks did little to thwart the creature as it kept chasing them, and eventually, they reached the outskirts of the settlement, thinking they would have a better chance of fighting against the creature.

Little did they know they had brought a calamity to their doorstep. The fight lasted for hours and wasn’t over until the creature collapsed on its own. The tribesmen rushed ahead to kill the beast, only to find that Adrian was the creature.

The tribe wanted to kill him then and there, but Akila and A’Mila convinced them otherwise, opting to go for a trial instead.

"Did... you find a corpse where I was first found?" Adrian tried his luck, seeing how Akila had opened up to him a bit.

"Other than those of our friends, there was nothing there," Akila replied with a hint of anger and sarcasm.

Adrian nodded before continuing, "I know it doesn’t matter what I say now... But I’m genuinely sorry for what happened. I wasn’t in control of myself-"

Adrian stopped when he heard Akila click his tongue and quietly ate the food, even though it tasted bland. Akila didn’t speak a word either, and the two sat in silence.

All the while, Adrian kept thinking about ways to make others believe him, but there wasn’t much to go on.

Adrian could have requested a lie-detection test via a serum. But they weren’t in the capital, and he doubted the tribes knew how to prepare the serum as it could turn into poison if not prepared correctly.

Besides, the tribe probably hadn’t heard about it before, so it wasn’t like they would trust something like that. It was the same problem with the manipulation techniques.

While considered a forbidden art, the branch of dark magic could be used to uncover the truth hidden within someone’s mind. However, the process came with a fair share of risks ranging from amnesia to death, and Adrian didn’t want to suffer through the after-effects.

’I suppose all I can do is tell the truth and hope they believe me.’

Once Akila left, Adrian freed himself from the chains. Yes, the chains designed to hold massive creatures in place were nothing to Adrian, which was surprising as he had a tough time breaking the chains used on him before.

It all happened an hour ago while he wondered about memory manipulation techniques. A strange feeling washed over him. It was like he was forgetting something important.

But the more Adrian thought about it, the more his head throbbed with pain. It felt as if his mind was urging him to stop dwelling on it.

Exhausted, he chose to go over some details about the [Soul Devourer] skill. After all, it was the ability that had become his bane.

Adrian opened his stat page and noticed something strange. All his stats had suddenly increased by 30%, surprising him. But that wasn’t the only odd thing – he also had a weird status effect on him labelled as... [Cannibal].

That’s when it hit him. He finally knew where Red’s and other corpses went to. He had eaten them all in his cursed state, and somehow, he received some of their stats.

Adrian puked his guts out when he realised what he had done. But eventually, he got used to the idea as he didn’t do it intentionally, nor did he have any recollections of the act.

All his doubts about [Soul Devourer] were answered when he used the [Query] feature to ask the system about the ability and the curse. Soon, he learned the grim truth of using a Minotaur’s heart.

Simply put, using the [Soul Devourer] skill sends the Minotuar’s heart into overdrive, unleashes its true potential and temporarily amplifies the host’s physical attributes to an extraordinary level, making them an unstoppable force.

The problem starts because of the curse of using a minotaur’s heart in a human body. Unleashing the heart’s true potential was a bit too much for the body to contain, and that’s why the host soon passes out upon successful use of the skill.

But the body still needs to quell the rampant energy within itself. That’s when the partial transformation occurs. However, during this transformation, the host loses all control over their actions and retains no memories of the unfolding events.

Once the curse takes over, the host becomes a frenzied beast driven solely by an insatiable hunger for destruction, much like a Minotaur in heat.

In the Minotaur-like state, the host rampages through the surroundings, devouring anything and everything in their path. The curse’s influence compels them to seek out and consume life forces to sustain their heightened state.

The information was enough to make Adrian lose his cool. But he didn’t want to worsen his situation and kept his frustrations under control, swearing never to use the skill again. But that wasn’t the thing troubling him the most.

"How do I make A’Mila and the others believe me?"

While A’Mila had informed him about the trial, Adrian knew it was all for a show. Most likely, his punishment had already been decided, and the trial was just a formality.

Adrian understood he was responsible for the events that unfolded, including the deaths of some tribe members. Despite this guilt weighing heavy on his conscience, he couldn’t let himself die just yet, not before avenging his first death.

"I gotta figure out how to make them believe me... but I reckon things won’t return to how they were. I’ve done too much harm and stirred up the tribe’s anger against outsiders, and that fire won’t die down easily."