Silence the Hunger

Their muted footsteps traveled down the hallway. They passed many rooms that were in the same style as the first one. However, there were no other letters. Someone or something had trashed most of the rooms beyond recognition. Scratch marks marred the walls, as something had shattered the furniture into fragments.

Every room was checked carefully, skills were at the ready, the fear of corpses jumping out at them was at the front of their minds. Alphonse was about to turn a corner when a faint groaning sound entered his ears. He signaled everyone to stop before peeking his head around the corner of the hallway.

It was another one of those corpses, but this one looked… different. Horns had ascended from its forehead. Its thin body had been covered in a deep black robe. Alphonse would have thought that it would be dead if not for the faint grunting sounds struggling to escape from its throat. I don’t want to make too much noise… The thought entered his mind. The last thing he wanted was to alert the entire castle of their arrival.

“Haydon, enemy in front. Can you reach it without it knowing you are there?” Alphonse asked the groups assassin.

Haydon looked around the corner as the cogs started turning in his mind. “I can, but what if it can detect me through the shadows?”

“You just need to disable its movements. I’ll be the one to finish it.”

“Alright, I’ll trust you.” Haydon said as his body started blurring into the shadows. His footsteps completely disappeared, even with Alphonse’s beast-like hearing.

Alphonse watched as the shadows twisted and turn behind the monster, the darkness crept forwards as they silently wrapped themselves around the corpse’s legs. Alphonse moved, an afterimage was left behind as his body rocketed forwards at an intense speed. His wounds that had already scabbed were ripped open. Alphonse’s body stumbled to the side. It was exceptionally hard to keep his balance under the high speed. Especially at the distance he had to move.

The corpse’s eyes shot open. His arms were about to shoot upwards, but a sudden cloud of shadows crawled up from its legs to its arms, holding them in a tight grasp. Haydon appeared behind the corpse as his dagger penetrated the robes of the monster.

Alphonse was forced to use [ Flicker Step ] once more than his off balanced body moved forwards once more. His meat cleaver slashed across the neck of rotten flesh as the creature fell to the ground.

Alphonse quickly placed his finger against his mouth. Haydon stood rooted to the spot as they listened out for anything else. It was quiet.

Alphonse nodded as he crouched down to his knees, taking a quick bite of the rotten flesh.

[ Lust’s Zombie Guard consumed ]

| 4.3 wisdom added.

| 7.4 intelligence added.

| 2.9 charisma added.

[ Skill extraction failed. ]

Lust’s zombie guard… Then that means the Prince of Lust might still be here… Alphonse didn’t like the thought. He could only imagine how strong he would be.

Alphonse focused on the stats that he had gained.

That’s the first time I’ve seen wisdom. If my intelligence was as high as my strength, what would that be like? Alphonse could only imagine the power his ice arts would be capable of, but it seemed difficult to gain intelligence. The only living things he had gained it from were humans and anything that could talk.

Cooking the rotting flesh won’t give me any points as the rank would be too low, I wonder though, If I use it as an ingredient instead of the main dish… Alphonse looked around the body of the zombie guard, until he saw something within its mouth. Creaking open the zombie’s jaw, a meaty moist piece of flesh greeted him.

That will do. Alphonse smiled as he used his cleaver to cut out the tongue from the zombie's mouth. He ignored the strange glances he received from his team as he pocketed the tongue.

Should I tell them about the guard? Alphonse thought, but shook his head in the end. It would just add more pressure.

Gabriel watched Alphonse with a close eye. He had long suspected his skills and his background. The more and more information they received about this place, it was adding up against Alphonse. Gabriel looked at the others before shaking his head. He wanted to tell them what he thought, but they all trusted him too much, especially Felecia and Markus.

They don’t even seem to care that he has killed other humans before. This dungeon is twisting everyone’s morality. They’d trust a murderer for a chance to make it out alive. I wonder if they think the same? Gabriel looked at John and Oskar. He had heard from them that Alphonse had killed Krayton.

They must have hatred towards him, right? Gabriel focused on their minds as his eyes filled with concentration.

“Act natural. I need to speak with you both. Talk within your mind.” Gabriel's static-like voice entered within John and Oskar’s mind.

John and Oskar quickly hid their surprised expressions.

“I need to know whether you can trust Alphonse.” Gabriel said.

“Trust?” John grit his teeth. “I don’t know about that. He’s insane.”

“I wouldn't say I trust him exactly… but I don’t think he would harm us. He could have abandoned us back in the castle grounds. Along with Lucus and Kristen.” Oskar said. His mind was filled with conflicting thoughts.

“You’re right. He’s helped us until now. But who’s saying how long that will continue for? He’s coldhearted and crazy. Who knows what the thoughts inside his mind are telling him?” Gabriel continued.

“And what do you gain from starting this, Gabriel?” Oskar said.

“I want to stay alive. Like you, I am desperate to return home, return to my family. I had a life before all of this and like fucking hell am I going to let my life be in the hands of someone that is barely remaining sane.” Gabriel’s gradually becoming louder as it boomed within their heads.

Oskar was conflicted, but… Gabriel was right. Alphonse’s figure, covered in blood while biting through the throat of Marius and then him killing Krayton in front of their eyes… he shivered at the thought.

Gabriel continued. He wanted to nail the point into the coffin. “Both of you, think. Everything that’s adding up here. The mention of successions, that monster back in the courtyard. He was talking to Alphonse as he mentioned Gluttony’s apostle… That notebook from the maid mentioning the Seven Monarchs of Evil… the Prince of Lust. It’s obviously the seven deadly sins that we know of. The fact is, Alphonse is at the center of everything that’s going on here. So, can you still trust him?” Gabriel stopped talking. Beadlets of sweat drenched his forehead.

Oskar and John clenched their fists. “Alright, we’re with you. What do you want?” Oskar said, as his mind has been made.

“When the time is right, just listen to me. I will get us out of here.” Gabriel said as the static vanished from within their minds.

Alphonse grabbed hold of Gabriel’s shirt. The sudden feeling of being forced back made him nervous.

Fuck, does he know? That thought struck Gabriel as his mana flared up, but seeing Alphonse back walk forwards made his mana sizzled down.

“Watch your step, get your mind out of the fucking gutter.” Alphonse said. He noticed the sweat dripping from Gabriel's forehead.

Gabriel let out a breath of air as he nodded.

“Where do you think the end is, Alphonse? Even this place seems like a fucking maze.” Tariq groaned, but he made sure his voice was quiet.

“You can’t help yourself but ask stupid questions, can you?” Markus said.

“Well, there’s no point in asking you. There ain’t a thought of your own whirling inside that empty head.”

“If I had to take a guess, then it would be the throne room. Just keep following the nice-looking decorations.” Gabriel said, having gathered himself after the scare.

They arrived at an enormous door that had already been opened. Large golden candlesticks lay on either side as they lit up the room.

“If Lucus went this way, then why was there a monster back there?” Felecia asked as she hid behind Markus’ massive body.

“I don’t know.” Alphonse said.

His head peaked through the door, a vast table met his eyes. It spanned the entire room. Golden-black plates of all kinds had been placed disorderly on the table. The table looked familiar. His thoughts turned back to the murals he had seen within the cathedral. Alphonse’s eyes rested on the head seat of the table. It was unnecessarily big. They had engraved the headrest with a picture of a pig that had razor-sharp teeth.

My seat? The strange feeling entered his mind. He wanted to sit on it. His stomach growled. The pain that he was used to flare up once more. He wanted to devour.