Chapter Fifteen: The Limit, Power of Five Ghoul Eaters

More than thirty ghouls perished outright in the blaze. After Lin Lei jumped down, he fought the ghouls with ferocity, never neglecting to devour their corpses as he went. Though he did not consume every fallen ghoul, the gluttonous power he accumulated had already surpassed twenty units. In truth, the number he devoured exceeded twenty, though many were juvenile ghouls, whose energy amounted to a unit only after consuming two or three together.

He had long possessed enough to trigger "Plunder," and could have plundered two ghouls at once, yet he was in no rush. He chose instead to activate the skill only after the heat of battle and his wounds had worsened.

A hiss escaped his lips as he invoked Plunder.

A tingling sensation swept through his body; the near-fatal wound at his waist began to heal with astonishing speed. At the same time, a surge of warmth flooded his limbs, and his strength expanded once more.

Alongside this surge, a savage emotion swelled within him. Gripping his blade tightly, Lin Lei summoned all his might and swung forward with brutal force.

With a sharp slash, empowered by terrifying strength, he cleaved the two nearest ghouls cleanly in half, one after the other.

Now endowed with the power of three ghouls, his prowess soared beyond what it had been before; the number of ghouls he could face simultaneously increased greatly. What had seemed a hopeless predicament was overturned in the blink of an eye.

He went on to slay another seven or eight ghouls in quick succession, accumulating further wounds, before he unleashed Plunder once more.

His injuries healed anew, and his power surged again. Upon attaining the strength of four ghouls, the remaining enemies became mere prey.

Each time his strength increased by a ghoul’s measure, his actual combat ability rose even more sharply. With the power of a single ghoul, he could face three or four at once; with four, the number he could handle at once was not merely quadrupled, but far greater.

His enhanced physique granted him overwhelming superiority.

In less than five minutes, he dispatched all remaining ghouls.

Surveying the littered corpses, his blood-red eyes gradually cleared, though the tempest within him raged on. The will to kill swelled ceaselessly.

"Kill, kill, kill!"

Though his strength had grown considerably, his emotions were likewise affected; if not for so many ghouls to vent his fury upon, he would not have dared to plunder the strength of two ghouls in succession.

Indeed, even as the battle ended, he was nearly unable to restrain his rampaging emotions.

He bit his tongue hard, then scrambled up the pipe he had leapt from, retrieving a small bottle from his backpack.

This was the potion Li Xue-shu had gifted him.

Lin Lei had tested the potion with his Gluttony talent: it could be plundered, and the energy cost was negligible—not even a full unit. Yet he did not know if this special potion, once plundered, would only enhance his source energy, or if it could also calm his mind.

After all, the potion itself was not a strange entity; its ability to soothe was simply its effect, not a supernatural power.

With only this single vial, Lin Lei dared not risk a mistake, so he had kept it in his bag.

Now, as his mind teetered on the edge of chaos, he used his last shred of reason to decisively thrust the bottle whole into his mouth.

With a crunch, his fearsome jaws shattered the glass, and the liquid, mingled with shards, slid down his throat.

The chill of the potion swept into his mind in an instant.

Boom!

The world fell silent. Lin Lei's eyes faded from crimson, and he exhaled long and deep.

In the blink of an eye, the tiny potion banished every trace of savagery and murderous urge from his thoughts.

Lin Lei spat out the remaining shards and, feeling his emotions thoroughly calmed, showed a subtle expression.

"What astonishing efficacy..."

He dropped down from the pipe once more.

A faint whimper sounded in his ear.

Lin Lei raised his brows, blade at the ready.

Not far ahead, a young ghoul, its body nearly pitch black, was crawling painfully across the ground.

"Poor little thing..." Chen Fan shook his head at the creature.

With a single stroke, he ended its torment.

Though these beings possessed intelligence, they were not human. Born with savage instincts, they attacked humanity, and even considered humans prey.

Chen Fan felt sympathy for them because he himself was human—and a good one at that—but he would never show mercy for it.

Afterward, Chen Fan finished off the remaining ghouls, sparing only a few for Plunder, and devoured the rest.

After consuming all the ghouls, his accumulated energy reached nearly fifty units!

This was after he had advanced his strength to the power of four ghouls.

In other words, in this short span, he had gained seventy, nearly eighty units of gluttonous energy.

Even then, Lin Lei did not depart.

He remained in the ghoul nest, awaiting the return of those who had fled.

The chaos had scattered the ghouls, but once the flames died down, some were bound to return.

As Lin Lei predicted, many ghouls did trickle back.

Against Lin Lei, now with the strength of four ghouls, these creatures were utterly powerless.

Over the next few hours, Lin Lei slew another thirty or forty ghouls, and during this period, performed his fifth Plunder.

This time, his emotional upheaval was far less intense—clearly he could control it now.

As the saying goes, quantity begets quality: with the strength of five ghouls, ordinary ones posed no threat to him.

With his current power, a casual attack could easily slay a ghoul, and their claws could barely harm him.

Even if a hundred ghouls confronted him, given time, he was confident he could wear them down and kill them all.

By now, his gluttonous energy had reached eighty units!

However, after reaching the power of five ghouls, he discovered he could no longer plunder from any more.

"Is there a limit to how many times I can plunder the same species?" Lin Lei frowned deeply.

"It doesn't seem right..."

In truth, the gains and energy consumed in each of his five plunders were not identical, varying slightly with each individual.

In the fifth plunder, he sensed he had not fully absorbed the last ghoul’s strength.

"It’s not that the number of plunders is limited, but that the bonus from the same kind of creature has a special cap—beyond which it cannot be increased..."