“The Western nations, are they the monsters you mentioned before, Eren?”
Rimuru looked at Eren, who was no longer in human form, and quickly asked. Eren, whose face was covered with dense pupils and whose open mouth had countless wriggling polyps, nodded with difficulty.
Now, Eren felt that her last shred of sanity was rapidly disappearing. The endless hunger was about to make her lose control, wanting to devour everything in front of her. Moreover, what frightened Eren the most was that the knowledge about those monsters in her mind was now distorted into an ice-blue slime.
Clearly, it was just knowledge in her mind, but now it seemed to have come to life, constantly emitting indescribable whispers, gradually distorting Eren's cognition, memory, self, and soul.
“Notice, individual Eren's unknown ability has been detected. The ability's characteristics are erosion, pollution, distortion, chaos, and indescribability. According to the ability's characteristics, it has the ability to spread through knowledge, magic power, memory, and other methods.”
At this time, [Great Sage]'s voice sounded in Rimuru's mind. In just a few seconds, it had analyzed some of the characteristics of Eren's Gluttony Sin.
“[Great Sage], is there any way to solve it?”
When Rimuru heard the characteristics of Eren's Gluttony Sin, he subconsciously lowered his head and his expression became more solemn. Just when [Great Sage] said the characteristics of the Gluttony Sin in Eren's body, Rimuru felt an eerie whisper ringing in his ears.
However, before Rimuru could ask clearly, the whisper completely disappeared, as if it had been shielded by something.
“Notice, it is recommended to use [Predator] to separately strip the unknown ability from individual Eren's body, and use a magic barrier for permanent sealing.”
Speaking of this, [Great Sage]'s originally emotionless voice seemed to have a hint of solemnity. In [Great Sage]'s analysis, even Rimuru's unique skill [Predator] could not devour this power.
“Yes, let's do that.”
After Rimuru heard [Great Sage]'s plan, he slowly nodded, raised his hand and aimed it at Eren in the water prison in front of him. The next second, dark magic essence shot out directly from Rimuru's palm, enveloping Eren completely. Then, under [Great Sage]'s meticulous control, [Predator] gradually stripped the Gluttony Sin from Eren's body.
In the bright and spacious conference room, everyone quietly watched Rimuru and Eren, who was completely enveloped by [Predator]. As time passed, the originally nearly three-meter-large black sphere was gradually shrinking, and the Gluttony Sin in Eren's body was being stripped out in an orderly manner.
“Yawn.”
Not far from Rimuru, Luo Yina yawned boredly while lying on the table. Then, she raised her small head and looked at Hong Maru and the others who were looking at Rimuru with solemn expressions. After seeing the black sphere enveloped by [Predator] return to normal human size, Luo Yina gently put her hand on the table down.
If it weren't for Luo Yina, as a member of Lu Minghao's family, secretly suppressing the Gluttony Sin and cooperating with Rimuru, Eren would have been forcibly twisted into a Gluttony Monster by the runaway Gluttony Sin the moment Rimuru used [Predator].
As for why Luo Yina wanted to do this, of course it was because Lu Minghao told her through the family connection. After all, Lu Minghao just wanted to give Rimuru a surprise and observe his power by the way. Moreover, Luo Yina didn't want Eren to become a mindless Gluttony Monster. After all, that kind of monster is just a disposable tool and spare food for both Lu Minghao and the many family members.
“Okay!”
At this time, Rimuru suddenly clenched his hand, and the [Predator] enveloping Eren completely disappeared. In the center of Rimuru's hand, a black bead the size of a marble appeared. Within the dark and transparent bead, a constantly twisting, completely chaotic, and indescribable power was constantly wriggling.
“How disgusting!”
On the side, Gobuta, the little brother, subconsciously said while looking at the black transparent bead in Rimuru's hand. Clearly, at first glance, it was just an ordinary black transparent bead, but upon closer inspection, it seemed as if he heard a twisted and indescribable mass of flesh emitting eerie whispers.
“Hong Maru, how do you feel?”
Rimuru glanced at the disgusted Gobuta, the little brother, and directly ate the black bead in his hand. Only by doing this could Rimuru ensure that the power in the bead would not leak out. Moreover, in his body, [Great Sage] could always monitor and seal the power in the bead.
“Lord Rimuru, we are fine.”
Hong Maru quickly shook his head when he saw Rimuru looking at them with concern, indicating that he was fine. Just now, when they noticed an unusual whisper, before they could hear it clearly, the whisper was shielded.
“Okay.”
After Rimuru heard that Hong Maru and the others were fine, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. When Rimuru knew that the power could be spread through knowledge, memory, and wisdom, he immediately thought of Hong Maru and the others. However, immediately after, [Great Sage] explained that Hong Maru and the others, as monsters under his lineage, could shield this power.
However, the premise is that Hong Maru and the others should not deliberately try to understand or get involved with this power in the future.
“Eren, how are you feeling?”
At this time, Rimuru walked to Eren, who had returned to human form, and asked with full of worry. When Rimuru was stripping the Gluttony Sin from Eren's body, Rimuru found that a part of it had completely fused with Eren. If he forcibly stripped it, the price would be Eren's instant death.
For this reason, Rimuru could only strip away the Gluttony Sin except for the part that had completely fused with Eren. As for the rest, he could only find a way later.
“Thank you, Rimuru...”
Eren, who had just recovered, directly threw herself into Rimuru's arms after hearing Rimuru's voice, hugging him tightly and crying. For a girl who was only seventeen or eighteen years old, watching herself gradually transform into that indescribable appearance was simply the most terrifying thing.
In the room, Hong Maru and the others looked at Eren crying in Rimuru's arms, exchanged glances, and then stepped forward to comfort Eren.
A few minutes later, with everyone's efforts, Eren finally stopped crying and sat up from Rimuru's arms. Then, she lowered her head and looked at her fair and smooth palms. Most importantly, the extra pupils, big mouths, and tentacles that were originally on them had all disappeared.
“Eren, do you feel anything wrong now?”
On the side, Zhu Cai gently put her arm around Eren and asked with an extremely gentle tone. As a girl herself, she understood Eren's mood at this time. After all, turning from a beautiful young girl into that terrifying and disgusting appearance was simply a nightmare.
“A little.”
As she spoke, Eren raised her hand and aimed it forward. In the next second, Eren's originally fair and tender arm began to wriggle rapidly. In an instant, Benimaru and the others only saw a black shadow flash before their eyes, followed by the sound of a wall being pierced. Only then did they see that Eren's originally normal arm had turned into a long, mucus-covered tentacle, covered with chrysanthemum-shaped orifices and pupils filled with fangs.
"This is...?"
Rimuru looked at Eren's arm, which had transformed into an indescribable tentacle, and subconsciously looked at Eren and asked. At this time, in Rimuru's perception, the aura emitted by Eren, although mixed with a trace of the indescribable feeling from before, was still very normal overall, and Eren didn't seem to have lost her mind.
"It seems to be the power that was left over before. Now I can completely master it."
Eren looked at her indescribable arm, telling Rimuru and the others about her feelings, while staring blankly at it. For some reason, Eren no longer felt the previous disgust and fear when she looked at her arm. On the contrary, she felt that her arm was normal and incomparably 'beautiful'.
Thinking of this, Eren subconsciously raised her other hand. As her thoughts moved, the other hand also began to wriggle continuously. However, this time, the arm did not turn into a tentacle and shoot out. Instead, it continuously changed shape in Rimuru's surprised gaze.
"Why does it always feel like I've seen it somewhere before?"
At this time, looking at Eren's constantly changing arm, Gobuta suddenly felt inexplicably familiar. He always felt like he had seen something similar somewhere, but he couldn't remember the specifics. Behind Gobuta, Loyna, who was lying on the table, slightly raised her head and glanced at the crowd gathered around Eren, then continued to grab the potato chips in front of her and stuff them into her mouth.
'I'm so hungry, when can we eat?'
Loyna's small face was completely pressed against the table, her cheeks bulging like a hamster eating potato chips, completely unaware that Gobuta, her little brother, was talking about her. Of course, even if Loyna knew, she wouldn't care.
"Rimuru, I seem to be fine now."
A few minutes later, after Eren's arms returned to normal under her control, and there was no abnormality, Eren raised her head and looked at Rimuru and the others with a smile on her face. Now she felt that there was nothing wrong with her body, or rather, it was too good. She even had the confidence to fight high-level demons with her newly acquired power.
"It's good that you're okay. Also, Souei, I'll have to ask you to unite with the Lizardmen tribe's leader."
After seeing that Eren was really okay, Rimuru breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Souei beside him, asking him to go to the Lizardmen tribe and form an alliance with their leader. Now that Eren was okay, their most important thing was to face the Orcs who were invading the Jura Forest.
Moreover, according to the news from the Dryad Treyni, the original 200,000-strong Orc army had surged again, and there were now nearly 400,000 troops. With such a large army, coupled with the Orc Lord's unique skill [Starving One], which could be described as a disaster, Rimuru and the others had to unite all the forces within the Jura Forest.
"Yes, Rimuru-sama."
Souei nodded after hearing Rimuru's words and disappeared directly into the spot, heading to the Lizardmen's territory. As for the Lizardmen envoy who had arrived earlier, he had already returned.
.....
Just as Rimuru and the others were preparing to face the upcoming Orcs, inside the Adventurer's Guild headquarters in the Free Association.
At this time, inside the Free Association headquarters building, Kagurazaka Yuuki, the commander of the Free Association, was looking at the Gluttony monsters in the hall below, who were roaring and devouring everything around them, with an interested expression.
Not long ago, the other two members of Eren's team, who had brought back news from the Western Nations, suddenly became strange. Then, in the horrified gazes of the other adventurers and Free Association staff, they turned from humans into indescribable monsters in a matter of seconds, and then directly attacked the people around them.
Moreover, in addition to the two of them, the other people in the Free Association who knew about the news of the Western Nations also began to mutate continuously. Under the power of chaos, distortion, and indescribability, they began to become deformed.
At this time, those mutated monsters had been suppressed by the many adventurers in the Free Association, and most of them had been annihilated. Only the monsters mutated from the other two members of Eren's team were still being besieged by many adventurers. Without exception, all of these monsters were people who did not know what had happened in the Western Nations.
"Interesting, so it's spread through wisdom, memory, and knowledge?"
Kagurazaka Yuuki looked at the adventurers who were besieging the Gluttony monsters below with a happy smile on his face. At this time, in Kagurazaka Yuuki's eyes, those adventurers, because they had witnessed the appearance of the monsters and analyzed the information of the monsters through battle, were also beginning to be corroded and deformed.
"Hmm?"
In the next second, Kagurazaka Yuuki's face suddenly changed. In his mind, strange and indescribable whispers began to appear, and his various defensive and purification magic had no effect, as if as long as he recognized and remembered those monsters, he would be polluted and corroded.
"Forbidden knowledge, huh."
Saying that, Kagurazaka Yuuki directly took action to seal all his knowledge about these monsters, then stretched out his hand and aimed it at the hall below. In the next second, a magic barrier rose up and enveloped the entire hall.
Boom!
Suddenly, the residents near the Free Association were alarmed by the huge explosion. When they turned their heads to look over, they realized that the Free Association headquarters had been turned into ruins, and Kagurazaka Yuuki, the commander, was silently watching everything below on top of the ruins.
In addition to the Free Association headquarters, similar things happened in other kingdoms in the world that knew about the news of the Western Nations through various channels. A large number of humans or monsters were畸变into monsters under the erosion of Gluttony's sin.
In some kingdoms without enough strong people, a large number of soldiers were devoured by the mutated Gluttony monsters, and some ordinary people who saw the Gluttony monsters were also polluted and corroded by memory, spreading like a virus.
However, they were all directly wiped out by the strong people who reacted later. Even after the major kingdoms realized that the knowledge and memory of this monster were abnormal, many kingdoms, for the sake of insurance, directly chose to completely destroy the entire city where this monster appeared, ensuring that no information about this monster would leak out.
After that, almost all the kingdoms that had发生畸变 chose to seal and prohibit any news about the Western Nations, and called it forbidden knowledge. However, at the same time, the strong people in this world also shifted their attention from the complete disappearance of Storm Dragon Veldora to the Western Nations, or rather, to the current Gluttony Nation.
