I Was Afraid

Holy shit, can this thing really be eaten...?

Merely looking at the Soul Crystal in his hand, the Abyss Demon Emperor named Doethe Carrod felt as though he could hear countless pained groans.

As if innumerable shadowy figures were whispering incessantly in his ears.

It made him instinctively uncomfortable.

Unlike the demons in Farid's world, there was no tradition of treating souls as food in his.

The demons in his world belonged to an entirely different system, one capable of devouring souls.

Even though he had never done so, he did indeed possess all sorts of related abilities.

But as a modern person—

As someone who had transmigrated over with his own consciousness wholly intact—

Even with those abilities, he still instinctively recoiled somewhat from directly eating the souls of sentient beings.

Besides, the demons in his world did not have the habit of consuming vast quantities of souls at once.

There, as the source of life and ultimate vessel for living creatures—

The soul.

Undoubtedly carried an enormous amount of information!

Even demons, beings of such a special kind, would sometimes involuntarily descend into madness after devouring excessive numbers of souls!

Thus.

With all those factors combined, Doethe Carrod naturally had little taste for the act of devouring souls.

By comparison, he preferred using the Golden Finger he carried to increase his strength.

Not only was that more convenient, it was also far more efficient!

It completely skipped the lengthy stages of digestion and absorption!

At this moment.

Watching Orsaga pull out several more blood-red gems as if he were snacking on sunflower seeds, eating them with obvious relish—

After hesitating for quite a while.

Doethe Carrod ultimately could not bring himself to try the thing in his hand.

Because, by his estimate, the gem in his hand contained