A massive Sabertusk collapsed onto the snow with a heavy thud, its body riddled with solid ice javelins that pierced deep into its flesh.
It wasn't the only one.
All around the clearing lay a grotesque field of carcasses-dozens of Sabertusks, each slain in a different manner. Some had been skewered clean through by frozen spears. Others bore deep, brutal slashes that tore through muscle and bone. A few were charred, their fur burned away, the scent of scorched flesh lingering faintly in the cold air.
Crimson blood spread across the snow, seeping into the white surface and slowly melting it into darkened slush.
At the center of it all stood Haruto.
Alone.
Silent.
The aftermath of slaughter surrounded him, yet not a single drop stained his body.
His gaze drifted downward, settling on the blood pooling at his feet. The faint steam rising from it caught his attention, and a quiet chuckle escaped his lips.
"This world never fails to amaze me..."
He crouched slightly and reached down, pressing his fingers into the warm liquid. Even in the freezing cold, the heat of life still lingered within it.
Slowly, he lifted his hand, watching as the blood slid off his skin without leaving a trace.
Then his attention shifted.
A small wound opened at the tip of his finger-not by force, but by intent. His flesh parted smoothly, allowing a single drop of blood to emerge.
It hovered there.
Alive.
With a subtle motion, he fed it more-his regeneration amplifying the droplet, swelling it beyond its natural limits. Then, using both index fingers, he split it cleanly into two separate spheres.
Each floated weightlessly, pulsing faintly with energy.
Haruto raised his right hand and aimed toward one of the fallen beasts.
The droplet shot forward.
Not thrown. Not pushed.
It moved.
Like a bullet released from an invisible chamber, it pierced into the Sabertusk's thick fur and vanished beneath the surface.
For a brief moment, nothing happened.
Then-
It spread.
The blood expanded violently from within, consuming flesh, muscle, bone-everything. The massive corpse convulsed slightly as it was devoured from the inside out, its structure collapsing as the red mass overtook it completely.
Within seconds, the elephant-sized body was gone.
Nothing remained.
The blood gathered itself once more, compressing back into a single droplet, hovering where the corpse once lay.
It began drifting back toward him.
But before it could return-
Haruto raised a finger.
It stopped instantly.
Suspended.
He tilted his hand slightly, redirecting it toward another carcass.
Again, it launched.
Again, it devoured.
Efficient. Merciless. Absolute.
His gaze then shifted to the second droplet hovering above his left finger.
There was curiosity in his eyes now.
And something else.
Confidence.
A faint smile tugged at his lips as he closed his eyes.
The droplet pulsed once.
Then expanded.
It surged outward, engulfing his entire body in an instant-wrapping around him like a living cloak.
And just like that-
He disappeared.
No movement.
No sound.
No trace.
Where he once stood, only a small pool of blood remained... resting quietly atop the snow.
...
Within a vast expanse of endless abyss, a pair of blue eyes flickered into existence, burning with a quiet, unwavering authority. They glowed like steady flames in a windless void, their presence alone enough to disturb the stillness of that infinite darkness.
In the very next instant, a massive flood of blood materialized beneath them, spreading outward in all directions. It formed a foundation across the void, expanding endlessly as if claiming dominion over the abyss itself. The darkness remained, deep and suffocating, yet within it, only one light existed.
Those eyes.
Untouched. Unbothered.
They moved continuously, shifting from one point to another, scanning the emptiness with intent. It wasn't aimless wandering. It was searching. Calculating.
Then, they stopped.
Fixed on something.
A large object hovered in the distance, suspended within the void. Haruto extended his hand toward it without hesitation, placing his palm against its surface. Beneath his touch, he felt it clearly—dense fur layered over hardened muscle, the unmistakable texture of a beast's corpse.
A grin slowly formed on his face.
"So it's real…"
His eyes pulsed, the blue light intensifying as something deeper awakened within them. Under that overwhelming authority, the darkness around him fractured. The abyss cracked apart like glass struck from within, splintering into countless shards. Reality itself seemed to yield, breaking down piece by piece before dissolving entirely.
Then, light returned.
What replaced the void was something far more tangible. An infinite space stretched outward, boundless and open. Beneath his feet lay a vast ocean of black liquid, thick like ink, extending as far as his vision could reach. Despite its fluid nature, it bore his weight effortlessly, as if it had always been meant to support him.
Haruto stood upon it without sinking.
Without resistance.
He lifted his gaze.
Above him, dozens of Sabertusk carcasses hovered in the air, suspended in perfect stillness. Their massive forms remained frozen, untouched by decay or motion, as if time itself had been severed within this space.
A quiet smile crept across his lips.
"You really can't hide anything from a theorist…" he muttered, lightly patting himself on the back, amused by his own conclusion.
The truth was simple.
About two hours ago, he had arrived at that clearing, guided by his senses toward the Sabertusks roaming near Haruna's tribe. From the cover of the trees, he observed them carefully—a large pack, loosely scattered, moving without coordination or awareness of the threat approaching them.
Seeing them, he couldn't help but feel a spark of satisfaction.
The timing was perfect.
These creatures had appeared at exactly the right moment for him to test a theory he had been building. And more importantly, they were already targeting the goblins. Their intent was obvious, their presence alone a danger to Haruna's people. That alone justified what came next.
In under two hours, he slaughtered them all.
Alone.
Ice spears pierced through flesh. Water twisted into razor-sharp blades, slicing through muscle and bone. Fire coiled into serpentine forms, burning through fur and flesh alike. Each method precise. Each attack controlled.
Efficient.
During the battle, one of them managed to slip behind him, attempting a surprise attack. Haruto reacted instantly, propelling himself forward with a burst of wind. As he moved through the air, a single droplet of blood fell from his finger, landing silently onto the beast below.
That moment was enough.
He marked it.
And then—he devoured it.
The beast roared in pain, its body collapsing inward as it was consumed from within. It struggled, panicked, but Haruto didn't hesitate. He didn't allow himself to be distracted. Facing a creature of that level, hesitation was a luxury he couldn't afford.
It was the same mindset he had back when he played games.
Focus over emotion.
Execution over hesitation.
But in that moment of consumption, something changed.
He felt it.
That sensation.
Something filling him from within.
At the time, he dismissed it. He believed it was nothing more than the satisfaction of his bloodlust being fulfilled, a psychological response rather than a physical one. That assumption seemed correct, especially after his battle with the Crimson Battalion's ant general. When he suppressed his bloodlust and devoured it using the pseudo singularity, he felt no such sensation.
No fullness.
No change.
That only reinforced his belief.
Until now.
Now, that same sensation had returned.
Clear.
Undeniable.
Which meant his previous conclusion had been wrong.
His gaze sharpened slightly as he revisited the thought he once discarded. Back then, he had considered another possibility—one that seemed too simple, too convenient to be true. Lacking a deeper understanding of his skill, he had pushed it aside.
But now, standing here, that idea resurfaced with clarity.
The skill wasn't just consuming.
It was storing.
Everything it devoured didn't simply disappear. It was preserved somewhere. A subspace, hidden yet directly connected to him. A place where everything he consumed was kept intact.
And more importantly—
A place he could access.
Like a pocket dimension.
At any time.
The only problem had been figuring out how.
During the fight, he began testing theories. At first, he considered reversing the process—forcing the devoured matter back out. But the idea didn't sit right. A reversal felt unnatural, something that would require a deeper level of mastery. Something earned, not instinctive.
And this…
This felt different.
This felt like something that already existed.
Something he simply hadn't realized yet.
So he approached it differently.
If his blood was what devoured…
Then it could also be what connects.
A medium.
A doorway.
A breach in space itself, shaped in liquid form.
With his mind acting as the key, he could open that gateway—store things within it, and perhaps even enter it himself.
Which led him to the final step.
A simple one.
Consume himself.
It sounded absurd, but within the logic of this world, it was the most reasonable conclusion. His blood had never harmed him before. There was no reason to believe it would now.
So after slaughtering the Sabertusks…
He tried it.
And now—
Here he was.
Inside his own subspace.
Haruto slowly turned, observing everything around him. The Sabertusks floated above. Further out, he could see the remains of the first golem he had defeated, the dire wolves, even the hobgoblins he had killed before.
Everything was here.
Preserved.
Stored exactly as it was when consumed.
A quiet satisfaction settled within him.
His theory had been correct.
But then—
Something felt off.
His smile faded slightly as his eyes narrowed. He scanned the space again, more carefully this time, going through everything piece by piece.
And then he noticed it.
Something was missing.
Not just anything.
Something important.
His expression hardened.
The ant general.
The one he devoured in the labyrinth.
The strongest creature he had consumed so far.
It wasn't there.
The realization settled in slowly, but once it did, it refused to leave. His mind ran through the possibilities, discarding each one just as quickly. There was no way he had imagined it. No way his skill had simply failed.
Which meant only one thing.
That thing…
Wasn't stored here.
A faint tension crept into his chest as his gaze darkened.
"…Then where did it go?"
...