The Devour Art was the key for humanity to wield curses. In its early stages, the practitioner would undergo mutations, necessitating advancement until the fourth stage.
Kaelan understood that this was the path to increasing his strength—by accepting curses and corruption into his own body. Yet, he had absolutely no inkling of how to achieve it.
Since the moment he woke, Kaelan had already been at Stage Two of Sangu Carna. He had never known how one truly became a Devourer.
"Eating... humans?" Kaelan was shaken; a wave of nausea rolled over him.
The thought that he might have once committed cannibalism was utterly revolting. He nearly gagged again, but his stomach was hollow, with nothing left to heave. This time, he managed to suppress it.
Lunaria nodded. "To advance the mutation, we must consume curses that resonate with it."
Reynold approached Kaelan, his expression tinged with sadness. Kaelan stared at him, the image of Reynold consuming that black mass with an expressionless face still burned into his mind.
"Let us speak in a better place," Lunaria suggested. "Strictly speaking, you aren't in a position to know this information, but since things have turned out this way, there is no other choice."
Information was restricted by one's rank or contribution. Kaelan was a stranger, still draped in suspicion. He remembered nothing, so even the most basic knowledge of the Devour Art remained locked away from him.
"...Yes."
Kaelan needed time to process it all—the taboo and horrific sights he had witnessed, and the chilling information he was likely about to hear. There were simply too many unknowns.
By the time they had pitched the tents and found a spot to rest, they were sipping cups of coffee and roasting purple mushrooms—fungi whose caps grotesquely resembled the faces of screaming people.
Kaelan didn't touch the mushrooms at all. Ever since witnessing the horrific scene earlier, his hunger had vanished completely.
They sat surrounding the campfire: Reynold, Rebecca, Drake, Lunaria, and a few others who had arrived with her.
"Let's start from the beginning. Everyone here possesses the necessary knowledge. However, Kaelan, given your unknown background, I decided to keep many things secret."
Her goal had been to investigate whether Kaelan had truly lost his memory or if he possessed a method to recall certain things. Lunaria's suspicion was that Kaelan would eventually remember by piecing things together himself.
"However, it seems it was a mistake not to share this, as it has led to a misunderstanding."
Lunaria exhaled a sigh. "The Devour Art is the art of devouring curses."
The technique was considered easy to use; anyone could perform it. Fundamentally, it was a way to devour and accommodate wild curses, turning them into one's own.
"To absorb a curse, you cannot swallow it raw. You must rely on a medium to consume it."
That medium took the form of something that had already absorbed the curse—for instance, a monster part that had accommodated the curse's energy.
Through that method, one could devour a curse.
"Consuming a curse through a medium is dangerous. However, consuming and accommodating one without a medium is far more perilous."
It was like drinking unfiltered water—dangerous—but even filtering it didn't mean the danger vanished. The use of a medium to become a Devourer was merely to reduce the level of risk.
"Because of that, the Devour Art can be used by anyone, but not everyone can master it." Lunaria then took a bite of her mushroom skewer.
"Generally, the curse mediums come from slain monsters," Reynold remarked, his eyes looking anxiously at Kaelan. "However... the corpse of a Devourer also serves as a medium."
Kaelan was struck with shock. That explained why the Devour Art was not shared with the public. Except for Eternal Darkness, other organizations strictly controlled information regarding the Art.
The technique was too cruel, too dark; the common folk would eventually live in terror of Devourers. Even if they didn't, a massive chaos would erupt where humans became worse than monsters.
Monsters would not eat their own kind; they might feed on different species. But a Devourer was worse than any monster.
"...So I have also—" Kaelan felt sick, covering his mouth to keep from vomiting.
He was already at the second stage of his mutation. It meant that in the past, he might have done something equally horrific.
"Is there no other way?" Kaelan asked. If the Devour Art was a technique for devouring, perhaps there was a more humane alternative.
"You could continue consuming mediums from monsters," Rebecca said. "But the corruption is far greater compared to human mediums. You would likely turn into a monster yourself before completing the mutation."
Human mediums carried less corruption than monsters. This was because a Devourer underwent a mutation phase to alter their body structure and adapt, whereas monsters did not.
"In the end, once you become a Devourer, there is no turning back," Drake said, rubbing Kaelan's back with a wry smile. "We walk a path of sin with no crossroads."
Once you became a Devourer, there was only the way forward. Kaelan began to understand that this world was truly cursed. Even the very act of survival was a cursed path.
Kaelan felt himself trembling. He found it difficult to accept, yet he could not deny it either. His heart was in a state of utter confusion on how to respond.
"...I see," Kaelan said, looking at Rebecca and Reynold. "Forgive me for before. I unilaterally judged you as monsters without hearing the explanation."
Rebecca merely snorted and looked away. Meanwhile, Reynold smiled and said, "It's no problem," with his usual demeanor.
Kaelan managed a smile and tried to make a joke. "We might be worse than Big Eaters."
Drake gave a wry smile, and even the people he didn't know smiled slightly at the comment. Thanks to this incident, they judged Kaelan as someone pitiable who knew nothing.
"Yes, we are worse than monsters!" Reynold laughed loudly, welcoming the joke.
Lunaria gazed into the fire, a sad smile on her face. "Here, we do not live to breathe; we only live so we do not become the next dish."
Eat or be eaten. An ancient law that was still enforced. In the end, humans would become a meal for others in this cursed world.
"Just so you know, Big Eaters were once human too." In a rare moment, Rebecca spoke up.
"What do you mean?" Kaelan asked, not understanding the implication.
Rebecca took a large bite of her mushroom. "Big Eaters are humans who have been corrupted and turned into monsters. Any creature that possesses a human form must have originated from a human."
Kaelan remembered that the Big Eater had a human body and could even utter fragments of words.
"If you give up on being a Devourer, then let yourself turn into a Big Eater." Rebecca smiled, looking down at Kaelan with disdain.
Whether she was trying to comfort him or insult him, Kaelan still couldn't understand the girl.