The Book Eating Magician

Chapter 75

A Traditional Hero #1

Ellenoa was surprised by the monster’s sudden stop, but as Theodore shared senses with Gluttony, he could hear the conversation between Gluttony and Pride. The voices which spoke in the low-frequency range were not at all gentle. The disgust they had toward each other was clear and out in the open.

In particular, Pride (Superbia) spoke with outright disdain, –You are still obsessed with inferior monkeys. It is shameful to classify you as one of the Seven Sins. What is the value of those who rely on time and luck?

–Beauty and intellect is a concept that a mass of flesh like you won’t understand.

Gluttony didn’t back down and gave as good as it got.

–No matter how you collect and combine genetic factors, you are still limited to living creatures. You are nothing but a loser who has given up on surpassing the limits of a species. Gathering the best parts of creatures, isn’t that nothing more than a chimera?

–Nonsense! Pride dismissed Gluttony, speaking with the arrogance it was named after.

Now, the vocal range was lowered even further. The sound caused Theo and Ellenoa to feel discomfort as they sat down. The unheard shout broke the spirits of the two people. It was a terrifying threat associated with Dragon Fear, something which appeared in forgotten legends.

“Cough!” Theo coughed up some blood. Following the series of shock waves, his circles were strongly shaken by Pride’s shouts. If a human didn’t know magic or aura, their heart would’ve stopped.

The enemy’s very existence was different, allowing Theo to feel the gap directly with his body.

‘Damn it. What the hell is this monster? Why is it attacking us?!’ Theo’s hysterical question was thrown out without him expecting an answer.

-The autonomous maneuver type grimoire, Superbia. Like me, it belongs in the Seven Sins set. If the attribute I symbolize is [Gluttony], then it is [Pride]. It is a ‘species usurper specialist’ and is made up of the species it eats.

Gluttony returned with a clear answer as always.

Theo quickly picked out some keywords and asked another question. He had a feeling that this information would determine the life and death of the two of them. ‘Usurping species? Is that Pride’s power?’

–That’s right.

Theodore listened without missing a single word.

-Just like I am a grimoire that collects magic books, it is a grimoire that collects creatures. It has the ability to store the genetic information of a species, regardless of the individual performance of the organism. Once it eats a sample of a species, it can reproduce the innate traits of that species.

‘The innate traits?’

–For example, a troll’s regeneration or an ogre’s muscular strength.

That was enough. Theo’s expression turned into one of fright as he understood Pride’s power.

Pride had the ability to eat a species and gain its best traits! It wasn’t inferior to Gluttony’s ability to extract essences from magic books or magic power from artifacts. No, it might even be superior when it came to fighting.

Moreover, based on the horrible creature, the traits which could be reproduced didn’t stop at just one or two.

‘How many traits can it use at the same time?’

–Hmm. Gluttony looked at Pride for a moment before replying. –It has already unlocked four seals. Right now, it can use five combined… User, do you mean to fight Pride?