My SSS-Rank Gluttony Talent: I Can Evolve Limitlessly
Chapter 74: Face Mask

Chapter 74: Face Mask

"Montville!"

"It’s finally opened!"

"We’re marching into it—let’s go!"

"After two weeks... finally!"

A wave of excited voices tore through the field like a storm.

Many of the players, their eyes glittering with anticipation, sprinted towards the new valley without hesitation.

Some waved their weapons in the air while others laughed and cried, overwhelmed by the thought of reaching the first city.

Boots thundered across the bloodstained dirt, kicking up dust as they charged forward.

But not everyone moved.

Far behind the wave of excited players, standing in the heart of the ruined boss zone, only a few remained.

Among them were Yano and the remaining top-ranking members of his guild, Terry, and lastly, Riley.

They stood a few meters apart from each other, ignoring the players cheering in the distance.

Yano’s gaze drifted across the crowd, before finally landing on Riley again.

The black-haired figure hadn’t moved since the mountain had opened.

He remained perfectly still, arms folded, expression neutral—almost as though he wasn’t interested in the path everyone else had rushed toward.

Terry noticed too, and he also turned towards the odd player.

"You’re not going?" he asked. "You killed the monster boss, got the novice champion token... I thought you would prefer to lead us into the city?"

Riley turned to look at him, a light smile twitching at the corner of his lips.

"There’s no rush," he replied.

Terry’s eyes narrowed slightly, Riley’s words replaying in his mind.

’No rush huh...?’ he thought, his lips curling into a wry smile.

He briefly glanced at the city gate in the distance, his eyes flickering with a weird glint.

’I didn’t contribute anything... couldn’t save anyone... is it really right?’ he mumbled inwardly. ’For me to step into that city?’

Yano, meanwhile, clicked his tongue sharply and turned his head away.

"Tch..."

His fists clenched at his sides, the shaft of his red staff creaking faintly under his grip.

’You may be strong now...’ he thought bitterly. ’But I’ll surpass you. I’ll make sure of it.’

It didn’t matter how far the gap seemed now. He had always clawed his way to the top—through grinding, through talent, through blood if necessary.

He would do it again.

Even if it meant crossing lines no one else dared to cross.

Riley, on the other hand, exhaled softly.

’I should be entering the city now...’ he thought, eyes drifting toward the fading backs of the retreating players. ’But there’s something I need to take care of first.’

A faint twinkle of light suddenly flashed between his fingers.

The Novice Champion Token.

It had reappeared, spinning slowly between his thumb and index.

Yano’s eyes immediately caught it, and they flashed with a sharp, annoyed glint.

But Riley didn’t even glance at him.

He spun the token once, and then, it vanished back into his storage ring.

Then, his expression twitched. Just barely.

A small wince crept across his face, but then, it vanished as quickly as it appeared.

He turned, dragging the massive corpse of the crimson blood scorpion with him to the side.

And then—

Fwoosh!

With a sharp gust of wind, he vanished from sight.

Just as it happened, both Yano and Terry stiffened—because a sound echoed right behind them.

Grrrrr!

It was a deep, yet low growl.

The sound was animalistic, like a beast snarling close to them.

They both spun around, eyes widening. But there was nothing there, except empty air.

They stared at the space behind them for several seconds, each silently questioning the other.

However, they soon glanced away, casting the thought to the back of their minds.

’Maybe... we’re just imagining it.’ they thought almost at the same time, sighing.

But then, that sound kept on echoing over and over within Terry’s mind.

Even though he wanted to believe he only imagined that growl... the sound didn’t feel imagined at all.

*

Fwoosh!

Riley reappeared with another gust of wind, materialising deep within a dense forest.

Beside him, the massive corpse of the Crimson Blood Scorpion slammed to the ground with a dull thud, making the forest floor tremble slightly beneath its weight.

Riley stumbled forward a bit, his hand flying to his abdomen.

"Urgh—dammit," he hissed, clutching it tightly.

Grrr’

His stomach growled—louder than before—like something furious was stirring inside him.

He clenched his jaw and inhaled deeply, eyes narrowing in annoyance.

’I miss when I wasn’t so hungry,’ he thought, a wry smile on his lips.

Still holding his side, he took a step back and leaned against a tree, gaze drifting across the quiet forest.

Before heading into the boss zone, he’d gone on a small detour—monster hunting.

The targets?

A group of monsters known as Face Monkeys.

They were notorious, vicious monsters native to dense forests like this, and while they weren’t the strongest monsters in the novice continent, they were the creepiest.

Their pale, fleshy faces were disturbingly human-like, and even worse—they could change faces.

It made them ideal ambush predators.

What made them even harder to fight was their speed and the fact that they always moved in packs, howling with laughter while mimicking the cries of their victims.

For most players, dealing with even one of them was a nightmare. But Riley... hadn’t found them much of a challenge.

His absurd strength, agility, and reflexes made short work of them—even when five attacked at once. Still, he hadn’t gone after them just for the thrill.

Rather, he just wanted to absorb their skill—[Face Mask].

It was a D-rank skill, the same one that allowed them to alter their facial features.

And for someone like Riley, who drew attention wherever he went... it was something he needed.

It allowed him change his face to an extent, changing features such as his eye colour, and major aspects of his face.

However, he couldn’t change his hair colour, and could only lengthen or shorten it, which was what he did.

The process had actually been quite painful, and felt like someone was hammering his skull from inside.

Apart from that, he could only ’edit’ his face once, however, he could maintain it as long as he had enough mana.

Unfortunately, the skill could easily be seen through by someone with [Inspect] or a talent related to scanning attributes.

The moment he thought about this, a certain girl came to his mind, and his eyes narrowed.

’I didn’t see her anywhere in the boss area.’ he thought, wondering how she would have reacted to him killing the scorpion.

However, the thought only lasted in his head for a while, and he quickly shook it off.

’Whatever... I’m sick of standing out so much,’ he thought, eyes narrowing. ’Those damn question marks popping up every time someone tries to scan me... It’s like walking around with a red arrow above my head.’

Though the fact that others couldn’t check his ID or level might be helpful, it made him stick out too much.

It was the same reason they started calling him a hacker or even an NPC, back when he was trading off his loot from Burus.

Only those players had seen his real face within, and Taves was one of them.

Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do to change that.

He could only do whatever he could from now on to hide his identity.

If he continued standing out, many more people would start to get curious about him... wanting to find out what kind of secrets he held.

He knew better than anyone how much trouble that would bring for him, which he couldn’t afford at the moment.

Besides, he didn’t want Yano, and especially Terry finding out about his true identity just yet.

Growl!

Another angry snarl erupted from his stomach, a little louder than before.

Riley sighed and finally turned his gaze to the massive corpse beside him.

Then, without thinking, he licked his lips.

A familiar sensation crawled through his veins, and his throat tightened, already feeling himself salivating.

Before he even realised it, his body moved on its own.

His mouth opened wide, far wider than any human jaw should’ve allowed.

A heavy pressure swept out with it, followed by a powerful suction, which erupted from within him.

The massive corpse of the Crimson Blood Scorpion slowly rose off the ground, pulled towards him.

Its limbs contorted, its cracked carapace crunched like brittle glass—and bit by bit, the body was sucked into Riley’s gaping maw.

The entire process lasted less than a minute.

And when it was over... nothing remained of the large monster corpse.

He exhaled deeply, rolling his neck from side to side.

[You have devoured: Crimson Blood Scorpion]

[Acquired: Strength +75.3, Agility +61.2, Endurance +80, Vitality +69.1, Mana +80.4]

[Skill Gained: Blood Poison Gas (C-rank)]

What he gained from absorbing the monster boss was quite amazing, just as he had expected.

However, despite the thrill coursing through his veins, Riley didn’t smirk or chuckle as he usually would.

He simply stared at the space where the scorpion used to be... and sighed.

His gaze drifted upward, toward the gaps in the thick forest canopy above.

Specks of sunlight filtered through the leaves, flickering faintly like dying stars.

He didn’t move, only lost in his thoughts.

The screams from when he lost control slowly echoed in his mind, scenes of him tearing through people like paper replaying over again.

For a brief moment, he felt like he could even taste their bodies getting sucked into his mouth.

"Tch..."

Riley chuckled dryly under his breath and rubbed the back of his neck.

"...I don’t have a choice," he muttered. "I’ll just have to be more careful."