Large concrete hands intertwined and slammed down toward me. I raised my own arms in defense and felt my legs buried down to the knees as my momentum was halted.

  “Strong!” I said, impressed with how far I sank into the now quite broken asphalt.

  A hand wrapped around my chest and hoisted me up like I weighed nothing. Bringing three other fists to bear. I felt the pain as hit after hit landed, but I was focused. I opened the mouth on my chest open wide, and as soon as I felt the thumb holding me slip into the space, I bit down.

  The gorilla cretin boss roared in pain as I devoured its thumb, dropping me to the ground. It kicked out and I let myself be launched away, crashing into one of the other gorillas that was making a grab at Cari.

  “Thanks!” she called as I dug into the beast, ripping out chunks of it and shoving it into my eager mouths. The pain across my body started to wane as my regenerative energies increased. I noticed almost too late as the boss rushed me, swinging two right handed haymakers. I shifted my weight and pulled the injured gorilla up to take the blows.

  It was crushed beneath the heavy strikes and I was, again, knocked back. This time, I managed to keep a hold on several pieces of the gorilla, and I furiously feasted as I ran. It must have been enough of the beast, because I felt the notification and the stat increase, but had to ignore it for now.

  “VINE!” I yelled, leaping up to run along the wall of an adjacent building. A vine whipped out from above me, wrapping my hand and flinging me along faster. Great chunks of concrete crushed the walls behind me as I pushed my agility to its limits. When I reached the apex of the skyscraper, I pushed myself out into the open air above the fight.

  Four Feast Bolts appeared, one in each hand, and I threw them with as much vigor as the gorillas. One for each remaining beast. The first struck a cretin in the left leg, the hungry energy completely dissolving the leg and causing it to fall over. Gregory made short work of it with his glowing axe.

  Another gorilla tried to dodge out of the way, but a thick vine kept it from moving, the bolt hitting it in the face. The roar was cut short as it fell to the ground.

  The other two were successful in dodging the Feast Bolts, the boss seemingly able to detect the energy of the bolt, and when they both looked up, I was already gone.

  Ravenous Cloak hid me well as I consumed the fallen. I got better regeneration if I ate the entire thing, but I discovered during this fight that I really just needed to consume the head and main body to gain the stat boosts. Perhaps it was more about the core. I knew my own core was in the center of my chest, so perhaps it was similar.

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  “A little help!” Cari shouted as she was punched into a building.

  The cretin boss still couldn’t see me, so I stalked ahead as Gregory faced off against the two gorillas. I formed a Feast Bolt and threw it at the last gorilla cretin. It noticed and was able to dodge, throwing off its latest attack against Gregory. I noticed that the beast could sense the bolt, but not me. Curious.

  I had to jump back as the boss slammed its fists into the ground, spikes of concrete jutting up out the ground in a line. I didn’t feel a heavy drain on my cloak, so it must have used my location when I fired off the bolt.

  Cari launched herself out of the building, a thick vine behind her. She landed on one of the spikes and pressed her hands onto it. Vines arced out from it, wrapping around the gorilla cretin as Gregory leapt up at the beast’s head, swinging a strong horizontal chop.

  The head fell with a crunch onto the broken road.

  I ran past him, scooping up and shoving the head into my chest. I spent the next several rounds dodging and gathering and hastily eating bits of dead cretins. Having a truly great time. The boss got a few good licks in, and all three of us were a bit worse for wear.

  Finally, I felt like I had gathered enough regenerative energy within myself to try something new.

  Synergy.

  Ravenous Cloak boosted my first attack by fifteen percent. Purging Surge boosted damage relative to my Vitality and the amount of active energy regeneration I had. Eat the Rich boosted consumption based skills when used against stronger enemies. Finally, Feast Bolt did significant damage to living foes.

  But the gorilla boss was able to sense the Feast Bolt before and dodge. Why?

  Realization struck me. During Feast Bolt creation, I separated the hungry energy from my core. My cloak resonated from my core to consume the perceptions around me, which excludes any separated energy.

  But what if I didn’t separate it? As I felt the Feast Bolt beginning to form, this time I kept the Thread form of Vitality circulation connected to my core through the open maw on my chest. I felt the thump.

  HUNGER.

  The Gorilla Cretin Boss sniffed around, looking for me as it felt… something. I felt my cloak begin to drain more of my energy. The threads between the bolt and my core strengthened as my hunger grew.

  HUNGER.

  The tethered bolt swelled before me. I felt my mind begin to falter as the hunger spiked.

  HUNGER.

  Purging Surge triggered, and I felt my steady regeneration suddenly cut off. The bolt grew to one meter in diameter. Weakness seeped into my limbs as my internal energies plummeted.

  HUNGER.

  With a grimace of effort, I shoved the hungry energy forward. It quickly built momentum and shot forward. The Chimpcrete Gorilla Cretin Boss turned just in time to be struck in the side by the beam.

  Like striking a black hole, the huge gorilla was pulled inexorably into the end of the beam. Cracks formed over its chest, arms, and legs as it began to implode. Its final roar was cut off as it disappeared within the beam, which promptly was pulled back into my core.

  I noticed I received several notifications as I passed out, exhausted.