Chapter 25: Class about devouters, devourers, maneaters and ant people

Another class has begun for Lucas. He gets to the classroom, which is almost full, similar to last time.

Lucas starts the class by saying "Greetings and welcome to class where we talk about varying demon races. Today we will talk about three races. Devouters, devourers and maneaters. Let's not beat around the bush and let's get started.

Devouters, as the name suggests, are a race that mostly spend their time worshiping their god Naga. And if you have been in one of my previous classes you might be thinking "But didn't Naga become the seven demon gods?" to which I will tell you that you are correct. However, the Naga that devouters belief is mostly a god born from pure belief that simply shares the name with the originator of all demons.

This god has a surprising amount of power given how young she is compared to other gods and when compared to the amount of people that believe in her. Naga was born out of a pure belief from demons that were later named devouters, who carried their belief in the original Naga, even though they knew that the original Naga split themself to the seven demon gods.

Devouters believe that the current Naga is a second coming of the original Naga, who will protect her believers from the calamities of life. And Naga has kept the ones who devote themselves to her in good waters. They were protected by Naga when the demon race started to fall by isolating them in the underground ruins where the demon race first made contact with the mortal realm.

Those underground ruins are strictly forbidden for non demon races via the use of a barrier that is around the passages to the ruins. The city that is built there is called "Proto apotypoma" and as far as I know, it is called the ultimate safehaven of the demon race. Proto apotypoma is self sufficient and has many contingencies to keep it functional and protected from non demon interference. They even have a fake sun around the great ruins. In those ruins, and especially in the city, the devouters hold the most power over the goings of the area.

Devouters aren't really pushovers. The protection that Naga gives them is absurdly hard to counter, and even if you manage that, spells that devouters can pull are also absurd thanks to Naga's assistance. They are mostly resistant to magic and are even immune to anything that will affect the mind negatively.

Devouters have eight tentacles for legs or legs that are like goat or lizard-like, hold humanoid hands with four fingers, have black feathered wings to up to six, are usually grey or purple skinned and have two to six eyes. They usually wear robes that have markings of the demon language and they mostly float via the blessing of Naga.

As a race, they are quite fierce when angered. And to anger a devouter you only need to ridicule Naga and then all the fury of devouters will come to you until you repent. Death, in that situation, is a blessing you will crave. Other than that, devouters are mostly peaceful as long as you respect their belief. Even though they are mostly peaceful, they would go on a crusade in the name of Naga, if their mistress wished for it.

That's enough about devouters, let's get to devourers. "Mister Lucas" I hear you asking "Why don't the devourers have the skill "gluttony" if their name implies they eat everything?" Well good students, the answer is quite simple. Because devouter is an artificial demon created by the Inertia family AFTER the demon gods blessed certain demon races.

"What can devourers do?" Well, to put it simply, they can receive sustenance from anything they eat. And when I say anything, I mean anything. They have one of the most deadly bite force of any demon or monster. They can chew the hardest of materials and their stomach acid is magically enhanced so that they can turn it into sustenance.

They look a bit ghoulish with sharp teeth, weirdly big eyes, almost always bald and are often hunched back in some manner. They don't necessarily move in all fours, but they can move much faster by doing so.

Devourers were created as a variant of monsters known as ghouls, but they earned the title of demon thanks to the experiments the Inertia family did to their ancestors. Thanks to those experiments, devourers are much more intelligent than ghouls, but not as smart as regular humans. They are often regarded as lesser demons, but no one can deny their ability to kill anyone who can't avoid their deadly bite.

Thanks to their general low status, they often are found in the lower parts of civilization. Some are even hired to work as a garbage disposal, but thanks to their ghouls ancestry, they don't have much of a sense of taste. Some devourers can develop a sort of taste for certain things, but it is very rare. I also have heard that they even build communities in some forests or abandoned mines, but I have yet to witness this myself. Apparently they like to build their houses underground to at least some extent. I also heard that those houses are surprisingly well made even by human standards. I suppose being able to build good houses doesn't necessarily mirror one's intelligence.

Devourers don't usually have the capability to use magic, but it isn't unheard of one becoming a mage in some sense. And even though they can cast spells, they usually aren't very impressive.

There isn't much else to say about devourers, other than how ferocious they can be when they are hungry. Once they reach a starving state, they become more like their ancestor ghouls and go primal.

Then let's get to maneaters. Usually big, dark blue, muscly beasts with a tendency to eat humanoids. They are undoubtedly demons in all sense. They even eat their own young when it's necessary or they "feel like it".

Maneaters build communities far enough to not get easily spotted by humanoid settlement, but close enough to make periodic hunts for those humanoids who stray away from their own settlement. They don't need to eat humanoids, but they gain euphoria from eating them. I heard it has to do with the quality of the soul.

You can communicate with maneaters, but I recommend you keep your guard up whenever possible. Once they are satiated they are safe, but once that goes down, they might see you as a snack.

I heard that maneaters can breed with other humanoids and I have seen actual couples a couple of times, but those relationships are few and far between. If it's not from their partner, then most likely their children will be the one to eat the non maneater.

Luckily, they don't like the taste of slimes and mimics, so I personally feel safe talking to them. The ones I have met have been quite pleasant to talk to, but they were a bit interested in what I would taste like, even if their noses told them not to do it.

Maneaters are usually much, much stronger than other humanoids their size. Their main focus is on physical strength and their regeneration ability. Even if you cut a maneater's legs off, they can grow them in a manner of seconds like an ogre. The safest way to kill them is to cut off their head and hope that they aren't the type who can function without a head for a short time and reattach it.

You heard me right, some can even survive being decapitated. It is common enough to warn you about it, but it isn't necessarily always the case. The best way to deal with them is, as said, to cut off their head and then to not let them reattach the head by keeping some distance between the head and the body. You can also run your game by causing the maneater to heal so many of their wounds that they eventually can't heal anymore and die like any other being.

And while you may think that maneaters are strictly carnivorous, I have to disappoint you by saying that is not the case. They do eat plant based food when there isn't any meat around. While they do prefer meat over vegetables, they still eat whatever is necessary for their own survival.

Now let's go to a bonus round and talk about the humanoid ant race known as muurahainen, or more commonly known as ant people. These ant people are about half the size of an average human and they stand on two legs. They are intelligent enough to communicate with other humanoid races, but they are mostly a xenophobic race that live their entire life in their hive. The ant people build giant magnificent structures that look alien to non-ant people.

As said, they are quite xenophobic, but you can communicate with them if they actually speak common. There are always a few ant people that are intrigued by the outside world and learn to speak common. The knowledge to commune with non-ant people races is usually passed on from generation to generation. The hive allows this often due to there sometimes being a need to communicate with outsiders for the betterment of the hive itself. The ant person that speaks common is known as "puhuja" in those societies and they work as mediators the hive and the outsider.

The ant people most commonly use wordless communication and even make others understand what they want to communicate via telepathic link between each member of the hive. But if they have to use spoken language, they speak the Uralic language. Now I hear some of you wonder "Doesn't speaking the words from the Lost theorem activate a spell just by saying the words?" to which I say that you are correct. But in the case of the ant people, they have the ability to speak those words without activating any spells. Each ant person is excellent in using spells from Lost theorem, but they usually have low mana, so they won't often use it. When they do use it, it is for the betterment of the hive.

And when speaking of ant people that decide to use a spell from the Lost theorem, I will give you a word of warning to not mess with the hive of ant people. They are more than willing to use up their very being in order to activate a devastating spell from the Lost theorem. As long as the hive demands it, the ant person will most often be glad to do it. This makes each ant person a potential suicidebomber and when you take it into account that each hive has around 50 000 ant people, you start to realize what kind of threat they can be if forced to act.

Now you might be thinking "50 000 half sized humans is a lot. How do they manage to provide their entire hive with so big of a number?" To which there are three answers. Their natural ability to absorb energy from the sun, using the Lost theorem to their advantage and cannibalism. They do whatever it takes to make sure the hive will prosper, but they aren't dumb enough to deprive the natural resources just to satiate their hunger.

When I told you about their giant structures, I mean they are giant. Most of what they build is underground, but those things that are outside are also quite gigantic.

Some of you might be wondering "How on earth haven't they become the overlords of this world?" To which I have a quite simple answer. Their only grand ambition is to make sure that the hive prospers. And nothing else. They keep their numbers in check to make sure that the hive doesn't run out of food because of overpopulation. The queen ant person also can decide when it is necessary to grow the population and when it is not.

There are currently three known hives around the world. Each hive has an autonomy around a certain region given to them by the ruler of the area, so that they can live peacefully. Two of these hives are in quite warm regions, but one is in a more cold climate where they lower their activity significantly during the colder seasons.

Each hive is a little bit different, but the average lifespan of an ant person is around seven years. The queen ant person does often live to about 15 years old on average, where the oldest recorded queen ant person lived to 42.

I guess I should also mention the soldiers of ant people in each hive. They go through arduous training after they are selected when they hatch. They are quite surprising powerhouses that can easily match an average adventurer in one to one. But since those soldiers of ant people usually work in groups, they often overwhelm their target.

Ant people aren't dumb by any means, a singular ant person is almost as smart as a regular human and they can build tools. Their hivemind makes them significantly smarter than your average human settlement as they can communicate ideas across the hivemind. The queen of the ant people is often the smartest amongst the hive, but not always.

And I suppose that is about it. If you have any questions, please ask them before the bell rings. If you have any questions after that, please wait for the next class where I can answer your questions. If you see me in the hallways and have a small question, I'm willing to answer it if it doesn't take too much time. Otherwise, class dismissed."