Bath didn't give the entities in the compound time to think over his words. Within a second, Bath had already lashed out with a set of enormous claws to rake out at the ten or so individuals in the immediate vicinity. Bath had already sent some of his essence away through vents to the other main parts of the facility, such as the other side of the one-way mirror that made up the entire central side of the room. There, he detected the presence of at least twenty others, all still in suits.

Why were they all in suits?

Bath didn't think that the compound had a toxic atmosphere by any means, nor did it have any extreme atmospheric or climatic conditions. Was it an inherent weakness in the entities themselves?

Bath quickly devoured all the people he had already eviscerated with his claws. Of course, he had the ability to instantly kill everyone within reach of his essence, but he figured that appearing too dangerous was counterproductive to peacefully engaging with this intelligent species and obtaining both a translator and information about gates going off-world.

So, he simply killed everyone he could get his claws on. He also made sure not to change his form from the wolf-reptile to make it seem like a limitation, as though he could only shapeshift into a few different forms and could only change form every so often. Though he imposed these limitations on himself, he decided to let himself...go a bit. He embraced the lupine and reptilian instincts to gore and mutilate as he swept through the ranks of the aliens.

Bath didn't have time to waste annihilating alien species. He genuinely intended to return to Earth within an eight-day period of time. So far, he'd used up a few hours of the first day, and that was essentially all spent on a completely peaceful planet. Bath knew that once he charted out a path that led back to Earth, he could always return to these worlds later on. For now, plotting that path was his only priority.

Based on Lepochim's initial reaction, he knew that he couldn't let these people suspect him being a Devourer. They'd likely do everything within their power to see him dead, which aside from being futile would also be counterproductive to finding the next gate and so on.

But being savage didn't at all imply that he was a Devourer. Bath didn't wait for the devoured entities to be fully incorporated into his Center before moving to knock down the one-way mirror. While it was fairly tough, he found that it caved easily enough to his thick paws.

At this point, the alien entities were screaming at him in English to stop. Bath didn't pay it any mind: 50 was 50.

His essence continued to spread out through the vents and cracks in doors. By now he had already identified the positions of 100 entities throughout the compound.

As he ripped into the entities behind the one-way mirror, Bath gained some insight into the biology of the entities themselves. While he had already discovered by experimentation that the entities had critical bodily components in their abdomens and tender spots all over, he couldn't have imagined that the entities looked like...

Well, what they looked like. They were like giant, viscous slugs that were able to change shape to fit their artificially-built exoskeletons. When he slashed them open and they essentially exploded out like popped water balloons, Bath had assumed the entities were just set to explode and spew acid if they were killed. It made sense from a security standpoint.

Instead, the slug-men were simply poisonous to the point of corroding the floor once liberated from their exoskeletons. Bath wondered how they were able to move the exoskeletons if they were only made of, well, corrosive slime.

As he mindlessly slashed through a wall to get to a few more slug-men, he gained further insight into the creatures' biology. They apparently had muscles embedded all throughout the slime, giving them a great deal of mobility and strength. They could theoretically (Bath hadn't actually tried out the form himself, of course) form themselves into a perfect human shape and hold that shape indefinitely, but they were incredibly fragile and didn't have a powerful immune system. The suits were a way to protect them from physical and microbial threats.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Bath wondered how this species had even survived long enough to become intelligent. He was ripping into them like a sickle through wheat.

Bath stopped as he gored a final slug-man with his claws, then ripped the head off with his bloodied snout. 50.

All of this happened over the course of 15 seconds.

Bath exited his current location to return to the area where he first appeared, by the gate. Then he sat down calmly and returned to his titan form.

"Can I see?" Lisa asked quietly.

Bath created a set of viewing holes for Lisa in his chest, small enough that nobody would notice unless they were next to him, which they wouldn't be. Not after the slaughter he'd wrought, that was certain.

"I would like to request a translator," Bath said in English, his voice completely devoid of emotion.

Silence. Then, finally, through a speaker in the ceiling: "We would like to make a deal."

Bath felt like ripping the floor in half. Why did these people think they were in a position to make deals?

"I'll propose the terms, then," Bath thundered. "You give me a translator and a map of all known gates and their destinations on this planet, and any other planetary maps you possess, and any knowledge you possess about other worlds, and then I will leave without destroying this facility."

Bath said all of this with complete confidence. He was quite certain that if these slug-men were the apex predator of this planet...he had nothing to fear from this world.

There were a few seconds of silence before Bath heard a response. "We'll agree to that. We have one request we would like to make, if you are gracious enough to entertain it."

Bath was a bit surprised by the deferential tone, though was rather pleased to hear the aliens adopt a polite manner of address. "Speak."

"Where are you from? We do not believe you are from Earth, nor any of the nearby worlds; had we known you were coming, we would have provided you with a welcome fitting your status."

Oh? So not everybody who came through the gate was taken as a slave. Moreover, apparently people could travel through the gates ahead of notices that they would be coming. Finally, and perhaps most interestingly, these slug-men assumed he was from a powerful background because he, himself, was powerful.

Bath muted Lepochim with flesh and speared him with capsaicin needles.

"I am truly from Earth." Bath gave no further explanation while he waited for his translator and information to be delivered.

"Yes, Traveler," the slug-men replied graciously. Traveler: a title? Bath felt like the title was definitely one of respect, though he didn't understand why individuals who traveled through gates--Travelers, if basic logic was anything to go by--necessarily demanded respect. After all, he'd been initially assumed slave fodder.

This was getting more complicated by the second. Bath twisted and enlarged the needles in Lepochim's skin. He was fairly certain that he couldn't trust more than 20% of what Lepo had told him.

"How long until my desired materials are delivered?" It was at this point that Bath's essence finally reached the room with the slug-men he was conversing with. He instilled beady little eyes into the room to spy on their actions. He saw a lot of them communicating via instant message and trying to contact someone, if a holographic monitor screen on one of the room's sides was anything to go by.

He didn't see anyone in the room trying to do anything else other than make contact with the outside.

"Just a note: if you call in reinforcements, I will know, and I will still destroy you. I'll give you one last chance: meet my demands, and I will leave this planet. Fight against me, and I will wipe this place off the map." He was really quite frustrated at this point. What did he have to do to get them to fulfill his meager request?

He was also annoyed that the deference they had shown him was some kind of act.

Bath watched their reactions as he spoke to them. All the slug-men in the room froze, as though struck by indecision. They started to speak and gesticulate wildly, though of course Bath's actual self couldn't hear any of it. Not that it would have mattered without a translator.

But Bath suspected he had a way to understand what was happening.

He formed his full human head in front of Lepochim and began to speak. "Lepochim, you have been an incredible disappointment. I thought that knowing I was a World Devourer would have had you kowtowing to me like the insignificant wayward alien that you are, but I was sorely mistaken.

"However, being a benevolent master, I'm going to grant you a momentary chance at redemption. If you help me to translate the discussion going on between the slug-men, I'll stop torturing you.

"Thoughts?"

"Slug-men?" was the very first thing to come out of Lepochim's mouth. Bath was not amused, something he made clear with a stony expression.

"Fine. I'll help you, but only because this is all just a stupid farce. They couldn't kill you even if they wanted to."