I Can Devour Monsters' SSS Talents

”First, none of us follow familiar sounds.”

Seris looked at him.

”Second, we don’t touch corpses unless necessary for examination.”

”Third, we don’t take any bones, weapons, or items without identifying them first.” He looked at the mist below the valley.

”Fourth, we don’t get more than a few meters apart from each other.”

”Fifth, if the mist behaves abnormally, we retreat without argument.”

He pointed at One with his hand.

”Sixth, it doesn’t eat anything.” And finally he said.

”If the path changes, we trust the signs we leave ourselves, not just the map.”

Seris was silent for a few moments.

”You talk too much.” She then said.

”Because you usually act first and ask questions later.” Lian gave a faint smile.

”It works.” The young Pendragon shrugged and said.

”Besides, I haven’t found anything yet that can’t be solved by attacking it.” Seris placed her hand on her sword’s hilt.

Lian looked at the sitting giant in the valley’s center.

”There is one there.”

”It’s asleep for now.”

”Better to keep it that way.”

They began to move. The northern slope of the valley was covered with gray rocks, bone fragments, and white soil.

One descended slowly, its six legs checking the surface before each step.

Lian moved ahead, and Seris was slightly behind him. As they descended, the giant ribs on both sides of the path grew taller.

From above, they only looked like large bones, but at the valley floor, they resembled the pillars of an abandoned temple.

Each rib was dozens of meters tall, their upper parts disappearing in the mist. The surfaces of some were smooth and white.

Some were covered with deep cracks, and scratches could be seen on them, the depth of each being the size of a human arm.

There were also holes in various parts.

Some were small, and some were so large that One could crawl inside them.

Writings in an unknown script were carved on a few ribs.

Curved and angular lines that resembled neither the Lacerian language nor earthly scripts.

Parts of the bones were covered with dry black spots. In some places, thinner and decayed chains hung between two ribs.

The floor of the Rib Passage was covered with bone dust.

Every step One took created a white cloud in the air. Lian initially thought the weak airflow was moving the powder.

But then he noticed that part of the white soil was moving against the direction of their steps.

Not on the entire path, but only at a point a few meters ahead. The powder’s surface slowly rose, then fell, rose again, exactly like the ribcage of a creature breathing underground.

”Stop.” Lian immediately raised his hand.

One stopped, and Seris looked at the spot.

”We go around it.”

They changed their path and crossed over a piece of broken rib.

A few seconds later, that same part of the ground collapsed. The bone powder was pulled like water into a deep hole. A massive mouth opened from beneath it, with circular and multi-layered jaws covered with hundreds of thin teeth.

The mouth bit the air for a moment. When it found nothing, it sank back under the soil.

The bone powder fell over it, and the ground surface almost returned to its original state.

”Did you see it?” Seris looked at the spot.

”Not completely.” Lian answered, his eyes remaining on the now-calm soil surface.

”But whatever it was, it was lying in ambush under the powder.” With the help of Predator’s Instincts and the blood flow, he had realized something was under there, otherwise they would have been swallowed by now.

”Should we kill it?” Seris asked.

”No.”

”Why?”

”Because we don’t know where its body is yet.” Lian pointed at the path ahead.

”And because what we don’t need to fight is not our enemy right now.”

Seris looked at him for a few moments, but did not draw her sword.

They continued. The deeper they entered the Rib Passage, the closer the black spots on the bones became.

At first, they were only unclear movements in the mist, but one of them crawled down from the rib, and its real shape became clear.

It was a four-legged and very thin creature. Its dry gray skin was stretched directly over its bones.

White and yellow plates had grown on its spine, shoulders, and legs.

Its face had no eyes, only a vertical slit from the top of its skull to the bottom of its jaw.

When its mouth opened, the two halves of its face separated, and rows of short teeth were revealed.

A panel appeared before Lian’s view.

[Bone Scavenger]

[Level: 21]

[Rank: Normal]

Another movement was seen on the right rib.

Then a third, a fourth. In less than a few seconds, more than ten Bone Scavengers appeared around the path.

But they did not attack directly. One moved on the tall rib above their heads, two creatures disappeared behind a pile of crushed bones.

Three others slowly circled behind One, and Lian followed their movement path.

”They’re blocking the retreat path.”

Seris drew her sword. The sound of thin metal echoed in the dead space of the Rib Passage.

”Then let’s start.”

The first Bone Scavenger jumped from above the rib, its body spinning in the air, and its jaw opening from the middle.

Seris only took one step, her sword moving in a silver line.

The creature was split in half from the middle, but instead of falling motionless, the two halves landed on the bone powder and trembled violently.

The bone plates on the path floor were pulled toward the cut flesh. Pieces of ribs and skulls stuck to the Scavenger’s body.

Dark strands reconnected the two halves.

Seris narrowed her eyes slightly. The incomplete creature tried to get up again.

Lian moved, placed his foot on the back of its skull, and delivered a direct strike.

The bone shell cracked. Inside the back of the head, a small black heart could be seen.

Lian crushed it, and the body became still at that same moment.

”Behind their heads.” He looked at the remaining creatures.

”The heart, or whatever it is, is there.”

Three Bone Scavengers attacked at the same time. Lian jumped over a protruding bone, and the first creature passed beneath him.

He spun in the air and struck the back of its skull with his heel. The bone plate cracked, and before the creature could regenerate, Lian destroyed the core with a second strike.

Another Bone Scavenger attacked One from the side. One opened its jaws and caught the creature’s body between them.

The jaw pressure crushed the bones. Its instinct encouraged it to swallow the carcass, but Lian’s command through Hive Link stopped it.

One threw the broken body a few meters away. The creature was still moving.

Seris passed by One, with a short cut, split the back of the skull and severed the core.

More creatures came out of the rib holes, moving on the bones without the slightest sound.

One of them ran up the tall rib.

The young Pendragon followed it up the vertical surface, her steps climbing the bone quickly.

When she reached the creature, her sword moved twice. First, she cut the back legs, and the second strike passed through the back of the skull.

The heart was broken.

Seris jumped from the rib toward the next creature without stopping. In one path, three silver lines formed.

Three Bone Scavengers fell, and Lian used the protruding bones as platforms.

With each jump, he changed his path and did not allow the creatures to surround him.

One of the Scavengers came out from behind a bone. Its vertical mouth opened, but instead of a roar, suddenly Seraphina’s voice came out of its throat.

”Lian... help me.”

The voice was exact, but Lian did not even turn his head toward it.

The creature attacked, and he moved his hand forward, grabbed the upper jaw, and slammed its head to the ground with sudden force.

The bone powder scattered, and the next strike broke the heart.

Seris appeared behind two Bone Scavengers at that same moment, her sword moving in a completely straight line.

The blade passed through the back of both skulls, and both hearts broke at the same time.

The battle intensified in the narrow space of the Rib Passage. The Bone Scavengers did not have high raw power.

But their movements were fast, coordinated, and unnatural. Every time one was wounded, it would stick to the surrounding bones and form new armor on its body.

One of the creatures reached the carcass of its own kind. Its jaw opened, and it swallowed a few pieces of its body.

The broken plates on its back regrew. Lian realized at that same moment that something was wrong and shouted.

”Don’t let them eat the corpses.”

Seris nodded, and a short shadow formed in the mist.

She appeared in front of the creature and passed the tip of her sword directly through its open mouth. The blade came out from the back of the skull.

The heart was destroyed.

One held the narrow entrance behind them.

Every Bone Scavenger that tried to approach from that side was thrown against the rib wall by the ant’s jaw or massive leg.

Lian grabbed the last creature near him, spun its body, and slammed the back of its skull into a sharp bone fragment.

The heart broke.

Four Bone Scavengers remained. They stood on the surrounding bones.

For a moment, none of them moved, and then they all turned their heads toward the depth of the Rib Passage at the same time.

A sharp and sudden movement, as if they had heard a sound that Lian and Seris were not yet able to hear.

Then they fled.

Not toward the surrounding cracks, all of them ran in the opposite direction of the valley’s depth.

One, while fleeing, passed over its own kind’s carcass, without even stopping to eat it.

”We didn’t cause them to flee.” Lian looked at the emptied path and frowned, realizing something had happened. With the help of the powerful blood flow approaching, he realized danger was coming.

”Something is coming.” Seris lowered her sword and stared into the darkness ahead, her senses also warning her of danger.

Something dangerous was approaching...