I Can Devour Monsters' SSS Talents

There was only a vertical slit in place of the creature’s mouth.

A few chain links passed through its jaw and connected the head to the neck.

In its right hand was a massive blade, its wide and rusted edge was being dragged on the ground, creating a deep mark in the bone powder.

In its other hand, it held the end of a thick chain that disappeared into the mist behind it.

It was unclear where the other end was attached. Pieces of skeletons and crushed bodies hung from the chains around its body.

With every step, those remains would collide with each other, but now the creature stood motionless.

Because the chain sound had stopped.

A panel opened before Lian’s view.

[Chainbound Ossuary Warden]

[Level: 40]

[Rank: Normal]

Level 40 but Normal rank.

Defeating such a creature was not impossible. Both Lian and Seris had enough power to fight it.

After all, it was only a Normal rank monster. If they were willing to put everything on the line, they might even be able to win.

But the issue was not only power. Fighting among thousands of skeletons, parasites, and hidden creatures could trigger the entire graveyard.

If the noise woke the sitting giant or whatever was moving under the bones, victory against the Warden would be meaningless.

And more importantly, victory would not be easy. They would have to use everything they had, forced to use all their trump cards.

The creature’s faceless head slowly turned toward them.

Seris even shortened her breath.

One remained completely still.

The chains hanging from the Warden’s body trembled slightly. The creature seemed to be listening to the surrounding space.

But not with ears. A weak wave of Mana came out of its ribcage and spread across the ground.

Lian saw it. The wave passed through the bones, checking every small vibration, every movement, and every mana fluctuation.

So physical movement was not the only thing that mattered. Even suddenly releasing a Skill could attract its attention.

A few seconds passed.

The Warden found nothing. Its head turned back to its previous direction.

Its foot moved, the heavy blade was dragged on the bones again, and the chain sound returned.

Lian immediately gave the command for slow movement through Hive Link.

One took only one step.

Then the second step.

The Warden showed no reaction.

So the Varkesh report’s rule was probably correct. As long as the chain sound was heard, movement was allowed.

But Lian still needed more confirmation. He did not know exactly what they were dealing with, what skills it had, and what exactly it was.

At that same moment, a Bone Scavenger came out from among the bones on the right side.

The gray creature was moving on four legs.

It was probably aware of the Warden’s presence, but to reach a carcass on that side of the path, it had been forced to cross the open territory.

The chain was still being dragged on the ground.

The Bone Scavenger ran.

The Warden did not even turn its head toward it. The sound of metal suddenly stopped.

The Bone Scavenger did not notice the change. It took another step.

The Warden’s head turned toward it with a sharp movement at that same moment. The giant creature disappeared.

Not literally, but its speed was so high that its eighteen-meter body only left an elongated shadow in the mist.

A massive impact shook the Rib Passage, and bone powder was thrown into the air.

When the mist and white dust cleared, the Bone Scavenger was no longer there. Only a spot of gray flesh and crushed bone plates remained under the Warden’s blade.

The creature pulled the blade out of the ground. Without eating or even looking at the carcass, it returned to its previous path.

The chain was dragged again.

Lian was now sure. Movement during silence invited death.

They moved. One moved forward with short and controlled steps, and Lian and Seris remained on its back.

He was checking the path ahead.

The mist, the gaps, the bone powder, and more importantly, the Warden’s movement. The chain sound was not regular. Sometimes it would continue for ten seconds.

Sometimes it would stop after only two steps.

The first time, Lian gave the stop command only upon hearing the change in sound.

One stopped right before the silence.

The Warden stopped at a distance, its perception wave passed over them.

Then it moved again.

The second time, the movement distance was shorter.

One took only four steps.

The sound stopped.

This time, one of its front legs was still a few centimeters above the ground, but Lian’s command had arrived before the foot came down.

One maintained that position, its body trembling under the pressure, but it did not lower its foot.

The Warden passed through the mist.

Its distance from them was less than ten meters.

The thick chain hanging from its hand lay on the ground next to One’s body. One of the links was only a few centimeters away from the ant’s foot.

The creature’s faceless head turned toward them. The vertical slit of its mouth opened slightly. Inside, nothing but darkness and a few chain strands could be seen.

Seris did not draw her sword. Lian kept the Mana flow completely stable.

One was trembling with fear, but it kept the trembling so small that the Warden did not detect it.

A few seconds later, the guardian moved. The sound of the blade and chain being dragged echoed on the path again.

One lowered its foot and moved forward. They repeated this cycle several times.

Move.

Stop.

Silence.

Wait.

Each time, the Warden covered a different distance. Sometimes it would deliberately speed up. Sometimes it would lift the blade off the ground for a moment, and the sound would stop without the creature itself stopping.

Then suddenly, it would lower the blade.

It was clearly trying to trick creatures that had understood its rule.

Lian activated Echo Adaptation.

[Echo Adaptation Activated.]

[Primary Target Selected: Chainbound Ossuary Warden.]

[Target combat rhythm is being analyzed.]

His eyes focused on the Warden’s body.

Lian did not only listen to the chain. He examined the movement of the shoulders, the angle of the feet, the hand’s pressure on the blade, the change in Mana in the ribcage, and the beats of the different chain links.

[Analysis: 17%]

In the next stop, he noticed that just before the sound stopped, the Warden’s left shoulder would lower a few centimeters.

But this sign was not always present.

He checked the next movement.

[Analysis: 34%]

This time, the third chain link hit the back of the blade slightly before the stop.

A short sound.

Click.

Then the dragging of the metal stopped. Lian gave the stop command before the silence.

One stopped at that same moment.

Seris gave him a brief look. She had realized that Lian was no longer only reacting to the chain sound and seemed to be finding the pattern.

[Analysis: 51%]

The third sign was the change in Mana speed.

Half a second before the stop, the energy flow in the Warden’s legs would decrease and gather in its ribcage.

Lian could now predict the stop a little earlier.

But the analysis was not complete.

The Warden deliberately changed the pattern several times. Once, its left shoulder lowered, but it continued moving.

Another time, the third link hit the blade, but the stop occurred three steps later.

The skill analyzed, but it could not fully predict the behavior of a creature with changing patterns.

[Analysis: 63%]

The number stopped there.

For more understanding, Lian would have to observe it for a longer time, but sixty-three percent was enough.

They crossed a large part of the Rib Passage without mistake.

After a while, the path changed before them. The massive ribs had collapsed and blocked the main route.

The gap between the bones was enough for Lian and Seris to pass, but One could not get through.

Leaving it behind was also not possible.

Lian checked the map. The alternative path was on the right. A long and almost flat strip of ground with no crushed bones on it.

The same clean paths he had observed from above the valley.

Back then, he had guessed that something massive regularly passed through them and pushed the bones aside.

Now the reason was in front of him. This path was the Warden’s patrol route.

To reach the Hollow Spine, they had to travel a few hundred meters on that same path.

But that thing was between them and the exit. If they only moved with the stop-and-go rule, crossing would take a long time.

Each stop increased the chance of error, and the Warden was also getting closer to them.

Lian checked the path, the distance, and the mist. Then he decided to use his new skill.

”Do whatever you can to minimize your presence.”

Both nodded. They didn’t know what he was going to do, but they completely trusted him.

Then Lian activated False Presence.

[False Presence]

At a distance of about fifty meters to the left, between two broken ribs, a weak fluctuation formed in the mist.

The smell of a human, the sound of breathing, a trace of Mana, and footsteps moving on the bone powder.

The false presence had no physical body, but to the senses of ordinary creatures, it seemed completely real.

Lian’s own voice was heard from within the mist.

”I’m here.”

The Warden’s head immediately turned in that direction, but it did not attack. The chain was still moving.

The guardian had sensed the presence, but it did not break its own rule.

Lian waited. Echo Adaptation detected the change in Mana in the Warden’s ribcage.

The stop was near. He moved the false presence. The sound of footsteps continued at the exact moment the chain stopped.

The Warden disappeared.

The massive blade came down with terrifying force at the false presence’s location.

The False Presence collapsed at that same moment, but the strike shattered several giant ribs.

Bone fragments fell on the path.

The Warden was distracted from the main path for a few seconds.

”Now.” Lian shouted quietly!

This was their only chance to escape this hellish situation!