I Can Devour Monsters' SSS Talents

Lian opened the World Memory Map, the map expanded inside his mind, the main route went through Rootcrown.

But there was another route too.

North of the city, there was a narrow path between two Root Ridges that went directly toward the Forgotten Tree area.

”No.” He then answered quietly.

”Are you sure? The First Archive is there, don’t you want to take a look at it?” Aren looked at the city.

Lian said nothing for several seconds, the name Cindar Vael appeared in his mind again.

The only survivor of the final battle, the person who had built the Cindari civilization and perhaps the only person who could be connected to the secret of The Black Silence.

If they had more time, Lian would enter Rootcrown without any doubt.

”Later.” But right now, every minute was important.

”Are you sure?”

”If we enter the city now, we either have to fight or hide, and both of them waste time.” Lian said.

”Then we’ll go around it.” Seris nodded.

One took the northern path, they went around Rootcrown.

Several times, they saw guards in the distance on the towers, but they were so far away that the group was not noticed.

After several hours, the city disappeared behind the huge roots and right after that, the world changed.

At first, the difference was small ... there were fewer leaves ... the branches became drier and then the bark of the trees changed from black and brown to gray.

The small roots on the ground disappeared, the short plants no longer existed and a few kilometers ahead, there was not even any moss.

Then the insects completely disappeared, the air also changed, the smell was weak at first but the farther they went, the stronger it became.

The smell of death.

Not just the smell of a fresh corpse but something much older, the smell of flesh, wet soil, rotten roots and something sweet that reminded them of decay.

One slowed down, his antennae kept moving.

The feelings coming through the Hive Link were clear.

Caution.

Discomfort.

The desire to turn back.

Lian put his hand on the armor on One’s head and One continued.

”This is where it starts.” Aren looked at the area and the color of his face had changed.

”The Dead Zone?” Seris whispered while looking at the area in front of them.

”Yes.”

They had not traveled very far when Predator’s Instincts gave a warning.

Something moved among the dry roots on the right.

Seris put her hand on her sword, a creature slowly came out from behind a gray trunk.

At first glance, it looked like some kind of large insect.

Six legs.

An extended body.

But half of its body was completely dry, as if it had been dead and mummified for years.

The other half was swollen, its skin was black and shiny and a thick liquid dripped from between its joints, white eyes without pupils were placed on its head.

[Withered Rootcrawler]

[Lv.22]

[Rank: Mutated]

Seris pulled out her sword.

”Wait.” Lian said.

Seris stopped.

Lian got down from One’s back, he did not approach the Rootcrawler and only looked at the black lines on its body, this creature was like the corrupted Monster they had encountered at the beginning of their journey.

So it should be the same type of creature that had become corrupted.

But what was the reason they became corrupted? Something about this picture was not right, he looked at Aren.

”As far as I know, the Corrupted Titan carries The Black Silence and the Forgotten Tree only stops it from awakening, so what is this? Or that corrupted Monster we saw on the first day?”

”I don’t know, I don’t have any guesses either, I only know that some kind of corrupted Monsters live around the tree, and even when I saw one of them that far away from the tree, it was strange to me.” Aren stayed silent for several seconds, his eyes moved toward the black liquid and then he added.

”It could be any reason, maybe what we know about the tree is not complete.”

Lian did not like this answer, but there was no other answer for now and he looked at Seris.

”Now it’s yours.”

Seris moved forward.

The Rootcrawler attacked, the first battle was short, but a few minutes later, more creatures appeared from the Dead Zone.

[Withered Rootcrawler — Lv.22]

[Blackened Thorn Beast — Lv.23]

[Corrupted Ember Stag — Lv.24]

Two Rootcrawlers.

Three Thorn Beasts.

One Ember Stag.

Their appearance was clearly different from normal Monsters.

Not only were their bodies corrupted, their behavior was also wrong.

The first Thorn Beast did not even stop for a moment even though Seris cut off its front leg at the knee.

It rushed toward her on three legs.

The young girl had to directly target its neck, the second one deliberately threw itself onto her sword.

The blade entered its chest, but instead of moving back, the Monster moved forward and tried to grab Seris with both hands.

She had to let go of her sword, move her body to the side and kick the creature away.

The Ember Stag was the strangest of all, its horns had turned black, it had no skin on its face but it was still moving.

Even when Seris cut off one of its horns, it showed no reaction to the pain, it attacked with its head and sent the broken horn toward her stomach like a spear.

The battle did not last long and the Monster finally fell to the ground, although suddenly a thin black root came out from the wound on its neck.

And it quickly moved toward Seris’s leg.

”Watch out!” Predator’s Instincts warned Lian.

Thunder Step.

He appeared between Seris and the corpse.

[Glacial Reaper Claw.]

An ice claw formed on his right hand.

Lian grabbed the black roots, ice spread over them in an instant and their movement stopped.

A few seconds later, the roots became fragile and broke.

”Even after death, it continues.” Lian looked at the corpse, this root gave him a bad feeling, he had the feeling that if it managed to enter the body, it could take control of everything.

Is this The Black Silence? Or only a small part of it?

’If something this dangerous is only a small part of it, then how powerful is the real thing?’ He gained a better understanding of this disaster.

But he still had one question, how was he supposed to devour this damn thing? If he devoured this thing, wouldn’t he become corrupted too?

”Then it’s better to leave nothing behind.” Seris raised her sword and quickly finished off the last Monster too.

They made sure that nothing was left from the Monsters, they were too dangerous to keep their corpses.

[Level Increased.]

[You Have Reached Level 20.]

Then another notification appeared.

[Evolution Threshold Reached.]

Seris looked at the panel for several seconds.

”You reached it?” Lian noticed.

”Yeah, Level 20, I also got an Evolution Quest.”

”Good, what does it need? Is it easy?” Of course, the chance that an Evolution Quest for a five-star class would be easy was almost impossible, but it was definitely easier than his.

”I’ll tell you later.” Seris stared at him for a moment, then closed the panel.

”Why?” Lian raised an eyebrow.

”Whenever you tell me, I’ll tell you too.”

Lian said nothing, the reason she did not tell him was because the Quest was so crazy that it could not be explained, in the end, he shrugged and did not care.

From that point on, their speed decreased even more, not because of tiredness but because of the land itself.

Dry roots came out of the ground like walls, deep cracks cut across the path in some places.

Sometimes black liquid flowed through the cracks in the ground.

”Don’t touch it.” Aren warned every time before they reached them.

Lian froze the narrow parts with Glacial Reaper Claw so One could pass over them.

In other places, they went around the path, the farther they went, the more they felt a strange pressure on their Mana.

It was not something like Suppression, it was more like a feeling of heaviness, as if the air itself did not want Mana to move inside it.

One had become more nervous.

None of them felt good here.

”Do you feel it?” Seris said after some time.

”Yeah, it feels bad and I don’t like it.” Lian answered.

Predator’s Instincts did not show any specific enemy, but the whole area seemed wrong.

Every root, every crack, every piece of soil felt like there was something under them that had not moved yet.

After hours of slow progress, they passed the last row of dead trees.

One passed between two broken trunks, and suddenly the forest ended.

A huge gray plain was in front of them, no plants grew there.

No bushes.

No trees.

Not even grass.

The ground looked like ash.

Black cracks spread across the entire surface, a very thin mist moved close to the ground.

And in the center of this plain .... stood the Forgotten Tree.

”We finally made it ....”

One stopped right there, for several seconds no one spoke.

Even Lian, who thought he was ready for its size, raised his eyes.

The tree was so huge that the normal meaning of the word ”tree” did not seem enough for it.

Its trunk was hundreds of meters wide, its surface rose like the wall of an ancient city and its branches spread toward the sky at a great height.

Some of them were so large that a small city could be built on them, but most of them were dry.

The huge branches disappeared into the mist like broken pillars of a sky temple.

The bark of the trunk was cracked, there were cracks several meters wide across its surface.

Very weak white and golden light came out from some of the cracks, a weak sign that something inside the tree was still alive.

But from some other cracks, a dark liquid came down.

Not in a large amount, only thin black lines that moved across the dry bark.

Thousands of roots came out from around the trunk, some entered the ground, while others continued across the surface like huge walls.

Some were completely broken, some were dry and gray and a small number still had very weak lines of golden light.

The tree was not dead ... not yet.

But there was no need for a System notification to understand that it was dying, it was clear even with their eyes that it was not only dying, but also suffering.

A tree that was suffering.

Aren remained completely still on One’s back, his lips opened for a moment, but no sound came out.

”Very, much worse than I thought.” He stared at the Forgotten Tree for some time.

One suddenly moved his antennae forward, his body lowered slightly.

Predator’s Instincts did not give a clear warning.

”Hmm? What is that?” But Lian saw something near the base of the tree, at first he thought it was just another root.

But its shape was different from the others, at a point near the center of the trunk, thousands of smaller roots had gathered from around it.

They all reached one point, like veins connected to a heart.

Lian got down from One, Seris also came down after him.

Aren carefully got down and kept his distance.

Lian slowly moved forward, the roots in this area were different from the others, they were not completely dead, thin lines of white light moved inside them.

Some were transparent, some were golden and all of them were wrapped around something in the center.

A cocoon.

It was almost two meters long, made of white and semi-transparent strands, weak golden light passed through them.

At first glance, Lian thought it might be the real Core of the Forgotten Tree.

Or the part that was still alive, but then something inside the cocoon moved.

And the young Vorhelm stopped right there.

”What is that?” Seris took one step forward, she had also noticed the strange cocoon.

Lian did not answer, the surface of the Cocoon was so transparent in several parts that something inside could be seen.

A tall and thin shadow, shaped like a human body.

He moved closer so he could take a better look, the strands of light moved aside.

Hair appeared, then one hand, human fingers.....the body of a girl was floating inside the Cocoon!

Her eyes were closed. Very thin roots were wrapped around her arms, legs and body.

Lian frowned, he had a strange feeling, her face could not be seen completely yet but she gave him a strangely familiar feeling.

He took one more step forward, golden light moved across the surface of the Cocoon and for only a moment, the white strands moved away from the girl’s face.

The girl’s face became visible and Lian became completely still, then he quietly said a name he had never expected to think of here.

”Selina....?”