I Can Devour Monsters' SSS Talents

The Dragon Mark on Seris’s hand lit up, and in an instant, golden lines flared from the back of her hand to her wrist.

Seris raised her hand.

”This...”

At the same time, similar lights appeared from different parts of the estate.

One appeared on the hand of one of the family elders who was standing on the lower path, and another appeared on the neck of a woman from the family who was walking through a hallway.

Farther away, several other Pendragon members had also stopped.

All the Dragon Marks on all the Pendragons who had them had lit up almost at the same time.

For a moment, the sight was even beautiful, and then the light started to fade.

At first, Lian thought it was simply returning to its normal state.

But no.

The lines on Seris’s hand went even lower than their normal strength, the gold he had seen that morning was now much weaker.

But it was as if part of something flowing inside it had decreased.

Seris frowned and touched the mark with her finger, she had experienced extremely terrible pain at that moment.

She had a very high tolerance for pain, much higher than all people her age, and even so, the pain was so terrible that even she could not ignore it.

”This is not normal.”

”Has this happened before?” Young Vorhelm looked at her hand.

”No.”

It was not only her, in other parts of the city, several other Pendragons were also checking their hands.

One had rolled up his sleeve, and the other young people who had received their marks today were looking at their hands with worry.

What had happened to their Dragon Marks? What had suddenly happened?

And this showed that the problem was not only with the Ancestral Mark, everyone who had a Dragon Mark had experienced the same change.

Lian looked at the city’s defensive network again.

The timing of this happening was exactly the same as the change in the formations, was it possible that they were connected?

At the same time, a completely different meeting was taking place.

Isolde was not sitting in front of outside powers this time, and only the Pendragon members inside the hall were present in the smaller hall.

Several family elders, the main commanders of the internal forces, Aurelia, and several people responsible for the city’s defensive network.

”Separation is not enough. Until we understand how the attacker moved inside the protected areas and managed to carry out an attack, all movement of guests must be completely stopped.” One of the elders said.

Another man disagreed.

”If we practically lock everyone inside their residences, the Guilds will use this tomorrow as an excuse and say that the Pendragons intended to control them.”

”They are already saying that.”

”Then we don’t need to give them evidence as well.”

Another person said.

”Mental communication should also be limited, we don’t know what information they are sending outside, this can only increase the tension.”

Aurelia, who had been sitting on one of the chairs to the side until then, said.

”If you cut off communication, the first thing the forces outside will do is assume that their people have been taken hostage.”

”No one asked you to defend the Guilds.” The family elder looked at her with a frown.

”I defended common sense.” She answered very calmly.

Isolde placed her fingers against her temple, the meeting had been going around the same few issues for almost ten minutes.

In the end, she slowly let out a breath.

”That’s enough for now.”

Everyone became silent, and she looked at the empty chair beside her for a moment.

Rhaenar was still outside the city.

Then, as if something had just come to her mind, she asked.

”By the way... where is my daughter?”

Several people looked at each other, and one of the family elders answered.

”With that Vorhelm.”

The Matriarch did not react for two seconds, and then she laughed.

”She locked herself away for a month, then comes out and instead of coming to see her mother first, she goes looking for a Vorhelm?”

”New priorities.” Aurelia started laughing from the other side of the room.

However, several family elders did not see anything funny about the matter, and one of them said.

”This is not a laughing matter, My Lady.”

”No?” Isolde still had a very small smile on her face.

”The Vorhelms are not our friends.”

The woman’s smile became weaker, this part was true, the Pendragons and Vorhelms were not in an official war, but ”friends”? They were not even close to that.

Over the past few generations, the two families had faced each other many times over resources, contracts, influence in the Federation, areas in the Heavenly Realm, and their position among the Six Great Families.

Sometimes they also worked together and made deals, but their rivalry was so old that many elders from both sides practically saw the other side as an enemy who simply had no reason to fight them yet.

One of the elders continued.

”And especially now, when the Vorhelms themselves are in the middle of a succession crisis.”

”And a few hours ago, their family’s style was seen in the second attack, it is true that they were not responsible for it, but that does not mean we should ignore this.” Another person said.

”Ignore what? Were we attacked with that style?” Aurelia sighed.

The man frowned.

”The matter is not only about that attack.”

”I know, the matter is that you don’t like Seris liking someone you didn’t choose for her.” She said sarcastically.

A short silence appeared.

”Seris was supposed to focus on the family and her own path.” The family elder said.

”She is.”

”Then why does she spend time with that boy every chance she gets?”

”Because she wants to.” Aurelia smiled.

That answer made the man even more unhappy.

”Is this matter really that simple to you?”

”Yes, I don’t see any complexity in it, or have you become so old that you can’t understand even such simple things?”

Another elder joined the discussion.

”You know better than anyone how the Vorhelms work, every relationship with them is destructive! They will use even relationships for their own benefit!”

This time, Aurelia did not even lose her smile.

”And we don’t?”

The room became silent for a moment, and they had no answer to give.

”Do you really want to have this argument with me? In a family that has used the marriages of its heirs to build political alliances for generations?”

No one had a quick answer, and she continued.

”At least that boy has not used the Vorhelm name even once to get close to Seris so far, and as far as I know, he has not used that family name to get anything in his life.”

”You defend him too much.” One of the elders said with dissatisfaction.

Aurelia casually shrugged.

”Because at least he is better than most of the suitors you choose for the daughters of this family.”

”Aurelia.” Isolde placed her hand on her forehead this time.

”What? Am I wrong?”

”No, but this meeting is not for choosing a son-in-law.”

Aurelia leaned back with satisfaction.

The elder who had been arguing a few moments earlier muttered something under his breath that was probably better left unheard.

The Matriarch slowly let out a breath.

”Enough, Seris’s relationship with whoever she chooses is not the matter we are dealing with today.”

At that moment, the hall door opened and everyone turned their eyes toward it.

Lucien Pendragon entered, one of the five strongest members of the current generation and the same person who had received the Sovereign Mark that morning.

Lysandra, Kaelen, and the other members of the younger generation usually behaved carefully in the presence of the elders.

Lucien even more so.

But this time, his formal bow was shorter than usual, and his face did not have its usual calmness.

”What happened?” Isolde became serious immediately.

Lucien said nothing and raised his right hand, the Dragon Mark on the back of his hand was still there.

But its light had become weak, much more than it should have been after the natural end of the ceremony.

One of the elders stood up from his seat.

”What is this?”

”We don’t know.” Lucien did not take his eyes off the mark.

”But it is not only mine, everyone we have checked so far has the same condition.”

Isolde’s expression finally changed.

The murder of a guest was a political crisis.

The accusation against the Primal Firmament was a global crisis.

But the Dragon Marks? This was no longer about other people, it was directly related to the Pendragons.

They had not noticed this because none of them had Dragon Marks anymore, the mark only existed until reaching the third evolution, and after that, it was used to create a [Dragon Body].

”When did this start?” The Matriarch stood up from her seat.

”Almost at the same time as the changes made to the city’s defensive mechanism.”

The room became even quieter, all the discussion about Lian and Seris was completely forgotten at that moment.

The Matriarch’s face became more and more serious, and before she could even think about what was happening, her husband, Rhaenar, contacted her through mental communication.

And he said only one sentence, one sentence that, if it became reality, could turn into the greatest disaster in the history of the Pendragons.

And that was enough to leave the Matriarch frozen in shock and a deep sense of fear rising in her heart.

”They want to release the Dragon.”