Beast Devourer: I Grow Stronger by Eating Monsters

But Valeria didn’t look away.

She was learning.

So was Raven.

The suppressors mattered. Sacred or light-based magic could partially penetrate the Domain. Black Mithril interfered with regeneration. Void Step appeared to require existing shadows or shadows created by Nyxara’s own ability. Abyssal Dominion had a range.

Everything could have limitations.

That didn’t mean Raven could exploit them.

Yet.

An Awakened appeared behind him.

Predator’s Instinct was still saturated by the Domain, and Raven didn’t sense him in time.

Valeria did.

A blood spear tore through the space beside Raven’s head and struck the attacker in the shoulder, throwing him sideways.

Raven turned immediately.

Burst Step.

He closed the distance.

Stonehide covered his hand.

A strike beneath the jaw snapped the man’s head back. The Awakened tried to form a Skill, but Raven caught his wrist, twisted, and drove Kinetic Acceleration through the pommel of his knife.

CRACK.

The impact broke the joint.

Valeria formed a blood thread around the man’s neck.

”Alive?”

Raven looked at the attacker’s identification plate. ”Yes. We need information.”

Valeria slammed him into a rock hard enough to knock him unconscious.

”That I can do.”

Raven looked around.

While they had neutralized one, Nyxara had finished four more.

Three remained conscious.

One understood the odds.

He dropped his weapon.

”Wait!”

Nyxara appeared in front of him.

The man stumbled backward.

”I didn’t know who you were.”

”That’s obvious.”

”They told us it was a Bloodborn. Not a Royal. Not a Champion.”

Nyxara tilted her head. ”Would that have changed your decision?”

”Yes.”

”Then your problem was poor intelligence.”

The man swallowed. ”I can give you names.”

Nyxara smiled. ”Now you’re learning.”

Raven approached. ”Leave him alive.”

She looked at him.

The darkness around her almost seemed to look with her.

It was an absurd sensation.

Raven felt it anyway.

Nyxara could kill him.

Not hypothetically.

Not if Raven made five mistakes.

Not if she prepared an ambush.

Here.

Now.

If she decided Raven needed to die, he could use Burst Step, Stonehide, Kinetic Acceleration, Ember Spark. He could try to reach open light. He could try to use Black Mithril. He might even force her to pay attention for several seconds.

Then he would die.

Predation reached exactly the same conclusion.

[Threat Assessment Updated.]

[Target: Nyxara — Royal Bloodborn]

[Level: 71]

[Existence Rank: CHAMPION]

[Observed Capabilities Updated:]

[”Abyssal Dominion”]

[”Void Step”]

[”Abyssal Regeneration”]

[”Night Sovereignty” — Partial Analysis]

[Unknown Trait Signatures Remain.]

[Direct Hostile Engagement:]

[NOT RECOMMENDED.]

[Estimated Host Victory Probability:]

[INSUFFICIENT FOR RELIABLE CALCULATION.]

[Primary Survival Recommendation:]

[AVOID HOSTILITY.]

Raven read the entire assessment.

He didn’t feel humiliated.

Information was information.

Pretending a gap didn’t exist was an exceptionally stupid way to die.

Valeria, at Level Twenty-Nine, could kill him if he made enough mistakes. The Level Thirty-Four Blackmaw had required preparation, a specific weakness, favorable terrain, and Valeria.

Nyxara was Level Seventy-One.

Champion.

The world didn’t need to pretend everyone was equal simply because Raven was the protagonist of his own life.

There were things above him.

Far above him.

That only meant there was still room to grow.

Nyxara looked at the surrendered man, then back at Raven.

”You want him alive.”

”Yes.”

”Then he’s yours.”

Abyssal Dominion receded.

It didn’t vanish all at once. Light gradually returned through the branches as though the forest were remembering that it was daytime.

Sound returned with it.

Distant birds.

Leaves.

Wind.

Raven hadn’t realized how much silence the Domain imposed until it ended.

Predator’s Instinct stabilized.

Nyxara tore the Black Mithril chain from her arm and dropped it. The burn beneath it was already closing.

Valeria watched.

”Those artifacts affected you.”

Nyxara looked at her wrist. ”A little.”

”They interfered with your regeneration.”

”A little.”

”And the field weakened your Domain.”

Nyxara smiled. ”You’re taking mental notes.”

Valeria didn’t bother denying it. ”Naturally.”

”I like you more every minute.”

”That remains unreciprocated.”

Raven picked up one of the black stakes.

FORGE responded.

[Low-Purity Black Mithril Suppression Spike]

[Material Purity: 21.7%]

[Runic Architecture: Biological Mana Interference]

[Structural Quality: LOW]

[Prototype Rifle Barrel Suitability: INSUFFICIENT]

[New Material Property Recorded:]

[Black Mithril Exhibits High Resistance to Sustained Mana Pressure and Disruptive Interaction with Biological Mana Channels.]

That was useful.

Very useful.

The purity might be too low for a barrel, but Raven had just learned another property of the material he needed.

He stored the stake.

Nyxara watched him. ”Collecting souvenirs?”

”Information.”

”How romantic.”

Valeria sighed. ”Can you go ten minutes without turning something into that?”

”Probably. I don’t want to.”

Roland dragged the unconscious prisoner onto the road. The other man who had surrendered remained on his knees with his hands visible.

Raven checked the bodies.

The Elite leader was still breathing.

Barely.

Interesting.

”Two for interrogation.”

Nyxara looked at the leader. ”That one won’t last long.”

”Then we start with him.”

Raven crouched beside the man.

His armor was crushed inward. Several ribs were broken. Possible spinal damage.

Predatory Regeneration might have been able to do something if those injuries belonged to Raven.

The man had no such advantage.

”Who sent you?”

The Elite coughed blood.

”Go... to hell.”

Raven looked at him. ”That wastes time you don’t have.”

Nyxara approached.

The man saw her.

His expression changed.

Raven noticed.

”Perfect. She can ask.”

Nyxara smiled. ”How considerate.”

The man started talking before she did anything.

That was useful information too.

They got the name of a location.

Not a buyer.

Not the head of the network.

But the place where the caravan had been expected to deliver part of its cargo before continuing toward Dunvar.

Transfer Station Four.

Fortified.

Less than a day away.

The leader died shortly afterward.

The second prisoner knew more about security and less about business.

Raven preferred that.

He knew the number of guards, shift changes, entrances, a supply route, two restricted rooms, and—more importantly—the procedure followed when a caravan failed.

”They burn the records,” the man said.

Raven stopped writing.

”How long after receiving the alert?”

”Depends. If they think monsters attacked, they wait. If someone steals documents or Bloodline merchandise, they clear the station.”

Nyxara leaned against a tree. ”Then they’ll already be starting.”

The prisoner glanced at her and immediately lowered his eyes.

Raven continued. ”Who can order a cleanup?”

”Station supervisor. Or someone higher up through a communication crystal.”

”They have one?”

”Yes.”

Bad.

Not fatal.

Raven put away his notes.

Transfer Station Four had just become the priority.

Nyxara could destroy it.

That didn’t mean she should.

Raven was already thinking about how to get inside before someone set fire to the records.

Nyxara noticed.

”That expression again.”

”Which one?”

”The one you make when you’re planning how to kill people.”

”This time I’m planning how to avoid killing too many.”

She looked genuinely surprised. ”That’s new.”

”Dead people answer questions poorly.”

”Depends on the type of magic.”

Raven decided not to explore the implications.

Valeria approached and looked over his notes.

”If the station knows the caravan was compromised, walking through the front gate won’t work.”

”I wasn’t planning to.”

”Nyxara was.”

The Bloodborn smiled. ”Front gates are usually large enough.”

Raven looked at her. ”If you attack from the front, they burn the documents before you reach the second room.”

”I can stop them from escaping.”

”You can’t stop a man on the opposite side of the building from burning a piece of paper you don’t know exists.”

Nyxara watched him.

Then smiled slowly.

”So you want to tell me what to do.”

”I want you not to ruin my investigation.”

Her smile widened. ”Much better.”

Valeria looked between them. ”Do not encourage her.”

Raven folded the map.

”We observe the station tomorrow before deciding anything.”

”Tomorrow?” Nyxara asked.

”I need to see it.”

”I could kill everyone tonight.”

”That is exactly why I need to see it before you do.”

Nyxara laughed softly. ”Fine, Raven. Tomorrow I’ll try to behave.”

Valeria muttered, ”I don’t trust a single word in that sentence.”

Neither did Raven.

But the immediate problem was settled.

Once they finished collecting useful equipment, Nyxara approached while Raven secured one of the Black Mithril stakes to his pack.

”Do you still want to eat me?”

Raven looked up.

She was smiling, the tips of her fangs just visible.

Predation reacted faintly as he focused on her.

[High-Value Evolutionary Source Detected.]

[Current Recommendation:]

[DO NOT ATTEMPT.]

Raven looked at the bodies around them.

Eleven trained combatants.

One Level Thirty-Six Elite.

Artifacts specifically designed to interfere with her species.

A prepared formation.

They had managed to hurt her.

They had managed to weaken her Domain.

They had not managed to turn it into a fight.

”Less than I did ten minutes ago.”

Nyxara placed a hand over her chest as though offended. ”How disappointing.”

”Now I know exactly how much indigestion you’d cause.”

Silence.

Nyxara blinked.

Then a slow smile spread across her face.

”Indigestion?”

Raven went back to securing his pack. ”Seems appropriate.”

”Did you just give me a nickname?”

”I described a biological risk.”

Nyxara laughed.

Not politely.

Actually laughed.

Valeria approached from the other side.

”Please don’t encourage her.”

Nyxara was still smiling. ”I like it.”

Raven looked at her. ”That confirms you’re strange.”

”And you still want to eat me.”

”Two point seven percent.”

”One day that number will rise.”

Raven went still.

Nyxara walked past him.

”I’m curious what you’ll do when it does.”

The darkness beneath her feet seemed to follow her for a second longer than it should have.

Raven watched her back.

Predation pulsed again.

Hunger.

Possibility.

A Bloodline completely beyond his reach.

For now.

Valeria stopped beside him.

”I don’t like the way she said that.”

”Neither do I.”

”Because of the threat?”

Raven looked at the system’s final warning.

[Direct Hostile Engagement: NOT RECOMMENDED.]

”Because she might be right.”

He had reached Awakened that morning believing the distance between himself and the true monsters of this world had narrowed.

Nyxara had just shown him how much distance remained.

Raven didn’t find that discouraging.

He found it useful.

And for now, when useful information had silver hair, violet eyes, and Level Seventy-One, the correct response wasn’t to challenge it.

It was to give it no reason to decide he should die.

At least until Predation stopped telling him to run.