Beast Devourer: I Grow Stronger by Eating Monsters

They spent the next several hours sorting what they would take and what they would leave for the local authorities.

Raven had no intention of transporting an entire laboratory. He kept the documents, Black Mithril samples, two restraints, three suppression stakes, and the mining records connected to Keller Mining Company.

Nyxara took one book.

The one containing Soren Vhal.

Valeria watched her put it away.

”So you’re going after him.”

”The meeting point is four days west by road.”

Raven glanced at the shadows around her. ”You don’t use roads.”

”Not when I can avoid them.”

”Then less.”

Nyxara smiled. ”Probably.”

Roland tightened the last pack. ”So you’re not coming to Dunvar.”

”What a tragedy,” Valeria said.

Nyxara looked at her. ”I’ll miss you too.”

”That seems unlikely.”

Raven stepped in before the exchange could grow teeth.

”Soren Vhal gets you closer to whoever is supplying Bloodborn. Keller gets us closer to the Black Mithril operation.”

Nyxara nodded.

”Our paths split here.”

”For now.”

She looked at him a little too long.

Raven immediately regretted the phrasing.

They left Transfer Station Four before noon.

Keller remained bound with the surviving prisoners. Roland sent one cooperative guard toward the nearest military post carrying instructions and only a partial copy of the records.

Raven saw no reason to give away every name they had uncovered.

Information was currency too.

A few hours later, the road divided.

North and east eventually led toward Dunvar.

West led toward Soren Vhal.

Nyxara stopped at the fork.

For once, she didn’t immediately turn the moment into a provocation.

”I suppose this is where I leave.”

Valeria kept a prudent distance.

”I hope you find your traitor.”

Nyxara raised an eyebrow. ”That almost sounded kind.”

”Don’t ruin it.”

Nyxara smiled, then looked toward Roland.

”Archer.”

”Princess.”

”You survived.”

”That was the plan.”

”Good plan.”

Then her violet eyes settled on Raven.

Predation reacted instantly.

[High-Value Evolutionary Source Detected.]

[Royal Bloodborn — Level 71 — CHAMPION.]

[Bloodline: NIGHT SOVEREIGN.]

[Current Assimilation Survival Estimate: 2.7%.]

[Recommendation: DO NOT ATTEMPT.]

Raven closed the interface.

Nyxara dismounted.

”We’ll see each other again.”

”Probably.”

”That doesn’t sound enthusiastic.”

”You’re a Level Seventy-One Champion whose presence makes my ability suggest eating something that would probably kill me. Statistics are moderating my enthusiasm.”

Nyxara stepped closer.

Valeria’s attention sharpened immediately.

”So you are thinking about it.”

”Predation is.”

”And you?”

Raven looked at her.

”What exactly are you asking?”

The tips of her fangs appeared.

”Whether you want to eat me.”

Behind him, Valeria made a small sound.

Nyxara ignored it.

”Because I might let you someday. The idea of being devoured by you is strangely exciting.”

Silence.

Roland slowly turned his horse toward the opposite horizon.

Raven studied her.

She wasn’t embarrassed.

Worse, she didn’t appear to be saying it merely to provoke Valeria.

She seemed genuinely interested.

Predation pulsed again.

Raven looked at the survival estimate.

Two point seven percent.

Then at Nyxara.

”Indigestion.”

She blinked.

”What?”

”That’s what you are.”

A smile slowly formed.

”Did you just call me Indigestion?”

”My body wants to eat you. My system says I’d probably die. The description is accurate.”

Nyxara laughed.

Actually laughed.

”A Royal Bloodborn princess, and you give me the nickname Indigestion.”

”I could have chosen worse.”

”I’m sure you could.”

”Don’t make that a challenge.”

She moved another step closer.

Valeria did the same.

”I think I’m going to make you regret that name.”

”You’ll have to get in line.”

Nyxara tilted her head. ”Long line?”

”Growing.”

”Don’t invite her,” Valeria said.

Raven glanced back. ”I didn’t.”

”Apparently you don’t need to.”

Nyxara grinned at her.

”I’m definitely going to miss you.”

”I’m going to enjoy the silence.”

”Liar.”

”You can verify that from several miles away.”

The shadow beneath Nyxara began to spread.

She looked at Raven one last time.

”When that two point seven rises, tell me.”

”No.”

”It should be one of your priorities.”

”It won’t be.”

”We’ll see.”

Darkness curled around her legs.

”Don’t die in Dunvar,” Nyxara said. ”It would be disappointing if my potential predator lost to miners.”

”You don’t die chasing the man selling pieces of your species either.”

Her smile returned.

”That almost sounded concerned.”

”It would waste an exceptional evolutionary source.”

”Much better.”

Nyxara vanished.

No flash.

No explosion.

One moment she stood at the crossroads.

The next, the shadow closed over empty ground.

Predation went quiet with her absence.

Valeria waited perhaps three seconds.

”Now that she’s gone, I want a real answer.”

Raven mounted his horse.

”About?”

”What did Predation actually show you when you first saw her?”

”You already know most of it.”

”I know what you chose to tell me.”

Raven adjusted the reins.

”Royal Bloodborn. Level Seventy-One. Champion. Night Sovereign Bloodline. Extreme hereditary density. Abyssal Regeneration, Void Step, Abyssal Vessel, Night Sovereignty. Several signatures Predation couldn’t properly analyze.”

Valeria mounted beside him.

”And the two point seven?”

”Estimated survival probability if I tried to assimilate her.”

Valeria stared.

”Your ability gave you a ninety-seven percent chance of dying.”

”Ninety-seven point three.”

”Thank you. That makes it much better.”

”You asked.”

”And you called her Indigestion to her face.”

”It was accurate.”

They started north.

Roland followed several yards behind, wisely contributing nothing.

Valeria rubbed her forehead.

”One day I’m going to let one of these women kill you.”

”You won’t.”

She lowered her hand.

”That sounded very confident.”

Raven kept his eyes on the road.

”You’re useful.”

Valeria’s horse slowed.

Raven made it several yards before noticing.

When he looked back, her expression had changed.

Not anger.

Something softer.

Then he remembered.

You were useful.

The same excuse Raven had used after saving her.

The same phrase that had become increasingly inadequate over the past few weeks.

Valeria urged her horse forward until she was beside him again.

”That was deliberate.”

”I don’t know what you mean.”

”Yes, you do.”

”I can take it back.”

”Try.”

Raven almost smiled.

For several minutes, only hoofbeats filled the road.

Then Valeria spoke again.

”I still didn’t like her.”

”That was obvious.”

”She was strange.”

”Also obvious.”

”And the way she talked about you eating her was worse.”

Raven glanced sideways.

”Did that bother you?”

Valeria turned too quickly.

”I’m not jealous.”

”I didn’t say jealousy.”

”You were thinking it.”

”Now I am.”

Her eyes narrowed.

”She met you three days ago, told you being devoured by you sounded exciting, asked to be informed when you could do it without dying, and practically promised she’d return. I’m allowed to find that strange.”

”I found it strange too.”

”Not with enough disapproval.”

”I wasn’t aware there was a required amount.”

Valeria looked ahead.

”She watched you too much.”

”So do you.”

”That’s different.”

”Why?”

Her mouth opened.

Then closed.

Raven waited.

Finally, she lifted her chin.

”Because I knew you first.”

Raven looked at her.

Valeria realized what she had said.

”Don’t make that expression.”

”I’m not making one.”

”Exactly that one.”

Raven turned back toward the road.

Dunvar waited ahead.

A company diverting Black Mithril.

A secret high-purity vein.

Suppression tools capable of interfering with Bloodlines.

A research network trying to turn magical inheritance into merchandise.

And an authentic inspection permit that might take Raven directly into the mining operation supplying it all.

FORGE appeared.

[PROJECT: PROTOTYPE RIFLE]

[Completion: 31.4%]

[Core Components: 2/5]

[Next Requirement: Structural Barrel Material]

[BLACK MITHRIL Source Identified: North Shaft Seven, Dunvar.]

[Acquisition Status: PENDING.]

Raven closed the interface.

Behind them, Nyxara was already disappearing west toward Soren Vhal.

Ahead, the mountains surrounding Dunvar were beginning to rise against the horizon.

Valeria rode beside him, still irritated by a woman who was already miles away.

Raven decided not to point that out.

He liked being alive.