Beast Devourer: I Grow Stronger by Eating Monsters

It didn’t attack immediately.

That would have been simpler.

The Wyvern circled the relay twice, each pass lower than the last, while Raven watched what drew its attention. The horses, the wagons, and the people moving below interested it far more than the main building.

A predator.

Useful information.

”It wants the animals,” Raven said.

Taren looked toward the corral. ”It already took three.”

”Then it knows this place has food.”

Roland pointed upward. ”Are we letting it take another?”

”No.”

”Good.”

”I’d also prefer it not take a person.”

”Even better.”

Raven moved the workers into the main building and warehouse while the drivers remained near the wagons only long enough to pull them beneath the most protected stone section of the relay.

He couldn’t turn South Relay into a fortress, but he could reduce the number of easy targets.

That would force the Wyvern to choose.

Valeria positioned herself in the center of the courtyard.

”If it comes down, I can cover the corral.”

”Don’t chase it with your magic once it starts climbing again.”

”I know my range.”

”That wasn’t criticism.”

”It sounded like criticism.”

”It was information.”

”That’s worse.”

Raven looked toward the two guards.

”Don’t try to bring it down. Fire only when it comes low enough that your arrows force it to adjust.”

One of them frowned. ”Don’t we want to hit it?”

”Yes. But if you can’t penetrate the defense, I still want your arrows occupying space.”

The guard understood.

”Make the descent uncomfortable.”

”Exactly.”

Roland moved toward the eastern edge of the relay.

”I’ll watch the approaches.”

Raven nodded. ”Tell me before it starts descending, not when it’s already on top of us.”

”So much trust.”

”That’s why I gave you the job.”

Roland smiled. ”That was almost nice.”

”Do it well and I might repeat it.”

Valeria glanced sideways at Raven.

He pretended not to notice.

The Mk.I remained inside the main building, and Raven had no intention of retrieving it yet.

Nearly twenty people were gathered around South Relay between workers, guards, drivers, and stranded merchants. The Prototype Rifle was still a relatively small secret. Hadrik, Maelor, Roland, and Valeria knew what it could really do, while a few others had seen pieces of it without witnessing the weapon in action.

The moment Raven fired it in front of this many people, that would change.

He knew how rumors worked.

An unknown weapon capable of reaching an airborne Elite would not remain a local story for long.

For the first few minutes, the Wyvern helped him avoid that problem. It kept circling without descending, then eventually drifted back toward the western ridge.

Roland slowly eased tension from his bowstring.

”Is it leaving?”

Raven watched the ridge while Predator’s Instinct remained quiet.

”No.”

Valeria looked at him. ”Why?”

”It’s still hungry.”

Three minutes later, Roland shouted.

”West!”

The creature reappeared far lower than before.

It had used the ridge to hide its approach.

Smart.

Raven was already moving.

”Everyone inside!”

The Wyvern descended toward the second wagon, where several crates of food still hadn’t been unloaded.

The archers fired.

Two arrows failed to reach it. The third entered the moving current around the right wing and shifted course just enough to pass harmlessly behind the creature.

Wind Mantle.

Confirmed.

Valeria launched five Blood Needles.

They were considerably faster.

The Wyvern corrected its flight as two passed behind it and three struck the distorted air surrounding its wings. One forced its way partially through and scraped scales near the hind leg.

The creature shrieked but didn’t retreat.

Its wings folded.

It dropped.

Raven read the trajectory.

”Get away from the wagon!”

The driver jumped clear.

At the last moment, the Wyvern reopened its wings and converted the dive into a brutal horizontal pass. Its claws struck the side of the wagon with enough force to snap the front axle and overturn the entire vehicle.

CRASH.

Sacks of flour and food crates scattered across the courtyard.

The Wyvern didn’t try to lift the wagon. One claw closed around a large sack instead, and a powerful beat of its wings sent mana currents exploding around its body as it climbed.

One guard fired and missed.

Roland released a better-timed arrow, but the Wind Mantle pushed it aside.

Valeria began forming another blood construct.

Raven raised a hand.

”Leave it.”

She looked at him. ”I can still try—”

”It’s already too high.”

”I can reach farther than the bows.”

”And you’d spend too much blood for a poor chance of success.”

Valeria clearly disliked the decision, but she lowered her hand and watched the Wyvern disappear toward the ridge with the sack hanging beneath it.

Taren ran toward the damaged wagon and stared at the broken axle.

”That wagon is part of the delivery.”

”I know.”

”If it can’t make the return trip—”

”I know.”

Raven crouched beside the damage.

The axle had snapped cleanly. It was repairable, probably, but not quickly.

Roland arrived beside him.

”The job just became more expensive.”

Raven looked toward the empty sky.

”Yes.”

That was what the Wyvern had accomplished.

Before, it had been a local problem Raven could potentially ignore. Now it had directly damaged his contract.

That still wasn’t enough to justify revealing the rifle.

But it was getting closer.

They spent the next hour transferring the damaged wagon’s cargo and preparing the vehicle for repairs. The flour could be moved, and so could the crates. The wagon itself was the real problem.

Taren had a replacement axle, but installing it required lifting the wagon and partially dismantling the undercarriage.

Raven ended up helping with that too.

Again.

Valeria watched while Stonehide spread across his arms and he raised one end of the wagon with help from two workers.

”Your life became very domestic after building the weapon.”

Raven held the weight steady.

”I don’t see which part of lifting a wagon damaged by an Elite Wyvern qualifies as domestic.”

”Three days ago, you were dropping part of a mountain on a Matriarch.”

”And now I’m trying not to lose money.”

”That part is domestic.”

Raven lowered the wagon onto support blocks.

”Help or stop narrating.”

Valeria smiled and formed two hardened bands of blood to keep the replacement axle aligned while the workers positioned it.

”Like this?”

”A little higher.”

She adjusted it.

”There?”

”Yes.”

”Look at that. Teamwork.”

Raven tightened one of the supports.

”Don’t ruin it.”

”Impossible.”

For nearly forty minutes, the sky remained empty.

Taren gradually relaxed.

Raven didn’t.

The Wyvern had learned that South Relay still contained food, and nothing they had done had caused meaningful damage. Returning was rational.

Raven would have returned too.

Not because of pride.

Because the calculation still favored it.

Valeria finished helping secure the axle and noticed Raven looking upward again.

”Rifle?”

”Not yet.”

”What does it have to do first?”

Raven considered the question.

”Something I can’t solve without it.”

That answer seemed to satisfy her.

Not for long.

The next attack came from the north.

Roland spotted it late, not because he had failed, but because the Wyvern wasn’t approaching low this time. It dropped from such a height that for several seconds it looked like nothing more than a dark stain against the sun.

”Above!”

Raven looked up.

Too late to organize anything elaborate.

”Cover!”

The creature descended almost vertically.

It wasn’t aiming for the horses or the wagons.

It was aiming for the watchtower.

Raven didn’t understand why until he saw the guard standing on top with his bow raised.

The Wyvern had identified the most visible source of resistance.

The guard fired.

The arrow climbed into the Wind Mantle and was deflected aside.

Less than thirty meters above the ground, the Wyvern opened its wings and converted the dive into a strike.

One hind leg smashed through part of the wooden platform.

The guard jumped.

The structure tilted violently.

The second man below had no time to escape.

The tower collapsed.

Raven ran toward the wreckage.

Not toward the rifle.

Valeria reached the debris from the opposite side while the Wyvern was already gaining altitude. Roland fired twice, not to kill it, but to force it higher and farther away.

It worked.

The creature adjusted its ascent and moved off.

Raven reached the fallen tower.

”Talk to me!”

A voice answered from beneath the wreckage.

”Here!”

The second man didn’t respond.

Raven grabbed a plank as Stonehide spread over his hands and forearms.

Taren arrived behind him.

”Joras!”

”I’m fine!” someone shouted from beneath the debris. ”I think.”

”Don’t move,” Raven said.

The upper section had fallen across two men. One was trapped by the leg, while the other had a support beam pinning his torso.

Valeria crouched beside the latter.

”He’s bleeding.”

”I see it.”

Raven studied the collapse before touching anything. If he lifted the main beam directly, two unstable sections above them could fall.

”Valeria, hold that corner.”

Blood Lines were already forming between her fingers.

”How much force?”

”Don’t lift it. Just stop it from dropping any farther.”

”Understood.”

Raven moved into the wreckage.

The man with the trapped leg could wait.

The other one couldn’t.

Blood stained the corner of his mouth, and each breath came shallow and fast.

Raven checked his pulse.

Too quick.

”Can you breathe?”

”Yes.”

A lie.

The beam was compressing his chest.

”I’m lifting it. When I tell you, get out.”

”I can’t feel my arm.”

”We’ll worry about the arm afterward.”

Raven braced both hands beneath the beam.

His ribs were still not entirely pleased with these decisions.

That didn’t matter.

Stonehide spread farther as he pushed.

The beam rose only a few centimeters.

Enough.

”Now.”

Taren grabbed the injured man and pulled him clear.

A board above shifted immediately.

Valeria’s Blood Lines snapped taut.

”Raven.”

”I know.”

The main beam began sliding sideways.

Raven released it and got clear just before the unstable structure collapsed again, throwing dust and splintered wood across the courtyard.

The man was out.

Alive.

Extracting the second guard was easier. His leg was probably broken, but it hadn’t been crushed, and they managed to free him without destabilizing the remaining wreckage.

By the time they finished, the healer was already working on both men.

Raven brushed dust from his hands.

Valeria was watching him.

”I thought you were protecting your payment.”

Raven looked at the destroyed tower.

”My payment was inside.”

Valeria raised an eyebrow.

”They were people.”

Raven looked at her.

There had been a time when he would have searched for a better explanation. Workers were required to finish the contract. Witnesses had value. Information had value. Human resources mattered.

He didn’t feel like doing that now.

”Also.”

Valeria said nothing.

She only smiled slightly.

Raven pointed toward the wounded guard.

”Don’t start.”

”I didn’t say anything.”

”I know that expression now.”

”That’s improving too.”

Raven looked back toward the sky.