Beast Devourer: I Grow Stronger by Eating Monsters

Raven felt a faint vibration in the air.

”Today, we do not gather in hatred.”

The kneeling woman began to cry.

The priest continued.

”We gather in mercy.”

Raven glanced at Darius.

The merchant avoided his gaze.

”These three souls allowed corruption into their hearts. They abandoned the Light. They participated in forbidden rites and sought power in that which sleeps beneath the earth.”

One of the men shouted:

”We didn’t perform any rites!”

A soldier struck him in the back of the head.

He fell face-first onto the wooden platform.

The priest waited.

”Even now, corruption speaks through them.”

Raven had heard phrases like that before.

Not those exact words.

The structure.

The enemy wasn’t denying the accusation because they were innocent.

They were denying it because their corruption compelled them to.

Convenient.

”Their bodies have been judged,” the priest continued. ”Their souls may yet be saved.”

The guards wrapped chains around the posts.

The woman began pleading.

”Please. My daughter...”

The priest approached.

He crouched in front of her.

Held her face gently between both hands.

The gesture was almost affectionate.

”Your daughter will grow beneath the Light.”

The woman sobbed.

”Do not be afraid.”

He kissed her forehead.

Then stood.

Raven looked at the piles of wood stacked around the posts.

”Fire.”

Mira didn’t answer.

The priest extended one hand.

A golden flame appeared.

Not Ember Spark.

Much cleaner.

More intense.

The crowd bowed their heads.

Some people prayed.

The priest released the flame.

The wood caught fire.

The screaming began shortly afterward.

Raven didn’t look away.

He didn’t enjoy it either.

He simply observed.

Duration.

The crowd’s response.

The priests’ reactions.

Guards.

Escape routes.

Who looked uncomfortable.

Who looked satisfied.

Who looked bored.

The woman screamed for her daughter.

One of the men prayed.

The other cursed the Church until the smoke stole his voice.

A few meters away, the vendor kept serving roasted meat.

The child sitting on his father’s shoulders asked something.

His father answered.

Then bought two sweets.

Normal.

Again.

That was the truly useful part.

Darius spoke quietly.

”You don’t have to watch.”

Raven kept his eyes on the flames.

”Yes, I do.”

Mira frowned.

”Why?”

”Because I need to know where I am.”

She didn’t answer.

The screams gradually faded.

Raven studied the golden symbol on the priest’s chest.

The Church wasn’t merely a religious institution.

It held judicial authority.

It carried out executions.

Registered slaves.

Darius had mentioned that it regulated contracts.

It probably controlled part of the magical infrastructure as well.

That made the institution much closer to a state within a state.

Raven had dealt with organizations like that before.

His had simply preferred suits and official seals over halos.

When the crowd began to disperse, Raven asked:

”What counts as heresy?”

Mira looked at him.

”Depends.”

”Bad answer.”

Darius sighed.

”Unlicensed demonic magic. Cults devoted to forbidden entities. Sacrifices. Necromancy. Certain curses. Soul manipulation. Pacts with certain creatures.”

Raven remained silent.

Predation.

Eating organs to steal abilities probably wouldn’t look good in any catechism.

”Stealing magic?”

Darius looked at him.

”How?”

”Hypothetically.”

Mira gave a humorless laugh.

”Knowing you, I hate that word.”

Darius thought about it.

”There are Skills capable of temporarily copying spells. Artifacts that store magic. But permanently stealing an ability...”

He looked at Raven’s hand.

The same hand that had turned to stone.

”I don’t know of anything that can do that.”

”Would the Church have a problem with it?”

”The Church has problems with a lot of things.”

”That still doesn’t answer my question.”

Darius lowered his voice.

”I wouldn’t show them what you can do until you know exactly what it is.”

Raven nodded.

Reasonable advice.

He wasn’t going to pretend to be weak.

But he also wasn’t going to walk into a temple and explain:

Hello. I can eat pieces of creatures and keep whatever made them special.

There was a middle ground between hiding and being an idiot.

The commercial district was even more crowded.

Darius had an affiliated warehouse near the western center of the city. There, they unloaded part of the cargo and arranged help to transport Harlan to a healer.

Raven stayed with the group only because he still needed to collect the remainder of their agreement in information.

Darius seemed to understand that.

”Greyhaven has four places you’ll probably be interested in.”

”Five if you count an inn.”

”I’m not counting it because I assume you enjoy sleeping.”

Raven looked at him.

”Correct.”

Darius raised one finger.

”The Mercenary House.”

A second.

”The central market.”

A third.

”The alchemists in the northern district.”

A fourth.

”The Hunters’ Office.”

Raven stopped.

”What’s the difference between mercenaries and hunters?”

”Mercenaries take general contracts. Protection, escort work, monsters, people, security. Hunters specialize in creatures and materials.”

That was interesting.

”Do they buy organs?”

”Yes.”

”Magical parts?”

”Especially.”

”Do they keep records on creatures?”

Darius smiled.

”I knew you’d like that part.”

Mira walked past them.

”He isn’t interested in the city. He’s interested in eating it.”

Raven looked at her.

”Only some parts.”

She grimaced.

Darius burst out laughing.

Raven hadn’t been trying to make a joke.

That seemed to make it funnier.

The Hunters’ Office turned out to be a two-story stone building with an enormous creature skull mounted above the entrance.

The skull had four horns.

Raven stopped beneath it.

”Real?”

Darius looked up.

”Yes.”

”What was it?”

”A Horned Drake.”

”Level?”

”No idea. It died before I was born.”

Raven entered.

The interior smelled of leather, dried blood, and oil.

Much more familiar than the temple.

Counters displayed materials.

Teeth.

Claws.

Horns.

Jars containing organs suspended in liquid.

Crystals extracted from monsters.

Raven slowed down.

Now he was interested.

The system occasionally reacted when he looked at certain pieces.

”Biological material detected.”

”Trait residue insufficient for Predation.”

Another.

”Degraded biological source.”

Another.

”No compatible Trait available.”

Raven understood quickly.

He couldn’t simply buy an old gland and gain an ability.

Predation required a certain degree of integrity.

Maybe freshness.

Perhaps some residual connection to the creature.

That prevented an overly simple solution.

Darius pointed toward one wall.

A notice board.

Dozens of sheets.

Drawings of creatures.

Rewards.

Locations.

Threat levels.

Raven approached.

He could read.

That was another surprise.

The letters were unfamiliar, and yet his mind understood their meaning almost as naturally as the spoken language.

Linguistic adaptation.

Convenient again.

He read.

Redfang Boars — 4 crowns per confirmed tusk.

Marsh Creepers — 12 crowns per core.

Missing hunters — Southern Mire.

Stonehide Ravager activity — Western Road.

That explained how Darius had known the name.

Raven continued.

One notice bore a red seal.

WANTED — GRADE CULL

Carrion Maw

Location: Blackroot Ravine.

Estimated Level: 16–19.

Rank: Awakened.

Confirmed deaths: 11.

Reward: 180 crowns.

Additional bounty for intact digestive core: 75 crowns.

Raven stopped.

Not because of the money.

Something had happened inside Predation.

A sensation.

Much stronger than what he had felt while examining the other materials.

The interface appeared.

”Authority resonance detected.”

Raven stopped listening to Darius.

Potential evolutionary material identified.

His eyes moved over the drawing.

The creature looked like a grotesque combination of a reptile and a hyena.

Low body.

Jaw far too large.

Swollen abdomen.

The description continued.

Carrion Maw possesses an abnormal digestive system capable of processing toxic, magical, and partially corrupted biological matter.

The interface overlaid the notice.

”Predation-compatible organ detected: Adaptive Digestive Core.”

Raven felt something very close to genuine interest.

Potential effect if successfully devoured:

Predation Authority enhancement.

Increased tolerance toward hostile biological Traits.

Additional effects: Unknown.

Darius was still talking.

”...no one has taken that one because Blackroot is a horrible place, and a Carrion Maw usually isn’t alone.”

Raven raised one hand.

Darius stopped.

Raven read the notice again.

Level sixteen to nineteen.

He was Level Three.

Awakened.

A rank above him.

A perfect example of something he absolutely should not try to kill.

Yet.

”How long has it been there?”

Darius looked at the notice.

”Almost three weeks.”

”Why hasn’t anyone killed it?”

”I literally just told you.”

”I want details.”

Darius sighed.

”Carrion Maws eat almost anything. Corpses, monsters, rotten meat, toxic plants. They adapt. The more they eat, the worse they become. That one probably reached Blackroot after a migration. It has already killed two groups of hunters.”

”Abilities?”

”Poison resistance. Bite. Digestive regeneration, I think. Some of them spit acid.”

Raven stared at the notice.

Predator’s Instinct did nothing.

There was no enemy present.

But another part of him—the same part that had spent days studying targets before operations—was already working.

Terrain.

Creature.

Level.

Known abilities.

Unknown weaknesses.

He needed information.

Equipment.

And probably several more levels.

Mira, who had entered behind them, saw his expression.

”No.”

Raven didn’t even look at her.

”I didn’t ask.”

”You’re thinking about going.”

”Eventually.”

”It’s Awakened.”

”I can read.”

”You’re Common.”

Raven looked at her now.

”I know that too.”

Darius folded his arms.

”Then I assume you’re not going to do anything stupid.”

Raven looked back at the notice.

Predation Authority enhancement.

A creature capable of directly improving the ability that might eventually allow him to devour anything else in this world.

It wasn’t simply a reward.

It was infrastructure.

Raven tore off one of the smaller copies placed beneath the main notice.

Darius saw him.

”Raven.”

”I didn’t say today.”

”That doesn’t make me feel better.”

”It wasn’t supposed to.”

He folded the paper and put it away.

For the first time since arriving in Greyhaven, Raven had something resembling a clear objective.

He didn’t need to save Asteria.

He didn’t need to understand its Church.

He didn’t need to free slaves.

He didn’t need to fix the caste system of a society he barely knew.

He needed money.

Information.

Levels.

Equipment.

And then...

Raven looked once more at the drawing of the Carrion Maw.

...he needed to eat something that, according to the system, could make Predation evolve.

That was enough.

For now.