Beast Devourer: I Grow Stronger by Eating Monsters

Valeria’s Blood Magic answered with violent instability.

A crimson wall snapped into existence in front of the fugitives just as the first projectiles struck. The barrier shuddered under the impacts while Raven sprinted toward the side support and planted two fracture charges, both higher than Lina expected.

”If you break it there—”

”I know.”

”You don’t know!”

”I know enough.”

Raven ignited the fuse with Ember Spark. The flame nearly died under the Black Mithril interference, but nearly was enough.

”Move!”

Valeria released the barrier, and everyone ran.

The explosion tore through the weakened support without bringing down the entire ceiling. Stone and timber collapsed across the passage, building a wall between the two groups.

Shouts came from the other side.

One scream ended far too quickly.

Blood began seeping between the rocks.

Valeria glanced back. ”That was controlled?”

”Yes.”

”Your definition of controlled is disturbing.”

”It worked.”

They kept moving.

The second tunnel was narrower, forcing the fugitives into a line with Raven and Valeria covering the rear. A shot cracked through the darkness and buried itself in a support beam, followed by another a moment later.

Valeria turned and fired a blood needle.

It moved slower than normal, but it still found a throat.

The pursuer dropped.

”One less.”

”Keep moving.”

”You could at least admit that was a good shot.”

”It was a good shot.”

Valeria blinked. ”That was suspiciously easy.”

”I’m busy.”

Another tremor rolled through the mine.

This time, the floor split beneath them.

The gap wasn’t large, but it was enough to destabilize one of the beams above Valeria.

Raven heard the timber groan.

”Move!”

She turned too late.

The structure gave way.

Valeria tried to form another barrier, but only a thin sheet of blood appeared before the Black Mithril interference tore it apart.

Raven threw himself into her.

He shoved her aside as timber and stone crashed down around them. Pain exploded through his shoulder, followed by darkness—not unconsciousness, only dust thick enough to erase the corridor.

Raven coughed and forced himself upright.

Valeria didn’t.

Part of a support beam had pinned her leg beneath it, and blood ran from a cut above her eyebrow.

The fugitives had already made it to the far side of the collapse.

Lina shouted back, ”We have to move! They’re coming!”

Raven looked toward the tunnel.

Maybe three minutes to the exit.

The documents were still in his pack.

He could leave.

Valeria followed his gaze and understood exactly what he was calculating.

”Go.”

Raven crouched beside the beam.

”No.”

”The documents are more important.”

He slid both hands beneath the timber and tried Stonehide.

The Skill responded slowly.

Too slowly.

He canceled it.

”I can carry both.”

Valeria grimaced. ”I am not a thing.”

”Then stop making the sentence harder.”

Raven adjusted his stance and lifted.

The beam barely moved.

Too much weight.

Kinetic Acceleration wouldn’t help with sustained force, so Raven stopped trying to overpower the problem and looked for leverage instead.

A pickaxe.

A length of chain.

A raised section of stone.

He wedged the pick beneath the beam as a fulcrum, looped the chain around the timber, and handed Valeria the other end.

”When I say, pull.”

She took it.

”My leg still works.”

”I hope so.”

Raven forced the lever down while Valeria pulled.

The beam rose several inches.

Enough.

She dragged her leg free, and Raven released the pressure. The timber crashed back into place just as three pursuers appeared at the far end of the corridor.

Raven hooked an arm beneath Valeria’s shoulder and helped her up.

Her injured leg buckled immediately.

”That’ll be temporary,” she said.

”Convenient.”

”Regeneration isn’t your Skill.”

”I know.”

Raven lifted her before she could argue, one arm behind her knees and the other supporting her back.

Valeria stared at him.

”I could lean on you.”

”Slower.”

”You’re carrying me.”

”Excellent observation.”

An arrow struck the wall beside them.

Valeria raised one hand from Raven’s arms and launched two blood threads. One missed, but the other sliced across the archer’s fingers.

The man screamed.

Raven started running.

No Burst Step.

No magic.

Valeria in his arms and the documents on his back.

”This does not count as our second dance,” she said.

”I wasn’t going to say it did.”

”Liar.”

Raven jumped across a crack in the floor, ignoring the pain stabbing through his shoulder, ribs, and forearm.

Another projectile came from behind.

Valeria formed a small plate of blood beside his head.

The impact shattered it.

”That was useful.”

She looked up at him. ”You’re going to make that word lose all meaning.”

”It already has.”

Valeria went quiet for several seconds while Raven kept running.

Then she smiled despite the dust and blood covering her face.

”I’m starting to think ’useful’ means far too many things when you say it.”

Raven didn’t answer.

Not because he lacked one.

Because she was right.

That was worse.

They emerged from the old tunnel nine minutes later.

Lina and the surviving fugitives had waited for them.

Raven hadn’t expected that.

Useful information about them.

Roland was there as well, bow already drawn. His expression changed the moment he saw Raven carrying Valeria.

”Is she alive?”

Valeria answered before Raven could.

”I am perfectly capable of answering for myself.”

Roland nodded. ”So yes.”

Raven lowered her against a rock and examined the injured leg.

Heavy bruising.

Possible hairline fracture.

Nothing exposed.

Valeria looked at his shoulder.

”You’re not exactly fine either.”

”I can move it.”

”That is not a diagnosis.”

”It worked in Black Hound.”

”That explains a disturbing amount.”

Roland pointed toward the mountain.

”There are men moving toward the main entrance.”

”How many?”

”More than twenty.”

Raven looked at Lina.

”Another route toward the road?”

She nodded. ”An old mining trail. It runs behind the ridge.”

”Then we leave.”

”What about the vein?”

Raven touched the pack on his back.

”I have enough to find it again.”

He didn’t need tons of ore.

He needed proof.

And now he had too much of it.

Two days later, Lord Edric Helmont stopped smiling when Raven placed five ledgers on his desk.

Mara Veyn stopped breathing for roughly two seconds when she saw the figures.

Oren Keller was not present.

That was intelligent.

Valeria sat beside Raven with her leg wrapped and a glass of wine she hadn’t asked for while Edric opened the ledgers one by one.

Actual production.

Diversions.

Anti-Bloodline testing.

Buyers.

Payments.

The room stayed silent for a long time.

Finally, Edric looked up.

”This could destroy Keller Mining.”

Raven rested his forearms on the table.

”It could also cause problems for Helmont.”

There it was.

Edric’s expression sharpened. ”Explain.”

Raven pointed toward three security signatures.

”Men wearing Helmont concession-security insignia tried to seal the mine while we were still inside.”

Mara took the ledger.

”That does not prove House Helmont ordered it.”

”I didn’t say it did.”

Edric gave him a humorless smile.

”I’m beginning to understand why Oren Keller finds you irritating.”

”We have something in common.”

Valeria took a small drink of wine.

”Raven finds almost everyone irritating.”

”That isn’t true.”

She looked at him.

Raven continued before the conversation could move in that direction.

”There are also nine payments from Orbrecht Industrial Holdings.”

Edric slowly closed the ledger.

That was more dangerous.

”Do you have copies?”

”Yes.”

”How many?”

”Enough.”

”Who else has them?”

Raven didn’t answer.

Edric understood immediately.

”You want to negotiate.”

”We already had a contract.”

”Our contract was for enough documentation to justify intervention at North Shaft Seven.”

”And I delivered.”

”So you’ll receive your payment.”

”That covers the mine.”

Raven touched the ledgers.

”This covers more.”

Valeria settled back into her chair while Mara looked between them.

Edric eventually asked, ”What do you want?”

Raven didn’t need to think.

”Black Mithril.”

”You’re already receiving an allocation.”

”More.”

”How much?”

Raven gave him the exact figure FORGE had calculated after analyzing the sample from the deep vein.

Mara exhaled.

Edric stared at him.

”That is considerably more than we agreed upon.”

”I also found considerably more than we agreed upon.”

”That sounds remarkably like extortion.”

Raven shook his head.

”Extortion would be asking for money. I’m selling silence for ore.”

Valeria turned toward him.

”That is still extortion.”

”Then it’s efficient extortion.”

Mara covered her mouth.

Edric managed not to laugh for several seconds before finally giving in.

”I’m beginning to suspect Lady von Nacht really did choose someone compatible.”

Valeria smiled.

”I told you.”

Raven ignored that.

Edric returned his attention to the records.

”Minimum purity?”

”Eighty percent.”

”I can offer eighty-two.”

”The vein produced higher.”

”The vein requires refinement.”

”Eighty-four.”

Mara stepped in.

”I can guarantee eighty-four if I personally select the batch.”

Raven looked at her.

”Eighty-four point five.”

Valeria closed her eyes.

”He’s negotiating decimals.”

Mara smiled.

”Eighty-four point six. That is the average purity of the best batch currently in storage.”

Raven extended his hand.

”Accepted.”

Edric looked at the offered hand, then at the documents, and finally at Raven before shaking it.

”I sincerely hope whatever you’re building is worth this much trouble.”

”So do I.”

The Black Mithril arrived that afternoon.

Not in an elegant chest, but in a reinforced gray crate bearing four legal seals, two security runes, and an escort of six armed men.

Raven inspected every piece.

FORGE did the same.

[Structural Barrel Material Acquired.]

[Material: High-Purity Black Mithril]

[Purity: 84.6%]

[Mana-Pressure Resistance: EXCELLENT]

[Structural Integrity: EXCELLENT]

[Biological Mana Interference: HIGH]

[Isolation Architecture Required.]

[Prototype Rifle Compatibility: 96%.]

[Structural Barrel Requirement: SATISFIED.]

[Core Components: 3/5.]

[Project Completion: 31.4% → 52.8%.]

Raven stared at the final number.

More than half.

Finally.

Three systems were complete now: Activation, Mana Storage, and Structural Barrel. Two remained, but the rifle no longer felt like a distant theory.

Fifty-two point eight percent.

Valeria sat on the edge of Raven’s bed while a healer finished examining her leg. The swelling had already gone down considerably, and there was no complete fracture.

”How much?” she asked.

Raven closed FORGE.

”Fifty-two point eight.”

She smiled.

”So nearly being crushed to death improved the project considerably.”

”You didn’t nearly die.”

”How reassuring.”

”The beam trapped your leg.”

”While a mine was collapsing and men were trying to execute us.”

”Details.”

Valeria waited until the healer left, then pointed toward the crate.

”You got your metal without killing a monster.”

Raven looked at the Black Mithril.

”I killed people.”

”Yes. Much more civilized.”

”Dunvar has strange standards.”

Valeria laughed.

Raven began sorting the documents he had no intention of giving Helmont when he noticed the window.

It was closed.

It had also been closed when they entered.

A folded piece of paper rested on the frame.

Raven went still.

Valeria followed his gaze.

”That wasn’t there before.”

”No.”

”The window was closed.”

Raven looked at her.

”That doesn’t seem to stop certain women.”

Valeria reacted immediately.

”Do not compare this to the night I entered your room.”

”I only pointed out a similarity.”

”There is no similarity.”

”You both entered without permission.”

”I was checking whether your heart was still functioning.”

”And you ended up in my bed.”

Valeria pointed at the note.

”Read it.”

Raven decided surviving Dunvar had already provided enough danger for one day.

He picked up the paper.

The handwriting was elegant.

Too elegant.

Soren Vhal is not working alone.

One of his buyers is in Dunvar.

Try not to die before I return.

—Indigestion

Raven stared at the signature.

”She accepted the name too quickly.”

Valeria stood from the bed.

”That is not the part I care about.”

”Which part?”

She took the note from him and pointed toward one line.

before I return.

Raven looked at her.

Valeria crossed her arms.

”Don’t say anything.”

”I wasn’t going to.”

”You were about to.”

”That seems difficult to prove.”

Valeria narrowed her eyes.

Raven took the note back and placed it with the other documents.

”At least she confirmed the problem is still in Dunvar.”

”Of course. That’s the part you care about.”

”It’s useful information.”

Valeria exhaled through her nose.

”I’m starting to hate that word too.”

Raven looked at the crate of Black Mithril, then at the records capable of damaging three companies, a noble House, and an entire Bloodline trafficking network.

He had arrived in Dunvar needing to buy metal.

Instead, he had faked an engagement, infiltrated a noble reception, blackmailed administrators, uncovered an illegal mine, survived an attempt to bury him alive, and walked away with enough information to destroy entire careers.

The metal had been expensive.

But it wasn’t the most valuable thing he had found.

FORGE appeared again.

[Next Unresolved Core System: Projectile Acceleration.]

[Recommended Biological Analogue: ”Kinetic Pulse”]

[Known Target: Stormhorn Courser]

[Primary Region: VELIS.]

Raven closed the interface.

Valeria noticed the change in his expression.

”Don’t tell me you’re already thinking about the next one.”

”Velis.”

She let her head fall backward.

”We just got this one.”

”Two remain.”

Valeria stared at him for several seconds before smiling tiredly.

”One day, I’m going to figure out how to make you enjoy a victory before you start chasing the next one.”

Raven lifted the Black Mithril crate.

”I am enjoying it.”

”How?”

”We still have the metal.”

Valeria stared at him.

”That was depressing even for you.”

Raven picked up his coat.

”Rest your leg. We leave when you can walk without trying to prove to me that you can walk.”

”I can walk perfectly well.”

”You’re limping.”

”Barely.”

Raven opened the door.

Valeria spoke before he could leave.

”Raven.”

He turned.

She wasn’t smiling anymore.

”You came back for me.”

It wasn’t a question.

Raven held her gaze.

”Yes.”

”You could have left with the records.”

”Yes.”

”And you still came back.”

Raven paused.

”You’re useful.”

Valeria closed her eyes, but this time she smiled.

”That word doesn’t mean what you keep pretending it means anymore.”

Raven left before answering.

Because this time, he wasn’t sure he could argue with her either.