I Can Devour Monsters' SSS Talents

[Grave Doppelgänger]

[Level: 25]

[Rank: Fallen]

The creature that had stolen Lian’s face was standing at the broken entrance of the skull.

The white light of the crystal fell on its face, revealing every detail with irritating clarity.

Black hair, eyes, armor, posture, and even the blue band that Nemi had tied around Lian’s wrist at farewell could be seen on the creature’s wrist.

The imitation was almost perfect, but only almost.

An overly wide smile was stretched across its face. The corners of its mouth extended almost to its cheeks, and the skin around its lips was stretched unnaturally.

The creature did not blink. Thin white strands were crawling beneath the skin of its face.

Every few seconds, part of its cheek or neck would twitch; as if something inside the fake body was still learning how to use the muscles.

It tilted its head slightly, a movement Lian sometimes made when examining enemies, but the fake version had imitated it too precisely and calculatedly.

”Which one do you think is real?” It said in Lian’s voice and looked at Seris.

His voice echoed in the hollow space of the skull, no different from Lian’s real voice.

The same calm tone, the same rhythm, and even the same coldness that was in his voice when threatening enemies.

Seris drew her sword without a moment’s hesitation and pointed its tip at the creature.

”You. You are uglier.”

”Uglier? Does that mean I’m ugly too?” Lian gave her a brief look.

”I didn’t say that.” The silver-haired girl refused to answer.

The Grave Doppelgänger’s smile widened for a moment. Its teeth looked exactly like human teeth, but there were too many of them.

”Anyway, that’s the bastard that pulled us here. It has high intelligence and can even talk, so we need to be careful.” The young Vorhelm said.

The fact that it had been able to plot against them showed it had intelligence, and a monster with intelligence was always dangerous.

Lian was still examining it when the creature moved.

The bone powder beneath its feet exploded, and its body faded for a fraction of a second, leaving a white and gray shadow in the skull’s space.

Its movement pattern was familiar, too familiar, similar to the Thunder Step skill, but not the real version. No thunder was heard, and no blue or white lightning formed in the air.

Only bone powder, gray mist, and white strands remained at its previous point.

It was clear it still couldn’t fully copy the skill.

The creature appeared right in front of Lian, a bone blade had come out of its forearm, and the strike went directly toward Lian’s neck.

”Only one of us can exist! Die, you fake!” The monster shouted.

Lian raised his forearm, a heavy impact sound echoed inside the skull. The impact pressure was more than what he expected from a level 25 creature.

Lian’s foot slid a few centimeters back on the bone powder, and the bone blade created a shallow line on his forearm.

The creature immediately turned its wrist and sent a second strike from a different angle. Its movement resembled Lian’s fighting style.

The first strike was to test the defense, and the second was to target a point that had opened for a moment.

Lian moved his head aside, the blade passed by his face, and at that same moment, the creature’s knee came toward his stomach.

He placed his palm on its thigh and deflected the strike’s path, grabbing its blade-wielding wrist with his other hand.

The creature paused in front of him for a moment, its face still smiling.

”You call me fake, you bastard?” Lian increased the pressure of his fingers.

Under the fake skin, he didn’t feel a natural bone structure, but several black, joint-like pieces connected by moist strands.

This was not a human body. It was only something that had covered itself in human shape.

The creature suddenly bent its elbow in the opposite direction, and the dry sound of bone cracking was heard.

But instead of feeling pain, its hand twisted like a loose rope from between Lian’s fingers and came out.

The joint locked again in another place, and the Grave Doppelgänger stepped back a few meters with an irregular movement.

Lian kept his gaze on it. In those few seconds, he had gathered enough information.

The creature had not only imitated his appearance, it had also stolen part of his physical power, attack rhythm, movements, and perhaps his decision-making pattern.

But it was still incomplete. It was too reliant on imitation, and it performed some movements without understanding their reason.

Lian’s eyes narrowed slightly. Based on this short exchange of strikes, he could say that every second that passed, the creature learned more from his movements.

So time was on the enemy’s side.

If the battle dragged on, it might learn to imitate more dangerous skills.

It might not only steal his movements, but perhaps also extract memories, emotions, or information from his mind.

”It looks like a very powerful skill.” Lian’s eyes sparkled. This was probably one of the best skills he had ever seen.

Of course, he doubted it was just a skill. It might be this monster’s talent.

The Grave Doppelgänger moved again.

This time, it made three consecutive displacements. At the first point, a white shadow remained; at the second, thin strands rose from the ground; and at the third movement, its body completely disappeared from normal view.

Lian, with the help of Predator’s Instincts, tried to track the monster’s blood flow, and the creature’s blood appeared in a dark and contaminated form in the mist.

The fake version appeared behind Lian and sent its bone blade toward his spine.

This time, Lian did not defend.

[Diamond Skin]

His skin took on a metallic shine at the moment of impact. The bone blade broke with a loud sound on his back.

Cracks ran along the fake weapon.

The Grave Doppelgänger paused for a fraction of a second, and that was enough.

Lian turned, grabbed its wrist, placed his front foot between the creature’s legs.

Then he activated Iron Fortress Charge at a very short distance.

Explosive pressure gathered in his entire body, and his shoulder hit the creature’s chest.

Both moved toward the skull’s wall at high speed.

The Grave Doppelgänger’s body hit the massive bone with a loud crash, the wall cracked, and white powder fell from the ceiling.

The fake body was crushed between Lian and the wall, its chest caved in.

”Now you know who’s real?” Lian said mockingly.

But the creature was still smiling, its head turned backward.

Almost a full circle, its unblinking eyes stared at Lian.

White strands came out from the crack in its chest and wrapped around Lian’s arm.

”Damn it, what the fuck are you exactly?” Lian stepped back before they could tighten.

The strands twisted in the air, and the Grave Doppelgänger placed its hand on the wall.

White strands came out from the bone cracks and entered its body. The crushed chest slowly returned to its original state.

”It’s connected to the wall.” The young Vorhelm thought for a moment and realized a point, then looked at his teammate.

”Don’t you want to help?”

Seris had been standing next to them from the start but had not entered the battle.

Not out of hesitation, but she was examining the creature’s abilities. Her eyes had followed its movements.

The way it regenerated, the source of the strands, and the speed with which it learned Lian’s style.

”I don’t get the chance to see two Lians fighting every day.” She then said calmly.

”I thought you loved fighting.”

”Yeah.”

The Grave Doppelgänger appeared in front of Lian once more, but before it could reach him, a silver line formed between them.

Seris entered the attack path. Compressed mana gathered on her sword’s edge.

Not wide and not flashy, but all the force was concentrated in the narrowest part of the blade.

[King’s Edge]

Seris’s sword hit the fake version’s shoulder. The strike was not just a simple cut. At the moment of impact, the force exploded in a very small point.

The bone plate on the shoulder broke, the blade passed through the fake flesh, the white strands, and the black joints.

The creature’s entire arm was separated from its body. The impact force threw it back several meters.

Its body rolled on the bone powder and hit another part of the wall.

King’s Edge made every movement of Seris more precise, heavier, and more destructive.

Her power did not spread; it was concentrated in one point and found a gap in the enemy’s defense.

And it turned that small gap into complete destruction.

”Even though it’s a Fallen, it’s weaker than you.” Seris lowered her sword.

”Yes, but for now.” Lian did not take his gaze off the creature. This monster was growing at a terrifying speed and was getting stronger every moment.

The Grave Doppelgänger looked at its severed arm. The smile faded slightly for the first time.

White strands came out from the severed point, moving toward the fallen arm, but before they could connect, the skull’s wall contracted.

A gentle movement, like the breathing of skin, and black veins lit up on the bone.

A vertical line opened in another part of the wall. The crack widened, and the bone shell parted like flesh.

Something came out from inside it. First a white hand, then a black blade, silver hair, and dark armor.

And finally, a face with completely black eyes, another version of Seris.

The second Grave Doppelgänger stepped out of the wall. Its face was almost perfect, but a faint smile was on its face.

The real Seris rarely smiled.

The fake version’s eyes were too shiny; like two pieces of black glass. Its movements, despite the similarity, were slightly more theatrical. It took every step with a precise angle.

It held the bone sword in a way that seemed to want others to see the beauty of its movement.

”Annoying.” Seris looked at it for a few moments, clearly not liking this at all.

”Now you know what it feels like to see a version of yourself.” Lian gave a short smile and then added.

”Seeing you smile is scary. It gives me goosebumps.”

The young Pendragon stared at him with an empty look and clearly didn’t like what she had heard.

The Seris version moved before the sentence ended. Its bone sword trembled several times.

Dozens of black and silver lines formed in the skull’s space, an imitation of Silver Requiem.

Some lines were only shadows, some were real attacks, and some moved with a slight delay to make it difficult to identify the main path.

”How ridiculous. Let me show you what a real attack looks like.” Seris said mockingly and raised her sword...