I Can Devour Monsters' SSS Talents

Seris looked at the map.

”This map hasn’t written anything specific about Glassthorn Forest. That means either there was no significant danger here, or the map’s creator didn’t find anything worth recording.” Lian continued.

Of course, his information was not only based on a map. In the very limited reports of the tribe that he had read, he had also not been able to find any information about anything specific in this forest.

It wasn’t like he was going to completely ignore it. If they managed to find an opportunity or a special location, they would definitely explore it, but only if they found it.

Otherwise, they would continue on their path and set their main goal as reaching the first evolution and the Emberroot civilization.

”After that?” Seris asked.

”Then we enter Emberroot.” Lian moved his finger toward the east.

”What’s there?”

”According to the notes, the largest remaining civilization in this world.”

This time, Seris looked at the eastern part of the map with more interest.

Lian recounted all the information he had and then pointed at the mark again.

”But first, we need to find out what this point is. Whoever made this map didn’t mark it for no reason.”

”So we hunt, reach the mark, and then go after the civilization.” The young Pendragon summarized.

”Exactly.”

Lian folded the map, but before moving, he felt One’s exhaustion through Hive Link.

The ant had moved almost non-stop since entering the Giants’ Graveyard, had been forced to run at full speed several times.

The Warden’s chain had caught its leg, the bridge had collapsed under its feet, and the graveyard’s inherent pressure had affected its instincts from the start.

Now that they had left that area, the real exhaustion was showing.

One’s muscle movement had slowed down, its energy reserve had decreased, and even though it tried to hide its weakness, Lian could feel the heaviness of every step through the link.

”We rest first.”

Seris did not object. They stopped next to one of the largest trees around.

The tree’s transparent roots had come out of the ground and intertwined in crystalline arches.

Between them, there was a semi-enclosed space protected from three sides by the roots.

The trees in this forest were not as massive as in the Forest of Giants, and on the contrary, they were of standard size.

Before entering, Lian examined the environment with Predator’s Instincts. His vision changed.

The flow of Mana in the environment became clear. The trees of Glassthorn were alive like other plants, but their life was different from normal plants.

Mana moved like sap inside their transparent trunks. Sometimes the flows were calm, and sometimes due to the wind or the movement of a creature nearby, their light would intensify.

Lian looked for a few more seconds. If these trees were in the Ruined Realm, they could be a great source for mages.

A small creature passed behind a tree in the distance. At that same moment, the blue vein inside the trunk near it became brighter for a moment.

So the trees reacted to the presence of Mana. This reaction might not have been intentional, but it could reveal the location of creatures.

He remembered this point. After being relatively sure the environment was safe, they entered the space between the roots.

One sat on the ground. Its large body came down with exhaustion, and its antennae rested on the soil.

Lian took out a few pieces of healthy meat from his storage space and placed them in front of One.

The ant immediately went toward them and swallowed the first piece almost whole.

Seris sat next to one of the roots.

She placed her sword on her legs and calmly examined the blade’s edge. A few shallow scratches could be seen on her armor.

A small part of her shoulder guard had also cracked in the battle with the Doppelgängers.

”Were you wounded?” Lian asked.

”No.” The silver-haired girl answered without looking up.

The Vorhelm pointed at the cut on her armor.

”Then what’s that?”

Seris gave a brief look at her shoulder.

”The armor is wounded.”

”I meant under the armor.”

”No.”

A few seconds of silence passed between them, and Seris this time looked at Lian’s forearm, the same hand that had deflected the Warden’s blade strike with Ossuary Armor.

”What about you?”

Lian opened and closed his fingers a few times. The numbness had still not completely gone away.

”My hand is still numb.”

”Then use your other hand.” The Pendragon answered seriously.

He stared at her for a few moments. There was no sign of joking on Seris’s face. She probably really thought she had offered a suitable solution.

”Thanks, problem solved.” Lian said.

”Good.”

Lian also sat next to a root, allowing his muscles to relax slightly.

But part of his attention remained on the environment.

It was true that this forest was not a threat to them like the Forest of Giants, but here too, there were its own threats in different forms.

In a forest where distance, light, and even the direction of sound could not be trusted, deep sleep or rest was not a wise decision.

About half an hour later, One had recovered most of its energy.

The feeling of exhaustion was still there, but walking and short fights were not difficult for it.

Lian stood up, and Seris also sheathed her sword and stood up.

This time, neither of them sat on One’s back.

Lian preferred to move beside the ant. In the dense space of Glassthorn Forest, quick reaction on the ground was easier.

They began the journey. With every step, the difference between the Forest of Giants and this place became clearer.

Here, sound came from all directions. The collision of glass leaves, the wind’s flow, the movement of small creatures inside the trunks.

The sound of drops falling from the branches and shattering like crystal upon hitting the ground.

But no sound kept its real path. The sound of their own footsteps was sometimes heard from the front.

Sometimes from the left, sometimes it would return from behind a few seconds after their movement.

Light broke in the trunks and threw reflections in different directions. One’s image was sometimes seen a few meters ahead on a tree’s surface.

Then it would appear on another tree on the right.

Once, Lian saw Seris’s image moving behind a trunk, while the real Seris was walking right to his left.

”Be careful not to attack the reflections.” Lian said without stopping.

Seris looked at her own image moving on a distant trunk.

”Even if they attack?”

”Then it’s not a reflection at all, just a monster.”

She nodded. The answer was satisfying for her.

They moved for almost an hour without directly encountering a large monster.

But One stopped several times, sending a sense of danger through Hive Link. The problem was that it couldn’t determine the direction either.

A creature’s smell came from the right, the sound of movement was heard from the left, but the Mana pressure was sometimes felt from above and sometimes from behind.

Due to the glass and reflections, tracking danger had become terribly difficult for them. Even their intuition and senses were working with difficulty.

Now they realized that even this forest, contrary to their initial impression, could be dangerous and... annoying.

”At this rate, we could be attacked at any moment without even realizing it.” Lian reduced their speed.

The flows of Mana could be seen among the trees.

But unlike the Forest of Giants, here the environmental Mana was much higher. The light inside the trunks not only disrupted normal vision but also Mana detection.

Every flow was reflected several times, and every energy source created several false images in different points.

”Shhhhhhhhhh...” The sound of breaking glass was heard from the right.

Seris drew her sword.

A semi-transparent creature appeared behind one of the trees for a moment.

Its body resembled a large wolf, but it had longer shoulders and thinner legs.

Its skin was transparent, and its blue bones and organs could be seen through its crystalline skin.

Its eyes shone like two purple crystals.

The young girl turned in that direction, but the creature disappeared, and its image appeared on the trunk of another tree on the left.

Then another image.

Then one in front.

Within seconds, dozens of pairs of crystal eyes were watching them from among the trees.

”Are these reflections or real?” She looked at Lian.

And at that same time, a panel appeared before both of their views.

[Prismfang Stalker]

[Level: 18]

[Rank: Normal]

”I guess both?” Lian focused on them, but every body had several Mana flows.

The reflections were not only optical images. The semi-transparent bodies of the creatures also bent the energy and reflected the Mana trace on the surrounding trunks.

And the problem was that even the blood flow in this damn forest was reflected.

Literally, how was such a thing even possible?

For the first time, Predator’s Instincts could not immediately identify the real body. Neither the monster’s mana flow nor its blood flow could be distinguished.

”Which one is real?” Seris raised her sword.

Lian turned his gaze among the reflections.

”You might not believe it, but I have no idea.”

”All my senses are useless here, nothing can really be identified.”

”Then I’ll hit all of them.” The young girl channeled mana into her blade.

”I guess this time we have no choice but to follow your solution.” Lian gave her a brief look, he agreed too.

If they couldn’t find the real one, they just had to destroy all of them.

”My solutions have always worked.”

One of the Stalkers moved, its image jumped from the right to the front.

But Lian felt the change in air pressure on the left. The real body came out from behind a trunk.

Its transparent jaw opened.

Its prismatic teeth refracted the blue light and came directly toward his forearm.

[Diamond Skin]

The skin on his forearm took on a metallic shine. The monster’s teeth hit it, and a bright spark exploded between them.

The Stalker could not break his skin, but the pressure of its jaw was more than what he expected from Level 18.

Lian turned his hand to grab the creature’s neck, but the monster immediately pulled back.

Its body faded among the lights, and several images scattered in different directions.

Lian activated Echo Adaptation.

[Echo Adaptation Activated.]

[Primary Target Selected: Prismfang Stalker.]

[Analysis: 12%]

This time, he did not only look at the creature itself. He looked at the environment. The lights inside the trees, the changes in the shadows, the intensity of the reflections, and the moment when the real body was placed in the path of one of the light currents.

No matter how annoying this forest might be and how much it tried to disrupt his senses, it didn’t matter. He would always have his ways of dealing with any situation.

Anyway, hunting here was not going to be as easy as they had thought.