My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

Chapter 908: Chapter 909: Stalker

Seras frowned when she noticed Damon’s gaze still remained there even when the lights had revealed nothing. Even she had a vague feeling something should have been there.

”What did you see,” she asked calmly, her eyes gazing around the area with a sharpness like a sword.

Damon stood up slowly, his eyes narrowed.

”Something, that’s for sure. But for the life of me, I couldn’t tell you what.”

She nodded slowly. That was unusual, but this was the Evil Forest after all.

”I see. I didn’t expect we’d run into one of the abominations of the Evil Forest so soon. We let our guard down.”

Still, anything was better than nothing. She turned her gaze back to the dark tree line, where even shadows seemed to be consumed by an unending darkness.

”What did it look like, from what you’ve seen?”

Damon glanced at the man who was breathing heavily but still unconscious.

”It was one of those things that mess with your perception. It seemed tall, but hunched too. When I looked at it, I could feel its breath on my face. It was so close... and still it was far enough that my sword wouldn’t reach it.”

She nodded as Renata stepped into the defensive circle.

”Hm. It must be a creature with a conceptual-type attribute. That’s not rare at all in places like this. When dealing with these kinds of entities, they bend the rules of the world and operate under esoteric laws.”

She sighed, crossing her arms.

”I’ve read several Academy reports on this forest, and I can say without a doubt, this whole thing is alive. The forest doesn’t like us, and it will try to kill us at every turn.”

Damon wasn’t surprised by that. It was like the Whispering Forest, except unlike that place, the Evil Forest was constantly being explored.

”The Whispering Forest has rules, actually, a lot of them. But the most important one is never letting the forest know your name.”

”Does the Evil Forest have such a rule,” he muttered.

”No. Not really. The Evil Forest has many rules across different regions, and those rules change depending on the season. The forest also births different entities at different times, from the thoughts and fears of those who step inside. This place has quite the nasty collection.”

She placed a hand on her waist.

”The farther you go, the lower your chances.”

Damon gazed at the black soil of the Evil Forest, the oppressive darkness, the sense of something watching them, his own heartbeat syncing with the silence.

”If that’s the case, doesn’t that mean our own fears can birth monsters of unimaginable proportions?”

Renata nodded slowly.

”It can, but this place is ancient. There’s nothing we can imagine that hasn’t already been imagined by someone else. That isn’t something to worry about.”

”For now, we should wait until morning, then keep moving,” Seras added.

”The closer we get to the inner region, the more powerful they become, and the less time we have. At least half of our total number of units will die before we reach the ocean on the other side.”

Her words were cold and merciless, making the expedition force visibly shaken with fear, but she knew exactly what she was doing.

”If you don’t want that to be you,” she continued, ”then I suggest you keep your wits about you. Death is lurking everywhere.”

Everyone saluted, and it was as if they became more vigilant instantly.

She glanced at a young woman examining the injured man.

”What did you learn,” she asked.

The woman had green hair and brown eyes. She looked like an elf, but clearly wasn’t native to the Verdant Continent, she was from one of the elven tribes of Soltheon.

”I think we’re dealing with a stalker.”

When she said that, Seras’s eyes flickered with annoyance. Damon figured from her reaction that it was something troublesome.

”A stalker, huh.” Kael walked toward them, wearing light armor and surrounded by a few knights he had taken scouting after the attack.

”Did you find anything,” Seras asked.

Kael shook his head.

”If we’re dealing with a stalker, we wouldn’t.”

Damon turned to Seras.

”What’s a stalker?”

She held her temple, genuinely irritated.

”Something troublesome. It’s a horror unique to the inner forest. They’re very few in number, but we’ve had enough encounters to record them, just not enough to actually know how to kill them.”

Kael glanced at Damon with the look of a professor correcting a wayward student.

”These entities are virtually unkillable as long as they are being observed. To that end, they are similar to Weeping Angels, another type of entity I hope we don’t encounter. Though these are different. Unlike the angels, they can move even when observed.”

Damon frowned, biting his lip.

”So they can’t move if they aren’t being observed by something. It doesn’t even have to be human, right? How do we kill something we can’t even observe?”

”If we observe them, we can’t kill them. And we can’t kill them without observing them. What a paradox,” Renata muttered.

Damon glanced at the young elf woman.

”If you have records, that means someone survived one before, right?”

She shook her head, fear evident on her face.

”In most instances, the target of the stalker used instant teleportation scrolls or greater teleportation magic to escape. The best method I know of is sealing magic, seal it away.”

Damon took a deep breath.

”Sealing magic... I doubt sealing something like that would be easy or permanent.”

Seras nodded slowly.

”Yes. I agree. We’d just have to kill it.”

Damon agreed. He would have to figure out how to kill something that couldn’t be killed while being observed.

There had to be a rule that allowed it to die.

”It already attacked, so it probably won’t attack anyone again tonight.”

Plup.

Someone fell to the ground at the edge of the campsite. Something leapt off a branch and vanished.

Seras glanced at him, frowning.

”You were saying?”

Damon’s expression turned cold.

”I’m definitely killing that thing.”