My Devourer System: Rise of the Bastard Son

A single creature crept through the forest, face hidden under the white skull of another monster.

It was taller than a man with snow-white fur and six grisly arms. It walked on four arms and touched everything with its arms.

A Withmare Stalker.

The skull was dry and old, its eyes dark and eerie empty.

It was blind, relying on mana sense and its powerful hearing to navigate the world. Mana sense was a field where all things made of mana appeared in your mind.

But in exchange, it had one of the best Veils among all monsters. Just one step from invisible.

Lucen was standing just a few minutes from it, breath subdued, a deadpanned expression on his face.

His silver spear glowed in the faint light of the Halo. The silent chill of the forest poured over his him, penetraing his blacksteel armor.

The fallen leaves on the ground crackled silently. Each step of the beast was almost imperceptible.

If Lucen wasn't seeing it with his own eyes, he wouldn't believe it.

But as it got closer, the smell something rotten and old flooded his nose. Lucen wrinkled his nose and swallowed silently, battling against his digust

The Withmare's white fur was dirty and rough, its six arms raised and lowered themselves slowly. There were little cracks in its masks.

It had probably smashed the skull of the creature it killed, before carving it out.

One of the Withmare's hands strayed towards him, then it paused. Lucen examined the long, black fingers of the monster. Six padded fingers built for nigh-perfect silence.

The fingers waved through the air, sensing the heat from his body but confused since nothing was there.

Lucen was using [Stalker's Edge] to hide his mana and dull his presence. The mana that made up his body melded into the still air and the dried leaves beneath his feet.

One of the Knights also cast a spell on him to enhance his stealth before he left. So he was extra invisible today.

It was a necessary precaution when facing Withmare

Lucen and others Knights with Veiling spells had been sent out. His job was simple.

Kill any of the Withmare's scouts he found in the forest.

The hand drew closer to him and the Withmare rose to its feet, all six arms spreading out. Black nails glistening with their famed poison.

The Stalker took one more step and sank into [Sinking Sand]. Its arms swung through the air surprised.

Lucen struck to kill in one move, his spear burst with light. He stabbed upward, ramming his spear through the Withmare's throat.

He jumped back as the monster's claw tore at him, despite the spear in its throat.

[Starfall] activated a second later.

The Withmare lunged at him. But its skull exploded long before it got to him, scattering blood and meat all over the forest floor.

It was abrupt and dull noise that broke the silence of the empty forest. Blood splattered over the brown leaves on the ground.

Lucen hid behind a tree to avoid getting baptized in blood. He dismissed his spear and cast [Stalker's Edge] again.

He crouched and circled this area once before coming back to the corpse.

Tall white trees filled the forest, their leaves and branches were slim and curved. Light filtered through the swaying leaves faintly.

The Halo's light never grew bright enough to bring day time, and with this many trees drowned out the light even more, putting the forest in a perpetual dusk.

The tress were carefully spaced despite no human forestry. The Withmare had taken care of the forest for generation.

That meant the nest was probably close, he needed to kill more silently next time.

He examined the body of the Withmare, consciously watching its soul for even a single sign of Hunger mana.

It still baffled him how the first Withmare he killed was almost revived by stealing life.

With injuries that bad, he didn't expect any healing magic to even come close to saving it.

He cut out its poison sac more carefully than Lot. He wasn't as skilled as the platinum-blonde Knight. But he took it out without mistakenly poisoning himself.

He studied the sack for a moment, before murmuring. "A Stalker."

Its mana wasn't very developed and there was no sign of Hunger mana in its body. Its skull mask was also a sure sign of its lowly rank.

The dry skull it wore on its head was that of a Riftama. Bat-like beasts that were as big as a grown man. They only hunted at night with their ink-black scales and terrible claws.

It wasn't really a strong monster. One that even a weak Withmare could kill.

"Only some of them were given Hunger mana?" Lucen guessed.

He cleaned his hand with a handkerchief and pulled out a piece of paper, putting down a simple note for the Knight that would pass through here.

It was possible that there was something specific granting them this power. Scouts like this were usually the lowest caste of Withmare.

They were not allowed to mate, ate last, and lived on the edges of the nest.

It was possible this Withmare wasn't given Hunger mana because of its social status in the troop.

Lucen left the corpse and crept through the forest, eyes jumping at every swaying leaf, steps slow and precise. At the same time, he monitored his internal mana rigidly.

Using your soul was the only way to fully blend in with the internal mana around him. Lucen was actively working on upgrading Comprehension.

He did his best to close off his [Mana Sense], and simply rely on [Reading] and [Comprehension] to predict where the Withmares might be.

It was proving to be a waste of time, though. What was he meant to use [Reading] on if not the external mana? How could he see external mana without [Mana Sense]?

All his speculation with the Devourer system was beginning to seem useless.

But he found something interesting when he was checking the mana in his soul.

It kept pointing in a certain direction, like fire being blown in one direction.

So he decided to go that way. He climbed a Carama tree as silently and carefully as possible and checked everything from above.

Once he was sure it was safe, he began moving.

But a few meters later, it stopped directing him. Now his soul was just placid and quiet.

Lucen swore under his breath and froze where he stood. His knuckles whitened on the shaft of his spear, every instinct in his body screaming that one wrong step would echo like thunder in this cursed forest.

He really thought he made a step towards the prediction trait there. He crouched against a tree, trying to read his soul.

Then he heard something.

The soft snap of a twig made his heart race. He glanced behind him and found a Withmare Stalker crawling towards him.

He barely managed to keep his composure and wait as the tall, six-armed beast moved towards him.

It didn't know he was there. He had to keep his emotions in check or it would affect his Veil.

The creature was silent as death, its huge, white body moving right past him with elegant strides.

Lucen's heart was pounding in his ears so loud he feared the Withmare would hear. His eyes scoured its body and remembered Warren's teachings.

Spine, heart, or throat.

But there was a place in the back that if properly hit would sever the spine and pierce the heart in one blow.

The Withmare reared up against a tree.

One hit.

Lucen crawled slowly towards it, casting [Stalker's Edge], [Targeting] and [Serpent's Call].

He neutered the force of [Serpent's Call] to the best of his ability.

If he made too much noise, the other Withmares would be alerted to trouble.

The Withmare Stalker pawed at the tree. Muscles rippled under its white fur and the mana in its body was invisible.

Lucen created a spinning force inside his spear with the mana he imbued it with. It wouldn't be able to travel for too long, but he needed all the force he could get.

He waited for the Withmare to moved away from tree. He didn't want to push the monster into the tree.

The Stalker landed with a silent thud, and Lucen's spear shot forward immediately. The blinding ray of light drilled into the creature's back, severing its spine and piercing the heart in one blow.

Lucen quickly cast [Tailwhip] and used it to catch the falling Withmare before it hit the ground. The water wrapped around the Withmare's waist and splashed against the ground clumsily.

Lucen's face was wrinkled with focus, slowly lowering the body without getting too close. He needed to lay it down quietly then destroy its head before its Hunger magic kicked in.

But purple-black mana surged from its soul, Lucen grimaced. Its narrow, black fingers grazed the tree and began draining it of life.

Lucen cursed, he would have to let go and just hope the body didn't thump to the ground loudly.