My Devourer System: Rise of the Bastard Son

Lucen stared into the dark den. The jagged hole in the earth shivered, dust raining from its roof as the Withmare charged up to meet them.

The Squires silently prepared themselves, mana forming a dense haze of force as multiple spells were prepared to go off.

Lucen summoned his silver spear in a brief flash of light, feeling the cold metal against his skin was comforting.

Set roared at the top of his voice, "Don't let them surround us!"

The plan was to keep the monsters confined to their hole and the quagmire Kate set up. Eight golden needles snapped into existence with the sound of glass breaking, illuminating the basin in light.

The trees swayed around them, casting shadows over the bare stone. The wide depression in the ground had become their ring.

The first Withmare burst from the cave, a Stalker, taller than any human with six powerful arms that ended in poisonous claws.

It barreled past the first needle and Ymir didn't try manually activating the spell. It was better with more Withmare.

The Stalker's limbs sank into the soft muddy ground, and the more force it tried to use to escape, the deeper it sank.

A lance of flames soared over Lucen's head and collided with the Withmare with a powerful blast. When the smoke cleared, the monster's head was blown clean off.

But more were crawling from the tunnel behind it, multiple huge shapes fighting to escape the pit.

Withmares, ranging from Fledglings to Fiends, crawled from the pit in a frenzied storm of white. Some were caught by the mud while others jumped on their trapped companions.

The golden needles surrounding the pit's entrance expanded into a deadly bundle of spikes that punched holes through piles of Withmares.

Everyone simultaneously cast their deadliest spells. Lucen cast [Serpent's Call] on his spear, filling it with excess mana, then used [Starfall].

A thunderous bang filled the air, a spiraling bolt of white energy shot towards the horde of beasts. Lucen aimed right at the nest's entrance.

And the spear blasted a path through all the Withmares in between. Blood and light mixed in a vicious spiral, the spear slammed into a Fiend that tried to hold it back.

But Lucen had packed it with enough mana to keep it moving, and the farther the spear moved, the stronger it would get.

The Fiend's hand tore as it was drilled into, it tried its best to grab the spear as it pierced into its chest but was unsuccessful.

There was a terrible grinding sound as flesh was torn apart, the Withmare Fiend let out a guttural scream as the spiraling bolt of energy slowly tore into its chest.

Meanwhile, fireballs, pillars of stone, jets of water, windblades, and lightning-fast divine spells slammed into their ranks, turning everything to wet piles of ash.

The barrage continued for almost ten minutes. Lucen resorted to even using [Suntouch] as another Fiend pushed towards them.

The six-armed beast barrelled forward like a frieght train, its white fur seemed to be made from steel and it wore a huge Travojar mask that still barely fit. It let out a furious roar as it stomped over its dead companions.

Lucen stretched out a finger and sent a beam of liquid gold at the Fiend. The spell burnt a vicious line over its head, forcing it to stop a few meters from them.

Just close enough for both Set and Duran to use their [Radiant Blade] spells. Huge golden greatswords carved from golden light came down on the Fiend.

Set's blade pinned it down, Duran's accurately came down on the head.

The plan was going excellently. The Fiends were being focused on and the Stalkers and Fledglings were killed in the aftermath. But something was very wrong.

Lucen could read his soul and it was in turmoil. He did his best to read the warnings but so much was going on. Lucen narrowed his eyes, forgetting his soul, and focusing on the mud.

Footsteps. He focused on all the steps from the entrance of the nest where they were coming out from. Nothing had escaped—

Lucen's eyes were caught by small indents in the quagmire. Following these indents, he found a trail that led out of the mud trap they prepared for the Withmares.

Lucen stepped out of the formation to the edge of the quagmire, everyone glanced at him.

"Lucen! What are you doing?" Set yelled.

He ignored all of them, eyes tracing the dots till it exited the quagmire. Nothing was there.

"Lucen! We need you," Kon yelled. "There's a Fiend coming."

Lucen ignored him, staring into the empty space. The ground sloped upwards a few meters ahead, the end of the basin. Then trees and the darkening sky.

Nothing was there.

Lucen was about to step back. Then he let a small amount of mana seep into his hand and used [Serpent's Call].

He raised a flurry of dust with a wave of his hand. The dust rolled over the barren land unimpeded until it reached a certain place.

The dust was forced to curl around this empty spot. A huge shape was formed in the dust, six arms, faceless, like a shimmer in the air.

If Lucen had been at home, just hanging his clothes in the rolling, green fields, and the dust revealed such a thing, he'd think he was just mad.

The dust settled, and the shape disappeared.

But both of them knew that wasn't enough to convince Lucen nothing was there.

The ground cracked, Lucen jumped sideways but was still hit. His ears were flooded with the sound of wind, his body roared in pain, the world blurred and after a second, Lucen hit the ground.

Years of training made Lucen turn in the air after he bounced off the stone and push off with his hands.

The ground exploded with seconds later.

Lucen had no idea where his spear was. His body was so battered after the errant hit that his head was still shaking. He cast spells without even thinking.

A tree blurred in his vision as he spun in the air, a tail of water appeared behind him and grabbed a branch, pulling him upward.

A great rush of wind informed him the invisible thing had almost taken off his head.

He collapsed against a high branch of the tree and his body had just a few brief seconds of rest. Thousands of thoughts flew through his head in those seconds.

An invisible Withmare.

It's only after me, why?

A Tyrant?

Are the others—