I am the Devourer

Hearing Cyndraim’s last words, telling that the girl had a panther, the monsters present thought of something. Something that would be dangerous for Elena. Feeling worried, she pulled off her storage ring and buried it under the ground, in the basement.

This should do it. I should change my face too, but that would surely catch the attention of the monsters. Maybe I should go with something simpler… which isn’t too obvious, she thought, a serious face on. Looking down, she decided to switch to a petite looking body. The monsters surely wouldn’t notice it. Unlike Cyndraim, who had her looks imprinted into its memories. It would never forget Elena.

But the real problem was Dred. “How am I supposed to hide you? Can you do something about your looks?” She whispered silently.

Raising a finger, Audrey whispered calmly, “He should switch to another race. Although he would look almost the same, there is a difference between a huge black cat and a panther. I’m sure that the others wouldn’t even notice it, but Cyndraim would think that they aren’t the same.”

“Great! Thanks for the idea,” Elena whispered as she hugged Audrey. By the time they separated, Dred was looking differently. His head was smaller, his legs thinner, his tail shorter and furrier. He looked more like an oversized simple, black, housecat.

They left the house with calm faces, acting as if they had nothing to do with this.

“Woah! A dragon?!” Elena exclaimed loudly, with wonder on her face. Noticing them, Cyndraim rushed towards them.

“You… you look very similar… but you aren’t the same. Even your smell is different. But how did you get a humanoid shape, cat?” It questioned, growling in a low voice.

“Oh, both of us were stray cats. We just spent our time together when we were animals! After killing a strange monster, I ate it. That was the time when my body changed completely!” Elena exclaimed proudly, with a calm face.

Although Cyndraim was a little envious, it replied with a snort, “Hah- you are just a cat beastman. I’ll turn into a dragon!”

“Ah, right! You are so lucky,” she replied with an envious tone, her head hung down. Cyndraim nodded its head, feeling proud of itself.

“Haha, you aren’t like these idiots! You understand who is on the top! Once I can have a humanoid form, I might make you into my concubine. You should feel proud of yourself for achieving this position,” it said with unshakeable self-confidence. Elena felt like puking when she replied with a smile on her face, saying that she was happy.

“Remember. We must attack the humans soon!” Flapping its wings, Cyndraim shouted as it took off and flew away.

Looking after Cyndraim for a few seconds, Elena and Dred turned around, to go back to their house. I’ll gut this shit. A few days at most… damn it. If only my birth would have been at the same time as this ‘apocalypse’ started… I could go around, killing everyone. Ugh… but this will be bad for my future. I shouldn’t get used to a super easy life. These people are just new to everything, she thought with, frowning in dissatisfaction.

Seeing Audrey waiting for them, she nodded, showing that things went smoothly. Just as she was about to dig out the ring, she heard knockings on her door. Or more like… someone was trying to break in… Stupid animals. Can’t even knock with their paws, she thought as a feeling of annoyance filled her heart. She was being interrupted continuously.

“You open the door, with my looks,” Elena whispered to Audrey. Nodding, she transformed to look like Elena. Meanwhile, the real Elena hid in Audrey’s shadow. Opening the door, the wind blew on her face. She found Toruk Mak, the Tiger in front of it.

“What can I help you with?” Audrey asked, her head tilted to the side.

“Khen I come in?” He asked with a low voice. Nodding, she stepped aside and closed the door after him.

Turning to look at her, it growled, “Yhou lied. Buth khey… if you hland over its tleasule, I’ll kheep you alive.”

Audrey said nothing, just eyed Toruk silently. Seeing that he just wouldn’t budge, she questioned him, her brows raised. “What are you talking about?”

“Hahaha, dhon’t thake me for a fhool. I was the one who talked to you. I rhemember your looks and both of you changled since then,” he replied with a laugh, still terrible when it came to at talking.

Feeling annoyed to even hear it, Audrey replied hurriedly, “Come after me. I hid it in the forest. But we will share it. You won’t take it all away from me! It’s a win-win for you as well. Or else, I can just tell Cyndraim and both of us will die…” Finishing her sentence, she threw her black hair over her shoulders and waited for Toruk’s reply.

Seeing the seriousness in her eyes, Toruk nodded and followed after her. It never noticed the real Elena. Leaving the tribe, Dred changed back to his normal form. Sitting on his back, they ran far away from the forest, in Toruk’s company. He never noticed Elena, entering his shadow.

Turning around, Audrey smiled, waving her hand. Feeling surprised, Toruk listened to his instincts and stopped running. A huge Wind Blade cut into the ground in front of his face. Just one more step and he would have died. It wanted to roar, but it didn’t have time. Seeing two huge stone walls flying towards him, it used Nature Magic to block the walls.

Just as he finished, he turned forward, only to see Dred’s paw, which was about to strike his face. Stepping back hurriedly, Audrey’s fireball struck his face, burning him. What was even weirder was that he kept losing strength for some reason and he was rotting away. But before he could realize anything, Elena jumped out from his shadow and thrust her daggers through his eye sockets.

With its brain penetrated, he fell to the ground lifelessly. Kicking his corpse, Elena said with disdain, “Heh… greedy shit. You should have stayed silent.”

The shadows extended towards Toruk’s corpse, devouring it in a few seconds.

You have gained: +133 Strength; +101 Agility!

You have leveled up to Lv. 37!

New Skill Acquired: Ambush (Passive Skill)

You killed your targets with surprise attacks, numerous times. This shows your ability at assassinating. This skill will increase your chance at a successful finishing strike if it is a surprise attack. Your target will suffer from a passive debuff in your presence, meaning a lower level of awareness.

“Oh! That’s great!” Elena exclaimed upon seeing a new skill. Not surprisingly, Dred acquired this skill at the same time. A few more such attacks and maybe Audrey would get it as well. Although this wasn’t an active skill, it was even better than many of those! She was sure that this skill will come in handy in the future.

Cleaning her daggers, she put them back into their scabbards, which were strapped to her waist. “I’ll need stronger weapons. These are getting weaker and this bow is in the way! Unless I put it into my storage ring,” she pondered in herself. Looking at Audrey, who just changed back to her real form, “Do you need it?” she asked.

“Nah, not really. Its stats are weak as well. It wouldn’t be worth the trouble for me,” sticking out her tongue, she didn’t take away the trash.

“Ugh… I’ll just dump it on a human when we get back. They can be very thankful as I’ve noticed,” frowning, Elena said with a stiff face. Shrugging her shoulders, Audrey agreed with her on that.

Passing by the monsters’ village, Elena dug out her ring and then left with it on her finger. They moved towards the city once again. Finding a clearing, they conjured a small stone building and sat down in it. Taking out the condensed Mana, they looked at the contents of the dug out earth with wonder.

“Well then… this should be enough for three to share. Who wants to start?” Elena asked, raising a brow. Audrey raised her hands in front of her chest, saying, “I shouldn’t drink from it. You were the ones who risked your lives for it. So… just drink it without me.”

How nice. She doesn’t want to hold us back. But I’d feel bad if I were to drink it without her. I’ll just leave a cup of it for her, she thought, eyeing Audrey. Leaning forward, she slurped out about two-fifths of it. Gulping it down, she ran out of the stone house.

“Use that gravity zone!” She shouted at Audrey. Doing as told, Elena started doing push ups, sit ups, and squats. Under the pressure of the gravity, her body felt much heavier. Since it was still not enough, Audrey sat on her back.

The condensed Mana burned through her veins, causing their collapse. She kept using her own Mana continuously, to enhance her body and senses. At the same time, she also used Wind Magic to push herself towards the ground. As the burning feeling was slowly dissipating in her body, she sat down on the ground and started meditating. Ten minutes later, her Mana Veins were back to their glorious form, much thicker than before.

Her muscles turned stronger and thicker, while her senses turned acuter. Thanks to the quickly rotating Mana in her brain, she was able to comprehend more about how to use her own skills and the elements. After her, it was the other's rounds. Going through the same things, everyone powered up by quite a lot. Status.

Name: Elena

Race: Progenitor Shadow (Legendary)

Level: 46

EXP: 920 / 1350

Class: ShadowMoor (Exclusive)

Specialization: Devourer

Health: 7415 / 7415

Mana: Cosmological Constant

Titles: The Only One; Pathfinder; Blood Drinker

Strength: 2686

Vitality: 1483

Agility: 2024

Will: 72

Intelligence: 2732

Wisdom: 3194

Elemental Magic:

Fire Lv.42 (23%); Water Lv.44 (93%);

Wind Lv.45 (34%); Lightning Lv.44 (82%);

Nature Lv.41 (89%); Earth Lv.49 (64%);

Light Lv.43 (17%); Dark Lv.50 (11%);

Cosmological Constant: Lv.2 (12%)

Resistances:

Magical: 3194

Physical: 1093

Passive:

Stamina: 7415

Precision: 10 120

Skills/Spells:

Inspect Lv. 36 (33%)

Mana Control Lv.32 (32%)

Meditation Lv. 43 (64%)

Sense Lv. 34 (41%)

Stealth: Lv. 6 (61%)>Evade Sense

Necromancy Lv. 0 (48%)

Racial Skills:

Devour Lv. 21 (82%) (+Active Skill)

ShadowStep Lv. 17 (59%)

Shadow Form Lv. 26 (8%)

…

Passive Skills:

Ambush Lv.0 (1%)

“Ugh… I should use Necromancy some more. Especially now that I can fill the dead bodies with almost infinite energy… unless I use up everything in the area,” Elena muttered to herself, looking at her stats. Nodding, they turned around to leave.

Entering the city, they made their way towards the school and were surprised to see the humans nicely ordered. The yard in front of the school was cleared and a huge mass of people were training there orderly. Some of them went even as far as to fist fight or to use their magical attacks.

Inspecting a few of them, Elena was surprised to see them being around the thirtieth level generally. But in fact, it was no surprise. Quick Evolution and Cornered wasn’t a trait of humans without a reason. Other races were stronger, better at magic, quicker, cleverer. What was left for the humans?

The answer to the question was their racial traits. No matter how deep they were, when it came to real trouble, they crept out of it, with the combination of these skills. This was also the reason why it was the worst decision to delay a declared war when it came to the humans. Under the pressure, they could gain unbelievable strength in a short time, overturning the original outcome.

If they could delay the monsters with a few more days, then they might be able to have a chance against the monsters. Their numbers were limited as well. Just a few noteworthy members would be enough to hold back the monsters, while the others could easily bombard them to death.

Jake was standing on a podium, training the same way the humans did. Interestingly enough, even the kids’ bodies started growing at a rapid pace, along with their strength. Seeing that things were going smoothly, after making Jake drink her blood, she went back to the monsters’ village. It took two days for the battle maniac monsters, to stop their practice group fight against each other.

Naturally, this happened only because of Cyndraim’s presence, who came in growling angrily, saying that they forgot its command. It’s not like it ever specified what it wanted… Although a few monsters noticed that Toruk Mak was missing, they just shrugged it off, saying that he probably went deeper into the forest to hunt.

Curse these bastards! It’s good that I got off so easily… but I’ll get too used to these idiots. No sane person would shrug these things off so simply, Elena cursed in her mind. Fearing that she would get used to this easy lifestyle. These are just stupid animals, yeah… they can’t see beyond these things, she added, trying to force back her superiority complex.

That was a problem every legendary being had to deal with. The pride seeping through their bones. Who wouldn’t be proud of its race if it was one of a kind? Especially if it was this powerful. But what was truly interesting was that Elena’s race was a weird one, even among the legendary beings.

Every other such race had kins, like dragonkins, bearkins, and the others… But this wasn’t true when it came to Elena and Dred. Maybe they could control ghosts, zombies, or such kinds of shady, ‘evil’ monsters, but those weren’t sentient beings. This reason was why her kind was the loneliest.

And just because the people here had no idea what her race meant, it didn’t mean that the other people above wouldn’t know it either. If word were to get out, it could bring catastrophic events on her head.

Grouping up, the monsters left towards the humans’ city, with the trio in tow. After two days of continuous training and dueling, Elena and Dred leveled up to the fifty-second level and gained great deals of power. At this point, there were only about two thousand stat points of difference between Audrey and Elena. It was only a question of time for them to turn even stronger than her.

Stepping on the asphalt of the city, the air seemed to be heavy from the pressure. Walking for a few more minutes, the two sides were met face to face. Large groups of humans were standing on the walls, ready to defend their homes. Without anyone noticing, Audrey went through the backdoors and soon returned with weapons in her hands.

When Elena visited two days ago, she didn’t forget to ask Triston to make new daggers for her. And as it turned out, it was enough for a spear as well. Wearing a black cape, the scabbards of the daggers were under it, on the top of her forearms. Throwing her old daggers into her storage ring, she replaced them with the new ones. With her new spear in hand, she stood ready to fight against the humans.

Without any prior declaration or talking, the monsters rushed forward. But it was natural. They were just animals, going on a hunt. Why would they declare it? It was surprising enough for them that the humans were waiting in such an organized manner. Using their Shadow Forms, they crept into Cyndraim’s shadow to evade the incoming attacks.

Holding up their palms, the humans started shooting all kinds of Magical Attacks towards the monsters. Huge balls of rocks rolled on the ground. Using a high level of Fire Magic, Jake lit them on fire, turning them into Magma Balls. Sprawling out on the ground, the monsters were met with a wide shallow of lava. Using their superior strength, they easily jumped over it but were surprised to see a sudden change.

The humans in the second line stomped on the ground and punched forward. The ground opened up after the lava shallow, leaving a few meters deep hole. Being in the air, they had no chance to escape. Although most of them managed to land safely with the use of Wind Magic, about five out of the forty fell to their death. This was because at the bottom of the hole was lava. As they burned to the death, Elena’s shadow rushed out of Cyndraim’s and devoured the monsters.

Flying in the air, Cyndraim didn’t care about this. In its opinion, they would win this easily anyway. There were five other bird type monsters, who were circling above the humans by now. Nose-diving, they flew towards the humans on the walls. Coincidentally, Cyndraim targeted Jake, sensing that he was the most powerful.

Before its claws could touch him, Jake jumped down from the five meters tall wall. Cyndraim’s claws crushed the spot he was standing at before. Roaring loudly, it swung its tail around, killing a few humans who weren’t quick enough to retreat.

Using a mix of Fire and Wind Magic, it shot a huge ball of fire towards the nearest group of humans. Combining their Mana, they built up a mix of thick Earth and Water Wall. Meeting the water, the fireball greatly decreased in size, while the Earth Wall easily defended them against the remaining mix of Wind and Fire. Growling angrily, Cyndraim felt ashamed of itself, since the weaklings stopped its attack.

Switching to Dark Magic, it spat out another ball and then charged at them. Jake jumped towards the side of Cyndraim, kicking it. Although it was pushed away, except for a few deep cracks on its side, nothing happened to it. High physical resistance came in handy at these times.

The other monsters finally reached the walls. Jumping over it, they were met with thousands of humans, their palms held towards the top of the walls. While in the air, they had no chance to dodge the incoming attacks. Their Wisdom wasn’t too high either as they were mostly focused on physical strength.

Swinging its tail, Cyndraim used Wind Magic to push the other monsters towards the ground. But six of the monsters still died as a result of the humans’ bombardment. Twenty-eight groups of four stood in the front, ready to hold back the remaining monsters.

The bird types flew towards the back of the small human army and used Wind Magic to slice them into pieces. Although their understanding of the winds was low, their control over it was much better. But this also led to huge Mana consumption, so the monsters didn’t have many shots to fire.

Killing a few hundred humans from the two thousand, the birds started using their claws to attack. But with such large masses firing at them, they soon lost their lives. Seeing the monsters quickly losing, Elena left Cyndraim’s shadow and used her Devour on the warrior humans. They looked at her with flabbergasted faces as they felt their bodies rotting and their strength slipping away.

She charged towards the Mages, spear in hand. Using her Devour, the humans slowly started rotting away. Their Magical Resistance helped them a lot at these times. But they had no chance against Dred and Elena’s physical strength. Each time they swung their spear or paws, a head rolled. Blood littered the ground of the once peaceful school yard.

Elena spun her spear in a circle, to stop an incoming fireball. Dispersing it, she saw a guy looking at her with a despaired face. “WHY ARE YOU FIGHTING AGAINST US?!” He shouted questioningly. Rushing forward, she thrust her spear through his heart. As he spat out his blood, with widely opened eyes, he saw Elena leaning over to his ears.

“It’s nothing personal. You just know something you shouldn’t. Blame it on those who told you, people, my race. If not for that, I would have let you go peacefully. No one can stay alive and know my race, who isn’t my blood servant. If you want to turn into that, you can drink my blood. It might save your life, you know?” Leaning back, she looked into his eyes.

Shaking his head sideways with a smirk on his face, he fell on his knees. Pulling out her spear, Elena saw his corpse falling to the ground, lifelessly. “Haah… Such a waste. I feel sorry for you people, but this is a must.” Feeling a gust of wind behind her head, she ducked down. A sword flew past her, slicing nothing but air. Spinning on the ground, she kicked out the leg of the person behind him.

Turning around, she swung her spear and sliced the person into two halves. “Oh! You were one of the co-leaders before, right?” She said with a smile on her face, as the guy fell to the ground. His corpse disappeared in but a moment. It happened at that time, that she saw a kid in the middle of the crowd, looking at her fearfully. He ran out of the basement of the school. Whether he would get out of this or not was a question of fate.

Elena just turned away, not having the time to care about him. Her blood splattered face would surely leave an eternal mark in the boy’s heart. She knew that she was ‘evil’ at the moment, but this was necessary if she wanted to live. And she was turning more into a real monster as she grew up. Not just a superficial humanoid. If something or someone threatened her life, she would take care of it.

Seeing that the strength of the two sides was starting to be equal, she ran towards Cyndraim, who was still chasing Jake, killing large groups of humans in the process. Looking at Dred, both of them nodded. Audrey wasn’t doing anything, except for preparing a huge spell.

Thanks to the effect of Ambush, Cyndraim didn’t even notice her running towards its back. Just as Cyndraim moved its jaws towards Jake’s back, trying to bite him, Elena and Dred jumped towards its neck. Dred turned into his bear form when he was flying past above its head. With twenty percent additional strength, he smacked the back of Cyndraim’s head. With more than four thousand two hundred strength in his paw strike, Cyndraim’s skull cracked.

Not even its huge physical resistance and scales helped it this time. At the same time, Elena landed on the back of its long neck, her spear in her storage ring. Pulling out her new daggers, she thrust them into Cyndraim’s neck. With her current strength, it entered quite smoothly.

Cutting across its neck, the Wyvern was beheaded and killed. Devouring its body, Elena felt a huge change in her body. Seeing a Rune of Biotic Enhance on the ground, she picked it up and shared it through their blood.

Jumping through the walls, they left the area of the school. Audrey finished her spell perfectly on time. A huge wave of Mana transformed into a true inferno. The fire started rotating, burning everything to the ground. Joining their side, Jake stopped beside them, to look at the devastation. Their shadows extended towards those who were still alive and started devouring their DNA.

Soon, the fire dissipated, as there was nothing to burn and Audrey stopped pouring her Mana into the spell. Feeling their bodies turning weaker, they left the area and entered a house nearby. Laying on the bed like a pile of dead bodies, they fell asleep.

Small scales grew out on Elena’s forearms, on the outer halves of her legs, and on her sides. But considering how many cat-type animals she just devoured, it wasn’t surprising to see a black, furry tail growing out of her spine. Her claws and canine teeth lengthened, giving a more bestial look to her.

They woke up a few hours later, groaning. Their bodies felt sore after such a change. Standing up, Elena examined her body. “What? This time my original looks have changed!?” She mumbled to herself, feeling surprised. Dred’s body was so big, that not only the roof but even a few walls fell.

This was because… he has got a new form to his transformation ability. A wyvern. He looked the same as Cyndraim from before, except for his scales, which were completely black. Flapping his wings, the top floor was smashed into pieces. After moving their bodies for a few seconds, Elena jumped on Dred’s back. Jumping off of the rooftop, they sailed through the air, towards the school.

As they landed, Elena jumped off of Dred’s back, grinning like an idiot. “W-We will test this out soon enough. I need more of this!” She said, feeling excited to fly some more. “Ugh… but we will need a saddle. It was painful enough to sit on your back even before… now it is even worse,” rubbing her buttocks, she remarked with a stiff face.

“Okay,” Dred replied, surprising Elena to no end.

“Eh?” Turning to look at him, she gave out a stupid sound.

“What is it?” He replied, looking at her with a smug-looking face. That face… it must be my imagination. Wyverns can’t make such facial expressions, can they? She thought, trying to deny the truth.

“N-Nothing… so you can talk,” she replied with a stiff face, feeling slightly awkward.

“Yes. But I prefer staying silent. Of course, you can ask me anything,” he replied with strangely gentle-looking eyes. Seeing his behavior, Elena smiled as she stepped closer to him and rubbed her head on his. She was just surprised to hear him talking. No matter what, even if she knew that he always understood her words, after seeing him staying silent for so long, an ‘animal’ feeling formed in her when it came to Dred.

But this was only a temporary feeling. If Dred talked some more, her emotions would naturally change. A no matter what, she knew that she could always trust Dred. That feeling of safety and comfort Dred provided was irreplaceable to her. He was like a loving big brother.

“Alright, let’s look around. There should be a few humans left, along with the kids,” letting go of him, she said as she turned around. Dred kept looking at her with loving eyes, thinking, I’ll protect you.

Searching the remaining buildings, which had their roofs melted by the inferno, they found a few people, Triston being one of them. Audrey and Jake looked for survivors in the basement of the school and soon returned with a group of kids. Ugh… troublesome. What should I do with them? Oh… there is that possibility, thinking of something good, she turned happier.

“W-What have you done?! Weren’t you all nice and friendly before?” Triston asked, looking at Elena with a mix of disappointment and despair on his face.

“Where did your soul go?” Falling to his knees, he shouted. Squatting down in front of him, Elena put her finger under his chin and raised up his head.

Looking deeply into his eyes, she replied, “My soul is still here. You just didn’t know me. To be honest, I had no intention to hurt any of you. I do feel a little sad about killing the others, but I had no other way. I believe that two thousand people wouldn’t have made an oath to keep my secret and to not attack me… some of them would have snuck out anyway. And that could have resulted in a potential threat to my life.”

“I had no intention to leave loose threads. As you see it… Jake turned into my familiar. He didn’t know what was he getting into at that time. But after drinking my blood, his thinking naturally changed. Now he too is looking at the humans like me. A different race, which is interesting, but is a potential threat to our lives.”

Stepping back, she stood up to look at the kids and children present. Crossing her arms in front of her chest, she said loudly, “I know that you have nowhere to go and no one to rely on. If more monster communities were to be born in the future, your chance to stay alive would be zero. But I know something you don’t. This world will die out in at most a year and you have no future to speak of.”

“Unless… you have a tragic childhood and mature quickly enough. You will have to be strong and fight for your lives. This doesn’t mean that I did all this for you. You might don’t even understand the weight of my words. This turn of events was just a secondary thing. Maybe you will live. Maybe you will die. It all depends on your own mind and hard work from this point.”

“I killed your parents, your loved ones, only to keep myself alive. To reach my goal. I’m sure that you kids have noticed that… your parents and every other adult did the same. They showed their true colors in a time of need, to stay alive. If you don’t want to die, then you will have to do the same.”

“But in case you wish to stay alive, you will have to do something very simple. Take an oath,” she finished her speech, looking at the kids present. Many of them had stupid faces, showing that they clearly didn’t understand the situation they were in. Some of them were just sobbing silently or loudly… while the others were looking at Elena seriously.

It came in handy when the parents weren’t sheltering their children too much. That was something utterly stupid. Hearing her speech, Triston and the other people did think a little differently about Elena, but they still hated her. Just because of holding a stupid emotional speech, they wouldn’t forget what has she done.

She killed many of them just to save her own life. “Wait… Did you bring the monsters on our necks?!” Triston shouted, as an idea formed in his mind.

“Huh? No… I didn’t even know that there was a monster village. And there might be more. It was a complete accident. Originally, I planned to leave you in the dust and use the Ogres and my strength to force you into taking an oath. It was just your bad luck… as when I stole the treasure, the Wyvern noticed me. Since I was in my human form, Cyndraim satisfied its wrath on you…”

Hearing the truth, Triston felt like choking himself. They had to die because of such a stupid reason? He could have accepted the other method very easily. It wouldn’t have been a big deal. Just a simple oath!

“Now, repeat my words if you want to live… I swear upon my life that I won’t try to tell your secret, meaning your race and abilities to anyone. I won’t try to make others learn the truth. I won’t try to kill you or even attempt to attack you unless you do so to me.”

Seeing her looking at them with deadly serious eyes, the remaining humans repeated her words, along with the kids. Though they needed a little help.

The following list of people, took an oath, with the following pledge. The penalty was set to be death. You didn’t take an oath, resulting in a one-sided pledge.

Seeing the notification, Elena nodded with a smile. If she was to focus on the list or pledge, she could look at the details anytime. But there were two people who didn’t repeat her words. One of them being Triston, the other one being a woman. Looking at them, Elena raised a brow, asking if they wanted to turn into familiars instead.

Naturally, the reaction was unpleasant… “No! I won’t throw myself towards someone, who just killed our whole community! For what? A secret?! You could have sided with us and then ask us to do this oath of yours! I’m sure that none of us would have refused it,” the woman shouted, her face visibly full of anger and hate.

Not wasting her breath pointlessly, Elena pulled out her spear. Swinging it in an arc, she beheaded the woman and devoured her body. In no more than a second, there was nobody left to speak of.

Sighing loudly, she stopped in front of Triston. “Would you do it, please? I don’t want to kill you. As a payment for teaching me something useful. You even made me these,” showing her weapons, she made him face the truth. The killer weapon, which served her in killing the humans was made by him. He was the one who gave a weapon to the enemy. She was hoping that she could crush his will.

“I should have killed you when you were so small and weak,” he mumbled silently, as a feeling of regret filled up his heart.

“Yeah… but my race is very good at changing personality when in the presence of stronger people. You couldn’t have known it,” she replied.

“So if I drank your blood, my viewpoint would change enough, to think of this as a good thing?” He asked, looking at her with hopeful eyes. Seeing her nod, he stood up. “Then help me! I can’t bear this anymore!” He shouted with a crazed face.

As Elena looked down to cut her palm, she was surprised to see a knife moving towards her chest. Flexing her muscles, she covered her body in scales. The knife had no way to penetrate her body. Seeing that his ambush didn’t work, Triston assaulted her with a mad face. He kept trying to penetrate her chest and pierce her heart, but it had no effect. There was too much big of a difference between his strength and Elena’s physical resistance. The knife never passed her scales.

Elena looked at from the corners of her eyes. Sighing loudly, she caught Triston’s wrist and called Dred with a movement of her head. Dred jumped towards Triston, his paw fly through the air. Elena was looking into Triston’s eyes, with a sorry look in hers. As Dred’s paw struck his head, it flew away, killing him. Looking down at the dead body on the ground, and the red blood slowly spreading into a puddle, Elena sighed loudly. His body was devoured by Elena’s shadow. Turning around, she looked at Krin, who was one of the survivors.

“Look after them. I’ll leave the dungeon in your care. They can safely train there and gain strength. Fight if you wish to live because the end of this world is nearing,” she said, looking at Krin with a serious face. “Just taking care of their food problem will be enough,” she added.

Seeing him nod, she jumped onto Dred’s back. Flapping his wings, he took off into the air. Sighing, both Jake and Audrey entered Elena’s shadow. Reaching a great height, Dred roared loudly, as the new king of the air. They were at the top. They had no opponent left at this point, which made things much weirder.

Flying through the air, a strong gust of wind was blowing against Elena’s face, making her furrow her brows. Seeing the tiny trees, the tiny buildings below them, she felt free of burden. Dred’s shadow formed into a saddle under her, making her place feel comfier. Leaning forward, she hugged Dred’s neck and continued to look towards the ground. It was a beautiful sight to see.

Seeing a mountain nearby, Elena shouted against the strong current of wind, “Go there!” Roaring loudly, Dred took his way to the mountain. Landing on it, the four of them built a big house by using the elements.

They spent their days with training and looking for new metals. Elena brought away Triston’s anvil, and when Audrey and Jake were working hard to catch up with her, she learned how to smith better weapons. She made one new weapon after the other, going as far as piling them up in a corner. Their quality was quite good, being a little above average.

As time passed, better and better-graded metals started appearing, leaving her with a wide range of metals to use. They also visited a few other cities, to look how the other humans were doing. Sometimes they sided with the monsters, taking down a whole city. Sometimes they sided with the humans, killing a whole community of monsters. It didn’t matter where they went, they were looked at like gods.

This was bothering her a lot. But thanks to her Will, she didn’t let her own pride get to her head. Going back to their house, after a little journey, they started training. All of them were quite proficient at using Cosmological Constant and Gravity. While visiting other cities, they used their necromancy too, making humans and monsters return to the living. In body…

Sitting down, her legs crossed, Audrey decided to learn something new. After using Cosmological Constant for such a long time, they all realized that it was much deeper than simple energy. This not only meant the size of their spells but the shape of the energy. They could transmute matters to make them take different shapes. This, of course, needed a high level of control. It was the same when it came to changing their looks.

But this first element Audrey discovered, held other secrets in it as well. Every element was connected in one way or the other. It was the same with the hidden elements. After discovering one, it could turn into many others! Closing her eyes, she focused on space.

We still can’t hide our auras like that stealth skill does. We tried pulling it back, transforming it, but nothing worked. Should we try it in a completely different way? When we use Sense, our Mana discharges and returns. Modifying another person’s returning Mana, which holds the data about every object it touched, would be impossible. We tried it.

So instead of hiding it or transforming it, we should do it differently. What if we try to cut ourselves off from the world? Like a separate space or entity? Her eyes still closed, she reached forward to try out her thoughts. Controlling the Mana in her surroundings, she tried to make them split, creating a separate space around herself.

Although she never noticed it, it took two days straight, for her to finally manage to do it. When the Mana split into two halves, the energy structure collapsed around her. When she supplied the split Mana with her own Mana, two halves stayed separated, resulting in two dimensions! No matter how Elena or anyone else tried from that point on, no one could sense Audrey.

Although she had to supply it with a small amount of Mana, to keep the two halves separately, the amount it took was very minuscule. Even her body sucked in more Mana than what it needed. If she poured more Mana into the same area, then not only her aura but even her body ceased existing.

You have discovered a new element: Void!

The void is an element, perfect for creating new dimensions. Although these are temporary, if the creator supplies the new dimensions with Mana, they could be Eternal as well. It can be used for storing items, hiding auras, blinking, and this element is a dreaded one when it comes to combat as well. It may be slow, but if used, it is hard to dodge.

You have gained a new title: Space & Energy Elementalist!

This is a title for those who have discovered the first two units of Space and Energy related hidden elements. But these are just the Basics. With this title, your chance to understand and discover a new such element will increase. Additionally, this increases your control over them and quickens your training speed.

Seeing the descriptions, and the new title, Audrey jumped up happily. Opening her eyes in her happiness, she looked around, only to see Elena, Dred, and Jake standing around her in a circle.

“You can’t be serious, can you? Hey… I just broke through. Can’t you wait? It is really unfair and Jake’s teeth are more painful as well. So I’d really appreciate it if-” She said, holding up her arms, standing in a defensive position. But Elena put her hand over Audrey’s mouth, sealing it.

Leaning forward, she bit into Audrey’s bare shoulder. Her rose-red blood flowed down on her porcelain white skin. Finding it tasty, Elena licked the flowing blood. Stepping back, it was Dred’s round. Seeing that a few drops flowed out, he licked them and then left. It was only Jake and Audrey left, making it all the worse.

“D-Don’t look at me, for heaven’s sake! Just do it already,” seeing him looking at her silently, she couldn’t help but shout, feeling annoyed.

“O-okay. I’m sorry. I was just mesmerized by your looks,” he replied with a smirk on his face.

“Oh? You are out of your element. When did you learn how to compliment a woman?” She said, faking a smug face. But in truth, she felt happy to hear his words. Seeing their bantering, Elena just smiled, shaking her head. Jake placed his lips on Audrey’s shoulder and sucked out a few drops of blood.

Using Healing Magic, the wound on her shoulder disappeared. “You won’t have to wait much longer, Elena. Only a few weeks at most!” Audrey shouted, looking at Elena with a sorry look on her face.

“It’s alright, you snails. Haha,” Elena replied, waving her hand. She was at the ninety-ninth level, but Audrey and Jake were still only at the ninetieth level.

Nudging her back, Dred stood behind her. “Hm? What is it?” Scratching him behind his ears, Elena asked.

“What do you want to eat for dinner?” He asked. After making a thoughtful look, she smiled happily, saying, “I want a tusker! Or a bird type. Your choice. They are the most delicious~”

“Alright. And I’m not just an animal…” he replied, pushing her hand away.

“Haha~ but you do like when I pet you. Don’t lie to me,” Elena remarked laughing, scratching his neck. Seeing him closing his eyes in bliss, she knew that she won. “Look at yourself. Why is it so good at your neck?” Still continuing, she asked.

“O-Oh, a little to the left. OOOh~” His deep voice resounded, filled with pleasure. As Elena stopped her hand, Dred licked the sides of his mouth, as a feeling of dissatisfaction filled his heart.

“I don’t know why, but that spot is just too good. Whenever you scratch me there, I feel my strength slipping away,” he replied, while Elena straightened his black fur on his neck.

Even while sitting, he was a hundred and forty centimeters tall. Standing up, he ran down the mountain, towards the forest. No monster dared to come nearby at this point, as all of them knew that there were powerful predators on it. About ten minutes later, Dred returned with the sought meat.

Audrey cut up two onions, into tiny cubes and put them into the melted fat of a boar from before. After braising it, Elena put the nicely sliced up meat on it. When the meat turned white, she put dried, ground red pepper on it. Pouring some water on it, mixing it with salt, deli, and ground black pepper, they just had to wait for it to be done. They had big shelves of sacks of pasta stored in their house. Cooking two sacks of them and mixing it with the stew, a wonderful fragrance permeated the air.

No living creature should stand between Elena, Dred, and their food. Charging at the large pot, they devoured all of it. Especially Dred… I’ll watch out for you. You eat a lot with that big body of yours! Elena thought, eyeing Dred. Seeing only a little amount left for them, Audrey and Jake left to hunt for themselves, their stomachs growling. After all of them had dinner, they went to bed. Jake was a little envious sometimes since he was the only one sleeping in a different room.

Waking up, they decided to go on a little journey, towards a city. Elena had no intention to keep watching how Audrey and Jake were training. Dred transformed into his Wyvern form, and his skill also leveled up at the same time. Taking off, he flew towards a big city. It was about a hundred kilometers away, but with his speed, their travel didn’t take more than twenty-five minutes.

Flying among the skyscrapers, their shadows fell on the buildings. The sun shone brightly, but the wind was cooling her down perfectly. Using her Sense, it spread out in every way, finding numerous groups of humans. But all of them hid in houses and official buildings. This was because of Dred, naturally. When they saw a huge dragon-like creature flying towards them, they naturally felt afraid.

Not bothering with any of them, they just flew over the city, back and forth. They just came to play around, but suddenly, “Thanks for being here with me!” Elena shouted, surprising Dred a little.

“Haha, where else would I be?” He asked laughing.

“Haha, true. We are like brother and sister,” Elena replied, laughing happily. Just because she was a monster, it didn’t mean that she couldn’t enjoy the small things of life. Even if a monster, she was a humanoid type. The reason why she still had emotions. What did it even mean to be a monster?

Was that all it took to be a monster that you had a monster body and killed mindlessly? The same with humans. In Elena’s opinion, you could be a monster or a human as well. The only thing that mattered was… how did you look at yourself? She called herself a monster for a reason. And it was related to her main goal. But she would never tell that to anyone unless she was strong enough to kill the same person.

Dred nodded upon hearing her sentence, agreeing with her. “We will finish what we were born for. Don’t worry,” Dred said with a calm voice, soothing Elena. They had no idea what exactly was waiting for them after this place. Although it made them worry a little, they felt excited to find out. Spinning in the air, causing joy to Elena, Dred turned around and flew towards the mountain.

The kids and those few people who she left alive were training seriously. She also told them about the area with a slower time-flow, so they still had a small place to retreat to if push came to shove. Their racial traits didn’t work unless they knew of the threat. Those people would hate, despise and fear her eternally.

But at the same time, at least they had a chance to live a life, unlike the other humans and monsters on this planet. They were working towards a broken future. Just as Elena predicted, they fought wars against each other, after getting to know the Rune of Biotic Enhance. Even though it was completely meaningless since they would die like that anyway.

Landing on the mountain top, they spent another two days, before Audrey and Jake finally reached the peak of the ninety-ninth level. Having mostly the same amount of experience, Elena used Status to look at her stats for the last time, before stepping into the new world.

Name: Elena

Race: Progenitor Shadow (Legendary)

Level: 99

EXP: 5967 / 6000

Class: ShadowMoor (Exclusive)

Specialization: Devourer

Health: 172 175 / 172 175

Mana: Cosmological Constant

Titles: The Only One; Pathfinder; Blood Drinker

Strength: 36 023

Vitality: 34 435

Agility: 35 329

Will: 78

Intelligence: 37 231

Wisdom: 39 326

Elemental Magic:

Fire Lv.62 (21%); Water Lv.64 (33%);

Wind Lv.65 (54%); Lightning Lv.64 (82%);

Nature Lv.66 (69%); Earth Lv.68 (64%);

Light Lv.63 (57%); Dark Lv.70 (61%);

Cosmological Constant Lv.35 (42%)

Resistances:

Magical: 39 326

Physical: 18 011.5

Passive:

Stamina: 172 175

Precision: 176 645

Skills/Spells:

Inspect Lv. 78 (83%)

Mana Control Lv.55 (72%)

Meditation Lv. 83 (94%)

Sense Lv. 64 (32%)

Stealth: Lv. 67 (32%)

Necromancy Lv. 32 (41%)

Gravity Lv. 30 (43%)

Racial Skills:

Devour Lv. 56 (32%) (+Active Skill)

ShadowStep Lv. 100

Shadow Form Lv. 100

…

Passive Skills:

Ambush Lv.23 (43%)

Looking at her stats, she nodded before using Gravity to train their bodies. They kept looking at the experience continuously and timed it to reach six thousand at the same time.

A black hole opened up below their feet and sucked them in. They had no chance to resist it.

They entered, the real world….