Death Heir’s Devouring System

An old carriage, crafted from the pitch-black wood in the Golden Lands, slowly moved across the stone paths. A horse bigger than any Azrael had ever seen calmly walked forward. On the driver's seat sat a skeleton, its two empty eye sockets burning with eerily green flames, as it nonchalantly gripped the reins.

The carriage itself looked to be transporting something; it held four metal cages that were covered with cloth, obstructing the view.

Instinctively, Azrael held his breath. From just looking at the Corruption the abomination was giving off, he knew it was not to be underestimated.

The faint echoes of the hooves of the horse resonated around the place until it came to an abrupt stop.

Eyes narrowing, Azrael used [Inspect].

Name: [Rook]

Race: [Punisher]

Danger Level: [Savage]

Corruption Rank: [Profane]

'This thing is on par with the Death Knight.'

At that realization, his body crouched even lower, taking shallower breaths. He even dispelled Truth Devourer and called forth Maiden Skin to increase his stealth as much as possible.

A few seconds of tense silence passed. Then the jaws of the skeleton slowly creaked open.

"Why are you hiding?"

'It's not speaking about us, is it?' Azrael observed with caution. He knew that the chances of them being spotted were next to zero. They had taken enough precautions for that, after all. So it was possible the monster was following its own sense of duty, like the other corrupted knights he had seen up until now.

"Our soils have been spoiled, men fallen, women slaughtered, children sacrificed."

Slowly the skeleton got up on its feet and approached the cages at the back.

"Is it not our duty to die for the motherland? To defy the gods? To follow the orders of his Majesty?"

The memory of the diary he had seen in the village house resurfaced in Azrael's mind. Particularly the way it spoke about some kind of war. 'Is this thing searching for recruits?'

Putting a bony hand on the cages, the Profane being, waited for somebody brave enough to come out and join the fight against the gods. Sadly, no such thing transpired.

"So be it. You can't hide from your purpose for long."

With visible disappointment in its empty sockets, it opened the cages. Four pets came out, roaming free around the vicinity.

Their figures were impossible to make out, shrouded in clouds of darkness with two crimson eyes illuminating their surroundings.

In the blink of an eye, they moved, appearing like a blur—managing to blend with the darkness of the night and mist. Most horrifying of all, they didn't make a single sound.

These things, which Azrael wasn't even able to use [Inspect] on, crashed into the closest houses, seemingly searching for any unworthy hidden individuals.

Just when he was about to wake up the others, a soft hand tapped him on the shoulder.

Startled, he turned abruptly, only to see Seraphina at his side.

"What happened?" She spoke barely above a whisper.

"I am as clueless as you are. This thing came, released some kind of phantoms, and they began to search the houses."

His gaze darkened momentarily.

"Should we move?"

After a brief consideration, she shook her head.

"No. From what we saw last time, they are not searching the rooftops. Plus, I think even if these phantoms saw us, they wouldn't attack. We are not their target, after all."

Azrael had to agree with her; still, something unnerved him.

"It's clear in the past they have been fighting something they considered gods. Could this be why the place is so twisted?"

Seraphina remained silent for a moment, then her lips parted.

"No, you are wrong."

With an arched eyebrow he retorted, "How so?"

"They haven't been fighting them… they are still fighting them."

Had it not been for the monsters below their feet, Azrael would have laughed.

"You want to tell me that here, somewhere, are corrupted gods? And that the knights here are fighting them? How?"

She shivered uncomfortably. "The blood lake, how else? Why would the knights be dropping numerous bodies in the canyon if it didn't have something to do with slaying the so-called gods?"

Azrael didn't speak further. Exhaustion began to cloud his judgment, eyelids growing heavy.

"I will keep watch from now on. Go rest," she spoke softly.

Throwing one last glance at the skeleton and the phantoms in the shadows, he laid his tired body on the cold roof.

'If they are really still fighting the so-called gods, then where are they?'

His gaze went towards the east. The ashen desert, the basin for the lava ocean. When he had met Isolde after entering the Rift, she had said that there had been a strong monster far away.

'It can't be there… There's no way I've been so close to a god… right?'

With this horrifying thought, he went to sleep.

*****

Being assailed by the light the sun looming overhead gave off, Azrael woke up.

Seeing that the Chosen were all here and alive, he let out a sigh of relief. Then he moved to the edge of the roof. The Punisher, its old carriage, as well as the phantoms it had released, were nowhere to be seen.

"Are we ready to continue?" Seraphina asked, surveying the Chosen in the squad.

Most of them were still tired. Sleeping on a cold roof with countless monsters looming below their feet was far from the ideal resting place. Nevertheless, they had to keep going.

"Our goal is reaching the cathedral where the King and the Rook monsters are supposed to be gathered, right?" James asked, with heavy dark circles under his eyes.

"That is our secondary goal. If we could find a suitable path for all of us to ambush the monster that had opened the Rift and kill it, that would be good. But we have more important matters at hand."

James frowned. It seemed that he, just like Azrael, hadn't been informed.

"It might seem a bit reckless, but I believe that the best course of action is to move our base. Place our nest in the enemy territory."

A brief shock flickered across the faces of the Chosen, only to be replaced by understanding a second later.

'It does make sense. Why build infrastructure outside where we could be attacked by the knights or other monsters at any moment, when we could move beneath their noses? As long as we stay on the roofs, we should be relatively safe.'

There were problems with the plan, naturally. If they were in the kingdom territory, they wouldn't be able to hunt for monster meat that easily. Not to mention that, in order to move the base, they had to secure a safe path for that and make sure the place was really safe for inhabitation.

After all, should even one Rook monster catch a whiff of their base, it could decimate it singlehandedly—and no one would be able to do anything about the matter.

As they walked forward, getting closer and closer to the cathedral, Isolde halted in her tracks once more.

[Humans.]

However, rather than monsters, she seemed to have sensed humans.

A second later her fingers twitched.

[Proven.]