557 Shadow Devourer

I was running towards the source of the noise, hoping that I wasn't too late to catch whatever was over there.

Turning round a corner, I found a rather gruesome sight.

The corpse of a Rejmar Dungeoneer was left at the side and his body had been literally split into two, his intestines drooping out of the body.

Interestingly, the right half of the body was missing and a trail of blood led away from the scene, no doubt taken away by what had killed him.

Still… If it was a monster that did this, why would it bother taking half of the body away and leaving the other half here?

And if it was someone else that did this… Why bother taking half the body away anyway?

Unless…

I looked at the trail of blood that looked like a body was being dragged along the floor.

The direction it was heading to wasn't the altar so where else could the body be brought to?

Hmm… It might not be a good idea to go alone in that case…

"Zwei."

"Master," The Shadow Guard greeted me as soon as she appeared.

I made her my vanguard as I followed the blood trail on the ground that led to another corner of the passage.

I noted that the walls here were also filled with various carvings that depicted various monsters in different poses, though all of them seemed to be preying on people in some way or another. Most of them also showed rather gruesome scenes where the monster decapitates or feasts on their victims.

Honestly… Not that different from normal monsters in the first place so it's not like these carvings were some kind of a big revelation or whatever.

As we continued forward, I began to hear a wet, crunching noise like something was being mashed together.

I peeked past Zwei and I realised the sound was coming from around the corner up ahead and the blood trail led there.

Was the monster eating the remains there?

I took over the lead and had Zwei watch my back while I snuck towards the corner, making use of [Shadow Glide] to muffle my footsteps.

Reaching the corner, I peeked around it to see just what was making the crunching sound.

As I had guessed, there was a monster crouched over the corpse of the Rejmar at the end of the corridor. Or rather… What's left of the half it had dragged here at least.

The monster looked like a shadow of a very large Mahun, except if the Mahun was like two metres tall and had long and thin limbs that ended in claws.

[Name: Shadow Devourer

Race: False Monster

Stats:

100 Strength

300 Dexterity

100 Endurance

200 Magic

Magic Skills:

Umbramancy (Tier 2)]

Ok… I guess the name kind of already gave away what type of monster it was so no surprise on what it's doing.

But… What the heck is that race? What even is a false monster?

Fuck it, it's probably just some other race of monsters like a chimera or something.

Maybe it's not even related to the altar and this monster is just another one of the Dungeon monsters that would attack people inside it.

And since this monster is in front of me…

I leapt out from the corner while still using my magic to keep myself silent.

The monster did not even notice me until I had pierced its back with my Light Sword, lodging itself in its skull.

It let out a guttural scream and flailed its arms around, right before it crashed right on top of the corpse it was devouring.

I gave my sword a few twists, making sure the monster was actually dead before I pulled it out and stepped away from its corpse.

Interestingly, unlike the other monsters whose bodies would remain and you could start disassembling them for parts, the Shadow Devourer dispersed into particles of darkness, leaving a single Mana Crystal behind.

Cool.

I reached down to pick up the Mana Crystal, only to feel the hair at the back of my neck stand suddenly.

On instinct, I raised my sword in a defensive stance but that proved to be unnecessary as Zwei had already moved herself in front of me, her arm extended to grab another Shadow Devourer that had been hiding on the ceiling above me by the neck.

It flailed its long arms at her but she simply flexed her hand and the monster's neck was snapped with a loud crack and went limp.

She then caught the Mana Crystal that dropped as the monster dissolved into darkness, my Shadow Guard handing it over to me with a bow.

Glad I have her watching my back.

I must have missed this monster earlier when it was using its Umbramancy magic to hide itself, that must be how it gets its prey.

I then went ahead to inspect the corpse of the Rejmar, trying to see if there was anything worthwhile on this half of the body.

Hey… I'm not going to say no to free loot.

Unfortunately, there wasn't really anything worth taking so I just turned around and left back the way I came.

When I was about to turn around the corner however, I heard a wet squelch coming from said corner and I hurriedly pressed myself against the wall to hide.

The sound was akin to something being dragged on the ground and I realised that this might be another monster dragging a corpse back here to consume.

I readied my sword as the sound got louder and louder.

Then a figure popped around the corner and I leapt at it, my sword raised and ready to strike down at the monster.

My sword was just about to come down before a shrill scream came from the Shadow Devourer I had surprised and its claws slashed at my arm, pushing my sword to the side.

Its shadowy face morphed to open a jaw that was impossibly wide to take a bite at me but I stunned it with a quick cast of [Static Shock].

That gave me all the time I needed to reposition myself to decapitate its head with my sword, killing it instantly.

I frowned at the monster I had just defeated, it seemed almost like it knew I was hiding around the corner since it reacted almost immediately to my attack.

I then noticed that there was another body on the ground, this time it was the upper half of a Rejmar corpse, most likely belonging to another poor Dungeoneer that was killed by this Shadow Devourer.

Then I noticed that in one of his hands was a warhammer that would have probably been as tall as he was.

This guy was the same Rejmar that we came across fighting the Rat Stalker and smashed its head to bits. I guess his party must have been caught up in the magic circle that teleported them here too.

That means… Was everyone on that floor teleported here?

I decided to search around a little bit more and went back to the corridor I had come from, hoping to see if I could find other Dungeoneers that were also caught in the trap.

There were so many of them on that floor that we were running into another party every few dozen steps so if they were all sent here, it shouldn't be too difficult to find another one right?

One that wasn't dead at least.

As I entered the corridor, I heard soft footsteps coming from further down to my left. It sounded like someone was trying to keep quiet but was failing to do that.

I got Zwei to return to my shadow again before I cast [Shadow Glide] once more and headed towards the direction of the footsteps.

There was an intersection up ahead and the sound was coming from the left path.

I had my sword out just in case the footsteps turned out to belong to a monster and I turned the corner while removing my Umbra spell, ready to fight.

Fortunately, what I saw was another Rejmar who seemed to be especially startled to see me.

He quickly raised his shield with his mace ready by his side, "You! What have you done to my comrades?!"

I lowered my blade, "I'm in the same situation as you. You got caught up in the magic circle and woke up in a cell didn't you?"

He narrowed his eyes, "You another Dungeoneer then?"

I nodded, "I was also separated from my party. Have you seen anyone else around while you were walking here?"

"Tsk. If I had, do you think I would still be wandering around alone? Don't suppose you have either?"

I shook my head, "Unfortunately, I only came across two dead Rejmars, both of them killed by Shadow Devourers. I wasn't--"

"Wait, wait… Did you say Shadow Devourers?"

"Yes? Are they really bad news or something?"

His eyes widened before furrowing to glare at me, "Do you not know what it means for us to see Shadow Devourers?! Now is not the time to even be tal--"

There was a shift in the air and something dropped down behind him, right before his head was separated from his body.

Ah fuck, come on… I was talking to him, you bastard.