My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger Chapter 908 - 909: Stalker

Seras creased her brow upon seeing Damon's stare fixed on that spot, even after the lights exposed only emptiness. She herself felt a faint hunch that something had indeed been present.

"What did you see?" she inquired steadily, her gaze scanning the surroundings with the keen edge of a blade.

Damon rose gradually, his eyes narrowing tightly.

"Definitely something. But honestly, I can't put my finger on what it was."

She gave a slow nod. That was odd, yet this was the Evil Forest, after all.

"I get it. I didn't think we'd encounter one of the Evil Forest's abominations this early. We dropped our defenses too soon."

Even so, any clue beat ignorance. She shifted her attention back to the shadowy treeline, where even the darkness appeared swallowed by an infinite void.

"From what you glimpsed, what did it resemble?"

Damon looked toward the man gasping for air yet still out cold.

"It was one of those that warps your senses. It looked tall, yet stooped over. As I stared at it, I felt its breath brushing my face. It felt so near... yet distant enough that my blade couldn't touch it."

She nodded while Renata entered the protective ring.

"Hmm. Likely a being with a conceptual attribute. That's common enough in areas like this. When facing such creatures, they twist the world's laws and follow hidden principles."

She let out a sigh, folding her arms.

"I've gone through numerous Academy documents on this woodland, and I can assure you, the entire place pulses with life. The forest despises us, and it'll seek our end at every opportunity."

Damon felt no shock at that. It resembled the Whispering Forest, though unlike there, the Evil Forest saw endless probes.

"The Whispering Forest enforces rules—plenty of them. But the key one is to never reveal your name to the woods."

"Does the Evil Forest hold a similar rule?" he murmured.

"Not exactly. The Evil Forest features various rules in its zones, and they shift with the seasons. It also spawns different beings at varying times, drawn from the minds and terrors of intruders. This spot harbors a vicious assortment."

She rested a hand on her hip.

"The deeper you venture, the slimmer your odds grow."

Damon stared at the dark earth of the Evil Forest, the crushing gloom, the sensation of eyes upon them, his pulse aligning with the hush.

"If that's true, then couldn't our fears spawn beasts of unthinkable scale?"

Renata nodded deliberately.

"They could, but this realm is timeless. No terror we conjure hasn't already sprung from another's imagination. That's not a concern here."

"For the moment, let's hold until dawn, then press on," Seras suggested.

"As we near the core area, these threats grow fiercer, and our window shrinks. At least half our group will perish before we cross to the sea beyond."

Her tone cut sharp and unyielding, stirring visible dread in the expedition team, though she wielded her words with purpose.

"If you aim to avoid that fate," she went on, "stay sharp. Death shadows every step."

The group snapped to salutes, their alertness surging in an instant.

She eyed a young woman tending to the wounded man.

"What have you discovered?" she questioned.

The woman sported green locks and brown eyes. She resembled an elf, yet hailed not from the Verdant Continent but from Soltheon's elven clans.

"I believe it's a stalker we're facing."

At those words, annoyance flashed in Seras's eyes. Damon inferred from her look that it spelled major trouble.

"A stalker, is it?" Kael approached, clad in light armor and trailed by knights he'd sent to scout post-assault.

"Did you uncover anything?" Seras queried.

Kael shook his head.

"Against a stalker, we wouldn't."

Damon faced Seras.

"What's a stalker?"

She rubbed her temple, truly vexed.

"A real pain. It's a terror exclusive to the forest's depths. They're scarce, but we've clashed enough to document them—though not enough to grasp how to destroy them."

Kael shot Damon a scholarly glance, like a teacher setting a pupil straight.

"These horrors are nearly impossible to slay while under watch. In that way, they echo Weeping Angels, another breed I pray we skip. But they're distinct. Unlike the angels, stalkers shift even when seen."

Damon scowled, gnawing his lip.

"So they freeze only without observation. Doesn't have to be a person watching, correct? How do you eliminate what you can't even watch?"

"Observe it, and it lives on. Ignore it, and still you can't end it. Quite the riddle," Renata whispered.

Damon regarded the young elf woman.

"If records exist, someone must have outlasted one, right?"

She shook her head, dread plain on her features.

"Usually, the stalker's mark flees via instant teleport scrolls or high-level teleport spells. The top approach I'm aware of is sealing magic—trap it away."

Damon drew a steadying breath.

"Sealing magic... I doubt containing that would prove simple or lasting."

Seras nodded thoughtfully.

"Indeed. I concur. We'll have to destroy it outright."

Damon concurred. He'd need to unravel slaying an entity immune to death under scrutiny.

There must exist some law permitting its demise.

"Since it struck already, it likely won't target anyone else this night."

Plup.

A figure crumpled at the camp's perimeter. Something bounded from a limb and faded into nothing.

Seras looked his way, her frown deepening.

"Care to repeat that?"

Damon's face hardened.

"I'm absolutely ending that creature."