My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger Chapter 946 - 947: Child

A tense hush fell over the scene as a grotesque form emerged, crawling forth. All onlookers remained rooted in place, staring at the deformed being that crouched above the remnants of a former knight.

Fear hung heavy in the atmosphere, mingled with the overpowering, persistent odor of fresh blood.

The abomination crouched low on its haunches. Roughly the stature of a five- or six-year-old child, its skull gleamed bald with sparse hairs clinging to the surface. Spinal bones protruded under taut skin, while its eyes were unnaturally reversed, gazing backward.

Oddly for this fiend, its maw stood out. Expected to bristle with jagged fangs, it instead gaped empty like an infant's.

Though missing dentition, compensation came in the form of slender, razor-sharp talons that shimmered faintly in the subdued glow.

Damon refused to hesitate before its assault. His palms thrust outward, unleashing dark infernos that surged through the surroundings.

Yet the beast scuttled nimbly over the timbered floor with eerie agility, contorting its appendages to dodge the blaze. Sections of the vessel's boards shattered from the force of Damon's strike.

Embers drifted amid the haze while the ship's enchantments pulsed erratically, resisting against his might. He tsked in irritation and swiftly reined in his energy, balling his hand to quench the fire lest he reduce the craft to cinders unintentionally.

To Damon, this entire craft resembled a delicate stack of cards. Protections focused mainly on the exterior, rendering the inside vulnerable to a force like his.

Suddenly, the fiend lunged ahead.

It scaled toward a warrior who advanced and balled his hand for a blow, evidently dismissing it as merely frail and grotesque.

Such an assumption proved fatal.

The horror casually swiped with its talon.

A vicious gash tore through the atmosphere.

The warrior's snout severed neatly from his features.

In stunned pain, he moaned, reeling back with hands pressed to his injury. Ere he regained composure, the beast pounced once more, talons embedding in his windpipe. Crimson gushed as he reeled unsteadily.

Magical force slammed into the abomination from the flank, hurling it tumbling over the planking.

"Watch out! It's reached the third class advancement!" Lana yelled, immediately discerning its level.

This matched the tier of its originating host.

An ominous indicator.

Upon maturing within a victim, the entity absorbed the slain individual's rank.

Leisurely, the monster raised its skull from the flooring and directed a talon toward the sorcerer who had repelled it.

Lana's gaze expanded in alarm.

"Impossible..."

Quite possible.

Before her lay the deranged talent of this abomination. It didn't merely claim the host's rank.

Skills got pilfered too.

"Soul Lance..."

Belonging to the fallen warrior, this was a piercing bolt of ruin that bypassed all barriers upon true impact.

The caster responded without delay. He hurled a sphere of sorcery underfoot, propelling himself aside via the backlash. Far from novice, he counted as a seasoned combatant exposed to numerous terrors.

"That move's limited to once daily!" a voice called out.

The ability bore a recharge restriction.

As relief flickered in their thoughts, the horror elevated its limb anew.

In dread, they witnessed it invoke the technique once more.

Ere the strike launched, Seras sprang into action.

Her form flickered indistinctly.

She lifted her tachi and plunged it downward fiercely.

The edge pierced the fiend's cranium and sank into the boards below, immobilizing the beast. With a savage wrench, she shattered its vertebral column.

Seras breathed out steadily, releasing a faint vexed sigh.

Yet abruptly, motion stirred within the horror's frame.

Its abdomen swelled grotesquely.

A larva erupted from the remains.

Dark pyres consumed it at once.

At last, the abomination perished for good.

Damon cleared his throat lightly amid the deck's assault by the repugnant reek of the fiend's husk. Decay and gore's tang lingered oppressively like a choking mist.

Temporarily, silence reigned.

A profound quietude enveloped the planking, infused with utter terror.

"Merely four days gone. No spawning should have occurred this soon," Damon murmured under his breath, brows furrowing as chill deepened in the breeze.

"So this was an early emergence... imagine its might at full term," he whispered further.

Nevertheless, the vessel's passengers transcended the mundane. Numerous boasted enhanced senses, including acute audition. Damon voiced his concerns openly.

Individuals harboring the parasites within quivered noticeably.

Their turn loomed.

Doom approached inexorably. Any instant might see one torn asunder, birthing yet another monstrosity from their innards.

Deliberately, Damon approached the warrior's remains.

The man's lower torso gaped raggedly. Crimson drenched the timbers, viscera strewn messily. Agony and terror etched eternally on his visage.

Thus ended his life.

Likely a battle-scarred campaigner from myriad conflicts. A fighter enduring endless trials.

Yet now, he rested motionless in death.

Memories assailed Damon of his own demise, pondering war's cruelty.

'Curious, on which field would my end come... and would my form stay whole?'

Such reflection drifted silently.

However, the departed stayed gone.

The survivors demanded priority.

Still, the alive craved proper rites.

Gradually, Damon swiveled to regard the captain.

"Gather timber. A proper burial is due."

Dumping the body into the waves wouldn't suffice amid their spirits' nadir. Nor would gore's allure summon sea beasts.

Incineration proved necessary.

A rite benefited the crew as well. Assurance of dignified post-mortem handling eased their dread somewhat.

Disciplined though they were, humanity persisted.

Ere long, billows of soot and cinders ascended skyward from the deck.

Damon refrained from employing Ashborn for the cremation. A mundane blaze sufficed.

All maintained their quietude.

Certain murmured devotions to deities. Some merely bowed heads in solemn vigil.

Fire popped as the form gradually charred to dust.

Eventually, Damon lifted his gaze.

"Roughly two weeks separate us from the demon continent... yet arrival hinges on confession from one among you."