Chapter 378 — What Are You?
6 min read ·
SSSHHHHUNK
The blade punched through the bear’s skull, bisected its head vertically as the two halves fell away with wet sounds.
The body collapsed before Damian’s feet even touched the ground.
One second.
He spun mid-landing, Telekinesis already grabbing the panther, yanking it toward him despite its desperate thrashing.
The Domain’s full weight crushed down on its consciousness alone.
It couldn’t even activate its stealth, couldn’t hide and couldn’t run.
For the first time in days, it was completely visible.
’There you are.’
His axe moved three times in rapid succession.
SLASH
The blade opened the panther’s throat, severing the carotid, blood fountaining.
SLASH
The return stroke took its front legs, removing its ability to flee.
SLASH
The final strike removed its head completely, the skull separating from the spine with a wet crunch.
The body hit the ground, twitching.
It took three seconds in total for both beasts to die.
Damian’s Domain collapsed back into his mind.
His legs gave out, burned flesh and cracked ribs finally catching up.
Gasp...gasp...
He hit the blood-soaked earth beside both corpses, gasping.
"Haha..haha...hahahaha!"
Then he started laughing.
The sound came out broken, interrupted by coughing up blood and ash.
But he couldn’t stop.
"Finally... got this... motherfucker..."
His voice rasped, throat damaged by flames and smoke.
Days of being hunted, of never being able to fully rest, of knowing a predator was tracking his every movement were over.
His Self-Healing kicked into overdrive now that he wasn’t actively fighting.
New skin formed over exposed muscle and bone across his burns.
The mangled shoulder wound closed, tissue knitting together, nerves reconnecting with agonizing pain.
Kuro landed beside him, massive form shrinking back down.
His crimson eyes studied Damian with clear exasperation.
"You spent... a long time training."
Damian’s words came out between gasps.
’Kuro processed a lot of dead energy and focused only on breakthrough to B+ rank for stupid human’s protection.’
Despite everything, Damian smiled.
The self-satisfied pride in Kuro’s mental voice was unmistakable.
"Why did... that beast fear you?"
Kuro’s head tilted, genuinely confused.
’Kuro doesn’t know... Kuro is simply magnificent and terrifying! Obviously all beasts should fear Kuro’s majesty!’
The narcissism almost made Damian laugh again.
’He’s more intelligent now.’
Kuro’s communications had always been simple, but now there was personality and almost human self-awareness.
The panther had been A+ rank, clearly possessed some level of consciousness, had demonstrated tactical thinking and patience in its hunting patterns.
But even it hadn’t communicated and hadn’t shown true self-awareness beyond predatory cunning.
Kuro was simply different in ways Damian didn’t fully understand.
’What exactly are you?’
The question remained unanswered, filed away with all the other mysteries surrounding his companion.
When Damian could move without wounds tearing, he pushed himself upright with a grunt.
The panther’s corpse lay beside the bear, black fur matting with blood.
’You wanted to eat me to grow stronger... Fair turnabout then.’
His hands moved to begin butchering the beast, separating the most Aura-rich organs, preparing them for consumption.
Then he began eating.
The flesh was tough, carrying flavors that human taste buds weren’t designed to appreciate.
He didn’t care.
His Devourer Body Art activated, breaking down the panther’s body, extracting the power contained.
The familiar sensation of his physical stats climbing returned, incremental increases that accumulated with each bite.
Strength rising.
Speed surging.
Stamina deepening.
’Speed is increasing way more... The panther’s whole body was built for it.’
But more than that, his Aura core pulsed with sudden intensity, the container within his chest responding to the influx of energy.
Days of fighting in the forest, constant combat against increasingly powerful opponents, the rising ambient Aura levels being absorbed passively, all of it had been accumulating, filling his core toward capacity, preparing for advancement.
And now, with the panther’s power being integrated, the threshold was finally crossed.
Boom
His core began the breakthrough process automatically as it expanded, the quality of Aura within refining to higher purity.
B- rank to B rank.
The transformation was less dramatic than his previous breakthroughs, his body already capable of handling the power increase.
But it was unmistakable.
He looked at the bear’s massive corpse.
’Let’s store it for later... Don’t want to risk mental degradation’
With the breakthrough completed, Damian pulled up his status screen.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Damian Valcor
Age: 16
Rank: B
Talent: S
Core Attributes:
Strength: 638
Speed: 670
Stamina: 632
Vitality: 645
Aura: B
Will: 400
Perception: 300
Intent: Slaughter
Skills:
Shooting: A
Hand Combat: A
Telekinesis: A
Macro Vision: A
Sonic Blink: A
Self-Healing: A
Obsidian Hide: C
Stealth: A
1
Aura Control: A-
Body Control: C+
Aura Magnification: 2×
Weapon Arts:
Omega Point - S: Level 3
Abyssal Slaughter - SS: Major Success
Devourer Body Art - ???: Minor Success
Bond: Kuro (B+ Rank) - Unknown Entity
Domains:
Domain of Despair - 500 meters
━━━━━━━━━━━━━
His eyes scanned the numbers first, confirming the breakthrough, noting the stat increases.
Then his gaze fell on the Skills section and stopped.
Stealth: A
The skill sat there in his status screen, newly acquired, already at A rank proficiency.
The same skill the panther had been using.
The same ability that had made it undetectable despite his enhanced Perception.
Now his.
’Just like Obsidian Hide.’
The parallel was unmistakable.
When he’d consumed the Controller creature completely, he’d gained its armor skill.
Now, after eating the panther entirely, he’d acquired its stealth ability.
’The Devourer Art integrates their abilities into my biology... Makes them mine.’
The implications made his head spin.
But confusion remained.
’What are the conditions?’
He’d eaten many beasts over the past week, consumed dozens of corpses, integrated their power into his advancement.
But only two had given him skills.
’Do I need to eat them completely? Every part?’
That seemed likely for the Controller, where he’d consumed the entire body in his frenzy.
And he’d just finished eating every organ and significant portion of the panther.
’Or is it based on rank? Both were A rank when I killed them, significantly above my level at the time.’
Another possibility.
Maybe the Devourer Art only integrated skills from opponents that represented genuine challenges, creatures whose biology was superior enough to warrant absorption.
’Or maybe it’s based on their unique skills? The Controller’s armor and the panther’s stealth were both specialised traits.’
He didn’t know.
The art remained mysterious despite all his usage, its mechanics unclear beyond the basic function of consumption and integration.
’Something to figure out later. For now...’
He looked at Kuro, who was preening his feathers with evident self-satisfaction.
"We need to find a way out of this forest."
The mental response carried overtones of agreement mixed with resignation.
’Kuro suggests stupid human stop attracting life-threatening situations... Makes Kuro’s magnificence work overtime protecting incompetent companion.’
Damian laughed.
The sound echoed through the blood-soaked clearing, carrying relief and exhaustion and determination into the red sky above.
They would survive this, they would escape and they would make it back to civilization.
He collected the valuable remains into his spatial ring, prepared himself for more fighting, and started moving.
Kuro perched on his shoulder, was a reassuring weight.