Death Heir's Devouring System
Chapter 58: Death Watches

Chapter 58: Death Watches

Truth Seeker was invaluable armor, capable of stopping deadly blows. Yet its usefulness was limited against the freezing climate.

The cold seeped through the crimson attire, bearing itself deep into Azrael’s body, causing goosebumps to rise across his skin.

He had been trained to survive under cold climates, but even the artificially created cold that he had experienced in the Rift Containment room paled in comparison to what he was suffering from right now. It seemed that the imitation was just a cheap knock-off at the end of the day.

’It’s fine.’ Azrael reassured himself. His mouth was sealed tightly as he took slow breaths from his nose.

A crunching sound reached his ears as he moved westward. The snow reached a quarter of his legs, obscuring whether he was stepping over branches—or hollow bones.

’Since I doubt I’ll like the answer, I won’t bother to find out,’ he thought.

His eyes swept over the area; it was chillingly cold. Yet the blizzard could be considered mild; there wasn’t a lot of falling snow that threatened to reduce his field of vision, nor a powerful wind that could knock him off his feet.

’There are trees here, with black trunks and branches just like in the Golden Lands. However, there is not a sight of the golden leaves or grass.’ He observed, staying vigilant for any threats.

Just as he began to wonder how he would fight in such cold, the snow beneath him shifted.

His reflexes snapped into place, muscles tensing as he leapt away from whatever lay hidden beneath.

In an instant, a beautiful crimson flower burst forth, its leaves snapping shut with lightning speed in an attempt to trap him. The deadly plant was twice his size, its leaves tougher than metal. He knew that if he’d been caught, there’d be no escape.

’So there is a hostile flora as well.’ He thought, his fingers wrapped around his scythe, ready for a fight.

Name: [Unnamed]

Race: [Thornmaw]

Danger Level: [Feral]

Corruption Rank: [Twisted]

Azrael might have sighed with relief if not for the fact that doing so would cool his body further. It had been a long time since he’d last seen a Feral monster; he had begun to believe only Savage ones would appear from now on.

Eager to test how powerful its body was, he struck. Gravebloom loomed overhead before passing through the flower in a crimson arc.

The monstrous plant twitched, blood spraying everywhere, before collapsing softly onto the snow.

’It was pretty hard,’ he noted. ’If it had trapped me, then I wouldn’t have been able to escape, since I wouldn’t have enough room to gather power for a strike.’

After studying the corpse for several seconds, he pressed onward, feeling slightly better than before. The energy he’d spent in the fight sent a faint heat wave through his body, warming him up.

He was starting to think he had overestimated the blizzard until the snow around him suddenly leapt. Not because something hid beneath, but because something so massive and powerful approached that the snow danced with its footsteps.

Azrael’s eyes widened. ’Something is attracted to the blood of the flower.’

With a curse, he sped up, abandoning all thought of conserving energy. The heavy footsteps grew louder, making his heart beat faster. A wave of dread washed over him. Whatever was coming, he had no business fighting.

Reaching the closest dead tree he could, he hid his body. A second later, out of the distant mist, a familiar silhouette came into view.

A crimson figure composed of blood, with four arms and towering several times taller than a man. Azrael had seen this kind of monster before, hunted by patrols of knights known as the Blood Knotted.

His gaze darkened.

’A Reaver monster. Fighting this is the same as a suicide.’ He thought bitterly.

The Blood Knotted screeched, collapsing on its knees as it extended its four arms. They quickly got hold of the defeated Thornmaw and brought the remains over its mouth. Tensing its fingers, it squished the insides, making the blood fall right into its maw.

Unable to move, fearing that he could be spotted, the Death’s Heir observed in silence, studying the monster.

After the initial shock passed, he realized something.

The Blood Knotted was hurt. Badly.

Numerous deep cuts all over its body, its upper left hand was almost slashed away at the shoulder. Its right leg was severely damaged, making it a miracle that it was still standing.

’Has it been fighting something? What could push a Reaver monster to such an extent? From my observation the knight patrols will not enter the blizzard territory and will just scout the western parts of the Golden Lands.’

As Azrael’s mind raced, the Blood Knotted’s wounds began to heal. The blood of the dead plant entered its maw and caused a rapid healing to start. Its cuts closed, and skin began to grow at an unnaturally fast speed.

’So aside from raw power, it regenerates quickly? This just got harder to deal with.’

After devouring the flower’s corpse with lightning speed, the Blood Knotted rose to its two healthy feet and turned facing east.

The winds stilled, and the snow ceased falling.

Azrael frowned. ’The thing that injured it so much is coming. I have to get out of here before the battle starts.’ He thought.

But before he could move, his breath hitched, and his body froze as a natural response. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to move.

The Corruption that was coming was so vast that it didn’t allow him to.

In a heartbeat, he dispelled Truth Seeker and called forth Maiden Skin, increasing his stealth as much as possible.

A menacing growl escaped from the Blood Knotted maw, meeting the full power of the corrupted aura unfazed.

Slowly, a towering figure emerged from the distant mist.

A knight... unlike any other.

There was no doubt it was a corrupted abomination, yet its movements didn’t show it. Somehow it didn’t look like it had submitted to Corruption. The monster was using it as its own tool.

Once the new challenger appeared in full view, Azrael was forced to squint his eyes.

The cold now seemed like barely an inconvenience compared to the raw Corruption radiating from the knight.

Clad in black armor darker than the night itself, it gripped a longsword in its left hand, swinging it side to side as it took slow, measured steps.

The closer the knight came, the more alert Azrael felt. Yet his soul reacted differently to the threat, calm and focused. While his body trembled, desperate to flee the area as quickly as possible. His instincts screamed for him to escape, but his soul urged him forward. He had to kill the knight at all costs. It was almost like staring into a Rift.

The Blood Knotted roared fiercely, sending snow swirling into the air.

Surprisingly, the knight halted momentarily; however, rather than fear or rage, it displayed composed and utter calmness. With an outstretched hand, it dared for the monster to come.

’This level of intellect is actually dangerous.’ Azrael thought, using [Inspect].

Name: [Rock]

Race: [Death Knight]

Danger Level: [Savage]

Corruption Rank: [Profane]

Before he could comprehend what he had just seen, the Death Knight moved, faster than Azrael could perceive.

And lunged at the Reaver monster.