Synthesis-type adventurers

Chapter 39 Void Eaters

The air deep in the dark woods was like a solidified jelly.

The grayish-white mist was no longer thin; it had accumulated into a kind of miasma that was almost tangible.

Each breath required forceful inhalation through a linen face towel soaked in herbs, just to sift out a few wisps of oxygen from the rotten, sweet, and fishy smell.

The remains of Observatory No. 3 are located in a clearing that has been completely strangled by twisted vines.

This is a dead, semi-open stone outpost.

Most of the limestone walls have collapsed, and a few load-bearing columns and broken walls outline the building's former shape in the dim light.

In the very center of the outpost ruins, a thick, dark brown stone pillar pierces through the paving stones and stands tall.

Its surface shows no trace of any craftsmanship; it is a petrified blood vessel that bulges directly from the depths of the earth.

Although there are restraining runes engraved on the surface, the rock still maintains its original and rugged natural ferocity—this root stone, which connects to the underground demon vein, is the heart of the observation station.

"arrive."

Rhodes stopped and did not rush forward, his gaze quickly sweeping over the desolate woodland around him.

The forest here is devoid of sound; birdsong and insect chirps are all absent, with only the occasional crack of a dry branch breaking under the weight of a gentle breeze coming from afar.

"Be on alert," Rod whispered to Ivy.

"clear."

Avira slid to the side, her shield slamming into the wet, soft mud.

She shielded Rhodes to her side, her emerald green eyes scanning the depths of the mist with vigilance.

Rod walked up to the stone pillar and used his leather gloves to push aside the slippery vines covering it.

Even though he had a premonition, his eyebrow still twitched slightly at that moment.

In the center of the stone pillar, the core groove that was originally used to fit the magic-sensing crystal is now empty.

Not only is the crystal missing, but a large section of the middle of the stone pillar is also missing, as if this part of the space has been erased out of thin air.

The fracture was unusually smooth, with no trace of artificial chiseling or charred metal from alchemy explosives, and the sedimentary texture inside the stone was neatly cut off.

Rhodes narrowed his eyes, his fingers gliding over the strange notch, a chill that wasn't just a matter of temperature seeping into his bones through his fingertips.

He carefully activated [Analysis Vision].

In the field of vision, the chaotic clusters of light quickly converged, coalescing into two glaring words.

[Third Magic Node (Damaged)]

[Void Tooth Marks (Purple Rare)]: Feeding marks from a creature on the edge of the Shadow Realm. This creature was not fully materialized in this dimension; its biting behavior directly erased the existence of matter.

[Magic Leakage (Grayish Inferior)]: Ongoing. High-purity primal magic has leaked due to the core crystal shattering. For certain creatures, this is an irresistible delicacy.

……

"Just a simple appetite..." Rhodes withdrew his hand, rubbing his fingers together. There was no stone dust left on them. "Looks like we're lucky. Cultists or guild traitors who want to destroy the world would never leave such traces."

"My lady?" Avira maintained her shield-raising stance, her voice muffled by her full-face helmet and mask. "What do you mean?"

"Deliberate damage would leave pry marks, magical burn marks, or tool marks. But this thing... was eaten by something." Rhodes pointed to the gap, "Like you bit off a piece of cheese."

He straightened up and rubbed off the wet, sticky substance on his hands.

"Only the most primal hunger would lick the plate so clean. It seems something smelled the leaking magic and treated this stone pillar as dessert."

Ivy frowned. "A monster that eats stones? Or a construct that specifically devours magical devices?"

“Worse than that,” Roddick said in a low voice, “is some kind of transgressor who shouldn’t be on this level.”

Before he finished speaking, the deathly still fog around them suddenly surged.

This wasn't caused by the wind; it was more like a spasm in the spatial structure itself.

Beneath this stagnant pool, a colossal creature is about to break through the waves.

"Watch out!"

With her nerves on edge, Avira suddenly swung her shield horizontally to the left using the twisting force of her waist.

"clang--!"

A dull, strange impact sound suddenly rang out, like metal hitting some kind of thick leather and glue mixture.

In the void, three semi-transparent, distorted outlines squeezed into reality.

They have no fixed shape, like clumps of gel forcibly kneaded together, with a nauseating purplish-black halo flowing on their surface, and mouthparts covered with spiraling sharp teeth greedily opening and closing in the center of their amorphous bodies.

Void Eaters (Otherworldly Creatures)

Entry:

[Ethereal Skin (Blue Excellent)]: Its physical form is unstable, and regular physical attacks have a high probability of penetrating it directly without causing damage.

[Demonic Instinct (White Common)]: Possesses extremely strong offensive capabilities against high-concentration magic sources.

……

"Damn it...it's a Void Eater!" Avira had clearly seen this creature in the church's heretical catalogue. "These are monsters that only exist in the deepest areas! How did they get to the surface?"

"Good question, I'd like to know too." Rhodes placed his right hand on the hilt of his sword. "But for now, we need to shut them up first."

The two predators let out a sharp hiss like glass scraping, and pounced on Avira from the left and right.

It wasn't just a physical attack; the distorting force field emanating from them even caused the surrounding light to refract.

Avira yelled, "Get out of my way!"

The modified plate armor [Lightweight Armor] grants her amazing explosive power. Avira abandons the rigid, head-on approach of traditional shield guards and slides sideways.

The tower shield intercepted the sharp teeth on the left at just the right moment. She used the momentum to turn around, and the longsword in her right hand flashed with silver light, forcing back the sneak attack from the right.

The shield, enchanted with [Intricate Structure], seemed to have its material compressed to its extreme due to the effect of the enchantment.

The impact force, powerful enough to twist steel, struck the shield, but only managed to produce a few dazzling sparks, failing to deform the shield in the slightest, as if it had crashed into an unshakeable iron wall.

Meanwhile, the third Void Devourer, the largest of the three, was wriggling its semi-transparent body as it lunged at the man who appeared to be unarmored.

In its simple mindset of acting on instinct, this soft persimmon, exuding an alluring charm, is clearly a more delicious feast.

"Trying to pick the softest persimmon? Unfortunately, you've picked the hottest one."

Rhodes stood still, taking a deep breath of stale air.

His [Primary Flame Affinity] ability activated, and his body temperature soared, as if a furnace was igniting between his blood vessels and organs.

The heat traveled along his arm, and the sizzling sound of a branding iron being plunged into cold water erupted from the sheath of the finely crafted longsword.

"Zheng—!"

The longsword was drawn.

The sword light was a chilling dark red, and the surrounding air was severely distorted due to the extreme heat, forming a visible heat wave around the blade.

The Void Eater's semi-ethereal body collided with the heat wave, and the [ethereal skin] structure on which it depended for survival instantly collapsed under the interference of heat energy, forcing it to reveal its grayish physical form.

"Basic Science Mini-Lesson: High Temperatures Can Destroy All Unstable Structures"