The Cornflower Witch

"The Belly-Eating Beast," one of the Aberrant Mother Nest’s countless offspring, generally appears in the depths of the Twilight Sea. Ordinary Shadow World rifts and erosions are not usually enough for it to cross over.

This Belly-Eating Beast stood about two stories tall. When it moved the ground trembled, its dark-red hide looking unusually thick. Its several asymmetrical eyes scanned the area, its mouth split open emitting a whooshing sound as it searched for something to eat.

For this creature, every action stemmed from the instinct to feed. It was the Bloodline Aspect manifesting as appetite, devouring, and similar behaviors.

Emerging from the foggy zone, it casually ripped a nearby tree free, shoved it into its mouth, and its sharp teeth ground the trunk like a crusher, easily shredding it before swallowing.

Unfortunately the tree’s texture probably wasn’t very appealing; after gnawing one or two trunks it stopped and began looking for more valuable prey.

At that moment Sylutia hovered in the sky watching it from above. Perhaps because of the distance and the creature still being affected by the crossing distortion, it hadn’t noticed the girl.

However, it would discover Sylutia sooner or later, because within several kilometers she had the strongest bloodline signature.

Sylutia observed for a while, thinking that summoning an Evil Eyes now might be too slow—the summoning process would likely be detected and interrupted. If she fought in person, even with the Griffin Badge Nox had given her, it would be a struggle.

But she had recently completed a new weapon, so she decided to try it. If things went south she could signal for help. Although the opponent looked formidable, she had confidence in her ability to survive.

Sylutia touched the Griffin key hidden in her sleeve, then drew out the Star-Piercing Mechanical Crossbow and gripped it.

She aimed at the Belly-Eating Beast below. Several small light rings appeared on the crossbow, displaying predicted trajectories. Points of starlight gathered at the bolt, temporarily granting it Sharpness and Sturdiness. Combined with the crossbow’s built-in Lock, Quicksilver, Star Break, Star Attraction, and Energy Infusion runes, plus the bolt’s own Demon-breaking, Penetration, and Tailwind Acceleration runes, the bolt’s power was amplified to the extreme.

Finally the pinpoint starlights formed a very fine halo around the crossbow, and when the girl pulled the trigger the halo shattered instantly, like ripples dispersing into faint motes that quickly faded.

At the same time, the bolt compressed within the crossbow shot out like a blazing meteor, instantly crossing space and striking the Belly-Eating Beast.

Light exploded; the bolt pierced through the beast’s chest, leaving a door-sized hole. The surrounding flesh was torn apart by the violent force.

By all appearances the creature should have been grievously wounded, yet what happened next stunned Sylutia.

After being struck, the Belly-Eating Beast let out a strange roar, flailed wildly, grabbed the scattered pieces of torn flesh around the wound and shoved them into its mouth, then began devouring them. Before long the ripped flesh slowly healed and closed, leaving a patch of skin that was lighter red and not as tough as the surrounding dark-red hide.

This regenerative ability rivaled the Blood Clan’s, and its physique seemed even stronger, Sylutia assessed.

Thinking it through, it made sense. Blood Clan members of the Bloodline Path were already formidable. It would be absurd if offspring of the Aberrant Mother Nest—bloodline Hours linked to Bloodline—were weaker than the Blood Clan.

Still, they lacked intelligence. Under the influence of the Distortion Aspect, few of the Aberrant Mother Nest’s offspring possessed cold cunning; almost all acted on instinct alone.

Scanning the area and finding no immediate threats, the beast only noticed the tiny floating figure after some time.

It snarled and threw the rocks at hand, trying to smash the girl from the sky. Though its throws had force, they lacked precision and each one fell far from Sylutia’s true position.

This thing couldn’t fly and had no sophisticated abilities, Sylutia thought, raising the crossbow and firing again. She wanted to test the limits of the creature’s regeneration.

Silver-blue meteors streaked across the sky, repeatedly piercing and shredding the Belly-Eating Beast. Each time parts of its body were blown apart, only to be regrown by its healing.

The Aberrant Mother Nest’s progeny showed similar characteristics across different parts Sylutia targeted—structures that resembled rudimentary brains suggested they might have little true cognition at all, driven purely by nerves embedded in flesh.

That matched the Aberrant Mother Nest’s nature. Secret records within the Mage Alliance suggested that this Hours probably never had coherent consciousness, relying on instinct to absorb and devour everything. Previously, because its Aspect power was too weak to continue condensing, it processed what it absorbed and birthed it as corrupted flesh placentas.

Those twisted flesh placentas then became the various monsters that roamed the depths of the Twilight Sea.

After nearly seventy shots, Silius’ stock of bolts was exhausted, and the Belly-Eating Beast’s regeneration reached some kind of ceiling, leaving its body increasingly mangled and fragile.

Finally, on the last shot, it could no longer sustain itself and fell apart into scattered chunks of flesh. However, those fragments remained animated, writhing and twitching on the ground like worms—an eerie, gruesome sight.

If Sylutia had access to Scorching Sun or Dead Embers abilities capable of applying fire, she could have burned the fragments to ash, she considered, but she did not.

After considering various messy methods to finish the job, Sylutia summoned the Evil Eyes again, asking it to swallow the scattered flesh.

Well, since that creature was an alien star alien-world being, it shouldn't be affected by the corruption within the flesh.

After swallowing the Belly-Eating Beast’s scraps, the Evil Eyes twisted and spun in the air as if pleased. New blood-red streaks appeared across its grey-blue Thick Tough Hide, and it visibly grew—its diameter expanding from about eight meters to nearly nine.

This fellow’s strength had already reached the upper mid-stages of the Fourth Tier. If it fought the Belly-Eating Beast one-on-one, it would likely win decisively.

After circling like a fish in the air, and as the summoning duration neared its end, the creature dove back down and hovered before Sylutia.

A strange message transmitted into her consciousness, something Sylutia roughly understood.

“You mean, next time you come you’ll fetch me a piece of Astral Plane meteorite?”

After she spoke, the large Evil Eyes’ face closed once in agreement, then it faded into a shadow and slowly disappeared.

With the Belly-Eating Beast dealt with, Sylutia produced a potion and purified the nearby corrupted ground. When that was finished she removed the silver headband at the nape of her neck; the band unraveled into silver threads and was woven into a lightweight Swallow Bird.

This bird’s combat ability was weak, but its speed was the fastest Sylutia could currently simulate and construct among her flying constructs.

She rolled up the finished report, placed it in the bird’s talons to hold, and set the Swallow Bird to fly toward the garrison in the Darkmist Mountains.

After completing all of this, she took to the air again, beginning the search for the next monster target.