I Can Devour Monsters' SSS Talents

Chapter 707: The Beginning of Oblivion

One of the wolf’s eyes turned golden, and [ Skyless Howl ] disturbed the Inquisitor’s Echo for a moment.

But instead of focusing on defeating those two, Vesperis passed through the cracks and positioned himself between the passage and the three humans.

Lian watched the scene from a distance.

’The same behavior again.’

The Inquisitor could have chased One and Two, but he had decided to block the three humans’ escape route.

He was sure his guess was correct, and now he was completely certain, and perhaps this was something he could use.

Even so, there was a problem, White Oblivion might only need them to stay alive, and his two servants might cause serious injuries while trying to stop them.

And if the situation got out of control, a single wrong strike could still be deadly.

’One, apply pressure from the right.’

The huge ant changed his position, and at that moment, Three also attacked the Forsaken Apostate from the other side.

[ Feast of Seven Maws ]

Seven huge jaws appeared around the knight.

The Apostate was forced to move several of his wings to defend himself, and Four focused Corrosion Poison on the cracked part of the armor at the same time.

The knight raised his sword, but this time, Lian used the opportunity to advance toward the central part of the battlefield.

’I only need a few seconds.’

However, before he could move toward the Calamity again, something else happened, below the plateau, a large number of Withered fell to the ground at the same time.

Seeing the crowd fall, Lian turned his gaze toward the northern cliff.

’Again?’

But this time, the energy flowing out of the prisoners’ bodies was different from before, something faint and white could be seen within it.

Something that was difficult to detect even with [ True Sequence ].

White Oblivion raised his right hand slightly and then slowly closed his fingers.

And at that moment, Rindo felt something change in his mind.

The spear was still in his hand, but for several seconds, he did not know why he was holding it.

He lowered his head and looked at the spear’s blade.

’I...’

For a moment, his mind went blank.

He knew how to use a spear, he knew he had trained for years, and he could even recognize the correct positions of his hands and feet during combat.

But the reason he was in this place disappeared from his mind for a moment.

’What am I doing here?’

Alicia’s voice came from beside him.

"Rindo?"

The young man raised his head.

A girl was standing beside him, her face was familiar....very familiar, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not remember her name.

’Her name...’

His lips parted slightly.

"You..."

"What’s wrong?" Alicia looked at him with concern.

But at that exact moment, she also felt something slipping away from her mind.

She tightened her grip on her sword to maintain her balance.

’Third Form...’

She wanted to use Royal Lily Step, but the name of the skill became unclear in her mind.

’What was it?’

For several seconds, she tried to remember it, but the more she thought, the more she felt that something even more important was disappearing.

’Wait...’

She placed her left hand on her forehead.

"Rindo... something’s wrong."

But the young man did not answer, because now he was not even sure he remembered his own name correctly.

’Rindo...’

’I’m Rindo.’

He repeated his name in his mind, but each time, the words seemed a little more unfamiliar....At that moment, a faint whiteness appeared at the corners of his eyes.

At first, it covered only part of his natural eye color, but then it slowly spread.

Alicia was experiencing something similar, she tried to remember her own name.

’Alicia...’

’My name is Alicia.’

But the image of her mother’s face, the memories of her years of training, and even the reason she had entered this land became unclear one after another.

It was as if an invisible hand was erasing the words that made up her entire life.

The sword in her hand lowered, her eyes became whiter, and her face slowly lost all emotion.

Noah, who was standing a few steps away, first thought they had been affected by one of Vesperis’s skills when he saw the changes in their expressions.

"Hey! Are you two okay?"

Rindo turned his head toward him, but his gaze was empty.

"Rindo?" Noah paused for a moment.

Unfortunately, no answer came.

Alicia also slowly raised her head, her white eyes remained fixed on his face....but it was as if she did not recognize him.

The young Frenchman felt an unpleasant cold sensation moving down the back of his neck.

"Damn it..."

At that moment, he also felt a faint voice deep inside his mind.

A voice that did not say any clear words but pushed a memory out of his thoughts....He blinked for a moment.

’I...’

He felt his own name slipping away.

’No!’

To maintain his concentration, he tightened his fingers around the handle of his umbrella, but a faint whiteness also appeared in his eyes.

’Not now, damn it.’

He clenched his teeth.

In his mind, a faint image of a woman appeared, a face he could still recognize, and along with it, an order that he could not accept forgetting.

’Lady... Vict...’

Noah bit his lower lip, and the taste of blood filled his mouth.

’No, I must not forget!’

He still did not know what was happening, but he could clearly feel that something wanted to erase everything he knew about himself.

He did not want to, he could not forget that woman, even if he forgot himself one day, he must never forget that woman.

And unlike Rindo and Alicia, he had still managed to maintain part of his awareness.

Of course, it was not because of some new ability, none of them had an ability that could resist a Calamity.

He had not maintained his awareness because his willpower was that strong, but because he was holding on with all his willpower to a memory he did not want to lose.

Lian noticed the change in his companions’ condition while he was moving.

First, he saw Rindo standing motionless, and then Alicia, whose sword had lowered and whose gaze was fixed on an unclear point.

’What’s happening?’

He immediately changed his direction.

But before he could reach them, he noticed the unnatural whiteness in their eyes, and for a moment, all his attention focused on those two.

’Identity Erasure?’

The memories of the prisoners he had seen during the past few days returned to his mind, followed by White Oblivion’s words.

"Who said I didn’t want you to reach this place?"

Lian suddenly stopped.

His mind quickly connected the recent events.

Thousands of Withered had been moving toward the center for a long time, the Forsaken Apostate had blocked the path, but White Oblivion had only revealed himself after the group arrived.

Despite having several chances to launch deadly attacks against Rindo, Alicia, and Noah, Vesperis had mostly tried to block their escape route.

And now, right after the new stage of sacrificing the Withered had begun, the identities of all three were being targeted.

He turned his gaze toward White Oblivion.

The man with Roderick’s face was still standing beside the cliff, his right hand was raised slightly, and the same inhuman smile could be seen on his face.

If the Calamity only wanted to kill them, he had much better opportunities.

He could even have allowed the Forsaken Apostate to kill all three humans with a large-scale attack.

But he had not done that.

So he needs something from their existence, that Calamity needed them to be present and alive.

Whatever he wanted to do, whatever plan he had, it would only be possible if he had them under his control.

They were also supposed to play a role in killing Hollow Sun.

He remained silent for a moment and then looked at the creature.

White Oblivion looked at him for several seconds, he also knew that this human had understood a large part of the truth.

But so what?

His smile changed slightly and became more like a very faint smirk, then without saying even a single word, he turned his head and focused on the ritual again.

Lian’s gaze returned to Rindo and Alicia, both of their eyes were now almost completely white, and Noah was also struggling to remain standing farther away.

He no longer had time to think about the Calamity’s plan, he had to get those three away from danger.

But at that moment, Vesperis moved.

The Twin-Oath Inquisitor changed his position from the eastern part of the battlefield, he had previously blocked the three humans’ path to prevent them from leaving.

But now that Rindo and Alicia had almost completely lost the ability to move with a clear purpose, he no longer needed to chase those two.

His gaze settled on Noah.

The young Frenchman was still trying to resist White Oblivion’s effect, his umbrella was in his right hand, and he was pressing his left hand against his forehead.

’No...’

For a moment, he repeated his own name in his mind.

’Noah.’

’....Noah Laurent.’

But even these words were slowly losing their meaning.

At that moment, he heard Vesperis’s footsteps.

He raised his head.

The Inquisitor was now closer.

"Damn it..."

Noah tried to hold his umbrella in front of his body, but because of the disturbance in his mind, his hand moved more slowly than usual.

Vesperis raised his right sword, and a semi-transparent shadow separated from his body.

[ Preceding Echo ]

The first strike came down from the right.

Noah defended himself with his umbrella, and the sound of metal striking the umbrella’s covering was heard, but before he could recover his balance, the Inquisitor’s real body moved.

This time, the red sword struck the umbrella from a lower angle, the force of the impact pushed his right hand aside, and the umbrella moved out of its defensive position.

The young Frenchman took one step back, but....Vesperis followed him.