SS Awakening: My Monster Merging System!

Varok’s words made the entire passage fall quiet.

Helen’s eyes narrowed while Jayden slowly looked toward the dark road ahead. Even the giant Velhari, who usually had something annoying to say, remained silent this time.

"A powerful presence?" Helen asked.

Varok nodded once. "Yes."

The short Velhari crouched near the ground and casually picked up a soul stone lying there. He then looked around, spotting a series of soul stones arranged in a straight line.

The others followed his gaze and saw them as well.

Jayden’s expression darkened.

"Then this might be where those skeletons were taking them."

"That is the most likely answer," Varok replied.

The giant Velhari rolled his shoulders once, and a faint grin appeared on his face. "Good. I was getting tired of walking through tunnels."

Helen glanced toward him and spoke in a warning tone. "Do not rush ahead."

"I know," the giant replied, though his tone made it clear he did not like being warned.

Some time later, the sound of rolling stones reached their ears.

Click. Click. Click.

At first, it was soft, but after another minute, it grew louder.

Helen glanced toward the ground and saw soul stones rolling through a carved channel beside the path. More channels joined from other tunnels, each one carrying more stones downward.

There were too many.

Even Jayden could not keep his expression fully calm after seeing that amount. Soul stones were valuable even to wealthy families, yet here they were moving through the ground like common cargo.

"What kind of place has this many soul stones?" he muttered.

"The kind that has been collecting them for a long time," Varok replied.

The giant Velhari stared at the moving stones with obvious greed. His eyes followed them as they rolled deeper through the passage.

"Can we take them?"

Helen shot him a look. "You want to steal from the thing Varok just called powerful?"

The giant Velhari snorted. "The white haired human would."

For a moment, nobody answered.

Helen did not comment because she knew the giant was probably right.

Not probably... very right.

Varok’s eyes moved toward the deeper tunnel. "That is exactly why we should be careful. If the summoner found this route first, he may have already touched something he should not have."

Jayden’s jaw clenched at the mention of Zich, but he did not speak.

A few more steps later, the tunnel opened into a ledge.

The group stopped almost at the same time.

Below them was a vast cavern.

Huge stone pillars rose from the floor and vanished into the darkness above. Dozens of channels ran across the ground from different directions, all carrying soul stones toward the center like streams feeding a lake.

And at the center sat the bone giant.

It was enormous.

Its body was built from thick bones, black chains, and broken armor plates. Four curved horns rose from its skull, and a red glow burned inside its eyes and chest.

In front of it was a mound of soul stones so large that it was taller than the giant Velhari.

The bone giant reached down, grabbed a handful of soul stones, and shoved them into its mouth.

CRUNCH!!!

The sound echoed through the cavern.

Helen’s face changed at the sight.

Blue light spread through the giant’s ribs as the crushed stones disappeared into its body. A crack along one arm slowly sealed itself, and the glow in its chest became a little brighter.

"It is eating them," Jayden said quietly.

Varok’s grip tightened around his spear. "No. It is using them. It is using them to forcefully increase its strength... it is the reason the realm upgraded so fiercely, and now it is trying to do the same thing again."

The tension in the air felt like a mountain, and the cavern became so hot that sweat trickled down their spines.

The giant Velhari swallowed once, but his eyes remained fixed on the mound. "If it eats that many, how strong is it?"

As if answering him, a faint panel appeared above the creature.

[Devouring Bone Giant — Lv70 (Boss)]

Helen felt her heartbeat slow for a moment. Level 70 was not something their current group should be facing carelessly.

Jayden took half a step back, a movement Varok noticed but did not comment on.

The short Velhari crouched near the ledge and looked across the cavern. "There are side tunnels. If we retreat quietly, we may avoid it."

The giant Velhari frowned. "And leave that mound?"

"Touch it and we die," the short Velhari replied.

Before anyone could decide, the giant Velhari’s boot suddenly stepped on a bone.

Crack!

The sound was too tiny to matter. However, the bone giant stopped chewing.

Helen’s eyes widened slightly, Jayden’s face lost its color, and Varok cursed under his breath.

The bone giant’s massive skull slowly turned upward. Its red eyes locked directly onto the area where they stood.

For a moment, they stood paralyzed, unable to move a muscle, completely stunned. The aura the bone giant gave off was terrifyingly powerful, even surpassing the undead bone dragon that had appeared in the human shelter.

"Damn!" The giant Velhari could not help but curse in his heart, realizing he was the reason they were about to lose their lives.

...

Back in the square, Zich continued staring at the broken fountain.

The hole beneath it still gave off warm air from time to time. Every few seconds, faint sounds echoed from below, as if something large was moving through the deep tunnels under the ruined city.

He rubbed his chin slowly as he fell into deep thought, trying to come up with a way to infiltrate the deep cavern.

’Following the tunnel might work, but that is risky.’

It was like being spoon fed to the bone giant, which left him with another option.

Zich’s gaze flicked to the cobblestone ground beneath him.

Yes... that was the other option.

It was to blow the ground apart and descend into the cavern.

"Iron," he called, twisting his neck from side to side.

Even before the elite undead knights could take a step, the ground suddenly trembled beneath their feet.