SS Awakening: My Monster Merging System!

"What exactly were you before you died?" Zich muttered quietly, not expecting any reply.

The massive skeletal head floated inside the dust cloud, pale golden eyes fixed on the Devouring Bone Giant as though the Boss rank monster kneeling in front of it was nothing strange. The silence made the entire scene feel even more disturbing to Zich.

The Devouring Bone Giant stayed in its kneeling position.

Its red glow flickered violently inside its chest, moving between resistance and submission. For a moment, Zich expected the monster to suddenly roar and swing, or for Tiamant’s chain dragon to crush it apart before it could move again.

But neither happened.

Instead, the Bone Giant lowered its skull even further.

The movement made the cavern floor creak under its size. Its four curved horns almost touched the broken stone, and the chains around its body rattled quietly inside the dust.

Zich’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"What is it doing?"

The Devouring Bone Giant lifted one massive hand and placed it against its own chest. Its fingers pressed between the ribs where the red core burned brightly.

Zich frowned, thinking that the monster was preparing another attack. After all, this was a Level Seventy Boss monster that had nearly crushed Helen, Varok, Jayden, and the Velhari into paste while healing from soul stones nonstop.

Trusting it would be stupid.

But the giant did not attack.

Its fingers dug into its own ribs.

CRAAACK!!!

The sound of splitting bone echoed inside the dust cloud.

Zich watched as the Devouring Bone Giant tore open the center of its chest. Red light spilled outward immediately, thick and hot, causing the dust around its body to twist as if the air itself was being burned.

The monster’s massive body shook under the pain, but it did not resist. It did not roar in anger either. Its head stayed lowered toward Tiamant’s partial form, and for some reason, that made the scene far more unsettling.

This was not being forced.

It was doing this willingly.

Zich’s expression finally changed a little.

The Devouring Bone Giant reached deeper into its chest and pulled out a large red stone wrapped in black bone and soul stone fragments.

Outside the dust, the others could not see what was happening. All they heard was bone cracking.

Helen’s face turned pale at the violent sounds from inside the cloud. Her first thought was that Zich was being crushed.

"Zich!" she shouted, already stepping forward.

A hand caught her arm.

"Do not enter."

She turned on Varok. "Let go. I won’t repeat the same mistake."

"That pressure will crush you before you even reach him." He did not loosen his grip. "You cannot see what is happening inside."

The giant Velhari spat blood to the side before forcing himself upright. "If that human dies in there after walking in so calmly, I will be very disappointed."

The short Velhari said nothing. His eyes stayed on the dust. He could not see clearly either, but the pressure from inside was enough.

Inside the dust cloud, Zich stared at the core in the Bone Giant’s hand.

The core was huge, almost the size of a human head, its surface was covered in veins of red light. Small soul stone fragments were embedded inside it, pulsing like they were still feeding the monster even now.

"So that was what all those stones became," Zich muttered, connecting the dots quite easily.

By consuming so many soul stones, the Bone Giant had created a powerful core that contained the energy of countless absorbed souls.

The Devouring Bone Giant raised the core toward Tiamant.

Its arm shook as it moved, but it still held the core up with both hands. The action looked like an offering.

Wrong. It was an offering.

The single chain dragon behind Tiamant moved forward quietly.

Its skeletal body wrapped around the core. The moment the chain touched the red stone, the core’s light trembled.

The giant stayed motionless, maintaining its kneeling posture as the offering was accepted.

Tiamant’s pale golden eyes flickered once as the chain dragon tightened around the core.

CRACK!!!

The red core cracked slightly, and a deep stream of energy flowed into Tiamant’s partial form. The skeletal dragon head remained silent as the energy disappeared between its bones and golden eye flames.

Zich immediately felt his mana drain harder.

Even though the Bone Giant was offering the core willingly, maintaining Tiamant’s partial form while it absorbed something this powerful still consumed too much mana. His mana was dropping fast, and if he waited too long, he would be the one collapsing instead.

"Hurry up," he muttered under his breath.

CRACK!!! CRACK!!!

The cracks echoed across the cavern.

The red light inside the Devouring Bone Giant’s chest dimmed rapidly. Its huge body began collapsing from within, cracks spreading across its arms, ribs, skull, and spine.

The couriers in the cavern froze completely, and then they began to fall apart. When they disappeared, the soul stone channels suddenly stopped moving as there was no longer anyone to keep them going.

Meanwhile, back inside the dust storm.

The Bone Giant’s body trembled harder. Its massive hand dropped after the core was taken, and red light faded from its hollow eyes.

There was no hatred in those eyes. It was dying, but it looked almost relieved.

The core finally shattered completely inside Tiamant’s chain dragon. The last stream of red energy vanished into the skeletal dragon’s skull, and Tiamant’s eye flames brightened.

As multiple level up screens flooded his view, forcing Zich to pause them entirely.

Seeing that the monster was falling apart, Zich stepped forward immediately.

He was not going to let this moment slip by. The monster had offered itself to Tiamant, but he still needed ownership over the spirit orb.

Mana gathered along his arm. Blood Arc formed around his wrist, darker than usual under the thick death aura lingering around him.

He swung toward the exposed empty chest.

FWOOSH!!!

The red slash tore through the weakened ribs and cut across the giant’s remaining core cavity. The body, already breaking apart, finally lost the last support holding it together.

BOOOOOOM!!!

The Devouring Bone Giant toppled forward, still kneeling.

Its skull struck the ground in front of the place where Tiamant floated, and its arms fell to the sides like broken pillars. Huge bones cracked apart, sending tremors through the cavern floor.

A private message appeared before Zich.

[Ding! You have slain the Devouring Bone Giant.]

[Ding! You have collected the Spirit Orb of the Devouring Bone Giant.]

Zich pulled out a mana potion and drank it quickly.

The bitter liquid spread through his body, restoring part of what Tiamant had drained. It was not enough to make him comfortable, but it stopped the empty feeling inside his mana core from getting worse.

He wiped the corner of his mouth with his sleeve. His breathing was steady, but his body felt heavier than before.

"Commander rank summons are still too expensive," he muttered.

At that moment, the dust began clearing.

Outside the cloud, everyone prepared for the worst.