Chương 24: [LD-1] 23. The Shadow on the Horizon

XXIII The Shadow on the Horizon Sha—Shadowlord… my thoughts rolled to a stop. Kiba took a step back. The orc put his hand on a two-handed mace I hadn't noticed resting at his side. The hammerhead was a bony-white, but the surface was matted in so much blood that it appeared crimson. Another orc, much smaller than the Lord, approached his side, and the candidate rose with its cape billowing behind it. A slew of orders passed from the lord's lips.

The other orc grunted, then took a task force of monsters and entered one of the tunnels. Then the Lord turned our way.

"Don't make a sound and don't move," the goblin said without his lips moving. And what else were we supposed to do? Run? I could barely walk. Kiba could run, I supposed, but where would he flee to? The shadows behind us were a deep, unknown dark, and the orc could surely catch up to him. So Kiba and I remained still like hares. Muscles in my chest contracted with each step that brought the behemoth closer. His aura and presence were physical.

A heavy-handed pressure that fell on the shoulders pressed the entire body into the floor. It was so heavy that my lungs could no longer expand to their full capacity. The lord stopped a foot away from Kiba and glanced down at the goblin. A series of quick, deep guttural sounds left his mouth. The goblin sighed.

"How many times do I have to tell you? My name's Rhaast."

'He cannot see us.' I glanced at the goblin. Was he hiding us? I couldn't tell that any skill was being used… What left the orc's mouth must've been a snort. He jabbed his head over his shoulders and said something else. The conversation quickly passed through my head like a scene in a movie, with my mind not fully present. My gaze roved over the orc's physique. I repeated that dreaded term in my head with a solemn whisper. Shadowlord candidate.

My knowledge of how such titles and creatures worked was so far removed from reality that I couldn't begin to imagine what it'd take to reach that status.

'Didn't Kil say only the Ten could be a Shadowlord?' Orcs were not in that category. Did that mean the Lord was so exceptional he could become a Shadowlord without being part of the Ten? That thought built a lump in my throat which blocked my airway. Suddenly, the wide tunnel felt cramped. The ceiling had gone, and the hulking form of the orc lord towered over us. My head turned light. My vision swirled. The organ in my chest went into overdrive and exploded.

'This is bad,' I thought, putting my hand in front of my mouth.

'I need to breathe.' Need to control myself. If I fell or made any noise— Something blurred, then the wall exploded. The shockwaves drilled into the floor and into my feet. A dust cloud hid the are where Kiba had been.

'What… what happened?' Pieces of rock tumbled. The cloud dispersed and showed Kiba leaning back like he was pole vaulting. His balance was shaky, but he didn't try to regain it. Instead, he kept his eyes closed and cosplayed a mannequin, while the orc lord's stare drilled a hole in the space Kiba occupied. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The orc pulled his hammer out the wall and inspected the head— No fresh blood.

—he turned to Rhaast, whose amiable smile didn't twitch. The orc lord grumbled. Rhaast chuckled.

"You're on edge, that's all." With another snort, the orc turned around and went back to the central chamber. Kiba collapsed the second the lord exited the tunnel.

"Phew," Rhaast wiped his forehead.

"That was a close call. Thank the heavens you had little ol' Rhaast to help you out." Kiba rolled onto his stomach heaved. I would've walked up to him and rubbed his back if the situation was any different. Of course, he wasn't able to keep his cool. If I experienced the orc's aura that fervently and wasn't even standing in front of him, the burden on him must've been immense.

"Well then," Rhaast said when neither Kiba nor I commented on his joke, "I should go. Otherwise, I'll look even more suspicious than I am. My spell will last for some time—you two head back up through the gate once the area is clear."

"Wait," I whispered. A set of emerald eyes turned on me and paused. I chewed my lip. There were so many things I wanted to ask. About the dungeon: who had made it and why? How was a shadowlord candidate of all things here? What was it doing here? In the end, I settled on the one closest to home:"Why'd you save us?" His eyebrows sagged, and he huffed.

"Did your parents never teach you not to inspect a gifted horse?" Kiba stared him down from the floor. The goblin released a theatrical sigh. His head rotated toward the tunnel exit. Warm light reflected in his pupils, like he was watching the sun slip past the horizon and enjoyed the sight of the beautiful, setting star.

"Because I feel bad for you." I glanced at Kiba, and he at me.

"Bad for us?" the white fang said. Rhaast folded his hands behind his back.

"Even cattle meant for the slaughter block deserve a nice day out in the field, don't you agree?" Our silence stretched into the deep shadows beyond Rhaast's light orb.

"I'm joking." The goblin chuckled low.

"Call it divine intervention. You humans love yourselves a good deity to be all chummy with, right? Just write it off as one of those things."

"You're lying," I said. It was a hunch, nothing more. His thin lips parted wide and revealed two rows of sharp teeth.

"Never trust a goblin that's not lying." He stepped past Kiba. The fall of his feet was light. So light that it did not disturb the earth where he passed. Not a pebble.

"Ah, one more thing." His chin poked out over his shoulder. We'd left part of the radius of his spell, so darkness partially shrouded our figures. I didn't get the sense that the goblin had any trouble seeing us.

"You'll be free to enter and leave this floor as you wish, soon." My brow raised.

"What do you mean?" To that, he smiled.

"You'll see." Before I could open my mouth again, he was gone. Completely and totally, like he'd never existed at all. And now the shadows hugged Kiba and me so tight our silhouette was no longer visible. The two of us didn't speak up for a while. We watched the orcs rush through the tunnels (including our own), carrying all manner of equipment. Rhaast's spell, whatever it was, was good. Not a single beast had caught wind of us.

There were ample opportunities to use the gift to gain easy experience, but since we didn't know if attacking would cancel the technique, we didn't try anything. I leaned against the wall of the tunnel with my eyes closed. Kiba was sitting nearby, for I could feel the heat of his breath drift past my neck.

"Hey, you awake?" came a whisper.

'That's what you're asking me?'

"Yes," I mumbled back instead of the snarky comment.

"We'll stay like this for ten more minutes, then head back up." It'd been a while since we'd seen another monster.

"Okay," I said.

"I injured my foot though."

"How bad?"

"I can't walk without using Cull." And though the dark shrouded his face, I felt him nod.

"Then I'll carry you." The ease with which he said it… I shook my head and glanced at the common area.

"Are we sure we can go back through that hole?" Rhaast had basically said that goblins always lied. It wasn't like there was a staircase going back up.

"Yeah, I saw the message after I jumped after you." … He'd rushed down here without knowing if he could go back. Even though he must've seen the message like I did before entering.

"Kiba," I reached out and touched his arm.

"Thank you." He was quick to answer: "Don't mind it. Consider it a debt paid. I'm the one who brought us into this mess." Our conversation fell quiet after that, our breathing again the sole noise to disrupt the silence. I sagged against the wall and let my back rest against the colder floor. An image of the orc lord, which I couldn't shake, replayed in my head like a nightmare.

It was crouched beside the pool of blood, and a cut of shadow darkened the three-quarter view of its face as it rubbed the blood on its tusk. There'd been no emotion in its gaze. Nothing except boredom, despite studying the corpse of one of its allies. It felt deep in its bones that whatever had done its fellow in would be no threat to it. My hand went to my chest.

"Ki-Kiba." His blue eyes almost managed to pierce the veil of darkness.

"Do you—do you think…" I swallowed and found my breath.

"Do you think we can take him?" I'd got a ton of experience from recent fights. But even if I levelled, I would be nowhere near level fifteen. The other students would barely reach level seven after fighting the warlock. The lord was more than triple our level. He didn't answer right away. But after ten seconds (I counted, that's how fried my nerves were) had passed, he finally spoke.

"We can do it." I tried to look up at his face. What kind of expression was he making while he spoke?

"We can do it," he repeated, tone firmer.

"We must. There's no other choice." … No, there wasn't.