Chương 350: At camp again

Shade remained perfectly still, silently studying Vale and Korin. Seconds passed, then nearly a full minute, yet the shadow neither nodded nor moved a single muscle. His glowing ruby eyes lingered on the two of them, unreadable beneath the veil of darkness cloaking his form. Korin tilted his head, uncertainty slowly creeping into his expression.

"Are you sure he isn't... broken?" Vale looked at him as though the question itself was absurd.

"Broken? How exactly would he be broken?" Korin genuinely considered the question for a moment before slowly nodding to himself.

"... That's... actually a fair point." The moment those words left his mouth, Shade finally moved. Without the slightest warning, he swung the enormous reptilian carcass from over his shoulder and tossed it toward them. The beast landed with a heavy thud that shook loose dirt and leaves before Shade calmly planted his immense onyx greatsword into the earth beside himself. Vale blinked, his gaze shifting between the corpse and the shadow.

"... Uh... why exactly are you doing this?" Shade stared at him as though the answer should have been painfully obvious. He pointed at the dead creature before tapping the place where his mouth would have been beneath the endless darkness concealing his face. Vale paused, his eyes slowly grew as he realized what the shadow meant to say.

"Food?" Shade nodded so enthusiastically that it almost looked comical. Vale couldn't help laughing quietly.

"You seriously came all the way out here just to show us you found dinner?" Another vigorous nod answered him. Vale rubbed the back of his head with an amused sigh.

"You really aren't any different from us humans, are you?" Shade tilted his head in obvious confusion. To him, the statement made little sense. He had been born from a human's shadow. Why wouldn't he behave similarly? Vale simply smiled and waved the thought away.

"Never mind." He pointed deeper into the forest.

"Actually, could you guide us back to camp?" Shade blinked once before tilting his head even farther, his confusion somehow becoming even more pronounced. Vale suddenly became very aware of how ridiculous the request sounded.

"Well... you see..." He coughed awkwardly.

"Both of us accidentally left our navigation devices back at camp... so we have absolutely no idea where camp actually is." Silence settled over the clearing. Shade looked at Vale. Then at Korin. Then back at Vale again. Very slowly, he raised one hand to where his face should have been. His shoulders trembled. It wasn't exactly laughter... But it was unquestionably the closest either of them had ever seen him come. Vale buried his face in one hand.

"Yeah. We deserved that i guess." Korin released an equally defeated sigh beside him.

"Absolutely." Without another word, Shade grabbed the enormous reptile by its tail once more and effortlessly began dragging it through the undergrowth. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Vale glanced down at the corpse as they followed. Its scales had been crushed inward. Bones jutted through shattered armor plating at unnatural angles, yet there wasn't a single clean wound anywhere across its body.

'He beat the thing to death... with his fists.' Vale grimaced.

"... What a horrible way to die." The three quietly continued through the dense forest, bushes and vines seeming to part before Shade as though even the surrounding vegetation instinctively knew better than to resist him. For several minutes, nothing accompanied them except the steady sounds of rustling leaves, snapping branches, and the heavy scrape of the reptilian carcass dragging across the forest floor. Korin glanced toward Vale more than once, opening his mouth only to hesitate each time.

Eventually, curiosity won.

"Hey, Vale." Vale looked over.

"What?" Korin scratched awkwardly at his cheek before speaking.

"When I poked you earlier... Is that reaction going to become your normal response now?" The humor gradually disappeared from Vale's expression. His gaze drifted toward the forest floor as he considered the question.

"Honestly. I don't know." His voice had become noticeably quieter.

"My first trial. Rough doesn't even begin to describe it." He absentmindedly flexed one hand as though remembering countless movements.

"For fifty thousand years, every tiny mistake meant death. Every movement, every hesitation, every lapse in concentration... Everything. His fingers slowly curled into a fist.

"I think my instincts have completely rewritten themselves." He looked back toward Korin with an apologetic smile.

"My body reacts before my mind even has time to think. If someone touches me unexpectedly, my first instinct is to kill them." He laughed bitterly at the admission.

"Because that's how I survived." His shoulders sagged slightly.

"And ironically. That's probably the worst instinct I could have while traveling with friends." Korin's expression gradually crumbled into complete disbelief. Dragging both hands down his face, he groaned dramatically.

"For the Creator's sake, can't you just be normal for once?" Vale couldn't help laughing.

"Hey, I'll try to have an easier second trial." Korin pointed at him accusingly.

"You'd better. I'd rather not spend the next three months wondering whether scratching my nose is going to get me decapitated."

"Fair enough," Vale admitted with another chuckle. Silence settled over them once more as they continued walking beneath the towering trees. After another minute, Vale suddenly spoke again.

"Hey. I want to spar." Korin blinked.

"What?"

"A duel." Vale shrugged casually.

"I kind of feel like fighting." Korin frowned.

"Why?" Vale actually stopped to think about it.

"I honestly don't know." He rubbed thoughtfully at his chin.

"I think. I just don't want my senses to dull." Korin pointed ahead toward Shade, who continued dragging the enormous corpse through the forest as though it weighed nothing.

"Can't you just spar with him?" Shade glanced over one shoulder. Vale looked hopefully toward the living shadow. The shadow looked back. Then, very slowly... He raised one hand before turning his thumb downward. Vale sighed dramatically.

"See? He doesn't want to." Korin frowned in confusion.

"That doesn't make any sense. He fought Commander Ares barely a week ago. Why would he suddenly refuse now?" Shade stopped walking. The forest seemed to fall silent around him. For several long seconds, he remained perfectly still before slowly lifting one arm. Crimson cracks spread across the black surface of his forearm. The surrounding darkness thinned just enough for Vale and Korin to glimpse the damage hidden beneath. Vale's expression hardened.

"Shade." His voice had become completely serious.

"What did you do?" The shadow slowly lowered his arm. Regret flickered behind those glowing ruby eyes. But he offered no explanation. Instead, he simply grabbed the beast's tail once more and resumed walking. Vale clenched his teeth. Stepping forward, he caught Shade firmly by the arm and forced him to stop.

"Hey. I asked you a question. What happened?" The shadow slowly turned his head. His gaze felt cold. Without answering, he gently slipped his arm free from Vale's grip before continuing onward. Vale stared after him.

"Shade." The shadow paused once more, looking back over one shoulder. Vale's expression softened.

"... Don't push yourself too hard." His voice had become almost gentle.

"Stay alive. I don't have any use for you if you're dead." The shadow remained silent. Yet something within those glowing ruby eyes softened ever so slightly before he resumed walking without another word. Korin watched him disappear farther into the trees before quietly breaking the silence.

"So... I guess we aren't letting him fight again until we figure out what's going on." Vale released a reluctant sigh.

"Yeah. If he won't tell us himself... We'll just have to find out another way." He rolled one shoulder as faint voices finally drifted through the trees ahead. His expression brightened.

"Oh, thank the Creator." Without another thought, Vale hurried toward the sound, pushing through the final wall of tangled bushes. The dense vegetation abruptly gave way to a wide clearing. Before he could stop himself, Thump. Vale collided directly with someone. His footing vanished beneath him, and instinctively he thrust one arm toward the ground, catching himself before he could fully fall.

"... Ah, sorry about-" The apology died halfway through the sentence. He looked down. Emerald eyes met his own. For one long, silent moment, neither of them moved. The bundle of firewood the young woman had been carrying scattered across the clearing, branches tumbling through the grass in every direction as Nym froze in place. A faint blush slowly spread across her face while she stared down at the man who had nearly knocked her over. Vale finished the sentence almost absentmindedly.

"-that."