Chapter 158 – A Monster Lives in the Shadows (01)

A small group of less than 10 people armed with weapons stolen from the Duke’s soldiers were wandering the mountains.

“Huh… Huh…”

A series of shabby soldiers and three female thieves were following a silver-haired young man who was moving ahead with a haggard expression.

A young man staring at the surroundings with a serious expression seemed to be their leader. A young man who appeared to be in his late 20s with a rough shaved beard and a scar on his chin, and a female thief who appeared to be around the same age and dressed in revealing clothing were following him on both sides. .

Meanwhile, the young man who had climbed the highest peak in the vicinity stopped walking, and the soldiers and bandits who were following him sat down on the spot with a sigh of relief.

But the young man’s expression did not relax.

“Master?”

“I guess it’s this mountain.”

At those words, the soldiers clenched their weapons and made grim expressions.

“It won’t be a problem if it comes out like this, Aren.”

“No, honestly, the location is clear… But was it originally like this?”

Behind the puzzled silver-haired young man, the soldiers who were sighing were disappearing.

Ssuk. Sussssseu.

Seeing them being eaten by the shadows one by one, the guard captain and the female thief holding a mace took a fighting stance, but they also disappeared into the darkness in an instant, leaving only a silver-haired young man left.

“Hmm. Looking at this, do I think it’s this mountain?”

* ​ * ​ *

Shadow family.

In the past, although they were famous as assassins and scouts, they were a representative family with a certain degree of reverence and mystery about their abilities.

However, after the attack on the Academy by Duke Renellian two years ago, their evaluation changed in a completely different direction.

I learned how vicious and dangerous assassination using [Shadow Ninjutsu] Was.

Indiscriminate assassination of nobles who tried to convert to the early Renellian duchy.

They could have hidden their identities, but the [Shadow Family] Left behind traces of the use of their abilities, as if openly promoting assassinations using the [Shadow Ninjutsu], Or initiated assassinations using shadows in the presence of witnesses.

The lesser operatives used a special healing potion and a special red light that does not create shadows to prevent the [Shadow Family] From recklessly attempting assassinations. Thanks to this, except for the dozens of nobles who died in the early stages of the war, the number of victims is no longer high. It did not increase dramatically.

If the Duke’s response had been a little late, the war would have ended with the nobles being wiped out or not converting due to death threats.

However, in the process, many innocent people died, and even nobles and commanders who were not targeted for assassination were exposed to their threat, so they called the [Shadow Family] A murderer family with fear and hatred. .

Even in the past, the outskirts of the family, hidden as a secret, were protected by a natural barrier created by shadows and optical illusions. Above all, to find and enter the family, one had to enter the shadow of Yujiro, the head of the family, creating Cheolongseong Fortress, which no one could attack. I was bragging.

“…”

She closed her eyes and called out to her shadow in the dark space, then opened her eyes.

She, who had developed enough to be able to use her own shadows even in a perfect dark room where not a single ray of light leaked in, was puzzled by the awkward feel of her own fingers.

‘Did you get hit?’

Directions to Celestial Academy. Her master had not been able to retrieve the wooden sword she left behind, and her four henchmen, who had been pushed back, knew that they were trying to destroy the wooden sword.

Therefore, she used the wooden sword left behind by Aren as bait and used [Shadow Thorns] To tear at anyone who came to that location. Although she was worried that some innocent people might die in the process, she deliberately killed the family’s henchmen and [Shadow Ninjutsu]. ], But they spread rumors in advance using those who sacrificed their lives and were loyal to the family.

Do not go out at night, and royalist soldiers are not to enter the academy. A monster appears at that location.

Nevertheless, the soldiers of the duke faction either ignored the rumor or stepped on the stage as ordered by your henchmen, and were pulverized by [Shadow Thorn].

As a result, we were able to cause considerable damage.

Above all, since her wooden sword was a trace of what little her master had left, she had a personal reason to protect it.

Last night, something strange happened to her, who had guarded her wooden sword while destroying the duke faction’s soldiers over and over again.

The feeling of her heart her pounding as if her master she was calling her, and the [Shadow Thread] That was hanging on her her finger she seemed to have broken in the middle her her her, so the vibration could no longer be transmitted.

“Master.”

Every time she said that name, her face, which had lived almost expressionless for two years, became immersed in sadness.

He would have known everything.

So, he probably made people avoid the place on purpose because they thought it would be difficult for them to move properly at the scene of the fire because the shadows were distorted.

However, it was a very sad and humiliating thing for the shadow that was supposed to protect the lord.

It was very difficult to have to wait indefinitely like this when one’s lord went missing and was captured by the Duke’s family, or… Might even be dead.

‘Please just stay alive…’

But she knew too.

The mere fact that the [Shadow Ninjutsu] He shared with him is no longer shared means that he will no longer be in this world.

If he were alive, she would have done whatever it took to call him, and at that moment she would have escaped all her restraints and run to his shadow her her, but he had never once called her.

She was standing there with a sad expression on her face, and she saw Rito’s shadow creeping into this room, which she couldn’t enter without [Shadow Ninjutsu].

“Please report.”

“It’s an intruder, Lord Soga. The number is less than ten, and at that level, it’s not like there was a full-scale intrusion.”

“Yes. I guess so.”

“You told me to handle it between the two of us…”

Since her wife had recently become pregnant, Rito seemed reluctant to go on dangerous missions if possible.

In fact, in Rito’s case, although her skills were excellent, her feelings she was not calm and she was secretly affectionate, so she was not good enough to lead the [Shadow Family].

Rita, who had become extremely cold-hearted after losing her lord her, was more suitable as the next Soga lord, so she surpassed her cousin Rito and began to act as the actual Soga lord of the Shadow family.

“I will do it.”

“Really?”

At least, I hope that even her own cousin doesn’t feel this pain.

To soothe the pain in her her throbbing her heart her her her her, Rita closed her eyes, immersing herself in her shadow her her her.

‘The crime of failing to protect the lord as a shadow. I will sacrifice my body to repay you.’

Already, her consciousness her was following her father’s shadow her her her, attacking those who trespassed into her family’s her domain her her her her.

It devours the worthless soldiers one by one.

It swallows up the careless female thieves one by one.

It devours an impressive-looking soldier that it had seen at the Academy before, and it devours a female thief holding a huge mace that does not fit her body.

And finally, it tries to devour the man with shining silver hair.

“Yes… I found it.”

That is, until his wooden sword detects and slices through nearby mountains and trees, destroying the shadows that could blanket nearby hills, preventing them from engulfing her and her companions.

‘That man is dangerous’

With her instinctive sense of danger and her pounding heart behind her, Rita stretched out her own shadow and was the first to engulf her silver-haired youth.

Ssssseu…

“Ugh…! Danger…!”

Her man suddenly threw her wooden sword aside and raised both her hands.

Be careful not to let the wooden sword touch the shadow.

“Inori… Gently… Big…!”

“Master!”

Slurp…

The silver-haired man was buried in the shadows, as if he had never been there.

* ​ * ​ *

‘I can’t breathe!’

I didn’t know when [Shadow Ninjutsu] Was used or when Inori intentionally let me in, but being swallowed up so one-sidedly made me suffocate, as if I was trapped in the deep sea.

‘Is it in Inori’s [Shadow Pocket]?’

I couldn’t see her squeezing me or making any moves to devour me, but just being trapped here was the same as being subdued by her.

“Inori…!”

Even when I called out her name with the last breath I had left, Inori remained silent.

Actually, I thought he would recognize me and come running straight to me and say ‘Master~!’, But I didn’t know that he would just eat me up.

And this is what I felt while dealing with [Shadow Thorn] Last time. If you see that my skin is scratched every time I brush against it, it determines that I am an ally of the same force. I am protected just as Alice was unharmed even when she exploded with [Star Magic], But it is the same as now. If you are not in power, you will normally get caught up in it and be attacked.

In other words, if I swing the wooden sword incorrectly, Inori will be crushed without me having time to suppress it, so I stopped attacking for now and tried to slowly revive [Shadow Ninjutsu].

‘Is it still not working?’

Even though it comes into contact with Inori’s [Shadow Ninjutsu], It does not come back to life.

The old man said that I would lose my abilities, but if the characteristics disappeared at all, they would not have been deactivated but simply erased… There must be a way to save them.

‘Well, is it something you get by doing something similar to just getting something?’

I was quietly waiting in the [Shadow pocket].

Anyway, unless you’re holding a wooden sword, it’s a space you can’t escape from, especially considering I kept the wooden sword in the [Shadow Pocket].

So, I held my breath and held on as if I was diving, waiting quietly for Inori to take me out.

‘Slowly… I’m losing my mind…’

When my eyes are blurring in a dark space where I can’t tell how much time has passed.

Finally, as the cool air came in, I escaped the [Shadow pocket] And popped out into a slightly wider area.

“Fuu…!”

As soon as you come out, take a deep breath and look ahead, being careful not to be dragged into the [Shadow Pocket] Again.

Then, there she was.

My Inori, kneeling on her knees and radiating her own shadow.

“Inori.”

At those words, [Shadow thorns] Sprouted from all directions and aimed at me, but I did not move.

Baba baba bak!

If I was going to kill him, I’d just stick one thing in his neck. I didn’t think he’d stick dozens of them at the same time like he does now.

In other words, this was a threat.

‘Use…!’

Of course, a few of them grazed quite painful areas and the skin stung, but it was not an attack intended to cause fatal injury or kill.

“Who are you?”

Is it because he heard his real name his called? I was slowly approaching her, shrugging her shoulders.

It will be confusing. If you look at the game data, it will probably be completely different from the old Aren.

If this were a game, everything would just be reset and the situation would already be over.

I was reaching out to her, believing in her, her affection, her, her.

“You already know who it is.”

“No. That can’t be possible. If it were my lord, there would be no way he would be hit by [Shadow Thorn] From this distance. If he were the same as me…”

I lightly stepped on Inori’s shadow her her, and the moment she flinched without realizing it, I closed the distance between her and rushed towards her.

Before Inori’s panicked shadow could tie me up, I wrapped my arms around her waist.

It’s only for a moment, but the time I spend worrying about whether I’m real or fake is what decides the winner.

‘Your waist is really thin’

It used to be a little smaller than me, but now there is a huge difference, and when I lifted it with strength, Inori was hanging in my arms.

She grabbed both of her hands, tied them together, and pushed her fingers into her cleavage and asked,

“It’s been a while, should I use [Shadow Pocket]?”

Ji-Ik-

“Master…?”

Inori finally seemed to believe that I had returned.

“When I came back and called your name, you didn’t recognize me. As a lord, I’m disappointed.”

“I-I’m sorry about that… But why… Ah…!”

The shadow that makes excuses must be punished.