Shadowbane

For hours I've been tracking them. I thought they were moving quickly considering how I couldn't see them at all after exiting the village, but it turns out they had only rushed through that part of their 'escape'. After that it didn't take me long to spot their crystal lights and even less time to catch up to them. I stayed just far enough away to pick up any chatter while being back far enough to avoid their lights from hitting me.

Except they never said a damn word... Not even one. This is clearly a well-trained regiment that knows exactly what they need to do without requiring constant instructions. Useless banter out in the open like this when every little sound could be life-threatening is indeed something a rookie would do. Skill isn't going to be an issue for these men, but that's not the only problem. Even at a glance, I can tell that their armor is the maximum quality possible before upgrading to artifact armor. It'll take several fully enhanced blows to punch through the weaker parts of that armor, so that leaves only one exposed area, their face. It takes time for me to enhance after dropping my aura, there's no way men these knights are going to stare at me dumbfounded while I empower my fist.

As we neared the fortress, I began to worry about how I was even going to enter the place. There are massive crystals that function like spotlights above all the entryways, halfway up the fortress, and on top of the walls pointing in both directions. While I'm pondering this, the knights break off into two groups. Most of the knights head towards the main entrance which has a constant stream of foot traffic going in and out of it, while the commander and two other knights drag Tyra off towards a door hundreds of meters west of the main entrance.

Very little traffic over here, but the gaps between the lights are almost nonexistent... This is going to be a major pain in the ass.

The other option is backtracking until I reach the mountains. If I run along the wall I'll be able to avoid most of the lights, excluding the ones nearest to the doors. Except if I do that I'll end up far behind Tyra's little entourage... Who knows how many corridors and rooms await me in that place? I'm gonna need to keep up with them as best as I can. Although there is still one more massive problem. I have no idea of how bright it's going to be in that place. If they really are struggling with mana, then the fortress should be dimly lit... But I guess we'll see.

Wait... There is a final option. I've done this a few times before but it's very risky. Hell, the whole plan of following her into an unknown place that I haven't scoped out before is risky... Fuck it, I've already made one bad decision today, let's do one more.

I run up behind the knights before they reach the spotlights. Ducking down behind Tyra, I ask my armor to stick to her as I place my body up against her. Thanks to how thick she and her armor are, I should be able to avoid most of the directed lighting. The truly problematic area will be inside the fortress.

Tyra lightly chuckles, making the knights glance at her for a second, but nothing more.

She must have felt me stick to her. Don't worry old gal, I'll try and get you out of whatever the hell this is.

As we make our way through the light-infested landscape, only the light reflected off the snow behind me damages me, but it's to a level I can handle long enough to make it to the entrance.

"Welcome back, sir... Huh?" A guard said.

I'm sure he was shocked after seeing that the prisoner was Tyra.

The leader sighed. "Yes, I'm not proud of this moment either... I pray it's all a misunderstanding."

"R-Right, of course..." The guard said as the sound of a heavy-metal door opened nearby.

The knights file through the large door, but as Tyra breaches the fortress, her armor begins screeching as she's dragged along the stone floor.

"Tsk, pick her up. I'm not listening to that the whole way down." The leader said.

Shit, not good.

Releasing my hold on Tyra, I back up to a corner near the door. The knights pick her up, wrapping her arms over their shoulders as they grab her waist.

Yeah, they definitely would've found me... Still though, I'm surprised to see how large this hallway is. It's also rather dark in here so far, but I know that won't last.

They begin moving forward again, turning right at the fork ahead. However, when they open the double doors at the end, pure white light floods the hallway. I stifle a scream as I dive behind a crate off to the right.

... It didn't take long before any luck I had ran out. This is going to be difficult to get past. It looked like a large mess hall, and I heard several different conversations going on in there.

The doors slam open again. Two men in butler attire rush past my hiding spot towards a door on the right. Once inside their footsteps echoed upwards.

Good to know the way up for later, but right now I need to figure out how to get past this mess hall. I could try going up to see if there is an easier way to get past this mess hall, or I could drop my aura and sneak in the old-fashioned way...

........................

Sneaking up to the doors, I drop my aura, slightly pushing open the left door and peeking inside, revealing a small part of the hall.

Hmm, a group of five men in casual attire playing a knife game by the corner in the far back... Nobody looking this way currently.

Closing the door, I push open the right one next. Another knight in casual gear sitting at a table, scratching his head with a pencil in his hand. A maid cleaning up tables at the far end, and the sounds of someone still cooking behind the counter.

Damnit all, the knight has a clear view of the door. I'll have to wait and pray that something pulls his attention elsewhere.

Listening for any sounds behind me, I continued staring at the knight for almost five minutes before the maid came over and began talking to him.

Please tell me you're seducing him, lady. I can't stay here forever.

"Come on now, you can't keep this up. You're a knight you fool, not an investigator."

"Seriously sis I'm onto something here! It's adding up... I'm just not sure to what."

"You've been saying that for a month now... Give it a rest already. Even if you're right and incinerated bodies were found long ago, the hell does that matter? You said it yourself, you can't link it to anything. Now come on, you've eaten already so wash up and go to bed, mister."

"I hate it when you treat me like I'm twelve still... Fine, I'll continue my work elsewhere."

The maid shakes her head, walking behind the counter. After she leaves the knight gathers up his papers and walks this way. I close the door, quickly activating my aura as I return to my hiding spot. The knight enters the hallway, heading straight up the same steps the butlers ascended earlier.

Incinerated long ago huh? I'll bring this up to the others, but she's right, without more clues it tells us very little.

Running back to the door, I make sure the men are still throwing knives at a board in the corner. After confirming they are, I slip into the room, heading straight for the kitchen. As I near the door, it begins to open as the maid returns with the large box she was putting dirty plates into. I rush into the corner behind the door just as she exits it, but as she passes by I grab the door and sneak inside. The cook is stirring a pot absentmindedly in the middle of the room.

So long as he doesn't turn, he shouldn't be able to see me...

Sneaking forward I pass by the cook a few feet behind him, heading straight for the other door out of the kitchen. Once I reach the door, I peek over the counter, spotting the Maid looking the other way as she picks up more dirty plates.

Now or never.

Cracking the door open, I see the men over here are still looking towards the far wall, playing their game. They're also completely drunk, that much is obvious now. Two of them are literally passed out in their chairs.

Sprinting for the door, I only take a quick peek to make sure no one is around before entering the next hallway.

Admittedly, it's kind of fun sneaking around the old-fashioned way. If I still had a heart it'd be pumping like mad right now. With that said though...

After confirming the dim lighting in my new environment, I reactivate my aura.

This right here will always be my most comfortable state. I'm just too used to it at this point.

Walking down the hall, I see an ungodly amount of doors on both sides. Fortunately, it looks like I have another way to find her. Tyra left me a little gift on the ground. Damn, that woman is smart... Even in her situation, she knew I would be delayed going through that mess hall.

I follow the little sprays of blood on the stone flooring leading towards a single door near the far end of the hall.

She must have reopened a wound in her mouth to help me out...

Opening the door, I find a large set of stairs going down. I pass by several other doors as I'm sprinting deeper underground, before finally finding a door with a small spray of blood near it. Cracking the door open, I see a bare mountain tunnel.

The inside of the fortress up to this point has been rather beautiful I'll admit, but beyond this door, it looks like they left this as nothing more than an untouched cave. There are rocky stalagmites dripping water all over, with the only lights being natural crystals... Hang on, how do they make sure no monsters find their way into the fortress from such an obvious entry point? I need to see this... Merely caving in any other entrances means nothing to those who live down here. They'll find a way if they sense souls underground, they always do.

The ground is far too unsteady for running in this tiny tunnel, so I slow to a walk this time. However, after a few minutes, I begin to hear Tyra scream, which makes me return to a sprint.

I wanted to take it slow going forward, but not if she's getting tortured!

After a few unfortunate tumbles, I eventually reach the end of the tunnel, where I'm met with a strangely familiar scene.

The hell...? This looks exactly like where I saw the Tengu earlier. Except that's much further away in this direction. The fish-like monsters are here as well, and holy shit are they gross looking.

Off to the far right, I see about ten cages lined up, with the knights and a few monsters staring into one of them. Sneaking up behind them, I'm shocked when one of the fishmen turns around. He turns his head left and right as if looking for something, before giving up and returning to the conversation taking place in front of him.

Did... Did he hear me? I make almost no noise thanks to the way the bottom of my feet absorb sound. He's a fish though so... How do they hear again? I think it was called 'echo'? Soundwaves or something... But shouldn't they need to be underwater for that? Shit, this is gonna be a real problem.

At a much slower pace, I begin moving forward again as Tyra yells at the knight's leader.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?! DOES THE KING TRULY BELIEVE THIS WILL BE OKAY?!!"

One of the knights laughed, but he shut up when his commander glared at him.

"... Honestly, it's not okay, but the decision was made long before I came along. You however could've done something about it. If only your damned eyes were open back then."

"What...? You mean to tell me this has been going on for years?"

The commander shakes his head and sighs. "Come men, we're leaving." As he passes by me, he glances back one more time. "Don't worry, she won't be harmed, but we're going to need to bring Princess Euphemia in for now. She'll be held in her old chambers while the crowning takes place."

Tyra began to say something but the commander pointed at the cage and her mouth sealed shut immediately. After that, he left back the way I just came through, while the fish things walked back over towards the lake.

Ugh, the smell emanating from those creatures is atrocious. How can humans like those knights stand to be around them? They didn't look like they were gagging at all.

Slowly sidling up to the cage, I immediately see why he was able to shut her up. Glancing back, I remove my aura after confirming all the monsters are back underwater. Tyra smirks upon seeing me. Enhancing my hand, I crush the tiny chain holding the medallion onto the cage, which fortunately creates very little noise. Catching the medallion as it begins to drop, I carry it over towards a pillar and place it there. As I return to the cage, I see that her mouth has already begun to 'fix' itself.

"You showed up faster than I expected," Tyra whispered.

I smiled. "Thanks to you. Now do you have any ideas on how to open this without it alerting the fishmen back there?"

"Can't you prevent the sound from leaking out? I have yet to hear a single footstep of yours."

"Sadly no. The almost imperceptible scales on the bottom of my feet absorb sound, but I can't create them anywhere else. Even if I did kick this door in, the whole cage is going to create a large amount of noise, not just where I kick."

"Um..." A voice from another cage whispered.

... Yeah, I wasn't quite sure how to react to what's currently sitting in the other cage.

Tyra looks over. "Hello little girl, can I ask you to wait patiently for a few minutes? This scary but nice lady here is going to free us, okay?"

The girl nods meekly.

"Tyra, I doubt it, but do you have abilities that can dampen sound?"

"Unfortunately no. I can use my mana again thanks to you removing the medallion, but I'm currently using it all to heal my legs. Sadly, even once I'm fully healed in a minute, I only know one way of breaking out of here."

Brute force huh...

I sighed. "I think that's our only option, so I have a plan. A rather shitty one but we have nothing else."

"Hit me with it."

"Once you're done healing, tell me. I'll break the girl out at the same time you free yourself. After that, we'll dash through the cave as fast as we can. Once above we can either try and leave the fortress, or we find a dark room I can hide us in till things blow over. I consider this a shitty plan because we have no way of knowing if these things can communicate to those above that their... 'prisoners', have escaped."

"Hmm... It is indeed a haphazard plan, but it's the same one I was formulating in my mind. There is also one other option, which is to head deeper into the mountains, but I'd prefer not to do that." Tyra said.

"Oh, I should tell you, there is another cavern just like this one a few hours in that direction, and the Tengu Lord is there. I saw it in that man's memories."

Tyra's face scrunched up. "I wish I could deal with him here and now, but we have far more pressing matters to attend to. I cannot allow Tyrell to reach Euphie's manor. He plans on imprisoning everyone you came with down here, leaving them as food for their 'allies'..."

"I don't understand, why would they sacrifice us? Aren't your people struggling enough as is? Killing the outsiders who are currently assisting with all your problems seems like an odd choice."

Tyra sighed, "We didn't talk much, as I'm sure you noticed. I have no idea what the fool is thinking, but he didn't exactly seem pleased about any of this..."

"He prioritizes the king's orders over the prince, right?"

"Indeed. Which is why I'd like to ask you to climb to the top of this fortress and find the king while I take this girl along to Euphie's manor. These days the king is almost always alone in his chambers. There are a few guards stationed in front of the door, but I'm sure you'll figure something out."

Not a bad idea. After all, the fastest way to dissect an issue is to question the man in charge. Plus, I want to get all this other shit over with. More than anything I'm worried about the broodling. I wonder if it can influence these fish people too? If they're spread throughout the entire mountain, that's just one more problem to worry about.

A small ruby embedded in the front of Tyra's armor brightly lights up. As Tyra scowls I hit the ground hard. A gunshot rings out as something hits the wall to my right.

H-How the hell did I evade that? Was it the armor or an abnormally fast reaction from me?

As Tyra breaks out of her chains, I see a man peeking out from a pillar at the far end of the cavern. In his hands is a long wooden stock rifle. Meanwhile, the fish monsters begin flooding out of the lake in droves, followed by knights filing out of the entrance one by one.

Dashing forward I smash the little girl's cage open. Picking her up, I begin running further into the cave with Tyra right behind me.

"Defenses?!" Tyra yells out.

"None! I've never had a barrier!"

"How?! Everyone has a barrier!"

I tossed the little girl into the air in front of Tyra. Tyra catches her with one arm and pulls her in close.

The fishmen, apparently faster than they have any right to be, close in on us and attempt to cut us off. In response, Tyra holds her left arm out in front of her. Shortly after, a small vortex of wind begins to circle her forearm. Tyra then whips her arm toward the fishmen on the left as if swatting a fly.

I expected a wave of wind to push them away, but instead what occurred was more akin to an explosion. The 'air' hit the fishmen dead on, making them fly into the cavern walls two hundred meters away. Even from here, I could hear the 'splat' noise followed by the pink blood and guts spraying all over the walls. Unfortunately, that had barely deterred them, as there were still hundreds of the creatures jumping out of the lake behind us. That's unfortunately not the only sound behind us. Whatever the knights had been charging up was now splitting off little bolts of lightning into the ground.

"In front!" Tyra yells as she begins channeling a shield behind herself.

Knowing what she wants, I enhance my legs to the max, propelling myself towards the man shooting at us.

Over-enhancing myself is never good, it completely screws me for a while afterward, but there is little other choice at the moment. Tyra has been hit twice in the face with bullets already. The mana required to stop a bullet from a rifle is nothing to joke about. Going forward we're going to need every drop of mana she has, so the man in front of us needs to die right now.

The ground under my left foot crumbles as I launch myself forward. The knight barely had time to look surprised as I brought my right foot down onto his face, crushing it straight into the ground. His head exploded under the impact, splattering brains, bones, and blood all over the ground.

Not a veteran, or he made a rookie mistake. He should've already enhanced himself as we approached him, but the idiot only had his ability barrier activated.

From far behind I can hear the knights yelling something. In response, I quickly dive behind the pillar nearby. Moments later the whole cavern shakes as a ball of lightning shoots past me, firing off bolts in all directions before it smashes into the wall and explodes.

Apparently, friendly fire was not on their mind. I could hear hundreds of fishmen crying out in pain as they released that spell. I wonder if it hit the water too? That would be fucking devastating to them if it did. I don't know what kind of terms they have with each other, but I imagine frying thousands of them isn't something the fishmen will look too kindly upon.

Leaning forward, I kick off and begin running again towards the tunnel ahead of me. Glancing back I can see Tyra is close behind, albeit both her and the girl have some wild-looking hair right now.

"All good?!" Tyra asked.

"Yeah! It'll take way more than that for lightning to damage me."

The moment I reach the tunnel I slip right onto my ass and continue sliding forward unabated until I enhance my legs and kick myself upwards, regaining my footing soon after. Tyra sees my slip-up and slams her feet down as she runs forward, smashing right through the black ice.

"Tsk, I can't be wasting mana on something like this! Rei, just a warning, it took almost eighty percent of my mana pool to defend against that attack back there. And unfortunately, I have really shitty regen."

"How shitty?!" I yell without looking back.

"I'm gonna need hours!"

Hours?! Who the hell needs hours to regen? Ahh wait a minute... I have met people like her. People who have a massive pool of mana but very little regen. And now we have no idea of where we're going or whether we can even shake our tail. They probably know this area by heart, so it's going to be hard to hide from them. I could hide by myse--- Oh, hang on.

"Tyra, if you see me run into a dark corner, follow me," I said, hopefully low enough that only she could hear me.

Glancing back at her, Tyra smiles and nods.

I see we have a welcoming party as the tunnel exit comes into view. The fishmen spots me and begins screaming off to the side. Upon reaching the exit, the fishmen greets me with a powerful overhead swing using his stone greatsword. A single punch with my right-hand goes straight through the sword and continues forward into the creature's face. The fishmen flies backward into the ankle-deep water, sliding until he hits a pillar.

Oh? No enhancements on the weapon or his face... There is a high chance they are spawn then and not a new unknown race. I pray we don't run into any Lords then. In this situation that would spell doom for the three of us.

Exiting the tunnel, another sword comes at me from the side. Dropping to my knees I slide under it. Tyra exits next and plows right through it, punching the fishmen in the head as she passes by it. The creature's head explodes as it crumbles to the ground.

"You can't run forever oathbreaker!" A knight from behind yells.

Looking around, I see that this cavern is on a slight angle going up ahead of us, with this part of it somewhat submerged in the lake to our left.

That does explain why the tunnel was so damn slippery...

With no time to waste nor any obvious exits in sight, we both begin climbing the slope. However, once we reached the top, we found at least six different holes in the wall ahead.

"Farthest on the right!" Tyra yells, launching herself in that direction. The speed burst was so fast that the girl in her right arm screamed in surprise.

That's the obvious choice since it's closest to the fields of Kellog. However, the obvious choices are rarely the best options...

And sure enough several knights came out of the tunnel as Tyra reached it. Tyra, apparently deciding to bet everything on that tunnel, blasts right into the knights, barreling them out of the way. Unfortunately, these men were obviously better trained than the man I killed earlier. They steadied themselves almost instantly. Upon seeing me they decided to focus on assisting the other knights in capturing me instead of pursuing Tyra.

Either they know she won't make it further, or they decided I was more important. Regardless, it's way too risky for me to take that path. Normally I'd think I had been abandoned, but I know she probably miscalculated my strength and speed after seeing me take down that sniper earlier. My fucking legs are still wobbly from being overstressed earlier. It's taking all I have to just stay upright, there's no way I can go into that unknown tunnel with these knights on my tail. Which leaves me only one other option...

Dashing to the left of the knights, I run straight for the darkest tunnel. A few knights from behind shot me a couple of times, draining most of the mana from my armor, while the knights to my right launched a two-fold attack. One swung low as the other swung high. Normally this would be deadly with these long spears, or at the very least force me to waste a bunch of mana evading, except they clearly have never dealt with someone who trained with the spawn of Xelba. As the two spears near me, I dive through the middle directly between them, rolling as I hit the ground and bolting towards the tunnel. Once I reach the tunnel it turns left immediately, telling me this is probably not the correct tunnel to get out of here, but it's too late now.

"Fifteen in! Bring some Merman with you, they'll be able to locate her if she finds a good hiding spot." A knight yelled, his voice echoing down the tunnel.

Since there was no more water in here, I was able to run through the tunnel with ease, creating more and more space between me and the knights. Also, the lights in here were very small in size, so I was able to turn my aura on for now.

The end of the tunnel opened up to a slightly larger tunnel, one wide enough that six knights could stand shoulder-to-shoulder inside. The lighting continued to be limited, which would normally be perfect for me, but when it's this low, the men behind me will be forced to pull out their crystal lights. I need enough ambient lighting to where I can withstand it for a few minutes, but just enough it will prevent the men from flashing every corner with their crystal version of a flashlight. What I'm hoping for is a miracle, so I need to come up with something better, and fast. Merely running from them deeper into this mountain is the last thing I should be doing.

Just then, I caught sight of something poking above a large granite rock. Circling the rock, I find a corpse with a spear in its chest.

The same medium armor and cloak some of the knights are wearing, the ones using guns.

Bending down next to the body, I pick up the rifle and give it a quick look over. There are teeth marks on random parts of it, as if something tried eating it. Either that or he used it to block a monster from attacking him. Regardless, this might be just what I need. This tunnel isn't big enough, but if I find a large cavern full of hiding places, I may be able to pick those knights off one at a time. It'll depend on many factors, like lighting, durability, ammo, and the most difficult problem of all when it comes to guns... I need to make sure I'm shooting when they aren't enhanced, which is much easier said than done.