My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

Chapter 1147: Chapter 1148: Sack

There was no truly safe place in the world of Aetherus. Most of the world remained uncharted, belonging to monsters and horrors. No place was ever truly safe.

The cities where people lived were dangerous as well, because the people of this world could be just as monstrous. Perhaps humanity had committed more atrocities than the monsters themselves. And when mankind was not destroying itself, it had to endure strange mana anomalies that laid waste to entire cities, monster tides that ravaged whole regions, or dragon attacks that left kingdoms in ruin.

Some disasters simply could not be avoided.

The only way to be safe was to be powerful.

That was the one rule.

Even so, humanity had found its own way to survive.

These were the Golden Roads, ancient roads that allowed people to travel across the world with relative safety, without constantly worrying about monsters.

At least, not the truly terrifying ones.

Ranar and Ric had never before faced this absolute level of terror.

However, whether they knew it or not, they had been equipped to survive it.

Damon had been meticulous in how they were raised. While Ric possessed more firsthand experience, Ranar possessed overwhelming strength. Whether she realized it or not, she had also been prepared for situations like this.

The only difference was that this was no longer training.

There would be no second chances.

Death, or something far worse, was now a very real possibility.

The two children stopped beneath a massive slanted boulder shaped like the claw of some ancient beast, using it as temporary shelter while they caught their breath.

Ranar bent over slightly, one hand pressed against her chest as she inhaled deeply. Her once pristine dress now had several tears from their desperate escape through the forest. Leaves clung to her tangled golden hair, and streaks of dirt marked her cheeks.

Ric looked no better.

His face was flushed red from exhaustion, beads of sweat dripping from his chin. The hand Ranar had been holding had gone numb from how tightly she had gripped it. A scrape ran across one cheek, and his eyes constantly drifted toward the darkness beyond the edge of her light, searching every shadow with suspicion.

”What... were those things?” Ranar whispered, her voice barely audible, as though speaking any louder might invite them back. ”All of them...”

Ric remained silent for several moments.

Truthfully, he was just as frightened.

This wasn’t like the tomb. Back there, countless safety measures had existed. There had always been adults nearby. There had always been Damon.

Now...

He had none of his master’s protection.

”I... guess they’re Horrors,” he finally answered. ”They’re different from normal monsters. Monsters are usually just beasts... but Horrors...” His grip tightened around the hilt of his sword. ”They’re... perversely intelligent. They follow strange rules. Rules known only to them.”

He was more or less repeating what Lilith had once told him.

At that moment, he wished more than anything that she were standing beside him.

”I don’t know where we are exactly,” he admitted, lowering his voice even further. ”So I can’t tell which direction is safe. If anything, the forest has already shown us there’s no point staying in one place. If we do...” He swallowed. ”We’ll just get hunted by something else.”

His expression stiffened.

”However... this place has its own rules. Those who have already reached the higher classes can’t enter. But those who reach the higher classes inside the mountains become trapped within certain regions.”

Ranar listened quietly, absorbing every word before taking a long, steady breath.

”We don’t know enough,” she said after a moment. ”We can’t determine where it’s safe, where the barrier is strongest, or where it doesn’t exist.”

She looked toward the towering peaks surrounding them.

”So why don’t we go back to our original plan?” she suggested firmly. ”Find the highest vantage point we can and choose a direction from there.”

Ric was about to answer.

Something slithered across the very edge of Ranar’s light.

It was tiny.

No bigger than a child.

Its body was unnaturally thin with an imp-like figure. Bat-like ears twitched atop an almost human head before it darted back into the darkness so quickly they almost believed they had imagined it.

Both children fell silent.

Ric bit his lip until it nearly bled.

His fingers tightened around his sword.

His gaze never left the darkness beyond Ranar’s light.

”Keep that light on,” he whispered.

”No matter what.”

Ranar nodded without hesitation.

She raised her hand.

Golden mana gathered around her fingertips before erupting into a beam of brilliant light that shot deep into the darkness.

The beam traveled several dozen meters before striking what looked like the trunk of an enormous tree.

Both children looked up.

Then they froze.

It wasn’t a tree.

It was a creature.

It was impossibly tall.

Its body was as thin as a pole, wrapped in tattered black cloth that hung motionless despite the mountain wind. Two pale eyes stared directly at them without blinking.

It didn’t move.

It didn’t breathe.

It simply watched.

Ric gulped.

Ranar’s face lost all color.

Without another word, she poured even more mana into her light until its glow became brighter than the morning star.

Neither child dared look away.

Minutes passed.

Those minutes slowly became hours.

Then...

Grrrrrr...

Ric’s stomach growled loudly.

The sound seemed almost deafening in the terrible silence.

Only then did he remember.

He was still hungry.

He had never actually gotten the chance to eat properly.

The realization struck both of them at the same time.

They had no food.

And they wouldn’t get very far on empty stomachs.

Ranar was already in the Fourth Class. She could endure hunger for weeks if necessary.

Ric couldn’t.

He was only in the Second Class.

He needed food.

And Ranar was still a growing child. She was constantly consuming mana to maintain the light protecting them. Even if starvation wouldn’t kill her anytime soon, the exhaustion and hunger would eventually catch up to her.

”The sack...” Ric muttered, staring into the distance.