Ping!
🐾🐾🐾
Sylgard has recuperated some of his power. He felt hunters coming close to his master's position and gave him protection.
🐾🐾🐾
"…" Sora finally understood what was the problem.🙃
"You are the kid we are looking for," Johana remained calm looking at the shadow that could talk.
It was the first time a monster could communicate with humans. Johana guessed that this special 'monster' was what the Hunter's Organization was looking for.
They needed to catch it alive, but they didn't know what kind of abilities this shadow actually had.
Sora wasn't a stupid kid and could tell that Johana was just buying time for her teammate to prepare to do something.
Sora began to retreat slowly, but, for the highly developed senses of the hunters, they noticed him.
"We have found the other kid that came with you," Frederic suddenly said.
Johana and Saúl felt the urge to kill Frederic for giving information to a monster. However, something was telling Frederic that he needed to tell that shadow about the little boy they found.
"Viktor is safe? That's good…" Sora thought while still retreating, "It's good to know that he is safe" he said aloud to the three hunters that began to move slowly.
"Yes, he is safe and you can go and see him again if you come with us," Johana took the chance of his interest in the boy trying to trap the shadow.
Sora looked at her and began to run in the direction where the three hunters came from.
The reason for his decision was simply: he just got a message telling him that Arkon was defeated and had returned to his body. That meant that the horde of shadows was coming to the place he and the hunters were at the moment.
"Wait!" Johana yelled.
Saúl fired the arrow which hit a barrier that was surrounding Sora.
🐾🐾🐾
Arkon has placed a barrier around you.
🐾🐾🐾
"That shadow has a barrier protecting its body! This is something never seen before!" Saúl was stunned by his failed shot.
"That's not good, for a formless monster having a barrier that can block magic attacks it is going to be troublesome," Johana understood what Saúl mean with his words. That arrow carried a weak air magic skill.
"We have to contact the others and tell them not to kill it," Johana said while looking in the direction in which Sora chose to flee.
They felt they have a chance to get him without problems. However, after some seconds passed since Sora's sudden run, a horde of shadows appeared from the tunnel Sora first came from.
"This is not good! Run!" Johana gave the order and ran back in the same direction Sora ran.
Frederic and Saúl didn't wait for a confirmation. They clearly understood that that quantity of shadows wasn't something they could bear without help. They needed to return to the meeting point and prayed that the other group was there already.
* * * * * * * * *
"Sorry Rose, but we can't continue. This dungeon maze is strange, the numbers of shadows are inconceivable. If we want to adventure deeper, we need more help," the leader told Rose with disappointment.
He understood the love she has for those kids, but they couldn't go deeper without risking losing some people of their group.
"I know Sean, but if we wait longer, Sora might get killed by these shadows..." Rose answered him with a sad and worried tone.
Suddenly, something passed running in front of them. It was the size of a kid that was running.
Rose's eyes regained the brightness of hope: there was only one kid left inside the dungeon: Sora.
"Wait! Remember that shadows are good with deception and illusions, just be careful," Sean immediately stopped the hopeful Rose.
"But... " Rose tried to shake off Sean's arm, but she stopped struggling after hearing his words, "Yes, you are right, but there's no harm to know the truth. If it is a shadow, we kill it." Rose calmed herself.
However, before they could begin the pursuit, Johana's group appeared too. They were running!
"Leader! Run! The number of shadows has strangely increased!" Johana quickly gave her report while running with all her might.
Sean, Jackson, and Rose got confused, it was their first to see Johana's trio running for their lives. But they quickly understood the strange decision of Johana.
At the end of the tunnel, a shadow sea could be seen engulfing all the light crystals without caring about getting hurt or even dying in the process. The shadows seemed to be pursuing something or someone.
"That's a big number of shadows, let's run!" Sean said without hesitation.
Rose and Jackson nodded and started running.
"We need Luis to create a wall and block the passage to give us time to run," Jackson said while trying to contact the other groups through the chat interface.
"I tried, but it seemed that contact has been lost," Johana's group was in front of them, so she could hear Jackson's words.
"Oh yes, before I forget, we found a strange shadow monster who has a magic barrier that can stop magic attacks. Also, it can communicate with us," Frederic continued their group's report.
"A monster that can communicate? That's new!" Sean was surprised with that information, then, he remembered the "kid" they saw before, "Does this monster has the appearance of a kid?" he asked cautiously while giving a little look a Rose, who was worried.
"Yes, it even said that it was Sora Reith," Johana said firmly, also looking at the darkened face of Rose.
Rose was a polite and nice person who was difficult to see angry, but now, her face was showing a terrifying look.
Everyone stopped talking after giving the report and seeing Rose's murderous gaze.
Every hunter that studied correctly the monsters anthology gave by the organization, knew that shadows could possess people's body's from their shadow and slowly absorbed them. There are cases registered that some shadows could assume the person's appearance and trick that person's friends and relatives. The difference was that they couldn't talk nor be solid enough.
* * * * * * * * *
Sora continued running, he heard some voices coming from the other tunnel, so he continued going straight. Before he could contact a hunter, he must find a way to convince Sylgard that they were not going to harm him.
"Sylgard, you need to stop this camouflage ability, it's more attractive than concealing," Sora said.
He was getting exhausted, and the hunters, whose bodies were more than perfectly healthy, were soon to reach him.
Sylgard transmitted a complicated feeling.
"What, you are telling me that it has a 30-second duration? You're kidding, right?" Sora didn't care how he understood what Sylgard was trying to say, he also felt that Arkon was laughing, "Ok, I understand, you did it for my protection. If it only lasts 30 seconds, then, it's time for it to end..." Sora could just trust Sylgard's "words".
After some more seconds passed, Rose and the other five hunters finally reach Sora, who was laying next to the wall of the tunnel completely exhausted.
It was as Sylgard "told" him, the camouflage ability ended, and now the rest could see him correctly.
"Sora!" Rose ran quickly next to him and hugged him.
Sora was too tired to said something. He looked at her and tried to smile, then, he fell asleep.
"You have done right, you are now safe..." Rose healed him until his skin was smooth like a baby's.
"Rose, we need to continue," Johana told her while telling Jackson to come closer.
Rose gave Sora to Jackson who held Sora and continued running.
Jackson was the second strongest hunter in their group, just behind Sean. He could carry Sora without a problem while running because of his good stamina. He was a light warrior, different from Frederic who was a heavy warrior.
"Hey, guys! Over here!" a male voice sounded at the end of the tunnel.
Sean, Jackson, Sora (sleeping), Rose, Johana, Frederic, and Saúl saw a thin man waving at them with urgency.
After they reach him, the thin man created an earth wall blocking the entrance of the tunnel the group just left a second ago.
"Luis!" Saúl was happy after seeing him.
"Always in time, no Luis?" Sean also smiled at him.
It was good to see Luis at the right place right time.
"Yep, so you found the kid, that's good..." Luis nodded and looked at the childish sleeping face in Jackson's arms, "You look handsome while carrying a little boy" Luis smiled lightly. Jackson felt goosebumps all over his body.
"What happened Luis? And stop teasing Jackson," Sean wanted to laugh with Jackson's reaction, but the actual situation was dangerous.
"I don't know either. Before the contact got lost, I received a voice message calling me for help to block a tunnel. After that, I began to go to all the tunnels where our group entered and began to block them one by one. I saw the same sea of shadows as the one which was following you in every tunnel I blocked. However, yours was the closest one I saw," Luis began to said the report.
"Alright, let's leave this dungeon. I suppose that the Rank will increase after we give our report to the Hunter's Organization," Sean made a decision and told everyone to leave the dungeon as fast as they could.
One by one left crossed the portal. Only Jackson, Sora (sleeping), Sean, and Rose were the lasts ones. Then they also left the dungeon.
At that moment, a message appeared in front of all the hunters.
Ping!
🐾🐾🐾
A massive number of shadows have been released after they lost their leaders. Come on brave hunters and adventurers! Eliminate them and win the title of *Shadow Slayer*.
🐾🐾🐾