Chapter Twenty-Three: Embrace of Death [Bonus Chapter]
Dusken scowled darkly; the shadow swiftly heading towards him was that of a humanoid entity and he could barely follow its movements.
Before he knew it, the shadow was a distance behind him.
Without turning his head, he closed his eyes and perceived through the shadows of the surrounding trees, sinking into an entirely new world of shadows.
The feeling was indescribable and profound, a cool sensation that was soothing but also slightly painful and dizzying.
He was beginning to understand the extent of his Darkshadow control. He could control shadows, but only those of beings he had slain.
He could sense through the shadows of the trees, but not those of living entities - plants were an exception.
The slow breeze, the scent of trees and greenery, no lifeforms like birds or animals - only the lonely trees, their leaves swaying lightly as if singing a happy song to the horizon.
He perceived all this information through the shadow of a tree as his gaze was planted on a human ahead.
A girl stood calmly under the soft breeze flowing through the forest; her dark brown eyes gazed at Dusken's back with an unshaken stare.
His heart skipped a bit as he recognized her.
'What is she doing here?' he asked himself inwardly.
She was the girl who had been monitoring him back on the battlefield of the beastmen; her beautiful, smooth white skin was devoid of all stain under the clear radiance of the sun.
Except for her hands, which held long claws from beastmen that constantly dripped blood, likely used as weapons in the recent battle.
His senses returned to his body, and he jolted slightly, turning to face the girl standing a short distance away with a cold gaze.
"What do you want?" His voice rang out, raspy from the exhaustion of today's battles.
He wasn't sure why this girl was here of all places, but the fact that she didn't move and just stood was questionable.
The motionless girl finally stirred, as she stared at Dusken with an emotionless expression on her face.
"Let's journey together," she spoke in an even tone, with no slight movement.
Stunned. Gobsmacked. Utterly flabbergasted. This was how he felt, and accompanying such emotions were confusion and pure curiousness.
'This is interesting,' he thought, shaking his head.
"Why should I travel with you? I don't need your presence or a travel companion, and killing you right now isn't that impossible."
A cold smile played at the corner of his lips as he slowly shook his head at the girl. She showed no fear, as her grip visibly tightened around the claws she held.
"Let me see you try. Overconfidence is nothing but stones used to build the road to death." She tilted her head and added, "Anyway, I'm Lilian, and my offer still stands. So, what do you say?"
A smirk twisted Lillian's lips as she glanced at Dusken with a confident air surrounding her.
'Such confidence, she's not to be looked down upon,' Dusken clicked his tongue internally as he spoke:
"What you said is true. But I think there's a clear difference between overconfidence and certainty. Even if I'm weak, escaping is still possible." He shook his head. "Oh, and your name is lovely, but I don't care about that. As for your offer... I'll think about it.
Dusken spoke with a calm expression on his face not caring about his hypocrisy, but his thoughts were raging inwardly as he contemplated.
'She's a level-one who could kill other creatures and some beastmen - high battle prowess, check. But still... she's suspicious. Why would she want to journey with me?'
Of course, there was a possibility that she had mistakenly arrived at his location and thus wanted to pair with him, but he would not bet his survival and life on possibilities.
He was gruesomely injured right now; his feet were bleeding from all the kicks and collision with both the creature and beastmen.
Whenever he tried to move, his bones protested as his muscles screamed with every motion.
In this condition, if he faced another attack from two other beastmen, there was a chance of death. His brows furrowed deeper as his stare moved to Lilian, he knew that if a travel companion was with him, then there was an increased chance of survival.
'She's a level one awakened human, which means that she has a talent ability and side abilities,'
A crooked smile twisted his lips, but this also meant that if Lilian turned on him, he might die.
Even so, he sneered inwardly at this thought, If she turned on him, so what? A blade was meant to attack enemies, but it could also harm oneself.
He planned to use Lilian as a sword to help him pave a path and escape from the forest; if she rebelled, then it was his duty to dispose of her. If he died by her hands, then it was his fault for not controlling his weapon properly.
He let out a breath of turbid air as his eyes locked on Lilian while lingering for a few moments, then said in a meaningful tone:
"I agree with your proposal; let's travel together. My name is Dusken," he said, his words unhindered by the breeze.
Lillian briefly nodded.
"Like I said previously, I'm Lillian," she responded as she walked towards him.
He turned his gaze away from Lillian as he secretly controlled the two shadows of the beastmen to come at him.
The shadows moved fast, sliding through those of other trees and soon, they arrived at his location and merged with his shadow.
'I guess it's only once.'
He shook his head bitterly, he had subconsciously thought that his energy would once again evolve, but it turned out that nothing happened, so he tossed that thought out of his mind.
He moved towards the corpse of the pig head beastman, pulled out his sword from its corpse and tore open its chest.
Lillian arrived next to him, her figure casting a shadow over Dusken's bent shape. Without bothering to raise his head, he continued what he was doing.
Soon, he pulled out a golden-coloured jagged crystal carved with runes from the chest of the beast-man. It was slightly stained in blood, but the radiance of gold still shone softly.
'This is my second time getting a core shard. I'll absorb it to grow stronger, but not now, he thought in his mind while getting up and staring at Lillian.
"Lilian, what's this?" he asked, his gaze filled with deep meaning.
Lillian tilted her head in confusion as if wondering why he was asking such a meaningless question at this moment.
"It's a core shard, the fragment of a runic core," Lilian replied coldly after a few seconds.
A smile twisted Dusken's lips when he heard this response while totally ignoring her cold tone. He raised the core shard and showed it to Lillian.
"This is the circle of life. This beast-man was once a brave existence but is now reduced to a corpse with only a mere shard left of him. All his hopes, aspirations, happiness, and plans—righteous or evil—are now nothing but smoke, buried along with his pitiful self in the boundless embrace of death. Trust me when I say... he won't be the only one to sail to that realm soon, for not everyone gets to see their plans come to pass." his voice reverberated in the area as the leaves rustled.
Lillian's expression vividly changed when she understood what Dusken meant.