My life as a reborn monster-Chapter 96 - The Shadow That Eats Pt. 1
As soon as I found it with my Detection I told the others quickly before sprinting off in a cloud of dust. I raced through the vegetation that carpeted the forest floor. I felt the crunch of insects and the spray of blood that covered me as I blasted through the various lifeforms that were unfortunate enough to be in my path.
*You have killed like 100 different things just in the past 2 minutes, Plus we are wasting energy at an astounding rate. You need to slow down and catch your breath.* Vexsus #2 said but I had no time to waste as every second counted and my baby girls life is on the line. I needed to destroy these obstacles that could keep my team from fully focusing on the task at hand. I came upon a road after a couple more minutes of running and thanks to my Detection I was able to stop in time before I blasted through a group of travelers that looked like they were guarding a walking bull.
It had 2 large horns that came out into a spiral that had 2 full rotations going upwards. On each rotation was a offshoot that branched out into sharp spikes like antlers. The body was huge with shaggy brown fur and covering the back of it was 4 crates that were all strapped around and under its belly to secure them in place. The people guarding it looked all to be human adventurers. I saw one up front with dual crossbows that seemed to have a box filled with bolts that were strapped directly to each crossbow. There were 2 that had robes of different colors and each had a staff that was fitted with a gem. Then near the center on each side of the beast was an adventurer that was covered in armor and each had a huge tower shield.
I saw the lead hold his hand up and instantly the party stopped as he turned to warn the others of incoming. He then pointed towards my direction and soon the shield wielders were up front and slamming their shields into the ground. I saw the group get into formation and I was surprised at how fast they were to do that. It seemed like this party was well aquainted with fighting. Too bad for them that I didn't have time to talk or else I wouldve stopped for a minute to chat.
I jumped at the edge of the woods and cleared over the road and into the other side. I continued running while focusing my Detection up in front of me in order to keep track of what the Shadow was doing.
Before long I came upon a cave that was littered with bleached bones scattered all around the entrance. I could spot animal bones and skulls along with the occasional skull of a human, but the scary part was that the human skulls were placed in odd locations that were looking out towards the forest almost like they were put on display. I could feel an ominous presence coming from deep within the cave and even without my Detection skill you could sense that whatever was inside was terrifying and dangerous.... 𝒇𝑟e𝙚𝑤𝙚𝐛𝗻𝐨ν𝚎𝘭.c𝐨m
But thanks to me having Terror Resistance my dumbass could continue on inside the terror cave. I was tempted to just use my Breath of The Sun ability to decimate whatever was inside but when I took a closer look I discovered that whatever the humans had material wise, was left untouched inside the cave. I felt like this was a treasure trove of resources that I could not pass up. Especially if I planned on going to the capital in order to sell the more useless of our stuff.
I saw countless weapons, but when I went to pick one up I saw that there was no handle to any of them. There was just the metal heads of axes, the long pieces of blade for the swords. Anything not made of metal that you would see on a weapon was gone. It was like whatever was here couldn't digest the metal. What I had hoped was treasure instantly turned into junk that was nothing more than materials for something else. I was still going to collect it and use it later on because well.... I'm still a dragon, and every dragon knows, if something catches your eye... Hoard it.
So I sent a mental message back towards Sondar but was let down because unfortunately the distance between us was to long. Soooo next best thing..... I left it and continued on deeper into the cave. Further down I started seeing more and more human bones and less animal. I entered into a large cavern area that was covered with skeletal remains. Everywhere I looked over the ground was nothing but bones covered in marks and deep gouges. Something had been here eating and it looks like I came just in time for dinner.
I here a low guttural growl as all around me the shadows moved and merged together to coalesce into the shape of some gangly limbed creature. it had long arms that touched the ground and legs that were bent backwards. I couldn't see any distinct features other than red glowing spots where the eyes were supposed to be and a mouth that seemed to glow with the colors of a fire. Upon getting a closer look I saw that from within its mouth was actually a glow and every so often I would catch the sight of a flame flickering within it.
"What are you?" I said as I stood my ground, I had to because of the sheer pressure it was giving off as it looked at me like prey.
"We. Are. The. Shadows. We. Eat. The. World." It said with a pause in between each word. The fire within it rose up and unleashed a blast of heat with the words aswell, humid air filled the cave as it spoke to the point where it started to feel suffocating.
"Are you a Shadow Eater? Did you escape the war?" I continued asking as I started to circulate my mana and infusing what little ice magic I could muster to cool my insides down. It helped a little bit but the heat it emitted was easily overpowering my magic.
"We. Do. Not. Care. For. War. We. Only. Care. For. Food. We. Are. Cursed. With. Eternal. Hunger." As it finished that sentence it started to step closer to me, I knew things were now past the talking point as the killing intent of this thing rose up and surrounded me like a straight jacket. If I didn't have Terror Resistance I would have been unable to move even the slightest.
In a single breath it had moved across the whole cavern to stand within just a couple feet of me. As it leaned down it seemed to breath in deeply as if sniffing me. It soon smiled and I saw what looked like lava ooze from its mouth and drop onto the floor as if it was drool.
"You. Smell. MMMM. Delicious." It said while a creepy wide smile emerged on its face that seemed to cut its face in half.
I was getting creeped out more and more as this conversation went on. I had enough of it as I sent a small space bullet into its stomach area.
The bullet was soon absorbed as its stomach seemed to widen and a small hole just big enough for my attack opened up and small clawed hands emerged and wrapped around the bullet and dragged it in. The creature had a gleam in his eye as a blackish tongue licked its mouth.
"That. Was. Tasty. I want. More." It's hands flashed forwards and grabbed onto my arm. Soon a searing pain came from the area under his hand and I saw as black ooze had wrapped around my arm and was dissolving through my scales and flesh. I started to groan in pain as my regeneration was fighting against the damage. The awful part was that while my arm was being eaten by whatever this thing was, I was unable to use my magic for anything. No active healing, no attacks, nothing.
So I used my claws and slashed at its face only to pass through the things and reel back in pain as what I pulled back out of it was nothing but a melted hand that slopped onto the ground with a sickening splat. Whatever this thing was had the ability to completely dissolve everything. I had no defences to its ability, I could only be stand there and be consumed as the fear started to creep in and lock my body up.
*My power can help, all you have to do is ask.*
Suddenly a female voice spoke in my ear. I felt a surge of redhot rage bubble up from within my chest as it overtook all of my mana and burned it to produce a black flame all around my body that burned away the disolving ooze and sent the black creature shrieking in pain to the other side of the room.
*That was a taste of what I can do for you, the first taste is free of charge.*
