[SHAMAN! WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT MOVE] Rea had screamed out in everyone's head in clear distress.
[WARNING]
[-Classified- presence detected]
Shaman noticed the ominous messages from the corner of her eye while staring back at the unknown man. His overwhelming presence paralyzed her, and even if she wanted to move, she doubted she could.
The man's eyes could only be described as a pair of precious jewels and the slight glow made them more imposing. At first, Shaman thought he was staring straight at them, but on the second look, she noticed the reflection of a system interface in his eyes.
'Wait, so there are others?' Shaman then looked at the attire of the man and noticed that it was rather similar in fashion to the clothes from her own world.
'Wait how long has this man been here for?' More questions kept appearing in Shaman's head, but her thoughts were put to a halt as a magic circle appeared in front of the man's eye.
Without giving any time to react the man moved as fast as light and stabbed into the ground with a pure black spear exactly where Shaman was hidden. No damage had been done to Shaman or anyone else but the action itself had terrified the girls and Wolfy. Because of how the skill [Shadow walk] worked, it allowed them to bend and move wherever there were shadows. Since they were still in the dark they were able to bend around the spear and avoid being forced out.
"Hmm, seems like it's just the dungeon, not a pest." The man was convinced that no one could see or hear him and the mana in the ground was just a part of the dungeon.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtThis also indirectly answered why Rea did not want them to move as it seemed she had done something alongside the effects of [Shadow walk] on her end to mask their presence.
However, what shocked them even more, was when they saw Himeko on all fours come around the corner.
"Oi, you stupid dog, I said stay back." The man then kicked Himeko, launching her back, but instead of groans of pain, out came moans of pleasure.
The group was speechless and even Clara, who had a genuine distaste for Himeko was unable to help but be mortified by what she was watching.
"I need to head back to the capital, I have no time to be chasing a small hint of the demon's girl mana." The man began to walk away from the entrance while picking up the chain connected to Himeko's collar, dragging her along the ground behind him.
He then vanished in a flash of light fleeing Ebonscale and leaving Himeko's hometown with its dungeon entrance destroyed. The confusion had died down as the cries of the people went quiet and fear turned to curiosity about what just happened.
All the guards had headed towards the tower making the destruction of the dungeon gate go unnoticed for the moment.
[He is gone, you can come out now] Rea sounded out of breath, clearly exhausted from what just occurred.
Shaman moved away from the black spear that was slowly fading away and deactivated [Shadow walk]. Everyone came out from the ground and only then realised they were still holding their breath, each of them starting to gasp for air. Clara was leaning back on her hands, Elysia was laying on her stomach, Shaman was on her back and Wolfy was on his side.
All of them were still shaking and could not believe they were not caught by the man.
"Who the hell was he and why was Himeko like that?" Elysia was the first to speak but nobody had an answer. Shaman had her guesses as going by his attire alone, it likely meant he was yet another person that was transported to this world.
"I have no clue, but looks like he is after me." Clara noticed that he was looking for a demon and her being the only demon that was close to Himeko, it could only mean her.
Shaman had shut her eyes to let everything sink in, trying to think of who the hell he was.
But it was pointless as nothing on him indicated who he was other than his red jewel eyes.
"Ahhhhhh, there is no point in thinking, let's just be grateful we are alive." Shaman was sick of thinking and wanted to move on.
Everyone fell silent, letting themselves recover before heading out.
'It's so nice to just not think about anything important.' Shaman was enjoying the 5 minutes of peace, letting her mind relax. However, this would be rudely interrupted as guards could be heard rushing to their location.
"Although we won't get in trouble, I'd rather not deal with them." Clara could easily clear their name but seeing as she wanted to cut ties, it was better if they fled themselves.
"I guess we should make a break for it and leave for the fox realm now." Shaman let out a sigh and got up from where she was standing.
"Alright everyone, get close, I will use [Shadow Cloak] so we can get out of here, hopefully without being spotted." Shaman offered both of her hands out to Elysia and Clara. They both grabbed a hold of Shaman's hand while she activated [Shadow Cloak]. Elysia stared at Clara, not fond of the idea that she was also holding Shaman's hand. Clara brushed this off as she was not allowed to address Elysia's issues on her own.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm'Grrr, I wish I could do something but I don't want to annoy Shaman even more than she already is.' Internally complaining, Clara had an opportunity to respond to Elysia's behaviour but she wanted to respect Shaman's decision.
Pulling them up from the ground and adjusting her grip, Shaman then began to move out of the dungeon.
Shaman peeked out of whatever was left of the door and spotted guards coming from the left.
'Right it is.' Shaman quickly dashed to the right, pulling Elysia and Clara along. Wolfy had followed using his own [Shadow Cloak], preferring to use his own mana than be a burden on Shaman.
Shaman continued down the street till she reached an alleyway and quickly entered.
Luckily the guards seemed to have not noticed anything, meaning the girls were safe for now.
"Alright now we just need to actually get outside the walls." Shaman knew they could easily climb over, but since they were making a straight dash for the fox realm, a mount of some kind would be much appreciated.
"We could try stealing a ride?" Clara figured by taking advantage of the current chaos they would be able to take a mount with relative ease.
"Good idea, let's head to the edge of the city and see if we can get ourselves a ride." Shaman was all for the idea. They all began to move using the backstreets to avoid any attention.
They had finally reached the barn where most of the mounts were kept which was also conveniently next to the city gate. The place was rather quiet as the majority of the people were inside and guards were too distracted by the destruction of the middle tower.
"Now let's hope we can actually get entry to the fox realm with no issues." Shaman could already see the confusion she might cause because of her tail colour.
"Well, we should find a place to stop and pick up some supplies before we go." Since they were on a long trip Elysia wanted to make sure they had enough supplies for the coming days.
"Once we set out I will have a proper look at the map and we will see." Shaman agreed with the idea but this had also reminded her of a potential issue. The tail colours of Shaman and Elysia are unique so going there would expose their identity right away.
'Looks like me and Elysia need to find some hair dye to make sure our defining tips are not noticed .' Shaman looked at her black-tipped tail realising the implications it had and the questions it may raise.