Chapter 92 - Shadow Portal

BOOM!

The ground of the Hellish Bite restaurant collapsed under the pressure of the force coming from beneath. Luckily, there were no customers around at the moment, so no one was injured. The building on the other hand caved in as two auras burst out. Mist escaped from beneath as they clashed.

Clashed? Yes. Two varying mists of different intensities clashed in a vicious manner. One mist so solid one might actually feel a punch from it and the other so soft one might find it a comfy pillow. However, the light one was obviously of a higher quantity than the solid.

Two wolves formed from the solid mist, their purple eyes glaring about at the soft mist. Back-to-back, observing the mist and waiting for something. Anything. Then it came. One of them jumped into the blind and swiped.

Surprisingly, it landed a strike on the tired Yokino who quickly receded to the cover of her mist.

“Give it up Spider King. My mist wolves are too much for you.”

Shiroi’s voice reverberated through the mist for Yokino to hear. There was no response from the spider king however. The two kings in question were no were to be seen. Shiroi herself was testing out her new skill [Mist Form]. She found it to be useful, but the problem here was that she wasn’t sure of how to turn it off.

Her mind was fuzzy and her body spread about. It felt like she was losing consciousness all while being conscious. She could see and sense a lot of things, but in a way, it wasn’t her doing it. Information came through all sorts of areas, but it didn’t overload her brain. If anything, she was simply getting nauseous because of this.

However, she couldn’t show weakness right now. The spider king definitely wouldn’t let that moment go to waste.

Still, she found it odd that the spider king hadn’t made any significant moves since their aura burst attack. Sure, she would sense some movement here and there, but the spider king would simply disappear quickly almost as if she had never been there in the first place.

“You know, I never got to thank you for helping me with the Hell orc.”

A voice echoed. Shiroi’s wolves looked about trying to determine its origin.

“So, I will now.”

‘You thank me by fighting me? How kind of you.’

BOOM!

Thunder boomed in the sky. Up in the sky, the clouds were gathering and turning dark. Lightning flashed and struck the ground where the auction took place, forcing the mist to split apart.

‘I-Is this Storm Magic?’

Shiroi’s voice was hesitant. An obvious sign of weakness. Yokino grinned.

“Hehe. Not really. I simply used Runic Magic to amplify my- ah… why am I even telling you? How’d you like it? I only pull this up for the big boys.”

The winds started blowing heavily and there was a certain uneasiness in Shiroi’s heart. Something wasn’t right. It wasn’t the clouds or the incoming storm. There was something very odd. All her senses told her to run away in that moment, but she didn’t know what from.

“W-Wolf King…”

Yokino revealed herself. She too looked shaken. She had sensed what Shiroi had sensed and was now on high alert.

‘A truce?’

Shiroi asked and Yokino nodded.

“So, get rid of this mist so I see the cause.”

Yokino said. However, Shiroi didn’t respond. Yokino knew the wolf king could hear her as bright as day, so with no response she got a bit curious.

“Could it be that you don’t know how to?”

She asked smugly.

‘Y-Yes.’

“Ok, Ok. Breath in. Stay calm. Your body is simply spread far. Quite thin, actually. I’d be surprised if you haven’t lost a leg or two to the wind, to be honest. Just call the mist back. Think of it like you are squeezing your muscles or flexing them.”

Shiroi didn’t even need the full-on course on how to do it. It came to her as second nature after she saw the spider king’s smug expression. She wouldn’t give the spider king anything to laugh at her for. To be laughed at was an insult to her people. Worse of all, it was an insult to her master.

She formed back and was whole. The two mist wolves formed the tattoos on her fur and she looked as fierce as she was the moment she arrived. Yokino noticed the traitor lying unconscious under Shiroi’s paw.

‘So that’s where this treacherous bastard was.’

‘Ah… W-Was that the source?’

Yokino looked up after hearing Shiroi. She was stunned to see a hob-goblin petting a little girl with bunny ears and a jewel in her forehead. It was Nukeme standing next to a slave girl.

“Oh! G-Great Kings! Are you done with your fight?”

He asked them, as if just noticing their presence. Yokino and Shiroi were both shocked, wide-eyed. They couldn’t stop staring at the duo. The kind of aura the little girl was giving off and the fact that the hob-goblin had the balls to even get that close to her. Did he have no survival instincts?

‘I-Is it actually harmless?’

Both of them thought to themselves. They ended up settling on leaving it be for now. They doubted winning in a fight even with their new capabilities.

There was an awkward moment of silence. All that could be heard were people on the outside screaming, but even that was soon silenced in no time.

"Hey… how do we get back after this?"

Yokino asked, breaking the tension between them. Shiroi looked up at her, realizing that the spider king simply wanted them to pretend like nothing had ever happened. She could live with that option.

"I think the same way I came."

Just then, a portal opened up and the two kings looked at it. Shiroi picked up the vampire and both of them walked towards the portal.

"Oi! Wait for me!"

Nukeme screamed at the top of his lungs as he ran towards them with the bunny girl on his back. The two kings were surprised to see him carrying that thing, but walked through the portal. He followed after. There was nothing more to be done in Keimen City.

==================================================

The shadow demons were seriously fast. They had already managed to get to the cellar where Ulva was supposed to be. When I looked up Kawaii, the system wouldn’t show me anything so I assumed she had done something similar to what Yokino did. I used [Shadow Travel] to teleport to the location of the shadow demons who had found the cellars in the mansion.

"Ulva?"

When I got to the prison floor – the lowest level – I found myself surrounded by empty prison cells. I couldn't see Ulva, but I did sense a presence. Another person was locked up here. Since this was probably the level for the most precious of slaves, the person I could sense was probably easy on the eyes or simply rare.

‘Hello?’

I called out to them.

"Hello."

A response came. I looked to my right and although I couldn't sense any mana from them, I could see the person with [Night Vision]. And I will admit, I was scared.

‘W-who are you?’

I found myself stumbling even though some shadow soldiers were currently standing behind me.

"Haha! My name is Aeri Vons!"

‘Eh?’

The woman I stumbled upon was so frightening I had to back away. She was huge and when I said huge, I meant huge. Like twenty feet tall. I didn't know how she was even brought here. Her massive emerald green eyes stared at me, making me feel insignificant – just like the first time I met that person. She had bandages wrapped around her chest and arms, proof of many arduous battles. She even wore a massive head band over her head covering her forehead.

‘W-why is someone like you here?’

I asked through telepathy and she responded.

‘[Telepathy]? Are you of the Baki Tribe? I thought you guys never left your territory. What are you doing here? Were you feeling bored? I’ve never seen someone of the Baki Tribe before. Is it true your skins are blue? What’s your favorite color? Did “he” send you? Do you engage in hand-to-hand combat? How tall is your biggest member? Have you interacted with other members? How many teeth do you have? How old are you? I’m three Vestaia moons old! Do you like to kill drakes?’

This girl was insane. I had to turn off [Telepathy] because I felt like my head was about to pop. My head was even starting to ache. I looked up and noticed her grinning wickedly as if nothing had happened. So I was left to wonder if she did it intentionally or she normally had so many thoughts.

“W-Why?”

I noticed that my voice was trembling. Maybe it was because of the pressure she was giving off. Like she could kill me at any moment.

"Don't ask such a stupid thing. It is obviously because I was kidnapped. Hahaha!"

She boldly responded.

‘Erhm, I don't think that's a laughing matter.’

“Are you going to free me now?”

She suddenly said.

'Ah… Is she dense? Like hell I will. You’ll probably kill me the moment I do.’

I turned to walk away, but soon after, she started to shout shaking the hollow space. My heart took a leap since I thought there was some sort of attack on the place. Sounded like a “BOOM” at first.

‘Why are you shouting?’

“Because I want you to help me.”

She showed me a pouty face.

‘What? Why would I do that?’

"Because we’re friends."

‘Huh? I’ve never met you before!’

“Well, you have now! So please save me!”

Not even five minutes after meeting and now I wanted nothing more than for her to disappear.

‘I see no benefit in doing that.’

“Well, if you do that, I will never hunt you down once I break free of here on my own. I did allow myself to get captured in the first place and if something were to happen to that Boss guy, I would be set loose without these collars and restraints. Imagine what would happen to my enemies once I, the Great Dragon Slayer, goes on a rampage yet again.”

‘Ah… I see. Well then, shall we escape the confines of hell together, dear friend?’

I asked and she nodded cheerfully. I ordered the shadow soldiers to break apart her prison bars and they did so with ease. All that was left was for her to follow me, but that was where the problem was. She couldn’t move.

‘Why aren’t you moving?!’

"Normally I would, but I can't because of this collar.’

She said, pointing to the collar around her neck.

‘I don’t think the collar stops you from moving.’

“Normally, it doesn’t. But it only makes me as weak as a human, and humans cannot carry me so…”

I let out a heavy sigh and moved towards her. I took out the demon long sword and tried to break the collar open. No matter how much force I applied, I couldn't do it. All that came about was annoying metal hitting metal.

‘I don't have time to be bothering about you right now… Ugh! Why don't I just create a portal to send you to larm?’

"Yosh! That sounds great."

That's when it hit me. I was actually a genius, wasn’t I?

‘Why don't I just create a portal to send you to Larm?’

"You already said that. And I said Yosh! Remember?"

‘Shush! It's big brain time.’

"Big what now?"

'Hey, agent! Since the shadow summons are basically shadows, can't I use them to create a ginormous [Shadow Portal], saving my mana since it’s a combination of my two affinities and blessings?'

<<Affirmative>>

'In that case, what would happen if I used all my shadow summons and [Shadow Portal] to take this entire mansion to Larm?'

<<The mansion would be transported however your mana reserves are lacking>>

'What if I took all the mana from my servants?'

<<You would have absorbed the bare minimum required to do this. However, your subordinates will be drained>>

'Oh? Is that so? I can just apologise to all of them later.’

"Why are you smiling like that, tiny one?"

Aeri asked me.

'Fufufu… no particular reason.'

I said as I stretched my hands forward.

[The magic you are about to perform requires 1700 MP]

[Are you sure you wish to proceed?]

"Let's get to work! Activate magic. [Shadow Portal]"