Tamae felt something was wrong. She turned to the left, then to the right. No one was there. No sounds. No Alvaric.
"A-Alvaric?" she called softly. Thɪs chapter is updated by 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝•𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾•𝘯𝘦𝘵
No reply. The mist around her began to thicken again, swallowing sound, swallowing light. Just moments ago, she had been walking behind Alvaric, and then... suddenly everything changed.
Without realizing it, she now stood inside a large cave, its mouth gaping like the jaws of a monster ready to devour anyone who passed.
Tamae’s heart raced. "Since when did I end up here...?"
She took a step back, but a faint voice from deeper inside the cave made her stop.
A small voice. A child’s. Faint... but clear. Her heart instantly reacted. She clenched her fist, gripping the hilt of her sword. Without thinking further, she stepped deeper into the darkness of the cave.
Step by step, a cold chill wrapped around her body. The cave walls were covered in thick, sticky black slime, and the stench of blood assaulted her nose. But that wasn’t the most disturbing thing.
Tamae stopped when she reached near the end of the corridor. Her eyes widened.
Above—hanging from the ceiling—dozens of small bodies were suspended. They were wrapped in thick thread like cocoons. Some were still squirming, making weak cries for help. One of them was the village child from earlier—half of his body still unwrapped.
Tamae held her breath. "What is this...?"
She took one step forward... then everything went completely silent. So silent it crushed her chest. And then...
A long shadow suddenly shot down from above—landing without a sound.
It stood right in front of Tamae. She stepped back.
"There... are three of them."
Three creatures crouched before her. Each one twice the size of a man. They were thin, with long arms that dragged along the ground. Their skin was black like soot and squirmed like thick smoke. Their heads were shapeless, but from the darkness shone two glowing red eyes—staring hungrily.
"So it’s true. These are the creatures that kidnapped the villagers..." Tamae whispered, taking a combat stance.
The three creatures didn’t make any loud noise—just hissing sounds. But their presence alone was enough to make Tamae’s knees tremble. She could feel how strong they were.
Tamae gripped her sword tighter. "Damn. I have to fight."
She liked fighting, but she didn’t enjoy situations . She took a breath and exhaled slowly. She nodded to herself, her resolve solid. However, something surprised her. From the shadows behind the webbing, something appeared.
A large creature crawled out. Its body resembled a giant spider, but its face... was half-human. A human mouth grinned from the body of the insect. On its back, multiple extra eyes blinked out of sync, looking in all directions.
It hissed, and the sound vibrated down to the bone.
"Well, well, I have an uninvited guest." The creature leapt down. It landed in front of Tamae. The spider was nearly three times the size of a Shadow Stalker. "You come from the seven founding families. I bet your flesh tastes delicious."
Tamae took a step back, but she didn’t waver. She gripped her sword even tighter, her fingernails whitening, her breath quick. Her ears and tail—marks of her tiger race—stood on end, ready for battle. A small smile appeared on Tamae’s face.
"If you touch even one of those children..." she whispered low, "...I’ll make you regret ever being born in this world, Monster!" she shouted fiercely.
"Oh? Is that so?" The spider grinned. "You people from the founding families always pretend to be defenders of justice. But you’re not much different from us monsters. The only difference is in our methods. You manipulate other demi-humans and feed off of them to satisfy your hunger. We do it the direct way—by devouring them. But in the end, our goals are the same: to satisfy our hunger."
Tamae didn’t like those words. "Stop spouting nonsense. You monsters are truly evil. Stop pretending we’re the same. We are not," she said firmly.
The spider burst into laughter at Tamae’s words. "Hero!" She clapped. "As I expected, you really are the most noble of all races. Even greater than the gods themselves."
"But you’re the one deciding which races are good and which are evil. Isn’t that supposed to be the gods’ job? Why are you taking it over?"
"Shut up, you filth! I’ll kill you!" Tamae shouted.
Mana flowed through her entire body, especially into her long sword. At the same moment, the three Shadow Stalkers began to move. Slowly. Circling Tamae. Cutting off all escape routes. Her eyes darted from one to the other, tracking their movements.
"Play with my children first!" said the spider.
With that, she leapt back into the shadows.
Tamae gritted her teeth. Her body lowered, taking a defensive stance. Her left hand swept behind her, generating aura vibrations from her claws. The tiger eyes within her glowed faintly in the darkness. Her control over Mana was impressive.
"In that case... I’ll slice you three first," she hissed.
And just as the first creature lunged—
Tamae attacked first. She and the three Shadow Stalkers began to fight. A tough battle—three against one. But Tamae was still Tamae. She was strong and one of the Reserve Generals. That alone proved her strength.
Elsewhere, Alvaric scratched his head. He had already backtracked, but couldn’t find any trace of Tamae. Now, he stood once again before a massive cave. So huge, it gave him chills.
"Is Tamae already inside?"
Alvaric glanced behind him. He hesitated to go in—not because he feared the monsters or whatever was inside. Alvaric was afraid that Tamae might already be inside...
And she might be fighting an enemy she couldn’t defeat.
"Should I just go in?" Alvaric murmured.
He shook his head. Turned around and began to circle the area once more. He had a bad feeling about Tamae.
It made him uneasy. As he walked, Alvaric tilted his head. "Since when did I start caring about that demi-human woman?"
Alvaric shook his head. "No."
He denied it. He was sure there was another reason. He didn’t care about Tamae the way his heart suggested.
"I’m just worried because there’s no one else to lead me to the capital. That’s all." He nodded repeatedly. "Yes. That must be it."
For a moment, Alvaric thought of Niva. His chest tightened. His anger flared. The ground around him trembled.
"I couldn’t protect Niva. I’m not a wise leader. I’m just a man who accidentally got involved with them. Just a foolish, weak man," Alvaric muttered.