ushernet Chapter 775: Don't Be Deceived By Faces...
Chapter 775: Don't Be Deceived By Faces...
Chapter 775: Don't Be Deceived By Faces...
The Beast of Burden rolled forward, its massive form pushing through the dense terrain without stopping for even a moment.
Its speed had increased, though only slightly.
After all, there was a limit to how fast a creature of its sheer magnitude could move.
Even so-
The fact that it could move this fast at all was a surprise.
Roma sat near the front, perched on one of the crates, her body subtly swaying with the tremors caused by the beast's every step.
Her gaze flickered backward, watching as a massive veil of darkness erupted from the heart of the forest.
She had seen many things before.
But this-
This was not natural.
At some point, during one of her stolen glances, a sudden miniature sun ignited within the shadows behind them-
A burst of blazing light, swallowing a portion of the abyss for a fleeting instant.
Roma's breath hitched.
The Beast of Burden had already put considerable distance between them and the chaos behind. In fact-
They were close to reaching the edge of the forest.
Beyond that, they would be forced to traverse the open plains leading toward the ocean, a direct passage to the City of Lithia.
There was a shortcut-
They could attempt to cross the river.
Or they could take the safer route-circling around to Lithia, avoiding the risk of being swept away in the current.
The river itself wasn't too far. It branched into two, splitting like veins through the land. The small hill of Lithia sat between those two branches-perched between where they diverged.
One branch cut across the plains ahead.
The other branch, wider and deeper, flowed beyond Lithia's borders, bleeding into the territory of the reclusive nation of Vorceau.
Roma's face paled.
Her eyes remained locked on the chaos unfolding behind them.
Flames-dozens of them-surged into the darkness, bright enough to illuminate the distant
battle.
And yet-
Nothing happened.
Roma couldn't make out exactly what was going on, but the sheer magnitude of it-
The earth-shaking tremors, the waves of energy spilling into their side of the forest-
It was enough to terrify her.
More than that-
It made her feel powerless.
'I can't even understand what he's up against. And that terrifies me more than anything else.'
But no matter how much she hated to admit it-
She had to accept the truth.
He did not need her help.
He did not need anyone's help.
He never did.
Warped them into what they were today-
Men and women shaped by a perverse collection of beliefs, desensitized to the fragility of human life, rude, reclusive, and far too strange to be understood by the common man. And many other things she couldn't think of right now because she was, on the back of a beast, running from a storm of shadows that could very well consume them all.
Suddenly-
A wave of exhaustion settled into her limbs, a draining, consuming weariness.
'I did not envision my journey going this wrong at all...'
She too had a goal for being here.
A reason.
And that reason was no less important than the crates they carried-crates tied to a secret she
wasn't exactly hiding, but neither was she mentioning.
These crates-and their destination-
They were the very reason she had set foot on this path.
She could have easily opened them, checked their contents, confirmed it all for herself, and
walked away.
But she hated that idea.
The mercenaries... Gareon... She refused to let their loss be for nothing. So she would not stop
Not until she saw this through.
Having a Sage on her side was a great boon. But even if he hadn't been here, she still would
have done it.
A small, nearly nonexistent scoff escaped her lips.
'And I would have died a long time ago. This is nothing like anything I've ever gotten myself
into!'
Her mind raced.
The sudden influx of monsters-was it tied to the blockade?
What the hell was happening?
And why was Lithia at the center of it all?
The question gnawed at her. Disturbing. Harrowing. And the fact that she had no answers was
frustrating.
Then-
Something shuddered.
A deep, rumbling tremor rolled through the forest like an oncoming storm.
Their heads turned, snapping back toward the shadows.
And what they saw-
Made their blood run cold.
The shadows had disappeared.
The once-consuming darkness had vanished, sucked away as if it had never been there to
begin with.
The Shadow Drifter's face paled. His entire body froze.
A tremor rippled through his cheeks, his expression stiff with something close to horror.
Then, without hesitation, he whipped forward, his voice cracking into a shout at Roma- "Tell this thing to run faster! Or else we're dead!! The shadow has taken over your friend's
body!!!"