Chapter 502: Mark of a Raven

Walking through the tunnels, Aether felt... uneasy. It was as if something was watching him, but there was no one around him, not even Inky, as he had sent the bird to scout in front of him.

He had also asked some of the Lost who were around, and they had told him that there wasn’t anything around. So, really, he had no idea why he felt that way.

Maybe it was just paranoia.

Holding Raven tight in his hand, Aether continued to walk on the dirt. He had to be careful, as there was a chance that the floor under him would just collapse. This whole system of tunnels was big and complex; some were even really close together. If he put a lot of weight in one of those places, he was going to fall.

And who knows how deep the next tunnel was going to be.

Gravewalker wasn’t going to save him if his organs were squished to death. And even if it was able to revive him, he was never going to be able to survive, since his organs would still be gone.

But as he continued to walk... nothing happened, which was good but also surprising. Inky had also come back and had no report of any monsters in front of them... He wasn’t mad about it, but no one could say that it wasn’t a bit strange

Taking another step, Aether heard a sharp crunch that caught his attention. Moving his foot away, he saw something white in the dirt. Leaning down and pushing the dirt away, he saw a small piece of paper.

Opening it up, it was written in a language he had no idea how to read. ’But why? This place was made by monsters, and populated by Readers, so what kind of language is this? And above all, it’s not even like it could be a hidden language from another Kingdom; there are only two in it, and I’ve lived in both.’

But there was also another thing, a drawing. A mouth with sharp teeth crossed out tens of times. Whoever had written this thing had an awful fear of it.

’This really feels like a weird cryptic message... one that has no meaning.’

He was going to keep it in mind... but really, he felt like he was wasting memory on it.

’Teeth... well, I could guess that whoever wrote it probably was talking about the teeth and bite of the monsters, but was that all there is to it? Just some random person fearing a monster.’ Biting his nail, Aether sighed as he waved it off as if it was not important for now... at least, until and if he got more information; after all, he had way better things to do.

But as he was about to continue, he heard a small tremor. Turning his head in the direction it had come from, he focused on Eden, seeing a small, shallow outline behind the dirt coming toward him.

’There it is.’ He waited until the last moment, backing away just before the monster burst through, making it hit the other wall, well, at least that’s what he expected, but in reality, it just dug into it and tried to attack him again. But he already knew where it was coming from, so he was never going to get caught in such an attack.

The monsters noticed this, as it stopped its attacks, climbing down into the main tunnel, screeching loudly.

But there was something he noticed about it: it was smaller than the ones he had faced, which made him wonder if it was weaker.

’It’s not like I can run, so I’ll see either way.’ Aether dashed forward, instinctively thrusting with his blade, but the monster was able to avoid it... he was slower than before; well, not him, but this thrust, this was, of course, because Whispers of the Lost wasn’t activated anymore, but he hadn’t expected the difference to be so visible.

’I’ve really gotten used to one type of blade.’

After dodging his thrust, the monster dashed forwards, trying to bite his leg, and he was going to let it; after all, it was in his style to let these things happen. If it bit his leg, it would give him an opening to its whole body...

However, something came up in his mind; the teeth drawn on the piece of paper were very similar to the monster’s, so in the end, he decided not to, backing away and letting it chase him mindlessly before stopping and pivoting as it jumped, slashing its neck...

...

And to his luck, the blade was actually able to cut through it.

He sighed in relief as the monster screamed in pain... but suddenly, he felt weird. Turning his head towards the monster, where he had cut it, there was now a weird black mark through its skin...

...

For some reason, he could sense that mark, its exact location, like it was part of him... Looking at his blade, Aether smirked. ’Is this one of your abilities? Interesting.’

As the monster started bleeding red blood, it suddenly turned to him, screaming, as it jumped at him, but it was far slower than the ones from before, the ones he had fought, which made it even clearer that it wasn’t as strong as the ones he had almost died to.

That should have been obvious, seeing it was like three times smaller.

And the ones from before actually looked able to think; this one not at all.

It just attacked, even if it knew he was faster than it.

Not that he was complaining; it made it easier for him, as he slashed it once more, the blade breaking through the scales of the monsters slightly each time he cut, getting deeper.

But there was also something he noticed... he felt like his slashes were faster each time he cut. It was weird; he had no idea if it was his imagination, just him getting better with the blade, or an ability.

The monster backed away as its wounds were slowly catching up to it, hardly able to even stand, as his slashes had long beaten it.

Aether walked up to it, raising his blade before coming down... yet, weirdly enough, the blade just passed through all the scales like butter, cutting it in two.

’What?’ It hadn’t done that before, so what was up with it?

’Weird, I’m going to have to test it.’ He said, sighing, ready to continue.

...

But just as he was about to, he noticed that the foot of the monster... looked awfully...

Human.