Boe started running earlier than John, but John was a lot faster than him, so John caught up with Boe in a few seconds, “Did you really just abandoned me there and started running without even trying to warn me about the spider, you little fuck?!” John was obviously very angry at Boe. Before Boe had any chance to reply, John whispered some chants and his speed suddenly increased tenfold and his whole body started shining with green light.
‘I’m an idiot, I should have used my “Shadow step” technique from the beginning.’ Boe already grasped some of his movement technique but he forgot to use it in a face of danger and he was very upset with his reaction. He has always considered himself to be very quick-witted, especially after he lost some of his emotions, but with sudden appearance of another huge spider he lost his calm and just ran away for his life.
“Kyolyokyo kyimyl” It was a chant used to activate a “Shadow step” technique. Boe’s body suddenly became as light as feather and he felt like he could move as fast as lightning. Boe started moving even faster than John, but he felt something inside of him burning. This technique could be used as long as Boe's battle aura wouldn't ran out.
When Boe caught up to John, he first noticed John’s terrified expression and then saw that their way out was blocked, apparently a fight between a spider and Lok Tar destroyed portion of the cave. Boe started thinking of all possible ways to escape from the spider that will be here any moment, but he couldn’t come up with any idea to survive. Mature Giant Huntsman spider’s power should be above newly advanced rank 1 wizard so even if John and Boe would attack together and use all power they had, they had no chance of even injuring the spider.
“Your movement technique isn’t just giving you a speed boost, my stupid disciple, it lets you become a real shadow temporarily, so use this ability wisely.” Boe heard his master’s voice in his head. ‘My master said he won’t be helping me unless my opponent is two levels higher than me, but that spider is onlyone1 level higher, so why did he bother giving me a hint?’ Boe calmed down and started searching for any way to survive using his ability to become a shadow.
“Boe, we should join hands and try to stall the spider for as long as we can, we may not have any hope in defeating the spider but we may be able to drag enough time for our senior Lok to finish his battle and save us.” John started chanting something and kept looking at Boe in hopes of receiving any help from him.
“I’m very sorry, senior John, but I will have to leave you here for now and can’t take you with me since you are specializing in earth attribute magic. I promise I will get back here with help from the school as soon as I will get out of the cave.” Boe wasn’t planning risking his life by putting all hopes on Lok Tar, he already found a way to get out of this dangerous situation. ‘Even though I don’t know what is on the other side of that hole, chances of me surviving there must be higher than here.’ Boe chanted “Kyolyokyo kyimyl” again, turned into a shadow and slipped through a tiny hole on the right side of what used to be the passage out of the cave.
“So this technique really allows me to move through any tiny hole as if I’m some kind of liquid.” Boe appeared on the other side of the hole, but he couldn’t see anything here so he could only start moving his hands to inspect walls around him. He was walking like that for twenty minutes and already started thinking that he needed to acquire some kind of an illumination magic for situations like the current one. Boe was very careful with every step he was taking, afraid of falling or stepping on something alive, but that didn’t save him from stepping on something slimy, he immediately pulled his foot out of that thing.
“Are you a guest or an enemy?” Two giant green eyes stared at Boe and he felt his whole body freeze.
“I am just a random passerby and came here with no bad intentions, esteemed lord, please excuse me for intruding into your lands.” Boe couldn’t run away so he decided to speak with owner of huge eyes with as much respect as he could. He was already trembling from fear and a cold sweat was dripping down his back, the pressure from the creature in front of him was too much for him to handle.
“I’m not lord, lord is my master, I’m a merely servant of my almighty master. You don’t seem like an enemy of my master and I don’t feel any malicious intent from you, so you can be my guest and stay here with me, young human.” Two different colored torches started burning on two sides of the monster with huge green eyes. Boe could now clearly see what was standing in front of him, it was a ten meters tall yellow slug-like creature with two green eyes, black hole instead of mouth and two torches he saw weren’t torches at all, those were two antennas on two sides of the slug, on top of one of them was burning a normal red fire, but on top of a second one, fire was of a blue color. Boe guessed that creature in front of him was some kind of a magic companion beast from ancient times someone left here to guard this place and never came back. Boe knew a lot of stories about secret lairs of ancient wizards where modern wizards could find all sorts of treasures and inheritances of ancient times.
“May I know how I should call this respected elder?”
“My master always called me Tsude.”
“Elder Tsude I’m very sorry that I trespassed your master’s territory so I won’t be disturbing your rest any longer and shall take my leave right away.”
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
“When did I say that I will allow you to leave this place? You already found out location of my master’s hideout so I can’t let you go outside to tell other people about it, you will be staying here with me until my master will come back and decide what to do with you.”
Boe expected this kind of reaction from Tsude so he wasn’t surprised or scared, he was happy that Tsude didn’t just kill him right away, “May I know when did your esteemed master leave and when was he planning to come back?”
“I’m not certain but it must have been almost 300 years since my master left me here. As for coming back, my master had never reported to me what he was planning to do and how much time he was planning to spend outside.”
‘300 years?! Is that fucking slug kidding me? Her master is probably just died outside a long time ago.’ Boe wanted to scream at Tsude and explain to her that her master will never come back here, but he understood he had no chance of surviving if Tsude would decide to kill him, he couldn’t even feel what sort of power she possessed. ‘On the other hand if I will start a fight with that slug, my master will have to help me as per his promise.’ an idea flashed in Boe’s mind, but he was afraid of using his master like that. He knew that The Strongest was always watching him from somewhere so if slug were to attack him he would be fine, but he didn’t know how his master would react if he would decide to provoke the slug on purpose. Even if The Strongest wouldn’t let him die, he would probably be disappointed in a disciple that can’t overcome any difficulties on his own and would use his master’s power every time he got himself in trouble.
“Elder Tsude is there any way you can let me go back to my school? Or are you planning to let me in your master’s hideout so I could inherit his teachings and items?”
“Stop joking around, kid, my master ordered me to never let anyone enter inside so even I have never been inside there and all people who dared to come here looking to rob my master were killed by me. The only reason you are still alive is that I didn’t feel any greed from you when you first appeared here, but if you will show any greed toward my master’s items I will eat you alive.”
“I would never dare to even think of taking anything from here by force, elder Tsude. I just want to know what am I supposed to do if I’m not allowed to go outside or inside?”
“You shall stay here with me, of course.”
“Elder Tsude I will certainly die from starvation if I will just stay by your side without having an access to any kind of food or water.”
“I forgot that weak human beings have the need in food and water to sustain themselves… It is such a pity to lose you, since I haven’t had anyone to talk to for far too long, but I guess it's your fate to die here from starvation.”
Boe had no words to express his feelings right now, he felt rage inside of him starting to burn any intelligence he had left. He tried to calm himself down and try to figure out some plan to get out of this situation unharmed, but couldn’t come up with anything. ‘What if I will use my “Shadow step” technique and run away through some hole?’ Boe started looking around searching for any holes that would let him escape.
“If you think of using your worthless shadow technique to get away from me you should know that its absolutely useless against me since I can just burn you down even in shadow form.”
“I was just looking for a place to sit comfortably in here, but this place seems too rocky and uncomfortable all around.”
“Hahaha, young people always think they’re smarter than their seniors” Tsude started laughing and her whole body was jiggling like she was some kind of jelly.
“Elder Tsude, if you want me to keep you company, can you please help me get some food and water?”
“Why should I be helping you? My mission here is to protect my master’s hideout and I won’t be walking away from here.”
“You don’t need to move from here, just destroy wall to my left and I will bring food here.”
“What are you planning, kid? Do you really think those two little spiders can help you fight or distract me?”
“I only want to get some food by killing those two spiders. I am sure you can kill both of them without even moving from this place so it shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
“Hehe, let me see what you are planning, kid” Tsude waved her right antenna and a tiny red flame flew toward a wall.
*BOOM*
Boe didn’t expect that the tiny red flame of Tsude would explode with such a tremendous power, but he didn’t have time to think about it as he was evading rocks flying all over the place.
“Show me how you are going to get those tiny spiders to come here after that” Tsude started laughing as if she was playing with Boe.
“Elder Tsude, you sure made it hard for me, won’t you be upset if I won’t be able to get them here and will just die in a few days instead of keeping you a company for at least a few weeks?”
“I was alone here for almost 300 years and another 300 years are nothing for me, kid. Now go ahead and bring them here while I am in a good mood and ready to help you kill them, but don’t try to do anything out of ordinary. If I will detect anything strange in your behavior I will burn you down in a blink of an eye.”
Boe felt Tsude’s aura locking onto him as he walked into the direction where he was destroying eggs previously. When he reached a place where he left John with the spider, he didn’t see any blood or traces of battle, ‘It seems like John was too weak and couldn’t even fight back against that spider when he was captured to become one of stored food for them.’
“Kyolyokyo jebe” Boe whispered “Shadow arrow” chanting as he walked toward eggs and then used his energy to shoot a black arrow shaped shadow toward eggs.
*BOOM*
Half of eggs exploded and other half flew in random directions. Few seconds after that, he heard something coming his way from the passageway in front of him. ‘Those spiders are my only chance of escaping from here.’
Moment later he saw a huge spider running in his direction, he felt frightening killing intent from them and immediately activated his “Shadow step” technique. Tsude chuckled and burned the spider with just 1 wave of her red colored antenna. But what she didn’t expect is that Boe didn’t run in any direction but slipped through a tiny hole in the passageway that spiders came from.
“NOOOOOO! YOU CANT ENTER MY MASTER’S HIDEOUT!” Tsude was furious as she ran to the entrance of her master’s hideout behind her, but right before she entered inside, she stopped as if some invisible force was stopping her from entering.
“As I thought, you can’t enter inside because your master ordered you not to let ANYONE enter. Hahaha” Boe was very happy with himself as he put his hands behind his back and started walking leisurely inside of Tsude’s master’s hideout.