After running for many minutes, we got to the closest possible location to the village that was close to us. The lush flame shining in front of us and all the tents behind it were the only sources of liberation from the tension we felt at that moment. It made us all feel safe enough to rally to a point in a hard way, and even I did nothing but just shut up and cause a run to get there. And when we got close enough, I waited for everyone to pass.

I knew I could get in myself, and I couldn't put my friends in danger right now. Saving their lives would have made it easier for me to move forward with the idea that we weren't leaving anyone behind at that moment. So I let everyone in through the entrance of the village one by one and finally waited outside. After everyone entered, I prepared myself and started taking steps to get in.

However, something prevented me when I was about to enter the village.

Whatever it was, I started to feel that there was something holding me back at that moment. A force that descended from my neck to my back like a cold hand prevented me from entering, almost as if it were pulling me. It was unknowingly strong and I couldn't get into the village even though I pushed my body and forced myself to.

"Ryuu! Stop stalling! Get inside! Come on!"

Everyone was yelling and shouting at me, waving at me to come inside before the creates finally reached.

But how many times I tried, I couldn't get away from the unknown power.

"I'm trying! But something is stopping me!"

"We can't understand what you're saying, Kid! They can be here any second, so hurry up!"

Everyone thought I went crazy at that moment or so on. They looked at me like I was struggling with myself. But I wasn't even in a situation to lie. I wasn't able to do anything at all. The power that was pulling me back, was much stronger than me. Like a little prey, it had caught me and was preventing my body from moving any further.

I kept pushing myself with all my power in my body. But it was in vain that such effort was put in.

"Ryuu, they're behind you! They're about to close the gap!"

I heard Babu shouting. Right after Hiroshi and the Prince, everyone was trying to warn me about the danger right behind me.

But right being in the middle of the danger, it was me who knew the best what I had to do.

Without wasting any time, I took my map out and threw it at them.

"I'll meet you in the square of the town nearest here! If I can't come by tomorrow noon, don't wait for me. Then we'll find another way to meet."

"Don't make us wait, Kid!"

I heard Hiroshi's voice one last time.

It was just me now, with the rain still falling down quickly and the monsters right after me.

I got away from there as fast as I could, with one of my hands on my abdomen. With great pain, I wasn't bleeding, not at all. But was deeply hurt after running for a long time and helping Shou to create a barrier with that tree.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I knew that my pain was temporary too, and the point where they were was magical and that they were safe. So even though I couldn't make it, I was comfortable, knowing that they were safe, even for a moment.

My deep wounds and injuries were gone, and my body was only feeling the leftover pain, not preventing me from running faster. But it was still going to be quite difficult for me to stay safe until morning. The Creatures were faster than I thought, and It was also impossible for me to find a fire in this rain.

I had no chance of running until morning, so I had to make a barrier to the creatures that will make them stop.

*What is that?*

On a high cliff, which I saw in front of me, there was a rather large slit. It was opened on the verge of a lightning bolt or a big blow that had fallen earlier, and it caught my eye at that moment. If I applied force there, I could cut off the creatures and continue down the path of the rocks above.

*I can use this!*

I was able to jump first to the tree and then directly into the crevice. With my leap twice, I also then reached the height I wanted and went in through the slit, creating myself a chance to look out of the opening left in front of me.

But the scariest part, was yet to come.

When I was inside to the point I reached, the view outside became more horrifying, as hundreds of shadow descendants started running towards me. And with getting their numbers on a larger scale, there were a dozen more than the creatures chasing me before.

I had to find a way to drop the rock in front of them as soon as possible, so on to escape from that point.

My lower back hurt pretty bad, and I was pretty tired from running. But there was still a point where I could use my legs, and it was a point where my full body could get in. So I acted quickly, pulling my legs in as much as possible, and started to apply force.

I clenched my teeth, forcing the rock to move with a big amount of energy and effort.

But the rock was quite hard and firmly stuck to the area where it was. It had left me to stay there for minutes and just hope to be able to move it an inch. I was getting tired, while I was desperately trying, and the creatures of the shadow lineage were clinging to the rocks and trying to climb, getting closer and closer to me. They were quite crowded, and much more than before.

Even pushing each other, getting on top of each other, and being overly violent, they continued to climb, no matter how long it took.

Just as my fear was beginning to take hold of me, I also knew that I shouldn't be distracted. I kept pushing with all my might, without breaking my stack. All the joint points of my body rubbed together. My skin got worn out and started to burn. My eyes began to close from pain, and my hands began to slip from sweat.

It was at that moment, that the shadow creatures had already managed to climb up, and they were extending their paws towards me through the crevice.

"Come on!"

I shouted at the rock, with my hands just grappling to the wall.

In order not to touch the creatures, I had to avoid them on the one hand, and on the other hand, I had to keep pushing the stone. These creatures, whose arms were almost about to reach out to me, were the source of all my troubles for me at that moment and the reason for my pain. That's why I wanted to put an end to this.

I loaded as much as I could on the rock with all my breath, and finally separated the big rock from the cliff, making the creatures fall towards it.

I bought myself a little time. I took the opportunity to do so and climbed off the cliff. And paying attention to my steps in a way, looking around me with the deep focus I created over myself because of the creatures.

I climbed and climbed, where I felt I could get on my feet before they were once again after me. I was relentlessly trying to get away and was nailing at it.

However, I once again broke the piece of rock I was clinging to, and started to fall towards the part where the shadow creatures were located.

"Oh, again!"

I involuntarily shouted because of the repetition of the same situation when I had the rock in my hands.

"If it wasn't for that, it wouldn't be!"

I fell to the ground on the rocks.

With hurting my back, the fact that the wet rocks were even more painful entered my mind as I fell, and even caused me greater pain than my concern for the creatures at that moment. I was even beginning to feel that it was too late for everything now. I was surrounded by shadow creatures, while they even blocked my only escape route.

It was now that either they were going to take my life, or I was going to try something impossible to get out of there.

"Look out!" a loud voice said, covering me with vines created by sorcery.

Then I felt incredibly lucky, and surprised, after I heard that woman's sound, right in front of me.