My (Monster?) Hero Life

Chapter 124: Dancing Shadows

Kace eyed the entrance to the cave before him warily. If Logret had not pointed it out, he would have easily missed it. 'It looks quite cramped, who knows what might happen once I'm inside?' Kace was quite concerned. There would be no room to manoeuvre if there was some kind of trap, even though he did not think that there would be. It was still better to be prepared.

Logret smiled as he led the way over the threshold. He felt a sense of calmness and belonging wash over him. It was the indescribable feeling that the security of finally returning home would bring. He did not even bother to make sure that Kace was following behind him. He was just too happy to care.

Kace sighed as he carefully followed in his footsteps. The goblin was practically skipping through the tunnel. The sight brought a slight smile to Kace's face. It reminded of Gyn when he had gotten excited about something. Some time passed, but Kace had still not seen a single tunnel that connected to the solitary one they were currently following. 'I thought all goblin nests were like mazes? Why is this one so different?'

Kace's curiosity had officially peaked at this point. Not only did Logret look different to the goblins he knew, but now it seemed like there would other differences. 'Come to think of it, why is their leader called Shadow? It's not a normal name for a goblin...' He found himself puzzling over this fact. He had not even thought to question it until now. 'Whatever, I can always ask him when I meet him. If he's friendly, that is.'

'I sense something...' Sylvan suddenly said ominously within Kace's mind, startling him in the process. He still was not used to having a conversation projected straight into his thoughts. 

'Any idea what it is?' Kace could only ask in response. He was certain that Sylvan would not bother to talk unless he felt it was worth saying.

'No idea, I just feel some kind of twisted power coming from somewhere nearby.' Sylvan suddenly went quiet after those words. No matter how Kace tried to prompt him, he could not get a response. 'Guess I'm on my own for now...'

"Logret, how much farther?" Kace asked as he was growing agitated. It seemed to be taking an extraordinary amount of time to traverse this tunnel. Though, it probably only felt that way since there was only one path to take and no change in the scenery.

"Hmm? Oh, I totally forgot. Sorry. Sorry." Logret replied, seemingly embarrassed.

"Forgot what? How far this tunnel reaches?" Kace asked with a frown on his face. 

"Oh, no! I was so happy about returning I forgot to let Master Shadow know to let us in!" Logret smiled sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head like a child that had forgotten to do something important.

'Wait? What?' Kace thought as he looked around. There was nothing obvious that might be an entrance to a concealed tunnel. With a puzzled expression, he could only watch with curiosity as Logret stopped and placed a hand on the tunnel floor. Then, the strange little goblin began to talk. Kace even wondered if there really were others in here. 

'Maybe he's suffered from a mental break? He's talking to the ground for god's sake. Perhaps this was not such a good idea.' Kace was about to dismiss Logret's existence and walk away. At this point in time, it seemed like the best thing that he could do.

As he slowly backed away, he suddenly heard a strange noise coming from all around him. It was like the sound of hundreds of guttural voices. All of them desperately chattering over each other. Kace's eyes became full of concern once again. The tunnel was dark, and as such, he had been using his skill Night Eye to make the tunnel appear as bright as day. 

It was because of this that he could see shadows appearing within the dark passage. So it was literally shadowed within a shadow. The sight was quite unnerving to behold. It did not stop there, these new shadows took on small humanoid forms without any features. They began crawling up the walls and along the ceiling. 

Kace held his breath as some of them passed over his head and disappeared into the darkness behind them. Others spread out further down the passage still before them while a few remained and surrounded them. The noises from before started to grow louder while at the same becoming less clear. As though they were speaking while slowly submerging their heads underwater. Distorting the noise echoing out from them.

The strange figures slowly began to circle them, their shape would disfigure and distort in strange ways with each step. Logret calmly stood up and watched the performance. Every now and then his body would sway slightly in time to the noises that the figures made. 'Wait? It couldn't be right?' Kace thought with astonishment as he put together the bigger picture. 'Is this? Music?'

Kace was horrified by the very thought. At least the music that the goblins back in Stonefall actually had a rhythm. This, however, would not be winning any awards any time soon. The only thing he could think of to compare it to was the sound of nails on a chalkboard, in the sense that it was equally displeasing to listen to.

Kace watched the performance for a while before he noticed the shadows that had gone deeper inside the tunnel returning. He could not see what it was, but it seemed like they were dragging something behind them. Twisting his neck to look behind him, he could see the same scene happening on that side as well.

'What the hell is going on?' He wondered as his eyes slowly made sense of what the two groups were dragging closer to them. His heart began to palpitate as he realised the mistake that he had made the second he had entered the tunnels...