ALL NOVEL Chapter 31: Not entirely a defeat
I observed a man with his eyes closed, a frown forming on his face as time passed. Despite the fact that I knew he couldn't see me, my breath caught in my throat when he finally opened his eyes, and his grey pupils seemed to watch me even as I hid in the shadow dimension.
However, the man simply closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, causing the creaking of the old wood scraps. His expression was glum. "Tch ,once more." He said it with audible frustration.
The rustling of a leaf caused me to turn my head, and a thin-robed man looked up from his book at his words. "What?" he inquired.
"That fucking shadow woman annihilated a nearby camp."
My pupils constricted as I took in the information, but I did nothing. I was waiting for Novem's move to take action, and for the time being, she was simply watching, apparently thinking the same thing I was: this was our chance to finally find out who this woman was who we had heard about several times on our path.
The thin-robed man's body straightened, his eyes nervously scanning the room. "Huh? Nearby?" When the gray-eyed man gave him a stern look, the thin man drew back, coughing awkwardly. "Where was Evan?"
"That idiot." A man in the far corner of the table where the two men were seated shook his head, announcing his presence for the first time in a sluggish voice. "He's so focused on finding his target that he's ignoring his job."
"Shut up, you'll be dead if he hears you say that."
"That's bullsh-"
Before the gray-eyed man could finish his sentence, Novem—who was standing behind him—led us out of the shadow dimension, and before the fighter could pick up his sword, Novem twisted his neck with a terrifying crunch.
The man's slender companion, rose from his chair with a high-pitched squeak. "What the fuck?"
But this time it was my turn. I used magic to strengthen my legs while ignoring nausea and dizziness from spending too much time in the shadow dimension. I took out a small dagger we had acquired earlier and approached the man before he could complete his spell. The gray dagger slit his throat and made a furrow in his neck. The blood splattered a little, but I didn't care. I shifted my gaze to see if Novem needed assistance with the final guard in this room.
The man acted quickly, drawing a crossbow loaded with an arrow dripping with a black liquid and aiming at Novem, who was approaching him with a blink, knocking over the table and breaking the lamp that filled the room with flickering light. Despite the fact that I knew Novem was an experienced assassin, I prepared to attack. Just in case.
Novem deflected the arrow shot at her heart with a quick movement, and I heard metal clashing against metal. Before the man could jump and reload his weapon, Novem closed the distance and pierced the man's chest with her hand as a sword, ignoring the cheap leather armor as if it were just another layer of cloth.
The man's eyes met Novem's black ones, and before he could scream, his body fell like a puppet with the strings cut across.
Now I felt stupid for always worrying about Novem whenever there was a fight.
However, It didn't matter how many times I'd seen her do it, the sight was revolting. Novem crushing of her opponents' hearts was reminiscent of a bloody fighting game. I had no idea why Novem did that. Was it faster than a stab in the throat? Why not instead stab them in the heart? Why should she use her hand? My inquisitiveness got the best of me.
"Novem..." I spoke slowly at first, then confidently when I had her attention. "Why are you crushing their hearts when a dagger would suffice?"
Novem's black eyes widened slightly, as if she was aware of something. "I apologize for scaring you, young master." She bowed and continued after I didn't respond and just stared at her. "However, it is a bad habit that has been instilled in me; we were always taught to crush the heart if possible, after all, necromancers use the hearts of the dead for their dark arts."
"Oh." I said simply, thinking about her words.
Necromancers. It was a rather rare bloodline, not because it was considered heretical, but because people with that bloodline were rarely born; I believe there was someone with that bloodline in the book. However, He was unimportant, which is strange given that all necromancers are powerful; after all, an army that does not tire or fear is overpowered.
"I'm not going to do it again, Young Master." Novem apologized, as if she had misinterpreted my silence as fear or something
"There is no need." I said as I approached one of the corpses. More specifically, the one I had murdered. His dull eyes returned a dead stare to me, the dried blood on his neck adorning it ominously like a necklace. Before Novem could question me, I buried my hand in the man's chest, shattering his heart. "It never hurts to be cautious." Finally, I said.
+100 affection points
Novem looked at me with her usual expressionless gaze, but there was a glint of surprise in her as black as night orbs. I'd make a point of crushing enemies' hearts from now on; I didn't think there was a necromancer here, but I'm not sure how my actions affected this world.
I suddenly felt dizzy and took a tentative step away from the corpse before I could speak again.
Instead of the warm sensation of blood, I felt a liquid dripping down my nose onto the ground; this liquid was thicker and so cold that it gave my skin goosebumps at the contact; additionally, when I looked down at the ground, it was black in color. Being in the shadow dimension was awful, especially since this black liquid was becoming increasingly invasive with my body.
After the shadow dimension began to devour the corpses in the dimly lit room, Novem approached me.
At this point, I was leaning against the wall, dizzy, and tempted to use the system to buy something, but it was too expensive, and I wanted to save points; I had already spent them foolishly before, and I couldn't do it now that I was seriously in danger.
"Are you okay, young master?" Novem's voice jolted me out of my reverie, her worried expression bringing a faint smile to my face.
Novem tried to wipe my face, but when she saw her bloodstained hands, she backed off. She simply wiped herself awkwardly with her armor and then comfortingly but uncomfortably touched my back, perhaps hesitant to touch me with dirty hands.
I wiped it away with the back of my hand, but the worry set in; if it came out of my nose, it could be in my lungs. The potion that alleviated the symptoms was quite pricey, and I didn't want to spend any more points until absolutely necessary. I had an internal debate, but eventually shook my head.
"I'm fine," I sighed. After a few deep breaths, I finally said it. "However, I doubt I'll be able to return to the shadow dimension right now."
"No problem, the density of guards suggests we're near a point of interest or something." Said Novem.
I walked over to the table where a strange set of cards lay, ignored everything, and went through the drawers looking for a map, as I had done several times before; I was getting frustrated at this point, how difficult could it be to get a map in this place?
"Speaking of which, it appears that some members of your clan are causing trouble. That man named Evan seemed to have a grudge against you, and this is already the second time we've heard about that 'Shadow Woman,'" I probed.
Novem came along with me as I looked for a map. "Are they from my clan?" She questioned genuinely confused, and at that moment I remembered that she had no character information like I did, but before I could make an excuse. "I apologize for my cohorts' behavior," she bowed deeply.
My hand, which had come to a halt due to my slip, resumed its search. Maybe it was obvious that Evan was from Novem's clan because of his hatred for her, and I can say I know about the shadow woman on a hunch or something, and Novem would believe me. I sighed, the stress was affecting me more than I realized, and I hadn't eaten in over a day, having only drank some of the water we had discovered earlier.
Novem's apology was ignored, and I changed the subject. "Do you have any idea who this shadow woman is?"
Novem paused for a moment before opening her mouth to speak, a hopeful gleam in her eyes, but she shook her head, "No, young master," she said, the crumpling sheets of paper muffling and masking a bit of her dejected voice.
I was tempted to ask, but I changed the subject to something more important. "Why does that guy Evan despise you?"
"I don't know."
I sighed and ruffled my dirty hair, causing some dust to float up and be illuminated by the few rays that filtered through the broken lamp. "Do you know him?"
"I'm not sure," Novem admitted. Sensing my annoyance, quickly added, "In the clan, I was simply focused on my older sister and doing what I was told."
"Where is your sister?" I asked curiously.
"She's been on a mission for several years now, and it appears she wants to finish it in honor of the Lord Edevane," she said, her tone tinged with pride. "She is more powerful than I am."
"What does she think of serving a noble house?"
"She says we have to obey," I sank into my seat. But her next words lifted my spirits. "She's very nice; sometimes in the clan, she'd give me her ration when I wasn't full," Novem said with a smile, and suddenly cheering up. "When we got here, she made sure our master wasn't a pervert," She smiled wider. "She's pretty funny," she added with a faraway glance.
I hummed in thought and renewed interest in her sister. However, I had no idea where to look for her unless she was the enigmatic shadow woman, which was possible but not certain. Now I had an idea of how I could make Novem think her life wasn't worthless, but now wasn't the time for that because my eyes were drawn to something among the pile of files.
"A map!" I let out a sigh of relief.
"Well done, young master." Novem stroked my hair unexpectedly. After a long time, I active touch of pleasure because she appeared to want to feel the tingling sensation in her body. It wasn't overpowering, just enough to make her feel at ease. "We'll be out of here in no time." She said it softly, almost purringly.
+100 affection points.
"I'm hoping so." I said, spreading the map out on the table, it was quite large.
+50 affection points.
Novem practically melting by 'touch of pleasure' as she stroked my hair.
I ignored the now-docile Novem and let my gaze wander around the map. I ignored the sound of the system notifications as I gained affection points —Novem was obviously stressed— and focused on the important thing: how the fuck do we get out of here.
I knew we were in the black market, but I underestimated how big it could get. This was floor 5 according to the map of these guys, and this place have 15 floors according to what I could read. Fortunately, the map was large enough to cover all the floors.
The map was poorly sketched, just enough to distinguish the exits to the upper floors and where the teleportation platforms were, but there wasn't much more information, like the important zones and so on, which was smart on their part but frustrating for ours.
"We aren't all that far away." Novem nodded, removed her hand from my head, and sat down beside me. Following that, she took a couple of notebooks that I had left earlier because I didn't understand them and flipped through them under my watchful eye. "This will be used to incriminate a large number of minor nobles." After a while, she said.
I was surprised by Novem's words, "Can you understand that?"
"Yes, I learned many different types of codes in the Umbra clan." Novem placed the notebook on the table and pointed to a spot with three curved lines. "According to the symbol, this is a 'Harvested' location. However, neither that region of the kingdom of Nix nor these other locations are suitable for harvesting." She mentioned it. "I don't think they're obvious enough to point out where they've raided villages, but it should be a rough area with different dates, with some list of names for'special deliveries.'"
Novem could be surprisingly intelligent when she wanted to be. It was odd that this woman was purring while petting me a few minutes ago, but I wasn't going to complain because that notebook was nothing more than some strange drawings to me. I was confident that with this evidence and my testimony, we could arrest a few nobles.
'This whole thing wasn't quite a defeat.' I laughed self-critically.
However, by rambling on in my head, I was missing the point, so I said what was on my mind. "So they report to someone else." I nodded.
Novem appeared to reach the same conclusion. "Yes, I see no other reason for them to write notebooks like these." She said this while concealing the notebooks in a small backpack stolen from one of the corpses.
Having evidence of your crimes was stupid unless someone asked for it. Which was also stupid, but with such a large organization, keeping a tally is almost mandatory; otherwise, I'd be losing a lot of money by stealing under the table.
"Young master" Novem whispered suddenly. Moving nimbly without making any noise, she prepared to attack. "Behind me."
I nodded and took up a sword that had been left behind by one of the corpses. Novem preferred to remain unarmed. I hadn't picked up on anything yet, but Novem was more experienced, so I just listened and prepared to attack.
We waited by crawling to the wall, where the light from the table lamp barely reached. I eventually heard footsteps, a small group of people as far as I could tell.
Six armed and cautious men entered after a few tense seconds, but they couldn't do anything. With a simple squeeze of her hand, Novem grabbed the last one who entered by the neck and broke his windpipe. He didn't even have time to fight back when Novem severed the connection between his brain and the rest of his body, destroying his spine as she threw him against the wall.
"Sh-"
Novem gave him a roundhouse kick that twisted his head 180 degrees, the penultimate man wasn't having much luck either.
Novem moved in between them, delivering accurate blows to vital points that instantly killed or incapacitated the opponent, their only resistance being a pitiful scream each time they were killed. It all happened so quickly that I almost felt ashamed for being ready to step in and help Novem if anything went wrong, despite the fact that she was a trained killer.
"We should go young master." She reported, the shadows already eating the bodies.
"Yes." I sighed.
(***)
“No-“
Novem dragged the guard into the shadows, covering his mouth, before the guard could say anything. I watched as the man moved his eyes from side to side, confused, but before he could do anything, his eyes lost their sparkle because Novem had pierced his chest with a dagger she had discovered earlier.
Novem let go of the body, which disintegrated into black dust with no trace. The way the shadow dimension ate people was terrifying, and I had no idea what happened to the disappearing body. Did it become energy or something? It didn't matter because the density of the lairs had increased to the point where we had to enter the shadow dimension every time we came to a corridor as platoons of guards trotted around doing rounds. Not only that, but there were now some more powerful ones; they were still no match for Novem if she ambushed them, but if the attack failed, they would have enough time to scream, which was bad.
"Young master, I sense powerful presences ahead."
I tensed up, the shadow dimension wasn't helping my mood either. "How many?"
"I'm not sure, but it seems odd..." Novem pondered. Then she closed her eyes, and I could tell she was struggling because of her frown. "They're beasts, but they're imprisoned." She nodded and continued speaking. "According to the map, there is a teleportation stone right there, young master, what do you want to do?" Finally, Novem said.
"There is no other option." I sighed. "But if it's too dangerous we run and look for another way out, okay?"
We both walked knowing what we were looking for, and when we arrived, it was guarded by several guards, which Novem quickly dispatched. Novem's martial arts allowed the most powerful one to barely avoid a blow before his forehead was pierced by his own sword.
I opened the gate with a guard's key before anyone else arrived and interrupted us, and we entered the cellar.
We were greeted by a foul odor, a combination of excrement and dirt, as soon as we stepped inside. Visibility was almost non-existent, but with a little magic channeled into my eyes, it improved dramatically. It was a twenty-square-meter warehouse filled with various-sized boxes. What surprised me was that the cages were dimly lit as soon as we walked in. The figures of the beasts were revealed, and the cages had no visible doors.
"Mana detention cages." Novem explained. "They use the beast's mana to power an invisible door that holds them back, they are quite expensive."
I approached the nearby cage with curiosity, I knew we didn't have time, but the figure inside caught my attention.
"Exotic animals," I recognized right away.
Novem crouched in front of the cell and knocked on the door, invipetet a small fox cub with two tails and a muzzle. "A vulk." She described seeing the white fox look curiously at her hand, then dismissively turn her head and ignore it as if it were an insect. "They are extremely rare, native to Nix's kingdom of the great mountains."
“Its meat is delicious, and it was hunted to near extinction about 200 years ago.” When I realized my error, I corrected my speech. “It is still being hunted.”
I gave the fox, or vulk, one last look before moving on to the next cage, which housed a large, jelly-like toad. I continued to be fascinated by all the cages after Novem’s brief explanation of what a Sliba was; an invertebrate prized for its slime that can heal wounds. From two-headed lions to an almost human species that surprised me when it changed shape to a static Novem, revealing itself to be a shapeshifter thought to be extinct quite some time ago, I could barely recognize it from a book on legendary fauna I read.
I sighed as I approached the final cage. “All right, let’s go.”
“Do you not want them released, young master?”
“It is not possible to do anything.”
There was supposed to be a teleportation stone at the end of this room that would take us a few floors up, so we should start getting ready for it right now.
We passed by the last cage, which housed a black cobra with a horn that was the same dull color as its skin, but I froze after one step. I spun around quickly to get a better look at the sleeping little black snake.
'This cannot be possible’
‘System, buy the information on this animal.’
[It will cost 500 affection points, host.]
‘Do it’
[Descendant of the world serpent.
Name: Apophis
Race: Demi-god.
Age: 3000 years old.
Strenght: Purity level 8
Status: Weakened, Sins (Sealed) divinity (partially sealed)
Description: After her death at the hands of the gods who gave her life, the serpent of the world decided to take revenge on them. She extracted her knowledge and instincts but vile and put them in one of her children. After a long time of hibernation, it is finally awake again. The descendant of the world serpent, the incarnation of evil; Apophis].
Oh shit, shit. At least some good came from all of this nonsense. This snake wreaked havoc on the kingdom of Theorin during the protagonist’s adventure arc, but it was eventually defeated with the help of the dragon king, and the protagonist was on his way to forming unbreakable bonds with the king of the continent's most powerful kingdom.
It should be noted that she was still very young in mind and power at the time; if she had grown up a little more, not even the dragon king could have defeated her. Unfortunately, her mother’s sins drove her insane; however, she had a few years before her sins were unleashed and drove her insane. If this has not yet occurred, it means…
‘Is it possible to form a bond with her or tame her in any way, system?’ I asked expectantly.
[Bonds formed between a beast and its tamer must be based on trust; the serpent Apophis does not trust you, but it is possible to make it your companion. However, once the sins are released, the bond will be severed unless you find a way to control her sins].
I nodded ‘Thanks, System.’
“What is it, young master?” Novem asked approaching me.
“Can you get through the defenses of this cage?”
“Yes.”
“Do it.”
Novem reached out her hand and touched the invisible cage door. For a brief moment, these glowed sky blue, and Novem’s hand began to smoke, and I thought she was on fire, until the bars went out without warning.
There was no turning back; at worst, I’d have to kill it; despite the fact that it’s a millennial snake, it’s spent its entire life hibernating since birth, so its power is manageable for the time being.
At that precise moment, Apophis opened one of her eyes and asked, “You are?” Her voice went straight through my head like telepathy.
“My name is Nathaniel Edevane, and this is Novem Umbra, my bodyguard.” I explained, and the little cobra simply nodded. “It’s nice to see a descendant of the world serpent still alive.” My tone was mock devotion.
Apparently, my bait worked because the cobra slithered closer to me with curiosity in her red eyes, lifted her upper body, and measured about 50cm. “Do you know my mother?” she inquired.
Novem and the snake were both staring at me, and I needed a good reason for my knowledge without looking suspicious. I sighed. “Novem, go prepare the teleportation stone.” I ordered.
After some hesitation, Novem spoke. “Young master…” Apparently she was putting my safety before an order.
“I’ll be fine.” I assured. ‘Or so I hope.’
Novem turned away reluctantly, but now that she was out of the way, my gaze was drawn to Apophis, and the devotion in my eyes grew, and I prepared to spout the biggest shit to entice my future pet.
