Chapter - 06

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"Ugh....."

Shiro groggily opened his eyes. A bright sunlight filled his vision, blinding him. It took him a few seconds to get used to it. Looking around, he found himself lying face down, on what appeared to be a wooden carriage, with a canvas roof, the light was coming from the narrow slit at the end of the carriage, which served as an entrance. There were wooden boxes probably filled with goods beside him, occupying a bulk of the carriage. The carriage was moving at a slow pace, the rhythmic clip clop of a horse was audible along with the chatter of some people. Shiro tried to move, but found his entire body hurting, almost making him cry out. He somehow sat up with difficulty, and began examining his body. He was only wearing his pants, his upper body was bare, and bandaged at many places. A bandage also covered his right eye. There were many cuts and wounds on his body, his arms and legs were maimed at many places, and the most heavily wounded was his back, which the Arachne had nearly torn open. Although it had been tended to, and no blood leaked, it still pained a lot. Shiro found his sword kept beside him, and felt a little relieved.

He slightly moved the canvas covering and saw that the carriage was on a dirt road, behind him at some distance few more carriages were following with men and women on horses, who appeared to be adventurers. Shiro thought for sometime and decided to lay low and watch the situation. Since his belongings were neatly kept beside him and his wounds were treated, he knew whoever saved him, meant him no harm, at least yet. He decided to go with the flow for now. Closing his eyes, he began to rest, his body was very weak right now, he would need at least two days to recover his strength.

A few hours later, Shiro felt the Carriage stop, the voices of many people could be heard from the outside. Shiro understood, these people had decided to camp for the night. Shortly after the canvas was moved aside and two figures appeared before Shiro, who was sitting now.

"Ah! You are awake!"

He saw a man and a woman gazing at him in surprise. Both of them looked normal, their ages must be above 60 years. The old lady, who had just exclaimed, broke out of her surprise and neared Shiro while the old man stood aside.

"Did you two seniors save me ?" Shiro respectfully asked.

"Yes! We found you by the roadside while we were traveling. You were lying like a dead body! At first we though you were dead, but you were not, so we took you with us! I must say boy, you were wounded very badly when we found you! Covered in wounds and that horrific gash on your back!" (Old lady)

"*Cough* *Cough* Dear! You are bothering the boy!"

The old man who was till now silent, reminded the old woman.

"Im sorry boy, my wife tends to speak too much. However her medical skills are pretty good. She was the one who treated your wounds." he said with a small smile.

"I don't mind senior. Many thanks for helping me. May I know your names ?" (Shiro)

"Ah! My name is Peter and She is my wife Roda. We are small merchants from Iglasia. We were traveling to Solas, when we found you" (old man Pete)

Shiro bowed to them "I thank the two seniors for saving me, I will remember this kindness"

He was a person who held grudges and will brutally deal with his enemies, however, those who have helped him, he would make sure to repay their kindness at all costs.

"Hahaha what a polite boy! Don't worry, we don't need any payments, to save a person in trouble, is a reward in itself! Dear I told you he was a good boy! See how he respects us." (Old lady Roda)

The old couple chatted with Shiro for sometime. He was afraid they would ask about his eye, but they didn't much to his relief. He told them that he was also traveling to Solas and had been ambushed by some monsters and badly wounded. The kind old couple offered to take him with them, since they were already going to Solas. Shiro tried rejecting them but they were adamant. He finally had to give in since he didn't want to make his benefactors sad.

It was near twilight now, so the sun was going down fast. The old couple's carriage was part of a large caravan. There were 15 carriages in total. Many adventurers were working as guards for this caravan. In this region robberies were very common. After chatting with him for sometime, the old couple left to their work, they were kind enough to give Shiro some new clothes since his were badly damaged during the fight. He was very weak now, so he stayed in the carriage while the merchants and their workers were busy erecting tents and preparing for dinner, while the adventures patrolled the area. The Solas dungeon had been there since time immemorial, no one knew how long it had been there for. For the sake of convenience, people set up a small town beside dungeon, they named it Solas Town. Its residents were mostly merchants, craftsmen, alchemists, blacksmiths etc. Since the dungeon was frequented by adventurers and many other people, business flourished in Solas town. Though, dungeon of Solas was on the borders of Germania and Iglasia, it was in the territory of Germania. Due to geographical limitations, only one road from Iglasia connected to it. Its various twists and turns made it pass through, a large distance beyond the borders of Germania, into its territory. Luckily, Shiro, in his injured stater had managed to arrive at this road by pure luck, since it also passed by the Dark Forest of Arachnera. Now it would take the caravan two more days to reach Solas Town.

The journey was smooth, a few bandit groups attacked the caravan, but the adventurers and mercenaries were enough to deal with them. All the way the old couple frequently chatted with Shiro. He learnt that the old couple had a son who was a soldier in the lglasian imperial army. Sadly he died in a Monster attack where he was posted, leaving behind his wife and child and old parents. The old couple were devastated because of this. After mourning for their son, they decided to go to merchant business. They meet many people and make many friends. For the two who had lost their only child, perhaps this was happiness.

Two days passed in a blink, Shiro finally reached his destination, the Solas Town. It was bigger than he expected, full of shops, taverns and inns. 90% of the towns population was temporary, people who came for the dungeon. A small battalion of 500 troops of Germania guarded the town and maintained law and order. Shiro separated from the merchants, Old man Pete and Old lady Roda were sad at this, but they bade him farewell with smiles. They would stay here roughly a week, selling their goods to local retailers, resupply and then return. It was a routine. Merchants brought food, weapons, medicines and other merchandise here and returned with materials from the dungeon like ores, precious herbs, monster parts, etc. It was a good economy in itself. Shiro didn't know if he would see them again, but he would remember that kind couple who had helped him. He made his way to the adventurers' guild in Solas town. Although It wasn't a big town, a little more than a kilometer in radius, it had its own adventurers' guild. This showed its importance. Shiro made a report there as was customary. The guild kept record of which adventurers went into the dungeon. After his name and quest was noted, he was given a pass which he had to show to the sentries to enter the dungeon. Shiro went to the town market to buy some necessary items for his travel. Then he found an Inn to rest for the day, he was still not fully recovered after all. Tomorrow he would go to the dungeon.

Dungeons were giant labyrinths. Inside the dungeon, laws of the world didn't apply. Dungeons had full control over things inside them. The space inside a dungeon was separated from the world. Only through the single entrance could people go in and come out. Dungeons laid vicious traps, bred ferocious monsters and horrendous abominations. Generally, every floor was different than the other and monsters on every floor were usually, different from other floors. There were grasslands, ghost towns, castles, forests, seas, caves and many more scenarios. There were occasionally exceptionally strong monsters called 'Boss Monsters' They were placed to guard their floor and only by defeating them would one be able to proceed to lower floors. The dungeons' goal was to kill and absorb whatever was not their own but came from outside, from the smallest insect to mightiest of warriors and mages. What ever died in a dungeon would be quickly assimilated by it. Often people couldn't even recover dead bodies.

* * *

The next day.

Shiro was before the infamous Solas Dungeon. He had heard much about this dungeon in his travels. It was said to be one of the most dangerous dungeons on the continent. Even among all other dungeons in the continent, this one was notoriously famous to have a zero clear rate. That is all the people who tried to conquer this dungeon, by getting to the last floor, and defeating the 'Last Boss' never returned. After the failed expedition by the king, most people didn't dare go below fifty floors. Still, some daredevils, or rather some fools still ventured into the depths of the dungeon, hoping to earn good rewards in short time. Still the vast majority of them stayed on the upper floors and dared not go too deep.

Well most people....

* * *

Shiro looked at the entrance of the dungeon, tilting his head. The dungeon was set at the base of a low hill, one of the many hills covered by dense foliage. And there at the base of the hill stood a well decorated gate, some twenty feet high and similarly wide. It appeared to be made up of, finely molded stone with intricate markings which symbolise some ancient language.

*Ba-dump* *Ba-dump*

Suddenly out of the blue, his right eye began to throb. 'Geh', Shiro clutched it while gritting his teeth. This happened seldom. His right 'eye' reacted to certain element and conditions, which were unknown to him, causing him pain and a sense of disparity.

"For 'it' to react....just what is in there....?"

He had some doubts, yet he decided to proceed. He had a quest to do. And at the back of his mind, he hoped to find some answers.....

* * *

"Huff.... So this makes it..."

Shiro sheathed his katana once he had killed his last fire salamander. These critters were very agile and prone to fire spitting tantrums. Though to Shiro this wans't a problem. Within half an hour he had killed fifteen of these salamanders, though he had to bring back ten, having some extra stock didn't hurt.

He once again looked around the dungeon. The entire floor was akin to a giant cave. With the roof some hundred feet high supported by gigantic stone pillars. There were barren rocks all around with large boulders scattered all around. The only source of light were strange crystals, embedded on the roof. A good habitat to these salamanders. The other two floors however were very different. The first floor resembled a typical lush forest. It had basically......mobs. Yep.... Mobs. Horned rabbits, biting plants, ferocious squirrels, big ants etc etc, not much work. The next floor had kobolds, dog like humanoid monsters. Their heights were less than four feet and they attacked with their claws and teeth. Shiro cleared through these floors with ease. And now after dismantling and storing the salamander skins in his 'Storage Bag', he had achieved his goals. Storage bag, was a bag with a separate space within it. From the outside it looked like a normal bag, however in side it have 5 cubic metres of space, which was lowest of the low, high eng storage bags had hundreds of cubic metres of space. He had been give it by the guild, to store the skins. These bags were hard to make and very few rune experts could make them. So their prices were sky high. The small bag that Shiro had was already worth 50 gold coins.

Shiro didn't leave the dungeon even after his quest was completed. Because, from the moment he stepped foot in this dungeon, he felt a very weird feeling, as if something was calling him. Something felt odd. His eye was still hurting but he felt that he should go deeper into the dungeon. It was more like a gut feeling. As if something was calling him down into the depths of this dungeon. Since He had time to spare so he decided to follow his instinct, which had till date, never wronged him.

The next floor was like a traditional labyrinth made of stone, filled with 'Low imps'. These were the lowest members of the demon race, more closer to monsters than demons. They had short humanoid bodies with a large head and long spiked teeth. Their ears were pointed like spikes and had a pair of small horns on their heads above their ears, and they had a long tail with a pointed tip. These pesky creatures used spears made of wood and crude metal. They weren't very smart, and were easy to handle for experienced people. Shiro mowed them down fast and moved on.

The fourth floor was a nest of goblins. Short, disfigured humanoid creatures with crooked bodies, green filthy skin, pointed noses and blood shot eyes. Their jaws always drooled. Weak as a child alone, but deadlier than a tiger when in a group, these vile creatures were famous for two things. Their un-saitable hunger and endless libido. These were true enemies of the fairer sex. Many a woman had fallen onto the hands of these horrendous creatures only to be violated till death and then eaten. Although Shiro had massacred goblins around Helmsberg and many times during his travels, he still devoted some time to this floor. When he left, not a single goblin could be found here. Although the goblins spawned by dungeons were stronger and more intelligent than the normal ones, still they were all wiped out. The adventurers and dungeon hunters who came to the floor later, found not a single goblin in sight for quite sometime. Shiro hated goblins. There was no specific reason. He was not the famous Silver ranked adventurer after all. Still he was inertly disgusted by these vermin.

And then he stepped onto the fifth floor. This floor was like a maze. It was like a endless series of interconnected passages. The passages were wide, some ten metres, and the walls were made of finely made blackish stone bricks. The roof and floor were also similarly made. There were numerous interconnected passages. One could very easily get lost and go around in circles. The lighting was dim, coming from the many glowing crystals in the roof, adding to the malignant aura of the dungeon.

Shiro felt the throbbing in his eye increase as soon as he entered this floor. 'Just what is this feeling..... What exactly is down there....well whatever it is, i don't think its something nice.' The feeling had been increasing with each floor. Shiro still kept going. He felt, he could find answers to his "condition" here.

There were a lot of traps on this floor. From pitfalls, to poisoned arrows, and much more. This floor had the monsters called, Shadow wolves. At D rank, these wolves had the ability to merge into the darkness and sneak up onto their prey. Unlike normal wolves, they attacked independently and not as a pack. After walking for sometime he encountered the first monster on the floor. It suddenly tried to sneak onto him from behind, however Shiro simply dodged it causing the attacker to ram itself into the wall. Infusing some mana into his eyes he was able to see clearly in the darkness. Before him was a ferocious canine. With a body length of over two metres, a height of around five feet, deadly teeth, and black fur like the shadows. A shadow wolf. Its bloodshot eyes sharply glared at the prey that had just escaped its salivating jaws.

Shiro, took a breath and drew his katana. A magnificent black blade, with a curved edge came into view. The wolf suddenly felt a chill from the boy before it, as if looking at a dangerous predator. But still it once again attacked Shiro by pouncing at him. But the next moment Shiro was behind it. He sheathed his sword and began moving on. The wolf was confused for an instant, it hurriedly turned back to look at its prey but then....

*Thud*

Its head separated from its body, and the body while spraying out blood from the neck, staggered for a few seconds and then fell down convulsing. And as such another predator had become a prey. As Shiro advanced along the tunnels guided purely by that erie feeling, he encountered many more wolves, but all were done in with ease. He had faced much stronger foes before after all, before the Arachne these D rank wolfs were all puppies. Finally after hours of walking he came across a large hall. It was circular in shape. Spanning over a hundred of metres in radius. Many tunnels connected to it across its circumference. Only one large door, stood at the end of the room. The way to the sixth floor.

'The boss room...'

In the Solas dungeon, every fifth floor had a monster much stronger, fiercer and dangerous, than other monsters on the floors before it. This monster guarded the exit to the floor and had to be defeated if one wished to advance beyond it. Shiro prepared himself. Logically he should have just returned back and complete his quest, he was not someone who took unnecessary risks. Yet somehow he felt as if he had to go there. So steeling his mind, he stepped into the room, sword drawn. Behind him a stone door closed blocking his only escape.

*Grrr*

Right upon entering he heard a bone chilling growl. The room was quiet dark, yet two red eyes glowed through that darkness, and vanished suddenly. ('So the boss isn't giving a warm welcome i suppose...)'. Shiro took a stance. He could feel a heavy killing intent filling the room.

"Tch"

He clicked his tongue as his right eye hurt again. The pain was much greater than it was before, making him feel as if his eye would explode any moment now. 'So whatever it is its in this room....i suppose on the other end of the room.' Shiro got distracted for a moment because of the pain. Suddenly he felt a chill and jumped back. Next instant, five large claw marks appeared on the floor he was just standing on. It looked as if a monster had clawed out the floor but surely no monster had directly approached him.

'Wind blade....'

It was a skill many high level monsters could use. Using mana to control wind they could channel powerful blades which would slice even stone. Monster were ranked based on their strength and threat. The ranking went from F, E, D C, B, A, S, SS, SSS. F ranked were the weakest wherein even a novice with a sword could defeat one with some training. On the other extreme were SSS ranks were calamity class monsters. They had enough in them to wipe out nations if they wanted. Based on the power and speed of this attack Shiro concluded that it was a C or B ranked monster. A formidable opponent indeed. Shifting his focus to battle he scanned his surroundings for any hint of his foe. But the darkness blocked his vision.

*Grrr*

Another deep growl resounded, across the room.

(This darkness is a bit annoying....)

Shiro side stepped as a flurry of similar wind blades assaulted him. Though he managed to evade most of them. One of the blades made a cut across his right arm.

'Tch...its fast....no this darkness is its strength....'

Shiro understood that this way he would never be able to beat this monster. He had skills but this darkness, it was the monsters territory. He infused mana into his eyes again, it cleared his vision. Another flurry of wind blades assaulted him which he dodged, but as he jumped aside suddenly he saw a large claw coming from behind him. He twisted his body in mid air and used his katana to block it.

(Strong..)

The force of the attack threw him onto a wall. His hands became wobbly.

'Damn...'

Once again his assaulter had vanished into the darkness. He realized that he was in trouble. Whatever this monster was it was very powerful. He realized that it was not something the current him could defeat. He could easily deal with it if he was in peak condition, but the fight with the Arachne was still taking its toll. Shiro cursed himself. He regretted coming here following that feeling.

(Damn it! Was this young master kicked by a donkey!? Why did i not wait a few days before coming here! Ahhh that damn spider! This young master will teach you a good lesson when he gets back!!!!)

His right eye throbbed. Shiro was only a 15 year old and though his body was quite strong, there were limits. His strength was at the level of Master Knight, however due to his weakness and the darkness which aided his foe, he was in a tough spot. Defending was not a problem, but taking the offensive was. Even using mana to improve his eyesight the wolf kept hiding in the shadows, its ability was rather effective.

(I have to finish this quick....staying here forever isn't an option.)

He bit his lips. A feeling was growing in his mind. The voices in his head told him to use 'it'. But, to use 'it' would mean that he hadn't grown the slightest. He wanted to be strong with his own power, not using that power, which eas not his own.

*Sigh*, "I guess there is no way..."

Shiro steadied his wobbly arms. His left hand gripping his katana tightly. And his right hand was on his eye patch. He had purchased a new one before entering the dungeon. And then, he pulled it off. An demonic eye with a abyssal black pupil came into view. As soon as he removed that eye patch, Shiro felt power surging through him. But this power was dark. A force much darker than the darkness of space. And it now coursed through his veins. His right eye began glowing and reddish aura started coming out of it.

*NOTE : To imagine it, just see the eye of the "Black rock shooter". Its just like that...*

Shiro narrowed his eyes. All around him, an aura of darkness started gathering and swirling. His sword too changed. Red straight lines appeared , glowing all across its blade. The dark aura seeped into his body and his wounds began closing. He felt energy pouring into him. And his emotions surged. He wanted to kill the thing that caused him pain. Tear it to pieces. Slowly, intimately, while it screamed for its life. It was just like when he had fought the Arachne.

Shiro looked at the darkness around him. He felt connected to it. As if it was all a part of him. His eye had stopped throbbing. He felt the best he had felt in a long time. A sense of euphoria welled up in him. As if he could take on the world right now. Realizing he was getting off track, he focused himself. 'Find it', he commanded the darkness. And as if responding to his command the darkness moved. As if a veil had been undone, the darkness vanished from before Shiro's eyes. To a third person, the room would appear the same. Dark everywhere. But to Shiro everything looked clear. He could clearly see the other edge of the room and even the slightest cracks on the walls. And then before him he found what he was looking for. A giant three metre high and over five metre long wolf. Its fur was purplish grey with red pulsating lines running from everywhere to everywhere. Its huge jaws were dripping saliva while its eyes locked onto Shiro. It wasn't some ordinary monster. It was a demonic beast. A demonic beast was a monster that had been swallowed by mana and and become corrupted. It had transformed into a much more vile and ferocious beast. This wolf was easily over ten times powerful than his kin.

But if one looked closely, they would see its body was crouched and its posture tense. The wolf for the first time in its life, was feeling dread. The creature before it was strange. It gave of a erie feeling. The wolf watched its foe carefully. The human stood at his place staring into the distance when suddenly, the boy locked his eyes, the two erie eyes onto it.

"Found you", the boy chimed in a monotone.

The wolf felt danger. This human before it was up to something. But it wont give him the chance. It leapt at full force covering the over 15 metre distance in a flash. Its jaws locked for the human's neck. The human didn't react, no he couldn't react. For the speed of this wolf which was well over B rank, was no joke. And snap the wolf tore the boy's head away.

......

Or thats what should have happened.

The wolf stood still. Its mouth had no taste of blood. There was no corpse. The human had vanished from between his jaws.

"*Sigh*....So much for this..."

It heard the human speak. The voice sent a chil down its spine. When the wolf was just charging, Shiro felt a image float across his eyes. A swordsman was using his sword, making a move. The move appeared so perfect, it could tear through space and time itself.

"Forbidden Blade Arts : Fourth form : Silent breeze

In the quiet room the boy spoke. Silent Breeze. Its a technique, used to finish an opponent by surprise, while letting it come close enough. By using the strength in the leg and core muscles of the abs, one moves the body faster in that crucial moment, when he is in the opponent's reach and the opponent is in his. Just like a breeze which blows over silently and you wont realize its blown until it already passes you, the sword too silently does its work in a single strike. No one realizes what happened until its too late.

"Your strong..." The boy continued as he shook his sword shaking of the few drops of blood on it.

"Its just that....." He spotted his eyepatch and picked it up. The wolf tried to turn around and charge at him again but as soon as it did, its body divided into two halves parallel to the ground. The two parts quietly dropped onto the floor. And thus died a boss monster.

"...I am stronger...."

The boy mumbled as he made his way to the exit of the room.

* * *

Shiro walked towards the exit. His body felt very heavy. As if he was carrying a hundred kilo load on him. Using the move that suddenly appeared in his mind was very taxing. His weak body was at its limit now. Still something made him walk towards the stone door at the end of the room.

'Whats that....'

Shiro spotted a glowing design on the floor just before the door. He limply made his way to it. It looked like a magic circle. It was a design made of a circle with a pentagon in it. Further, with intricate runic symbols, and various geometrical designs, it looked a very high level one. Looking at it his eye again throbbed. Shiro lost control, as if in a daze and touched the glowing design. And just as he did,

"Wha..."

A dark mist engulfed him and before he could even scream, the room had turned silent. The magic circle had disappeared along with the boy, and only the beheaded wolf lay in the room now.

* * * * *