I was grateful he had such a good memory, since he perfectly retraced our steps back outside while still avoiding many of the guardsmen, who were likely to report whatever it was we were doing.
We made our way outside the main palace and over the tall wall that surrounded the illuminated city, narrowly avoiding the guardsmen on watch on the ramparts. "I think we're in the clear," he said, looking over one of the boulders we hid behind. "Look, over there," Ysevel hissed, pointing in the general direction of a handful of dimmed mana lanterns to our north.
We gave each other a silent nod of understanding, moving from boulder to boulder and tree to tree as we did our best to get closer. We followed them for the better part of two hours before they came to a halt, but when they did, it was near the edge of a cliff that overlooked a small, grassy valley, brightly lit by the full moon's light that came up over the distant ridgeline.
As we scaled a nearby boulder to get a better look, we realized they'd done something similar. "That must be where the creature is going to show up, but how could they know its precise location?" I asked the others, but neither of them could answer that question. Still, we waited to see what would happen, and within a few minutes, we felt it.
"That's Leech mana," we almost said in perfect unison, scooting up a bit more to have a clearer view of the valley below. Within moments of doing so, a large orb of sickly green mana appeared. However, having obtained the Authority from Erumon, we were able to see what the dwarves likely couldn't.
"Not just that, but I can see streaks of Tyrant mana present as well," Ysevel noted. Her eyesight was far better than mine, after all, but I could feel it swirling through the currents of mana that permeated the area. "Wait, what's that over there?" Athar asked quietly, but we realized the dwarves, too, had seen it.
They quickly hid behind some boulders, slamming their backs against them and nearly spotting us in the process. It forced us to duck, but since we were much higher up than they were, we could still keep a good eye on the creature that presented itself.
It was, undoubtedly, massive. A hunking, lumbering beast that looked like molten shadows as it moved. Its arms were roughly the thickness of a Caegweni tree, though the maw that opened from the front of its body did so at the height of its stomach. Its mouth glowed and let out a bellow that trembled the boulder we used for cover.
"What, and I cannot stress this enough, the fuck is that?" Athar asked us with widened eyes, still staring at the creature. "I-I've never seen anything like it. Has Kalia ever mentioned anything of the sort?" Ysevel asked, but I couldn't fathom a beast like that residing in Vareluth. "I don't know if she's ever mentioned a shadow titan before," I said, giving the twenty-meter beast as good a name as any at that point.
We observed it for a few heartbeats before it began to move toward the growing orb of Leech and Tyrant mana. It gradually picked up speed and started to race toward it like a hungry dog to a slab of meat. Its gigantic maw began consuming the orb, pulling the tendrils into its mouth and causing the shadow titan to glow with a sickly green light.
"D-Did it just eat it? It moved like it was being controlled by something, right?" Athar asked shakily, as we could now see the finer details of the creature, now that more information began to appear. "I think you might be right," I muttered, knowing he had experience in what that would feel like, but none of us could take our eyes off the shadow titan.
The Leech mana seeped through its skin in vein-like striations along its body that radiated from its maw to its extremities. A pair of these veins wrapped around its body and moved straight upward toward its head.
The veins ran up the back of its neck, over the top of its head, and filled the once-empty eye sockets with the sickly light. "That's a lot like the technique Sabura used for his eyes," I muttered, getting a nod of agreement from Ysevel.
"You there, what the fuck are you doing here?" a familiar voice came from below our boulder.
Shit, we've been had, I mentally sighed before peeking over the edge of our boulder.
"Druid Balgrim?" I asked, feigning surprise. "Get your asses down here before it sees you," he hissed, pointing to the ground beneath him. Ysevel and Athar moved first, but I wanted to get one last look at the titan from my vantage point.
It loomed like a menacing mountain of shadow and mana. It raised its head to the sky, almost as if reveling in its newfound power, but within a few heartbeats, it suddenly snapped its head in my direction.
Fuck! Did it see me? I wondered, risking a final look over the edge of my boulder.
Its maw was… smiling in my direction, but it didn't come toward us. Instead, it turned and left the way it came, moving at nearly twice the speed it had when it arrived.
"Are you as insane as your mother? What the hell were you idiots thinking?" Balgrim asked grouchily. "That's my fault," Athar said, stepping in front of Ysevel and I with his arms spread widely. "I'd overheard some of the maids mentioning a creature, but you already knew about it, didn't you?" Athar's voice shifted into his alternate's, causing Balgrim to flinch at first, but it suddenly turned into a wolfish grin.
"I did. I've been hoping to find one for quite some time, and I've spent the last fewyears working towards this goal. Now that I have, will you help us defeat it? I've seen the way you all fight, and I'd be willing to bet you could. Am I correct in my assumption?" he asked us, but his tone was not one I felt comfortable with.
I don't think there's any way out of this one. If he tells Calduran we were out here, we might be in trouble, I sent the two of them. I hate to admit it, but I think you're right. I'm sorry, guys, Athar sent back with a mental sigh, to which Ysevel put a hand on his shoulder and nodded in solidarity.
"I don't know how we'd fight something like that, but I think it's best we warn the others and formulate some kind of plan. The three of us probably won't be enough to take it down by ourselves," I shrugged.
It was a half-truth, but since we didn't know its full capabilities, it would be reckless to rush in unprepared. But no matter what kind of creature it was, I knew there had to be a way to kill it. "Whether it breathes mana, air, or shadow, it can die," Athar's alternate said, revealing a wolfish grin.
"Right then. Let's head back for now. Tomorrow, we'll come up with a plan to defeat it," Balgrim said, beating his fist twice across his chest as if to swear an oath to his words.
We had no choice but to agree to his wishes, and we were aware of it.