Shadow Author

Kayla and the other three shadows continued to watch over the boy as they made use of their skills that each shadow spent a decade training to hide their presence.

The skill was at such a high level thanks to their master who bestowed the training routine that someone had to be two whole ranks above the user to sense them!

It was one of the most powerful forces that the shadows made use of and was the reason that they were so feared. The skill granted them to do things from intelligence gathering to assassinating.

Yet because the shadows spent so much of their lives focusing on that skill their attack power wasn't the greatest.

That's not to say it was low in fact they were an incredibly dangerous organization but compared to soldiers so trained with weapons every day the shadows were lacking.

That's why their assassination methods were so important to them because it didn't matter how great of a swordsman a person was if they died before being able to raise their sword.

Kayla was quite confident in this belief as she had seen it many times over where even she killed people that could have easily cut her in two but didn't have the chance because they couldn't sense her presence.

Yet when she looked at the boy who just slayed another monster without breaking a sweat she began to wonder if what she believed was the truth.

However, the reality of the situation was that Kayla had never come in contact with any student from Griffin, and if she were to learn that Lucas was around average — at a skill point level — there she would spit blood.

Kayla had complex feelings when watching the boy butcher the horn of the rhino he had just killed. She thought she would be helping him a lot but rather she wasn't beginning to question if she was even needed.

As time went on her question was answered.

When she realized the true reason four shadows were sent to watch over him a grim expression filled her face.

There weren't four of them to protect him but rather to protect each other.

All the time that they had been inside the dungeon the boy hadn't stopped moving, killing anything in his way.

Of course, Kayla and the others made sure not to reveal their location but at times they had to fight some of the other monsters in the area.

Although their ability allowed them to hide from humans, monsters and creatures could still make them out.

The skill did help though as if they were to run past the monster it most likely wouldn't chase after them but because the shadows had to stay in line with the boy some monster discovered their scent.

The shadows continued to fight their own monsters while keeping up with the kid until he entered the dark forest.

An already grim expression on Kayla's face turned into a full-on frown.

Looking at her companions the go-happy man was severely wounded after his arm got torn off by a particular monster.

The gloomy shadow also began to struggle to keep up as he was spent on stamina.

Their driver and Kayla herself were the only shadows who seemed capable of keeping up.

Since the boy had already entered the forest it would only be a matter of time before they lost him so gloomy decided to stay back and rest up before catching up with the other shadows so that they could continue on.

The happy man made his injury seem lighter than it actually was and said that he could keep up.

Therefore the three of them entered the jungle, fought their own monsters, and somehow managed to come out alive while keeping up with the boy.

By this point, the bearded man was also quite tired as more than once he had to help the happy man.

Kayla was also running low on energy but was still able to push forward.

When they made it out of the forest they expected the boy to take a break but rather than that he kept pushing toward and moved through the unbearably hot desert.

The two other shadows turned to look at Kayla and she was about to come up with a plan when she heard the breaking of glass.

Looking down at a bracelet on her arm where four circles had once been a part of it, only three remained.

Looking at the bracelets that also rested on the two other shadows she saw that they too only had three circles.

Letting out a deep sign it seemed that they had the first casualty of the mission and based on the actions of the boy it seemed that there would be more.

With the death of a shadow, the three decided to stick together and follow the boy. It was rough for them until the sand storm came.

The happy man who seemed incapable of frowning had tears running down his face as he succumbed to his wound due to the torturous environment.

With only half the shadows left the mission got much harder and they hadn't even stepped in to help the person they were assigned to protect.

That was until the sandworms came.

The bearded man charged in to try to help the boy when the second appeared in front of him however he was unlucky because at that time the boy was swallowed whole and the mission came to an end.

After everything that they had been through and how much the boy had done, he managed to die so easily.

Kayla was especially upset because she realized this mission was way more important than she had originally thought.

But when all hope seemed lost the worm that killed the little terror reacted in a strange way and suddenly began falling down.

Watching from afar Kayla watched in slow motion as the boy that she watched get eaten alive emerge from the worm and fall to the ground.

Mesmerized by what she saw she was unable to warn her partner who didn't have any good mobility skills. Thus, she could only watch as he was buried under the huge dead worm.

Now she was the only remaining shadow and looking down at her bracelet only one circle remained.