Chapter 57: The Forbidden Valley
Silas turned pale the moment he realised what the Shadowheart was doing.
He had spent so much time searching for the perfect location, setting up his trap, and painstakingly luring the monsters toward it. Yet the Shadowheart discarded all of that without the slightest hesitation, sprinting toward the last place Silas had ever imagined.
The sight alone filled him with unease.
He still remembered the suffocating feeling he had experienced when he first entered that valley. Even the monsters roaming the area had refused to cross its boundaries, as though instinct alone warned them to stay away.
Fortunately, the horde remained fixated on the Mana Crystals, relentlessly chasing the Shadowheart into the valley. Watching it lure every single monster inside, Silas mistakenly assumed it intended to eliminate them there.
He could not have been more wrong.
The Shadowheart never even glanced back. It ignored the pursuing horde entirely, continuing deeper into the valley without slowing down once. That familiar sinister grin remained plastered across its face, making Silas increasingly certain it had something far worse in mind.
Soon enough, he realised just how insane the Shadowheart truly was.
When Silas had explored the valley himself, he had retreated after only a few minutes. The Shadowheart, however, ran for nearly twenty without stopping. The deeper it ventured, the wider the valley became, until it seemed endless.
Eventually, something emerged in the distance.
At first, it looked no different from an enormous boulder lying on the ground. Yet as the Shadowheart drew closer, details gradually became clear; it was no rock.
A colossal creature lay sleeping upon the earth, its enormous wings folded neatly against its body, while a massive tail stretched behind it. Thick crimson scales covered every inch of its body, two curved horns rose from its head, and long whisker-like eyebrows framed its face with an almost regal dignity.
It was a dragon.
The moment Silas caught sight of its scales, he instantly recognised them. They were similar to the ones he had seen on Alfred, yet Alfred seemed to pick the short stick and gained the fragile fake version of them.
Even in his ethereal state, an icy chill ran through him. Had he still been inside his own body, every hair on it would have stood on end, as the Shadowheart finally came to a halt roughly a hundred meters away.
Far behind, the pursuing monsters stopped as well. None dared take another step forward, nor did they utter a single roar. Before a dragon, every other creature knew its place.
’Don’t tell me this is payback for everything I did to you...’
The Shadowheart slowly raised its head, the grin widening ever so slightly, making Silas freeze. Whether it was a coincidence or not, he suddenly felt as though the Shadowheart had understood every single word.
’Fine... you made your point.’
’Every time you are hungry, I won’t delay food for you.’
’Now turn around and let that catastrophe keep sleeping.’
The Shadowheart slowly shook its head, and Silas’ ethereal form trembled. Yet the Shadowheart never bothered by what he was feeling. It calmly took a single step forward.
’You do realise that if I die, you die too... right?’
"Kekeke..."
The familiar, unsettling laugh echoed once more. And Silas stole a glance at the dragon in panic; luckily, it didn’t get stirred up by this scary laugh. And yet, instead of retreating after giving Silas a heart attack, the Shadowheart reached toward its belt and drew one of Silas’ daggers.
For a brief moment, Silas refused to believe what he was seeing. Then understanding struck like a bolt of lightning, making his mind go completely blank.
The Shadowheart casually tossed the dagger into the air several times, almost as though it was amusing itself by playing with Silas’ rapidly collapsing sanity. Before he could even process what was happening, it flicked its wrist, and the dagger shot straight toward the dragon.
Clang!
The blade bounced harmlessly off the dragon’s scales, expectedly, before returning to the Shadowheart’s waiting hand. It had accomplished absolutely nothing, except waking the dragon.
The colossal beast finally got stirred awake.
Its immense body shifted before slowly rising to its feet, each movement carrying unimaginable weight, causing the ground to faintly tremble. As it unfolded its wings and lifted its towering frame, Silas realised the creature had seemed enormous while lying down. Yet when standing, it resembled a mountain forged from flesh, steel, and death.
’We’re dead...’
’Both of us.’
The dragon lowered its enormous head, its elongated pupils narrowing as they settled upon the insignificant human standing before it.
"A mere fly dares disturb my sleep?"
Its deep voice rolled across the valley like thunder. Even the monster horde in the distance panicked, turning around and fleeing without a shred of hesitation. But the dragon ignored them completely. Its attention never left the tiny figure before it.
As it tilted its long neck, the crimson scales around its throat gradually glew, radiating an ominous red light. Silas immediately understood what was coming.
’Damn you! Why couldn’t you just enjoy the feast I prepared and leave us alone?!’
The instant Silas finished cursing the Shadowheart, it moved. Its body twisted with bizarre agility, skidding across the ground in a movement no ordinary human could have replicated. Then a torrent of dragonfire roared past.
Silas barely had time to celebrate the successful dodge before instinct forced him to look behind. Where the flames had struck, the grass no longer existed, and even the ground itself had melted into blackened stone, leaving behind a scorched crater that continued to glow with unbearable heat.
Compared to that... Cher’s beams looked almost harmless.
’Run...’
’Run as fast as you can, you lunatic fool...’
The Shadowheart did not dare remain where it stood for even a second longer. It spun around and bolted toward the mouth of the valley, pushing Silas’ body to a speed he had never imagined possible. Even so, it still felt far too slow.
Behind them, the dragon roared in fury. Its massive wings beat only a few times before it launched forward with a burst of speed that defied all reason. Watching such a colossal creature hurl itself through the air like a cannonball made Silas’ eyes widen in disbelief.
A heartbeat before the dragon’s claws could tear them apart, the Shadowheart slammed a dagger into the ground. The blade bit deep into the stone, bringing its charge to a violent halt before twisting Silas’ body sharply to the side.
The dragon shot past them with barely an inch to spare. Yet, its tremendous momentum carried it straight into the air above the monster horde before it crashed down among them.
Enraged by both the failed second attack and the sheer audacity of its prey, the dragon unleashed its fury upon the monsters instead. At that very moment, the Shadowheart glanced at Silas and flashed him a wicked grin.
Silas wanted nothing more than to wrap his hands around its neck and strangle it.
’So that was your plan. Use the monsters to keep the dragon occupied while you escape to the other side.’
’Not a bad idea... except you’re the one who dragged us into this mess in the first place.’
The Shadowheart wasted no time. It sprinted deeper into the valley, and with every step that carried them farther from the dragon, Silas felt a little more relieved.
That relief lasted only a few minutes, as the Shadowheart soon came to an abrupt stop. A few hundred meters ahead of where the dragon had been sleeping, a strange flower bloomed alone.
It shimmered with a gentle radiance unlike anything Silas had ever seen. Layer upon layer of triple petals spread outward, alternating between deep blue, crimson, and royal purple. The sight alone was enough to freeze his thoughts as a realisation struck him.
’Don’t tell me...’
’This was your objective all along?’
The Shadowheart ignored him completely.
Silas did not need to know what the flower was to realise its value. Only something priceless could be worth provoking a dragon. Otherwise, one of the highest races in all of Eldrune would never have invaded a Safe Haven simply to sleep next to it.
Seeing the Shadowheart stand perfectly still instead of picking it up sent panic coursing through him. Silas glanced toward the distant dragon, which remained busy slaughtering monsters by the dozens.
The ground kept faintly trembling, while distant echoes of enraged roars played on Silas’ nerves.
’Hurry! The dragon’s distracted.’
’Just grab the damn flower and run before it notices!’
’Are you trying to die? Pick it up and leave already!’
No matter how loudly Silas screamed inside his mind, the Shadowheart remained motionless, as though it had turned into a statue. Just before panic overwhelmed him, something happened.
The flower suddenly glowed with a strange white radiance that resembled dense mist. The mist gathered around it alone before gradually thickening, condensing into a small black cloud that hovered a few inches above the blossom.
Then, a soft rumble echoed from the cloud.
Moments later, rain began to fall, drenching the flower in a brief shower before the cloud slowly dissolved into nothingness.
Only then did the Shadowheart reach down and pluck it.
’You... you were waiting for that?’
Silas stared in disbelief. The entire scene had been strangely mesmerising and beautiful on other occasions. Unfortunately, one detail caught his attention far more than the flower itself: the faint rumble of thunder.
It had not been loud, but it had been audible.
Silas immediately looked toward the dragon, silently cursing himself for never paying attention during Monster Studies whenever dragons were mentioned.
’I swear, I’m making that monster maniac teach an entire semester on dragons after this.’
Fortunately, the dragon seemed not to have heard a thing. It continued massacring the fleeing monsters as though nothing had happened. Silas was just about to breathe a sigh of relief, yet the Shadowheart did the unthinkable.
After admiring the flower for a few seconds, it raised the blossom high into the air, waved it proudly toward the dragon, and shouted in its bizarre voice:
"Hey! You damn useless lizard! I stole your precious flower! Just like every dragon, you’re stupid and worthless! Kekeke!"
Then it turned around and sprinted deeper into the valley.
’We’re dead...’
’No... we’re beyond dead.’
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