Chapter 559 Are They Infected?
While moving with Olgar, I kept using [Screened] to try and spot any Shadow Devourers that might be hiding around us.
I believe that even if they had hidden themselves, they would at least show up on [Screened] if I were to look at them.
So far, I've not seen anything yet and we have not been attacked so I can only assume that it's working well.
But unfortunately, we've also not seen anyone else so far.
No, this wasn't a case of us being stuck in another loop in the corridor since we have been making a few turns already.
"Been awfully quiet so far," Olgar remarked, peering around the corner of a turn to check that it's safe before continuing.
I grimaced, "I didn't want to say anything in case I jinxed it but… Yes."
"And there ain't anyone else either."
I was just about to answer an affirmative when I heard a loud crash coming from up ahead.
The both of us gave each other a look before running in the direction of the sound.
We reached a small hall where we found another Rejmar who was standing alone in the middle while holding up a torch that barely lit up the area around him.
He noticed our presence immediately thanks to my [Spotlight] and quickly ran towards us.
"Thank the Gods!! Hey! Hey! There's Shadow Devourers around here!! Watch out!!"
Right as he said that, [Screened] showed the stats of a Shadow Devourer behind him and I reacted by pointing my palm at that location.
A [Static Bolt] flew out of my hand and struck the monster right as it tried to leap at the Rejmar, striking it in the middle of its chest and paralysing it.
Instead of skewering him with its claws, the monster ended up falling on top of him and sending him tumbling down on the ground.
Olgar quickly rushed towards the monster and smashed the side of its head with his mace, causing it to roll to the side from the blow.
He then picked up the fallen Rejmar just as the paralysing effects wore off and the monster started to rise back up on its feet.
I then fired a [Laser] at it that pierced directly through its head and felt a slight hint of satisfaction as the monster fell on the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.
"Hey, hey… You're alright," Olgar soothed, patting the new guy on the back.
The Rejmar groaned, ignoring the torch that was still burning on the floor, "Ugh… I thought I was done for… Thanks for the save."
Olgar nodded at me, "Don't thank me, she's the one who saved your ass."
He scratched his head, "Ah… Sorry lass. Thanks for the save. Name's Thorn, nice to meet ya."
"Don't mention it. We're all Dungeoneers here who got caught up in the trap."
"Ugh. Can't believe something like that happened. Is there anyone else?"
Olgar shook his head, "You're the first one we've met that isn't dead at least."
"Figures… If I didn't have my torch, I'd think that Shadow Devourer would have gutted me before I even knew it was there."
"Ha! Don't worry about it! I almost lost my head too if it wasn't for the pretty miss saving my ass! Wahahaha!"
"Ok, ok… You guys can stop with the praises… I'm already embarrassed," I pleaded, hiding my face with a hand.
They seemed like they wanted to say something more but then we heard footsteps coming from behind us.
Since Shadow Devourers don't make any footstep sounds, that means those footsteps must belong to other people trapped in this Dungeon.
We quickly turned to the source of the sound, preparing ourselves to greet whoever was coming towards us.
That was when I noticed something odd about the sounds.
While it was clear that those were definitely footsteps, it feels like whoever it belonged to was either dragging something heavy along or they were stumbling over their own feet.
"Get ready for a possible fight," I warned, settling into my own combat stance as I said so.
The two Rejmars in front of me seemed to be confused but obeyed nevertheless.
Olgar stood with his dual maces in his hands while Thorn pulled out what looked like a cleaver that he held in one hand and the torch he picked up in the other.
Slowly, the footsteps got louder and louder until whoever it belonged to finally turned the corner, revealing to be a Rejmar.
"Damn… Not gonna lie, you got me worried there with that comment. Ho there, friend! Nice to see a friendly face! Hurry up and get over here, there's Shadow Devourers around!"
Hmm… I'm not sure why but there's something about this Rejmar that looked a little familiar to me… Like I've seen him before?
Before I could figure out why, the Rejmar turned to face us to reveal that he only had half of his body remaining while the other half was a mass formed out of shadows.
Oh fuck… I remember now! That's the Rejmar I first found that got cut in half! What the heck is going on with him?!
The other two Rejmars in front of me also seemed to be stunned by the sight of the moving corpse in front of us and were a little late to react.
When I tried to use [Screened] on him, I was a little surprised to see the stats screen for a Shadow Devourer pop up.
The heck… Are these how Shadow Devourers are created? Or did a Shadow Devourer infect the corpse to make use of it?
Even while I was wondering, two figures appeared from behind the first corpse, revealing to be the other two Rejmars who had died earlier, including the one who was missing the bottom half of his body.
Interestingly, he was still holding on to his warhammer.
"They've turned into monsters," I announced.
"Tsk… Thought so… I guess there's no coming back for them?" Olgar asked.
"I don't know, but I'm pretty sure they aren't going to just stand there and tell us that."
As though to prove my point, the Shadow Devourer who had been split vertically in half started running towards us, his hands outstretched like he was trying to grab us.
He kind of reminds me of those zombies you would see in movies except this one is a dwarf.
The other two also followed its lead, running towards in the same pose.
It would have been a hilarious sight to see three Rejmars running like that if it wasn't so gruesome.
My two companions recovered swiftly and charged towards them, Olgar reaching them first and smashing the first Shadow Devourer aside with his mace and sending it crashing into the ground.
Thorn slashed his cleaver and lopped off the hand of the Rejmar that was holding the warhammer while he used the torch to set the decapitated one on fire.
Seems like these Shadow Devourers are weaker than the other ones for some reason. Maybe because it's limited by the body they are inhabiting? Or maybe because this is the initial stages of transformation so they are considered to be in the infant stage or something?
The one that had been knocked down by Olgar tried to stand back up so I hit it with a quick cast of [Spark Strike], striking it in the chest.
Olgar gave me a nod of thanks and moved to help Thorn, leaving me to finish off the one on the ground with a [Fire Blast].
The Shadow Devourer flailed its arms around for a bit before it went limp, both the body and the dark mass dissipating to leave a Mana Crystal behind.
I turned my attention back to the other two and they seemed to be doing quite well against the last two Shadow Devourers.
Despite the monsters' stats, it does not look like they were fighting while making use of its full capabilities so I was quite convinced that the body they were inhabiting hindered these monsters in some way.
Even the fire from the torch in Thorn's hands seemed to be doing a lot of damage to it with how it reacted to being burned.
Olgar went ahead to smash the kneecaps of the Shadow Devourer with the missing head and the body crumpled onto the floor.
He then stomped on the mass of darkness that occupied the head area, effectively killing the monster as the body dissipated into dark particles.
Thorn sliced off the head of the Shadow Devourer he was fighting with his cleaver while it was on fire and the monster spasmed for a little bit before also falling over, defeated.
We stood in the middle of the fight, looking down at the monsters we had just defeated.
I turned to them, "So… Was that something that Shadow Devourers could do or what?"
Olga shrugged, "Fuck if I know. I just know how to smash monsters, nothing else."
Thorn also shrugged, "Neither do I lass… This is a first for me as well."
Well… No use standing around then. At least we have one more person in our party so I guess we're on the right track.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel