Chapter 293 A Small Bribe (1/2)

”You say it doesn't want to be left behind?” Karanos looked at Arran with a deep frown on his face ”Then it wants so? And you can sense it?”

Arran understood the e's surprise perfectly He hadn't spent h to know it held only a seh he couldn't be certain, it was a fair guess that Karanos's weapon would be no ent

Yet the executioner's blade was different

Even with Arran's weak connection to the weapon, he could tell that it held an intelligence and cunning far beyond anything a mere treasure should possess And more than that, it held a sense of purpose — it wanted to escape

”It wants to leave this dungeon,” he said Then, with some hesitation, he added, ”And this world, I think”

”The sword has the right idea,” Karanos said ”But now, decide if you want to keep it Either e have to leave”

Arran felt a brief moment of surprise that Karanos would leave the choice up to him, but then, he realized it made sense Between the two of them, only he had any idea of whether the weapon could be trusted to reeons

The decision was a tough one, and there wasn't ht, Arran realized the risk would be too great As much as he wished to have a treasure like this, he couldn't stake their lives on his feeling that the weapon meant him no harm

Yet when he was about to discard the executioner's blade — if he could — he felt a sudden pressure co hi hiainst the wall

After a brief moment of hesitation, he moved in the direction of the armor, curious to see what the weapon's intentions were He came to a halt a pace away fro at his ar him

He raised an eyebrow in bemusehtly touched it against the armor

As soon as the two objects made contact, a small shred of shadow shot from the sword into the armor And just a mo into a head-sized ball of dense Shadow Essence

That wasn't the end of it, however After a brief pause, the ball of Essence shrank further, for into a small circle And then, its darkness faded, until all that reround hat looked to be a simple iron bracelet

”It seeift on you,” Karanos said, a hint of amusement in his voice

”A bribe, h the sword's atte his favor was far from subtle, he still picked up the iron bracelet, then put it around his left wrist

He gave the sword a long look, then let out a sigh ”All right, I'll take you,” he said, and at once, a feeling of satisfaction emanated from the weapon

In truth, it wasn't the bribe that had swayed Arran's decision Rather, it was the fact that the sword had the wit to offer it in the first place If it was sh to not reveal them to the Remnants — not by accident, at least

But Arran did not think the weapon would betray him Even hat little he could sense of its consciousness, he was convinced it wanted to leave this world And quickly, at that

”So you've o”

Without any further words, he headed out of the ar a last glance at the treasures they were leaving Some small part of hiain

But then, he couldn't coreatest treasures, which was more than he could have reasonably hoped for

As they h the tunnels back to the surface, Arran realized that the Shadow Essence that flooded the world seemed different froan

”It's changing,” Karanos interrupted hiest you focus on walking instead of speaking”

To this, Arran had no objections If the tenseness in the er His questions could wait until they reached safety

When they finally eed from the tunnels, Arran was startled at the denseness of the Shadow Essence that lay across the city It had been noticeable — and worrying — even in the tunnels, but here, the feeling of it caused a shi+ver to run down his spine

Just a week earlier, the cloud of Shadow Essence had been like a thick fog But now, it felt alhed on his shoulders and stifled his breathing

And that wasn't the worst of it

The moment they stepped out of the tunnel, Arran Sensed three massive Remnants in the distance, all in different directions And if he could Sense thatwith the ht,” Karanos said ”If I had known—” He cut off h”