Chapter 282 - Night in the Barrens (2/2)
When I looked back, Na San had already produced a shamanic drum and in his hand, his fingers clasped tightly around the handle of a drumstick that looked like a miniature riding crop. He realized the stare coming from me and smiled goofily. “I guess this is all I have for now, since I no longer have my knife and staff.” I gave him an encouraging nod. Na San seemed to have missed my curiosity as to from where did he produce that little drum of his. A pair of snakes, a pair of toads, and a pair of lizards were illustrated on the face of the drum head. Six animals around in a circle, surrounding a tortoise. The drum was a meticulous work of art and would have cost a fortune, whether it had magical abilities or not.
Edelweiss, however, hardly cast a look at Na San. Her hand immediately drew to her back and her golden dagger came out with a steely swish. I muttered a simple incantation while uncorking my Spirit Gourd. My sword, the ordinary one, appeared, along with all a half dozen of my spirit wolves. My weapon glinted coldly in the dark as my six Spirit Wolves began sniffing around. They must have felt the strangeness of this place too, given their sharp senses as predators which were further honed when they became my spirit minions and even mine could not ever hope to match theirs.
For a second, the wolves began to be tensed and I knew they had found something. They spread out, pausing to sniff at each door one-by-one with us shadowing behind, until the wolf at the forefront sprinted around a corner and we gave chase at once.
Another darkly-ominous corridor panned out just before us as soon as we turned the corner. Yet, despite its unsettling emptiness, the wolves could not stop smelling around as if they have found something although they did not know what. The common link shared between my wolves and my mana pool allowed me to feel their emotions and me theirs, so I realized what they had found. Someone was here. Or could still be here, even though my wolves could not see him.
Edelweiss read the hesitation in my expression and she asked quickly, “What happened? Is there anything wrong?” I held up a hand to motion for silence and I activated my Spirit Sight to look around. Still, all I got was a gloomy hallway. Nothing looked wrong. Edelweiss looked around warily, finding nothing too. Suddenly, Na San urged, saying, “Please leave the young lordling be, for now, My Lady. He’s realized something is wrong here too and so did I.”
“Huh? You felt something too?” I spun frantically to face him, asking, “What did you feel?” “I could feel the presence of something here, Young Lordling,” he frowned and said, “It’s should be just in front of us, yet we see nothing.” “Yes, my wolves have felt something too,” I nodded and said, “But I see nothing…” A huge BOOM from somewhere around this floor resounded suddenly, startling us! The loud crash echoed off the walls of the quiet and barren corridors like the explosion of a bomb, nearly sending us into a fright.
Our eyes met. Yet when Na San and I were looking at each other, he misunderstood the look I was giving him! He returned a brusque nod and raised his shamanic drum aloft as he sprinted back where we were coming from! I sped after him. You idiot fool, Na San! I was screaming in my head, Do you not value your own life! He looked at me and thought I was ordering him to charge headfirst into enemy lines like a foolhardy foot soldier! Edelweiss realized what happened and followed after me.
Before my quest of pilgrimage through Time, I was so many times weaker than I was now that I used to be slower than Edelweiss. But now, in steps of twos and threes, I easily caught up to Na San.
We ran back to the same corridor we first came into right after leaving the elevator. One of the doors had been kicked open, its lock mangled beyond repair. Standing in at the door of the overshadowed room, I looked inside and saw it was nothing but an ordinary-looking office with rows and rows of desks. We looked at each other uneasily, still puzzled by this. The door was clearly kicked from outside. But there seemed to be no one else but us! Could it be true that we had something lurking about around us? Something invisible that not even my Spirit Sight could detect?
The thought of having an invisible intruder prowling like a slithery snake around us made goosebumps ooze out of my skin! Even Edelweiss was giving off a slight tremble; a sign that she too noticed what I realized. Na San, however, was looking rather indifferent. The dread and premonition of imminent danger seemed to hardly daunt him. As usual for a fool that rushes into battle at the first sign of trouble, I guess, I mused as I wonder if the notion of death caused by knife’s chopping and the creepiness of being frightened by a ghost would seem the same to him.
Edelweiss tugged fearfully at my arm, asking me, “What should we do now?” My forehead creased with concentration and worry. I did not know what to do myself, truth be told. I was still raking my mind for solutions, when suddenly, the corridor came alive with the noises of cracking glass and all three of us jumped as one!