Shadow's Oath

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 74: Night

As soon as Ram heard Halles say “Find an exit,” his heart sank.

The sound of hurried footsteps echoed down the cave, followed by Halles cursing and yelling for a while, though there was nothing of importance to listen to.

‘I need to go back.’

Ram was lying prone deep inside the snake cave, as it was the only place he could breathe.

Outside the snake cave, the air was still thick with a haze of magical smoke, making it impossible to breathe.

It wasn’t just the kind of suffocating smoke from burning dry grass—it was worse.

Even accidentally inhaling a quarter of a breath felt like it scorched his lungs.

Thankfully, the enemies fled without resistance.

If they had held their ground even slightly, Ram would have suffocated and died.

Ram crawled backward, retracing his path out of the snake cave.

He held his breath again.

The torch near the exit had already gone out, but he picked it up anyway, thinking it might still be useful.

He couldn’t see a thing.

The white smoke completely obscured the direction he needed to go, and even the bodies of the enemies he had killed were invisible.

He quickly moved back along the path he came from.

With no way to avoid them, he had to step over the corpses.

Not being able to see didn’t bother him much.

But without a lit torch, he couldn’t tell when he had passed through the smoke.

‘Where’s the torch I left behind?’

Even after he reached the spot where he’d killed the first Tagda warrior, there was no light.

The torch should have been about six steps away, but when he groped around for it, all he found was the extinguished stick.

There was nothing to see.

Was the smoke still surrounding him?

Earlier, there hadn’t been any smoke where he left the torch.

But maybe the smoke had shifted.

Ram moved a few more steps forward and cautiously inhaled.

There was no pain in his lungs, which had burned with even a single breath earlier.

He stood still.

‘How do I get back?’

The path was simple—nearly a straight line.

There were only two forks, and he clearly remembered which way he had gone at each one.

As long as he didn’t miss those, there was no way to lose his way.

He began walking again, pressing the two unlit torches against the walls on either side.

The darkness was absolute, with not even a faint glimmer of light.

Ram tapped the walls with the torches to detect where they ended and to calculate the slope’s direction.

He also counted his steps.

He’d likely have to return here someday, and he couldn’t afford to move this slowly again.

‘Did something block the magical smoke? What could it have been?’

Ram briefly thought of the words spoken by the Hak named Ainyu but decided to forget about them.

‘It was probably just the airflow in this cave pushing the smoke away. The wind in the plains and the air currents inside caves are entirely different. The Hak on the other side must not have accounted for this phenomenon. Yeah, that must be it.’

Just as he thought that, he heard a whispering sound.

It was a voice, though its words were unintelligible—murmuring, a faint and unsettling sound that tickled his ears.

Was it just natural noise within the cave?

Perhaps the sound from outside the shrine had echoed through the rocky walls and distorted.

Or perhaps it was someone—or something—truly making the sound.

‘Charlon said there’s something strange here. She’s not the type to get scared and imagine things.’

When he felt a strange weight press on his shoulder, Ram stopped walking.

It wasn’t a physical sensation.

His heightened senses told him it wasn’t the touch of a real, physical entity.

His sharp hearing told him it wasn’t a real sound.

His keen sense of smell detected nothing unusual apart from the natural scent of the cave.

His vision, of course, revealed nothing in the pitch-blackness.

But a seed of doubt began to sprout in his mind.

‘Something’s here.’

And as soon as that doubt took root, his other senses began to question themselves.

Something was touching his body.

He could hear something.

A strange, unfamiliar smell lingered in the air.

He shouldn’t have been able to see anything—yet something appeared before his eyes.

“Who are you?”

Ram asked.

There was no response.

No, the word “response” didn’t even apply.

The entity before him couldn’t possibly have a personality.

It wasn’t even alive.

Darkness bred fear, and fear conjured illusions.

That was all it was.

Ram told himself firmly:

There’s nothing here.

He resumed walking.

Before long, the torches he carried brushed against empty space.

It was a fork in the path.

Ram felt around the smooth surface of the wall to confirm his location.

But a strange sense of confusion crept over him.

Was this the first fork?

The second fork had smooth walls on both sides.

Did I turn left there?

Or right?

The sound of the stream should be audible, but it wasn’t.

Did I take the wrong path?

Am I heading the wrong way?

No.

This is the right path.

Ram’s mind was consumed by doubt and fear.

He even began hearing phantom voices.

‘Tanu…’

Ram ignored it.

The sound of the stream finally reached him.

This was the second fork.

He hadn’t been mistaken.

So all his doubts up to now were false.

His sense of touch, hearing, smell, and sight—everything had been distorted by fear.

‘Tanu... bring the shadow.’

Ram ignored the voice and kept walking.

But amidst the whispers and indistinct murmurs, a clear phrase emerged.

‘Bring the shadow of the two.’

To show he was ignoring it, Ram replied aloud:

“I am their shadow. Until you take my shadow, you can’t take theirs.”

The path grew narrower, and the sound of water grew louder.

This was the right path.

Yet the voice didn’t disappear, nor did the strange weight pressing on his shoulder.

‘Tanu…’

“I’m not Tanu.”

‘You are not Tanu…’

“I’m not Tanu.”

‘You are not Tanu, but…’

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Then, amidst the sound of dripping water, Ram heard Charlon’s whispering voice.

“...Even if enemies come, Ram will be able to stop them.”

This was followed by Jedrick’s voice.

“No matter how strong Ram is, he can’t hold out forever.”

At that moment, the whispers vanished completely.

The strange weight on his shoulder also disappeared entirely.

Suddenly, Ram gasped, taking a deep breath.

His breathing was ragged, and his heart pounded violently.

Only then did he realize he hadn’t taken a single breath the entire time.

Before long, he saw light.

It was faint, but for Ram, it was enough.

After walking through complete darkness, even this dim light seemed as blinding as the midday sun.

“How about we head toward the nearby mountains?”

Charlon asked, and Jedrick responded with a question.

“Leave this mountain and flee to another?”

“Yes. The enemies will keep focusing on this mountain and these caves. If we leave entirely, we should be safe, right?”

“It looks close, but it’s not. And your condition is an issue, too.”

"At this distance… I think I can walk there."

"No, you can't. It's nighttime now. It's somewhat manageable here, but outside, you won't survive the night cold."

"Do you think there might be a cave like this on that mountain too?"

"Maybe. But how would we find it? We can't go lighting torches and poking around everywhere."

"Don't you know of any place?"

"It's been years since I last came here. I can't remember where the caves are. But maybe I could go and find one by myself…"

"By yourself? No way."

"I'd find it quickly and come back to take you there."

Ram finally reached a small waterfall where a stream dropped into a pool.

He exited the cave and stepped in front of the two people.

"You must not move now."

The two of them jumped at the sound of Ram's voice.

He had deliberately made noise as he approached, but it seemed the sound of the waterfall had muffled it.

"It's me."

The two of them let out a sigh of relief and spoke simultaneously.

"Ram, nothing happened, right?"

"Ram, you scared us!"

Ram thought about mentioning the voice he had heard in the cave but decided against it after seeing their already frightened faces.

It was better to worry about the Tagda warriors searching for the cave's entrance than some strange voice—possibly a figment of his own fear.

"The enemy has started searching for the exit to this cave."

Jedrick stood up and approached Ram.

Thanks to the twilight seeping through a small hole near the exit, the place was not in complete darkness yet.

"Are you alright? Your face is covered in blood."

"It's not my blood,"

Ram replied as he crouched by the pool and washed his face.

"I managed to tie up the enemy for a while, but it backfired. I overheard them—they’re planning to search the area thoroughly to find the exit. We can’t go out now. It’s better to stay hidden here."

Ram finished rinsing his face, water dripping down, and went to the small hole that served as the cave's exit.

It was barely wide enough for a single person to pass through and couldn’t be spotted easily from outside.

Still, it needed to be concealed.

There was no sign of anyone searching nearby yet.

But the distant commotion was gradually heading toward them.

Ram stepped outside, found a suitable rock, and placed it in front of the cave entrance.

It wasn’t perfect—someone staring directly at it might notice something unnatural—but to someone passing by, it would look natural enough.

With time running out, Ram returned to the cave and adjusted the rock from the inside, struggling to get the angle just right.

As he worked, he heard the distant noise of Tagda warriors moving closer.

"Maybe we should have fled with Damion earlier,"

Jedrick whispered.

"If we’d moved then, the cavalry would have caught us. Their horses started moving around shortly after."

Charlon clenched ger fists and asked,

"Do you think the prince will be okay?"

The fear was mutual, but Ram lied to avoid spreading it.

"He’ll be fine. Tagda warriors are poor riders. Even if they spotted him, Prince Damion would outrun them easily. His horse was in good condition."

Jedrick chimed in,

"Exactly. Tagda's combat may be unmatched, but their horsemanship doesn’t even compare to that of a well-trained child. Damion is one of the South's finest riders. He won’t be caught so easily."

"Shh."

Ram pressed a finger to his lips.

Several horses ridden by Tagda warriors galloped past nearby.

Jedrick, crouching by the small exit, whispered,

"Looks like they’re searching on horseback. This mountain is too vast to comb on foot."

"Yes. Even on foot, they’ll only scan the surface with their eyes."

"Then they’ll never find us. They’re probably looking for a big cave like a temple entrance."

Even if Ram hadn’t placed the rock earlier, they would likely have passed by.

"They’ve moved on."

The noise from other searchers was faint and not heading in their direction.

For now, they seemed safe.

"What do we do now?"

Jedrick asked.

"We wait. But I have to go back," Ram replied.

As soon as he mentioned returning, the voice he had heard there came back to mind, along with the strange presence he had felt approaching him.

At the time, he thought they were the same being.

But now, as he reflected, they might have been different.

Both could have been illusions—or both real.

Either way, the thought scared him.

But staying here wasn’t an option.

"You’re going back again? Wouldn’t it be better to stay here with us?"

"They might attempt another infiltration."

It seemed unlikely they would try again after their earlier losses, but considering the Tagda warriors' determination, it wasn’t impossible.

"The sound of the water makes it hard to hear anything from the other side. Do you remember the second fork in the path? I’ll stay there."

He pointed to the area upstream from the pool where the waterfall flowed.

"If anything happens, lean your head into this pool and shout. The sound won’t carry to me otherwise, and shouting here might let the noise leak out through the exit. So be sure to call me from inside the waterfall."

Jedrick nodded.

"Understood. The prince will come, won’t he?" @@novelbin@@

Charlon asked weakly.

"If his horse runs at full speed, he’s an hour away. Factoring in a detour, two hours. Then another hour to bring reinforcements straight here. Preparations would take an hour at most… so in four hours, your brother will arrive with Born's cavalry to rescue us."

Would there even be enough forces left at the camp to fight off all the Tagda warriors here?

Most of the horses had already been taken by Aikob.

Still, Ruseph would come.

From what Ram knew of him, even with only ten knights, Ruseph would charge into the midst of hundreds of Tagda warriors.

"Got it? I’ll check back every hour. If anything happens, call me from the waterfall."

After emphasizing this once more, Ram retraced his steps.

It was a hundred paces back to where he planned to stand guard.

The journey was silent—no sign of the Tagda warriors, nor of the strange voice he had heard earlier.

What scared Ram wasn’t the thought of hearing that voice again.

It was the possibility of knowing whose voice it was.

‘It was me. That voice was mine. Somehow, I believed the words I told myself—that I’m Tanu…’

Something had spoken to him, and something had touched him.

If the voice was his own, who—or what—had touched him?

Both could be illusions, or one could be real.

Was there truly someone here?

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]