Slowly and surely. Almost all of the party members were gone. Except a single swordsman and two mages.
'This is a bit pathetic…'
They were all cowering in fear. The swordsman stood in front of Jack.
"Don't worry, man, I'll protect you!"
The swordsman was gone seconds later. Jack sighed and used the eye. He could only sense a faint mana signature, bouncing from wall to wall, there were walls. It wasn't endless. It was some kind of trap. Jack activated camouflage and knocked out both the mages. Tossing them outside the boss door before rushing back in.
Jack summoned the half broken sword and dashed inside the room once again. Deactivating camouflage and making as much noise as possible. Stomping his feet. Yelling. Once he felt the faint signature rushing towards him, he activated camouflage and put his sword in front of him. Once he felt the clang. He saw it in front of him. A shadow creature. Roughly the same height as him.
"…ah. So you're the thing that keeps stealing my group."
He attempted to stab the side of the creature. But it quickly weaved out of the way and dashed off into the eternal dark.
"Damnit…if that things smart it won't fall for the same thing twice."
Jack attempted the same thing, making as much noise as possible. And he was right. The creature didn't chase.
'Ugh…this is gonna be a pain…'
He could still sense it. But it was too fast to even think of catching up. It weaved and dashed at a speed he couldn't imagine. He had no other way to see things. As he had no means of creating light. He looked towards the mages outside the boss door. Unconscious.
"…shit. That was probably my only chance. Oh well."
[New quest created. Quest: Slay The Shadow of Hunters Rewards: Calculated upon defeat Time limit: 30:00 minutes. Penalty: Death.]
'…you can't be serious, death?! The system has never been this violent before for such a small thing. I guess it's just motivation.'
Jack sped up his thinking a bit. But he could only blank. But he had a thought.
'Is this thing blind…? I presume it is, seeing how much it relies on sound. It stared at me when it landed in front of me and didn't attack. Because it didn't really know I was there until I tried to stab it…'
Jack smiled a bit. And he tossed his sword forward. Surely enough. The shadow dashed for it. So Jack leaped forward in the air at just the right time and his leg connected with the side of its body. He summoned the sword back into his hand using the kings arsenal and stabbed it into the shadow. It grunted a bit and dashed back. This time it didn't retreat. It was going to fight. It zipped forward. A bit too fast. It manifested a long blade made out of pure shadow and swung it down quickly. Jack was able to lift his sword up just in time. He got lucky as the swords clanged. Although his sword went flying. And he wasn't being given the time to use his skill.
'Shit, this things smart.' He dodged out of the way of a slash. 'It's forcing me backwards, it won't lose track of me like this. And I don't have a traversal skill to get out of here. Even if camouflage doesn't make any noise. I can't just split and rip out of here. I'll have to turn it off eventually. And I need to finish this fast enough.'
Jack had one option left. So he turned around and sprinted to the boss door. Obviously this didn't work. And he got drop kicked into a wall by the creature. He could feel something start to vibrate in his back pocket. He took it out for a moment. It was the chipped off scale. The small sliver of a glimmering green scale that was somehow still quite large.
"Don't you think this is a bit pathetic, boy?"
The scale seemed to speak to him.
"…the dragon?"
"Yes, I am the dragon you saw. Now, I'm observing you. And you seem to be in quite a predicament. So I'll give you some assistance. But you better thank me by releasing me from my cage faster."
"…uh…alright."
"Just put this small bit of my scale up to that creature. And I'll do the work."
Jack nodded to himself and before the shadow could stab him. He thrusted his arm out and put the stone in front of his face as it started to glow. Before it released a radiant light that covered the entire room. And the shadow started to crumble bit by bit. Jack was blinded a bit before the system popped itself up again.
[You have leveled up!]
[Quest: Slay The Shadow of Hunters completed. Contribution: 0.01%, calculating rewards…]
[Rewards: Nothing.]
"…you can't be serious. I mean, I guess that makes sense."
He looked up from the system and saw the room in its glory. The puddle of water remained in a great room of brilliant white. White and gold pillars. And a golden throne. A voice echoed behind him.
"E-Rank hunter Jack Monroe, that's your name, correct?"
Jack slowly turned around. And saw him. An incredibly handsome man. Blonde hair, stunningly silver eyes. Dressed formally. A suit and a cape. This was S-Rank Desmond Park. Utopias star. A Hollywood star. A musician. And the owner of both the bards guild and Light Guild.
"Uh…yeah. That's right."
The man had a toothy grin. It almost seemed sinister.
"Good. Because I've been looking for you. Old friend."