LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 4: Chapter 4- A silhouette
Thud
Suddenly, a sound echoed faintly, jolting Keith out of his stupor.
He sat up straight, his claws instinctively curling against the cold, damp floor of the lab.
His chest heaved as his fingers reached for the spot where the glowing arrow had pierced him mere moments ago—had it?
There was no blood.
No searing pain.
It hadn't been real.
Yet, the memory felt far too vivid to dismiss as a mere illusion.
He recalled the sickening sensation of the arrow ripping through him, the warmth of blood pooling beneath him, and the suffocating grip of death closing in around him.
'Was it… an illusion?' he pondered, his claws brushing over the unmarked skin of his chest.
The memory didn't fade like a dream; it clung to him, sharp and persistent.
Now that his mind was calmer than before, he began to piece everything together when his eyes suddenly snapped toward one of the cages where the earlier sound had originated, acting as the stimulus that pulled him from his hallucination.
Though he hesitated to call it a hallucination—given his training, he was able to distinguish between the effects of drugs and the mental changes brought on by illusions—he couldn't shake the feeling that what he experienced was more than mere imagination.
'…a child?' he thought, narrowing his gaze through the bars of his cage.
Strangely, he could see more clearly in the darkness now than he ever could as a human.
A small figure lay slumped on the floor inside the cage.
It seemed that the child had just lost consciousness, and the earlier sound had likely been the result of the child's collision with the base of the cage.
'Was it his doing?'
Though Keith couldn't identify the child clearly due to the darkness and the fact that the child's skin was as darker as night, he sensed a connection between the vision he just had and the child's presence.
It felt too coincidental—he'd seen glimpses of his own demise, and immediately after, a noise piped up from that very child's cage.
'…but before…'
Keith's eyes shifted as he focused on the window that had first appeared when he touched the dagger.
It still lingered, as if time itself had rewound, or perhaps he had leaped forward in time to witness his own death.
━────────⊹⊱♡⊰⊹────────━
EROS FLUX ACTIVATED.
DETECTION OF MONARCH COMPLETE.
Monarch of Debauchery Established.
Status Update---
Name: Keith Eros
Race: Goblin
---
WELCOME TO EROS FLUX.
FIRST RESCUE PACKAGE REWARDED: 10 EROS POINTS (ONE-TIME OFFER).
━────────⊹⊱♡⊰⊹────────━
And the reason why he was so sure that he had just seen the future was that, after touching the dagger again, he was seeing the same descriptions once more.
He was either currently experiencing a dream, or his conclusion that this was more than just an illusion was true.
This was evident, as he could see the same other options in the artifact section.
━────────⊹⊱♡⊰⊹────────━
Artifact Interaction Window
Name: Veinrend Fang
Tier: Shattered
Dominion: Poison Field (Dormant)
Integrity: 20% (Dilapidated)
Condition: Weak and Fragile
Void Flux Resonance: Available (5% remaining) (Requires Void Flux energy to empower abilities)
---
Options (View All)
1. Inspect Artifact
2. Extract Artifact
3. Repair Artifact
4. Synchronize Artifact
5. Sacrifice Artifact
6. Store Artifact
━────────⊹⊱♡⊰⊹────────━
Feeling a sense of déjà vu, everything seemed the same as before.
He tried to lift the dagger, but as he lifted it, the entire dagger suddenly turned to stone—its color changed to black and white, resembling a rock.
━────────⊹⊱♡⊰⊹────────━
ARTIFACT DETECTED TO BE IN SEALED STATE
--⟩ Extract to Use it
━────────⊹⊱♡⊰⊹────────━
Once again, another screen popped up, completely different from the last, making him question if what he was seeing was a hallucination.
Previously, he hadn't lifted the dagger; he was merely reading the information on the window.
He remembered how this dagger had reacted when that woman used it.
It was clear that, at the time, it wasn't sealed.
But now that he touched it, it seemed to have changed.
So, perhaps—though he wasn't entirely sure—this artifact could only be used by its rightful owner.
This thought made Keith briefly consider extracting the artifact and using it, but he hesitated with his fingers hovering over the 'extract' button.
His hesitation stemmed from the uncertainty of how he would acquire those Eros points.
He understood that once he extracted the artifact, it would become entirely useless, requiring another batch of Eros points for repairs.
Given this, he felt reluctant to expend them.
But there seemed to be no other option except to click on it, and as he did—
SWOOSH
The sound resonated, and the artifact he held in his hand suddenly turned to ashes.
It literally vanished before his eyes.
'What the...?' he thought, just as another window popped up.
━────────⊹⊱♡⊰⊹────────━
ARTIFACT ACQUIRED:
Name: Veinrend Fang
Tier: Shattered
Dominion: Poison Field (NEED BLOODLINE PERMISSION)
Integrity: 0% (NULL)
REPAIR: 1 EROS point = 1% Integrity (Total EROS points remaining: 5 Points)
━────────⊹⊱♡⊰⊹────────━
As Keith stared at the new window, which declared that the artifact had been acquired and presented the repair options, he felt a wave of confusion wash over him.
Yet, once he linked the various elements together, it became somewhat clear that the artifact originally belonged to that woman.
The Dominion feature suggested that her permission was required for any ability it offered.
He realized he could be mistaken, lacking definitive proof, but in this emergency situation where his mind was processing everything at an extraordinary speed, he decided to overlook any potential errors.
Time was slipping away, and he had already stalled long enough, so without further hesitation, he clicked the repair button.
Zswwww
Another sound echoed in the air, and where the artifact had vanished, it began to reconstruct itself.
The metallic, aged dagger reformed in his grip, still bearing a slight hint of purple at its edge.
He tightened his grip on the dagger, its poisoned edge glinting faintly under the dim light.
His mind replayed the moment when the golden arrow had suddenly appeared and pierced his chest.
He hadn't seen anyone until the last moment; it was clear the attacker had sensed his presence by the sound when the door had abruptly swung open.
More pieces started to fall into place.
He recalled that he had just seen a dagger with a poisoned edge—magical in itself—that had vanished, just as that arrow had likely possessed some kind of ability to sense sound or any perceived threat, prompting it to strike.
From his memory, there hadn't been anyone in that narrow path, and the darkness was so thick that even he, with his keen eyesight, could barely see.
Therefore, the attack could have been triggered by the sound or, possibly, by his own killing intent.
'Think...'
Keith urged himself, right in the midst of this intense situation, where every millisecond his brain was racing to evade the inevitable.
With all these pieces connecting in his mind, he concluded that the arrow must have been aimed at him through some innate ability rather than being shot by a weapon.
Standing up, he swiftly dashed across the room—but instead of heading back towards the narrow path, he made a beeline for the chains lying on the table, which were tied around the mutilated arm of a beast-like humanoid.
Without a moment's hesitation, he seized the chains from the corpse and sprinted toward the starting point of the narrow passage.
He quickly tied the chains to two cages positioned on either side of the passageway.
Grasping a dagger in one hand, he grabbed a bloody organ—clearly extracted from one of the humans' bodies—and placed it on the ground.
With precision, he plunged the dagger's handle into the organ, allowing it to stand upright with its pointed tip aimed at the ceiling.
Not pausing for even a second, he swiftly moved to the bubbling chemicals, employing pliers and a cutter that appeared to be tools of torture.
He positioned them near the chain, ensuring that when the chain was pulled, the chemicals would cascade down onto the dagger.
His keen observation gave him confidence; he believed that whoever was pursuing him could only track him by sound, suggesting they were either blind or operating in the dim light of the room.
If everything went according to plan, this would give him the upper hand and catch the intruder off guard.
He then turned and rushed to pull the maid's body inside his cage, aligning her lifeless form like a meat shield in front of the cage's door before he concealed himself within and shut the door.
While the maid's weight was considerable, he managed to secure the door using his slender hands, positioning her in such a way that if an arrow were to attack him, she would bear the brunt of the impact.
KRIIEKK
The same sound, which had echoed in his memory like déjà vu, reverberated throughout the room.
This time, he focused intently, his eyes locked on the small gap at the neck area of the woman's corpse as he controlled his breath and waited patiently.
"Hiccup... Where's that woman, eh? I told her—hic—feed the slaves, not vanish. Bloody pain, that one."
A voice filled the chamber, and a figure stumbled forward while clutching a bottle.
His silhouette swayed, yet a golden, glowing arrow hovered protectively around him.
In the dim light, only the arrow was visible as the man's outline halted.
He pointed directly at the cage where Keith was hiding and uttered, "There's a rat hiding there."
'!'
Keith's eyes visibly widened before his hands tightened on the woman's clothes, clearly taken aback seeing how the man was able to locate him, pinpointing his presence and even pointing at him.
"Shoo~" the man in shadow commanded.
SWOOSH
'—!?' Keith could only watch as that golden arrow suddenly shot toward his direction, leaving behind a trail of golden light and a streak as his body tensed.