Dark Lord in Chains 124 (Patreon)

In the end, information was more precious than trying to maximize my safety, I decided as I pulled back, pulling shadows around myself even as I created a magical copy of myself. Even as I cast that, I felt a strong drain in my magical reserves, costing me a precious chunk of it. 

No living person would have been surprised by that trick considering my copy was blue and glowing while I was slowly being wrapped by the shadows, but magical constructs didn’t see the world the same way. 

Without intelligence behind the golem, it saw the glowing silhouette as the bigger threat due to the constant magic that was radiating off it, like it was about to launch a dangerous spell. Of course, it was just the mana leaking off its structure that I had pumped earlier. 

There was a good reason that spell cost a scary amount of mana to pull successfully. 

I faded into the shadows while the silhouette dodged the attacks of the golem several times. Impressively, it managed to deliver a hit despite the silhouette moving much faster than I could…

It was not a joke. I was right to wait for the other intruders. 

The statue pulled back its earlier waiting place, unable to find me as I was lost in the shadows. I looked around — which was the full range of movement I allowed myself to have while waiting for the other newcomers. 

Admittedly, I didn’t expect a great performance from them against the golem considering the performance it had already displayed, but I wasn’t particularly altruistic, especially since I had absolutely no responsibility for their presence. 

A groan reached my ears before their footsteps. “Don’t tell me we’re going to deal with that creepy statue once again. That thing scares me,” someone said. It was a male voice, and it was pointlessly loud. 

“Yes, that’s the job you’re being paid for, just stay silent and deal with the mana shadows,” another voice, an older man, called. 

“Enough, Alfruce,” cut another voice, a young woman this time. “He’s the one that keeps us safe. The least you can do is to be respectful.” 

“I’m sorry, mistress,” the old man answered. “I just don’t want him to disrespect you.” 

“I understand, but this place is dangerous enough without angering our bodyguard,” she said. “I’m sorry, Gorbtro. Alfruce means well, don’t take it to heart.” 

“Don’t worry about it, the gold you’re paying me for this is enough to buy a lot of forgiveness,” the young male answered, and the old man sniffed pointedly. “Like that disgusted expression,” he followed. 

Curious, I thought as I listened to them. From everything I had seen upstairs, I was confident that their group was much larger. Which meant, there was something tricky was going on. Maybe they stumbled to it coincidentally as well, but I doubted it. 

I did nothing as I listened to them getting closer, and soon, three people appeared. A young man, wearing leather armor and carrying a hammer. His hammer was not ordinary, dispersing mana shadows easily as he swung his hammer. 

The old man contrasted the way he was dressed with some kind of noble servant outfit. I didn’t recognize the house he belonged to, so he was either from a minor house or a merchant house posing to be superior. 

Then, a few seconds later, the third one of their group walked in. A young woman, dressed in leather, one that I would have called thin if it wasn’t for her curves just in the right places. Despite wearing leather and boots, she somehow managed to look like she belonged to a high party, walking with an incredible balance. Still, I was fascinated more by her jet-black hair. Almost supernaturally black. 

The young warrior growled lowly. “Let’s go and deal with that big, ugly statue. I won’t want to be almost skewered again." He looked around in discomfort. “It won’t ambush us again, right?” 

“Don’t worry about it, it’s not the first time I’m exploring those ruins,” she answered. “Their traps always reset the same way.” 

With that, she moved forward, carrying some kind of glowing rune. I could feel magic spreading it, and soon it reached where the golem was located. 

A wave of magic spread from the golem in response, one that was much subtler than their initial spell. It was subtle enough that the young ones didn’t react … but the old man twitched just a bit. 

Which was all I needed to confirm that he wasn’t as simple as he looked. The spread of magic was spread enough that only an accomplished mage would catch it. And, accomplished mages — especially the ones that I would refer to as such — were not exactly easy to find. 

Certainly not enough to coincidentally find as a servant of a manor house — or even less likely, a merchant house — which made me feel far tenser than I had been feeling earlier. 

Not exactly because I couldn’t deal with him … but combined with the mysterious location, the situation was much more doubtful than I would have assumed otherwise. I might have turned and left at that moment, but two things stopped me. First, the inclusion of a competent mage in this situation risked destabilizing the Empire sooner than I expected — the irony being me working hard to protect it — and the second was …

The response from the golem’s spell. Unlike what I first expected, the magic didn’t focus on the rune she was holding, but on her directly. 

“Stay in place and don’t move,” she ordered, her tone archaic as she declared that. But, from the tight manner she was holding the stone, she was clearly unaware it was her that was responsible for stopping the golem, and not the stone she carried. 

“We can move,” she said, and started walking, unaware that she had picked another follower. 

I followed them carefully, not daring to let them go forward too much. Clearly, her identity had some kind of significance for this place, and I didn’t want to risk deciphering the wards they unlocked easily. 

I followed, watching as the old man walk in front of her, letting the warrior take the point. Convenient, as the more they moved forward, the more mana shadows they had to deal with, the mindless entities rushing forward. 

“How the hell there’s this many mana shadows already,” the young man protested. “We cleansed them just a week ago.” 

“There are just shadows, ignore them, unless you’re too cowardly to deal with them,” the old man called, ignoring the perfectly valid concerns of the young man in question. Worse, he was deliberately goading him further and calling him a coward in front of a sexy woman that he was clearly crushed on. 

As a skilled mage, there was no chance he didn’t understand the risks of the increasing density of the mana shadows. Yet, he stayed silent as the young woman easily disarmed five more golems, the last two together. 

Too scary to fight, but their scariness only made me more determined to go forward. The risk was getting more intense … but so was the opportunity, and I certainly needed something to swing things to my benefit. 

“That’s the gate we got stuck the last time, use the other rune,” the old man suggested, and the young woman pulled a brush and started drawing something on the door. 

I had to admit. I admired the hustle of the old man. The brush she was using was interesting, combining a small cutting spell and a healing spell, drawing blood from her before she could notice, and letting it mix with the ink. 

“I still think that it’s risky…” the young man commented. 

“Maybe he’s right,” the girl started. “What if the mana shadows are coming from inside.” 

“I don’t know. If you think so, mistress,” the old man answered, outwardly reflective, but before they could answer, he cast a subtle spell … and, at a distance, I felt a small ward collapsing, and a small horde of mana shadows rushed toward their location. “There are too many of them, quick,” the old man shouted, and the young man positioned himself between the sudden attack and the other two… 

The girl quickly finished drawing the rune … and just as the door started to open, the old man started gathering his magic…