My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

The death throes of the first two goblins made the third one hesitate.

It had been trailing behind them, clutching a melee weapon despite its comrades wielding ranged ones. Cautious. Calculating. But when it saw them butchered in mere seconds, its instinct kicked in—

Run.

The goblin spun on its heel, ready to flee.

It never got the chance.

Leona, who had been lurking in the undergrowth, sprang out. With a fierce battle cry, she swung her broadsword, the flat side smashing into the goblin’s chest—

CRACK!

Lightning surged through the steel, electricity rippling across its flesh. The goblin’s body seized, its limbs jerking violently as the crackling energy cooked its nerves. A gurgled yelp died in its throat, its red skin scorching from the inside out.

Damon moved in, wasting no time.

TWANG! TWANG!

Two arrows pierced the goblin’s kneecaps, slamming it to the ground. It collapsed, its body still twitching, its breath ragged and uneven.

But it was still alive.

Damon’s once cold, inhuman eyes faded back into their usual dark abyss, the effects of Remorseless vanishing. He let out a slow breath, his gaze shifting to the Red Cap goblin they had just captured.

“We’ve killed two. Now we can use this one for information.”

Leona nodded, stepping forward. Xander walked up beside them, arms crossed.

“And I imagine you can speak goblin?” he asked, arching a brow.

Damon shook his head.

“No. But I can speak the universal language of extreme violence.”

Before anyone could react, he drove his boot into the goblin’s skull.

CRACK!

The creature shrieked, its pain-maddened eyes bulging—or at least, it tried to shriek. Because Damon followed up with another brutal kick, shattering its jaw with a sickening snap.

Leona winced at the sound.

Damon crouched, pressing the edge of his dagger to its throat.

“I’ll be the one doing the talking.”

The goblin’s eyes blazed with fury, but it wasn’t stupid. It knew it was a hostage now.

It spat out a series of guttural, ragged syllables—

“Kererkkekr… ahhh… keker… free…!”

Damon tilted his head. He didn’t understand a single word except for one.

“Free.”

He nodded at the goblin, his expression mockingly sincere.

“Oh, you want us to let you go?” he asked, his voice eerily calm.

The goblin narrowed its eyes, wary, but hope flickered in its gaze.

Damon’s smile widened.

And then—

He stomped down on the arrow lodged in its knee.

The goblin convulsed, a strangled scream clawing at its ruined throat—only for Damon to drive his fist into its diaphragm, cutting off its breath entirely.

The creature gasped, choking on agony.

Damon leaned in, his voice a whisper of pure malice.

“Didn’t I say I’d do the talking?” His dagger pressed deeper against its skin. “Don’t try to negotiate with me.”

Xander stood to the side, watching with a disgusted expression.

Not because of the goblin.

But because Damon hadn’t even asked a single question yet.

Xander turned away, leaving Damon and Leona behind.

He didn’t like it, and neither did Leona, but they both trusted that Damon had his reasons.

Xander’s gaze drifted to the bloodied corpses of the two slain goblins. If more of them came searching, hiding the bodies would be a problem.

“How does he plan to get rid of them?”

Damon had claimed he’d take care of it, but Xander didn’t want to imagine what that entailed. He shook his head, refusing to delve into Damon Grey’s twisted mind. Instead, he turned his focus to Sylvia and Evangeline, who were working on Matlock’s wounds.

The fairy boy had taken too much damage, his delicate wings shredded. There was no chance he’d be flying anytime soon.

Behind him, Xander could hear the muffled screams of their captive goblin. He refused to look. Instead, he planted himself beside Sylvia and Evangeline, standing guard.

If anyone could put a stop to Damon’s antics, it would be one of them. His bet was on Evangeline. She had a habit of scolding Damon like a mother, though it usually ended in an argument. These days, Damon just tolerated it with an annoyed scowl.

The two healers continued their work until Matlock was stable enough to stand.

Xander glanced at him—

A delicate-looking kid.

With vibrant green hair, short locks framing his soft face, and large brown eyes, Matlock looked more fragile than most girls. He was small, thin, completely lacking muscle. The kind of person you’d expect to shatter under pressure.

Matlock lifted his gaze to Xander, his expression still pale and uncertain.

“Th…thank you for saving me, sir…”

Xander scowled.

‘Sir? We’re in the same class…’

Matlock, seemingly unaware of the reaction, looked around—his eyes darting from Damon’s ongoing brutality to their unfamiliar surroundings.

“Whe…where are we…?”

Sylvia shot a glance at Damon, who now had the goblin on its hands and knees, begging for mercy, while he demonstrated to Leona how to “properly” torture a goblin.

“That’s what we need to find out.”

She exchanged looks with Evangeline, who nodded before stepping in—grabbing Damon’s wrist just before he could lop off the goblin’s ear.

Sylvia let out a quiet breath of relief.

Evangeline began berating Damon for his “excessive cruelty,” while Damon merely rolled his eyes.

Sylvia walked up to them, arms crossed.

“Did you learn anything?”

Damon glanced at Evangeline before flashing a smug grin.

“I learned a lot, actually.”

He cleared his throat, then mimicked a garbled, exaggerated goblin dialect.

“Jejejejek kerekek teyetete jejere.”

Then, seeing their deadpan expressions, he shrugged.

“That’s what he said.”

Evangeline narrowed her eyes.

Damon smirked. “Hey, goblin’s a hard language to grasp.”

Then his smirk widened.

“Apparently, he has a mate and kids… and his village has a thousand Red Cap goblins.”

Xander raised a brow. “A thousand? That’s still a village?”

“Yeah, news to me too.” Damon stretched his arms. “Oh, and get this—” he continued with a knowing grin, “they have communal marriages. Everyone just… shares.”

Evangeline’s eyebrow twitched.

Sylvia narrowed her eyes.

He’s dodging something.

More than that—he was trying to lighten the mood.

She didn’t like where this was going.

Xander, leaning on his spear, smiled dryly.

“Did you learn anything else?”

Damon shrugged.

“Hey, I don’t speak goblin. I did my best.”

Xander sneered. “I thought you spoke the universal language of extreme violence? All talk.”

Damon’s smirk didn’t waver.

“Oh, I speak it. I never said he’d understand it.”

Then, his tone shifted.

“But I did manage to learn one thing.”

Silence.

Damon’s grin thinned.

“We’re trapped here.”

Sylvia felt her breath catch in her throat.

Damon continued, his voice casual but his words sharp.

“And so are they.”

His gaze flickered to the goblin, then back to them.

“Death is in all directions.”

Then, he turned to Sylvia.

“You can talk to animals, right?”

Sylvia hesitated, then nodded.

Damon’s smirk returned.

“Good. Ask him what ‘Hush Hush Die’ means.”