Chapter 30: Upgrading

"What are you saying?" The confusion in Caelan’s expression immediately appeared.

"Just trust me." Eveline quickly stood up, pulling Caelan along with her. "We can’t stay here for long!"

"What? Why?" Caelan became even more confused.

"Because our carriage is marked!"

"Marked?" Caelan looked back at the wheel. "What do you mean marked?"

"That!" Eveline pointed toward the strange symbol. "Someone marked our carriage!"

Caelan’s brows furrowed. He crouched again and looked at the symbol more carefully. But now that he knew where to look, he could clearly see it. There really was a mark on the inner side of the wheel.

It was small and deliberately placed somewhere that wouldn’t normally be noticed.

Caelan stared at it, and his confusion slowly disappeared. He definitely knew that this wasn’t something caused by the stone. And judging from Eveline’s reaction, it wasn’t something that should be there either.

"When did this..." Caelan suddenly stopped when he realized that last night, the three of them were probably deep asleep.

"I don’t know, but this wasn’t here before." Eveline quickly looked around the road and the surrounding forest. "Caelan, we need to leave. Now."

That alone made Caelan take the situation more seriously. He had never seen her react like this before, so he was deeply worried.

"What does the mark mean?"

"I’ll explain later. We just need to get away from here first."

"But how are we supposed to..."

[Ding!]

Caelan suddenly froze as a chime rang in his head. In situations like this, it only meant one thing...

[Warning!]

[Danger is approaching.]

Caelan stared at the message and for a moment, his mind went completely blank.

Then another notification appeared.

[Immediate Objective Generated.]

[Objective: Kill the people who will go your way (0/8)]

[Reward: +1 Hollow Fragment, Lord of the Night]

[Lord of the Night - A title bestowed upon those recognized by the Night. Those who bear this title will be acknowledged by members of the Night and granted authority based on the circumstances in which the title was obtained.]

[Warning: A title comes with both privileges and responsibilities.]

The Night? Caelan stared at the description. The line on his forehead deepened further. He had no idea what that meant.

But there was something much more important written in front of him right now. It was the system telling him to kill.

And if the system was already giving him an objective like this... then whoever was coming for them wasn’t coming to talk.

Rustle!

Caelan’s head immediately turned toward the forest when they heard a sound.

"What was that?" Eveline’s head turned side to side.

"Huh?" The driver, who had just returned with his tools, stopped walking as well.

*Rustle!

Caelan’s head immediately turned toward the forest when they heard a sound.

"What was that?" Eveline asked as she quickly looked around.

"Huh?" The driver, who had just returned with his tools, stopped walking as well.

The three of them immediately became quiet as their attention turned toward the direction where the sound had come from.

However, no matter how much Caelan looked, he couldn’t see anything unusual. There were only trees and bushes surrounding them.

On a normal occasion, he would’ve assumed it was just an animal moving around, but after the warning, there was no way he could ignore it.

"Did you see something?" the driver asked as he slowly walked closer to them.

"No..." Caelan shook his head. His eyes continued scanning the forest as he slowly stood up from the ground. "But there’s definitely something there."

"Maybe it was just an animal?"

*Rustle!

Before Caelan could respond, another sound suddenly came from behind them. The three immediately turned around, but they still couldn’t see anything.

"That came from somewhere else..." Eveline muttered. Her hand instinctively moved toward Caelan’s arm as she looked around nervously.

Caelan felt his heartbeat getting faster. The first sound came from ahead of them, while the second came from behind.

Before he could think about it any further, another rustling sound came from their left, followed almost immediately by another from their right.

*Rustle!

*Rustle!

[Shadow Armament is being activated.]

Caelan activated his skill, a dagger forming in his hand. He didn’t even know if it would be helpful, but between the three of them, he was probably the only one capable of fighting.

"Stay close to me, Eveline." Eveline nodded before taking a step to the side.

Just as he said that, everything became quiet.

Caelan tightened his grip around his dagger as he stared toward the trees. The sudden silence somehow made everything worse.

His heart continued pounding as he waited for something to happen, and after several seconds, he finally saw movement between the trees.

Someone slowly stepped out from it.

Caelan’s eyes widened when he realized it was a person. The figure was dressed entirely in black, with dark clothing covering almost every part of his body.

Even the lower half of his face was covered with a piece of black cloth, leaving only his eyes visible. More importantly, there was a sword resting in his hand.

"What the..." the driver muttered as he slowly stepped backward.

Before any of them could properly react, another person emerged from the trees on the opposite side. Then another appeared several meters away from the first.

Within seconds, more figures dressed in the same black clothing started appearing from different directions, each carrying their own weapon.

"Ahh!" Eveline suddenly shrieked when she noticed another figure appearing behind them. She immediately moved closer to Caelan, almost pressing herself against his back.

"Caelan, we’re surrounded!"

"I can see that!" Caelan quickly looked around them.

His grip around the dagger became tighter as he tried to understand the situation. There were people in front of them, behind them, and on both sides of the road.

Some were carrying swords while others held daggers, and not a single one of them had said anything since appearing.

The driver stumbled backward until he was standing close to Caelan and Eveline. His face had gone pale as he looked at the armed figures surrounding them. "W-Who are these people?"

Caelan didn’t answer because he had no idea either. However, judging from the way Eveline was gripping his arm, it seemed like she already had some idea.

"They came for us..." Eveline whispered.

"What?"

"The mark." Eveline glanced toward the carriage. "That’s what the mark was for. They are a known group that kills people."

"Shit..." Caelan muttered as he looked around once again.

He tried counting how many people were surrounding them, but with his heart pounding and his attention constantly moving between each direction, he couldn’t properly focus. There were simply too many things happening at once.

Caelan swallowed as his hand began trembling slightly around his dagger. He had fought monsters before, but this felt completely different.

The Bloodfangs had simply charged toward him the moment they saw him. These people, however, had a mind on their own.

That somehow made Caelan even more nervous.

"Caelan..." Eveline quietly called his name from behind him.

He could hear the fear in her voice, and judging from the driver’s expression, he wasn’t doing any better.

Caelan wanted to tell them that everything would be fine, but even he wasn’t confident enough to say something like that right now.

"Hah..." Caelan took a deep breath as he looked at his dagger.

’This won’t be enough.’

He had never properly fought another person before, but he was not that dumb. He knew that having such a short weapon would only make things harder.

If he wanted even the slightest chance of surviving this, he needed something better.

That was when Caelan remembered the Hollow Fragments he had been saving.

The System had already told him that Hollow Fragments could be used not only to acquire abilities, but also to strengthen the abilities he had.

He hadn’t tried doing it before since the fragments were difficult to obtain, but if there was ever a time to stop being stingy with them, this was probably it.

System, can I strengthen Shadow Armament now?

A familiar blue screen appeared in front of him.

[Ding!]

[Shadow Armament (Dagger) can be upgraded now.]

[Required: 1 Hollow Fragment.]

[Would you like to proceed?]

[Yes / No]

’Yes.’ Caelan didn’t even hesitate.

[1 Hollow Fragment has been consumed.]

[Shadow Armament (Dagger) is evolving...]