Chapter 139

"Who- Who are you?" The child stuttered as he watched the approaching man, Vorbuk.

"Why are you trapped in this place with that man?" Vorbuk slowly shifted his gaze for a moment to let the child know he was talking about the dungeon master.

"Wha-What?" The child felt a sense of confusion at the sudden situation.

"Name?" Vorbuk asked him clearly. "What is your name?"

"Chase?" The child answered in a questioning manner. It was clear by his reactions that the child did not have experience with other people outside of the dungeon master or any other being that may have passed by this dungeon for some time. The child had no self awareness.

"How long have you been down here?" Vorbuk asked slowly while standing in front of the child.

"I do not know about that." Chase shook his head and gripped at the white clothes he wore. His green eyes carefully observing Vorbuk from under his black hair.

"You have no idea how long you have been down here at all?" Vorbuk asked once more trying to understand the child's situation.

"My earliest memory has always been of me living down here. Kalen would not allow me to leave. If I was to leave it would anger the lord which Kalen served." Chase held a lot of weight on his chest about living his entire life deep within the dungeon throughout his life.

Chase was a child that had never seen the light of the sun nor the stars of a beautiful night. Every day had always been the same as he lived within the depths of the dungeon. Kalen was the closest thing he had to someone who could teach him things about the world. That did not mean Chase thought kindly of Kalen. The child held no grief or sadness about the death of the dungeon master. In fact he did not know what he was meant to feel. Because Chase had always hated the man who held him prisoner here.

"Would you like to come with us?" Vorbuk carefully offered his hand towards the child in a coaxing manner.

"Why should I trust you?" Chase growled towards him.

"I never asked you to trust me, but isn't it better then remaining here alone any further?" Vorbuk asked him in a cautious tone. He felt the child had to at least understand that it was better to leave regardless of whether or not the child could trust in him specifically.

Thump Thump - Thump Thump

Chase's heart pounded at the offer of leaving the dungeon. It was something he had always dreamed about witnessing for himself. Something that important to him was being offered to him for the first time. Even if he was scared of the man in front of him it was hard to contain that sliver of hope he held on to for so long.

"Outside the dungeon.." Chase mumbled the words quietly to himself as he thought about it. Hesitation was an obvious thing for the child to have. Things had to be taken slowly when dealing with Chase.

"Yes. Outside the dungeon with us." Vorbuk repeated the words back to him.

Chase was silent a moment as he growled faintly at the others behind Vorbuk who tried to step forward. He could see the weak and cautious smiles on their faces that made it feel as if they were showing him pity. The man in front of him probably felt the same way about him as well.

However... Outside the dungeon was surely tempting.

Slowly Chase's green eyes gave a faint spark. His body slowly shifting into that of a young tiger. With fur as white as snow and light grey stripes he had green jewels that lined their way up his back legs and along his face. The child's tiger form from his beastman bloodline was beautiful. His half bloodline was reason his human form could resemble a purely human image.

In fact; Chase had two forms he could take which was a tiger and Human. The tiger form seemed to age differently than his human appearance. When he was in tiger form the animal looked like a young adult compared to his childish human form.

"I take that as a yes to following us." Vorbuk stated out loud.

"Are we moving with him in that form?" Leo asked with a bewildered expression on his face. He could only imagine the reaction others will have to the group addition.

"We will deal with that when we cross that bridge.." Vorbuk sighed and shifted back into his wolf form.

"Who said anything about a bridge??" Leo paused for a moment and watched Vorbuk dashing ahead with the others. It was a phrase he had never heard anyone use before so it took him a moment to understand what the wolf was talking about.

"Tsk." Bredret clicked his tongue and walked pass the prince as well after witnessing the scene between them.

Daryl was in front of the group while Vorbuk followed at the side. The young tiger seemed to stick closely by the wolf as they wandered towards the exit of the dungeon. Vorbuk could understand the child was probably feel nervous so he ignored the fact that the child was approaching him. As the one who spoke to the child and invited him into the group it was naturally his responsibility to find somewhere safe to leave him when they made it out of the dungeon.

Vorbuk did not desire to drag the child into the battle for the throne. He could not send the child out to kill others so easily. Nor would he allow himself to do so. It felt too inhumane for him to even consider putting Chase in that situation.

When he took over the palace and dealt with the king he would become busy. The wolf could only consider how much burden he would be under in the near future. He had already considered the jobs he would task the others with while they worked towards their goal.

Bredret may he hard to keep under control inside the palace once we take things under control, but I think the others could handle their positions when the time comes. Vorbuk thought to himself as he peeked a glance at the others in the group.

When they neared the end of the tunnel they found a large teleportation circle that had been crafted into the end of the dungeon. Daryl knew instantly from experience that it was the exit to use when making it pass the dungeon boss.

Moving everyone onto the circle he placed his hand onto the magic circle's orb. Pouring out his desire for the circle to activate so that they could leave. Since the exit was built into the place it did not require mana of any kind to activate. As long as you were within the bounds of the circle and showed your will to leave it would activate on its own.

They could see the blinding light of the circle lighting up around them. Everybody closed their eyes as they felt a warm source of energy washing over them.

They were finally leaving the dungeon...