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Raising a brow at the offer Shade had been given, the gracious gift he found shoved into his hand, a small sigh escaped the boy’s lips. He was an assassin, a lurker of the shadow, someone who used stealth as their primary weapon. Now, he was carrying a light source which handicapped his entire way of fighting and conducting battle. These girls were clueless. However, he could not blame them, too much. They had no way of knowing that the Dark Elf was a shadow warrior, someone who relied on dexterity and finesse rather than brute force. 

Holding the lantern with incredible disdain, none of which the assassin displayed, Shade continued to follow his new companions. The armored footsteps of their frontline combatant easily drowned out his own weightless motions, a small echo lingering with each movement. “We’re going to have to patrol the whole place, anyway,” Shade commented, frowning at the light held between his slender fingers, “it doesn’t much matter where we begin.” 

The ideal scenario in these circumstances would be to have Shade scout ahead, using his ability to fade into the shadows, which allowed for ease of information. He could mark the location of their enemies, analyze their positions, and finally, conduct a plan of attack with his team. Though, that did not appear to be what the three of them were pursuing. Weighing the positives, however, this was the safest option, even if Shade found himself utterly crippled by the lantern. His dark eyes were quite comfortable in the sewers, but it was a strength the boy was less than willing to share.

He lowered his attention to the damp, wet stone floor beneath their feet. Needless to say, the surface was adequately revolting, with sewage water offering little in terms of scenery. The stench was not as bad as the boy had first expected, though maintained an obvious layer of disgust. Goblin caves shared the feat, and they tended to smell even worse, which was further elevated by death and rotting carcasses found throughout their abodes. Humans were.., quite disgusting, in their own way. They ate like pigs, they smelled of sweat more often than one would like to admit, they were loud, obnoxious, and severely lacking in discipline, but they were at the very least unique from one another. Some humans did, in fact, possess manners. No goblins displayed that ability, and neither did any other monster Shade had come across in his short life. 

Absentmindedly twirling his small blade between his fingers, the assassin looked ahead through the darkness, attempting to keep his ears perked for sounds of skittering and movement. Rats, no matter their size, were silent creatures. They attacked from the shadows, and would likely not rush the group through a frontline assault. Even animals knew how to fight, and they knew what would get them killed. Wolves hunted in packs, they used tactics, and cats slowly stalked their prey like assassins on four paws. Underestimating the enemy was a fool’s endeavor, and Shade’s father had repeatedly told the boy to treat every single enemy like a mighty demon. Be careful, be tactical, and most importantly, be precise. 

Remaining behind the heavily armored girl, Shade agreed with the positions taken. In an ideal approach, she would warrant attention from the enemy, allowing the archer to nock arrows onto the string of her bow, and give Shade clear shots on enemies with a heavy focus on the armored warrior. ‘In a group, the assassin’s job is to find openings and to act as an opportunist,’ the boy’s father would say, ‘if the knight is fighting another armored opponent, your job is to bypass the armor, while unseen.’ A feat which was difficult to perform amidst the flames of combat, but it was something Shade had been practicing in the same way a swordsman mastered the swing of a heavy blade. 

“I think you can just decide every direction we go in,” the Dark Elf stated as he looked towards the halberdier, “the less we talk down here, the less our enemy can hear us.”