I Stepped on Their Shadows and Skills Started Copying Like Crazy - Chapter 59

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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59
“Why are you being so quiet?”
“Talking makes me hungry.”
“That makes no sense.”
From the moment Naru awoke and spoke, he and Roga had chatted idly as they picked their way through the darkening forest path for quite some time.
“This rain shows no sign of stopping. I think we should look for a cave somewhere. Naru, keep your eyes open and let me know if you spot any shelter from the rain.”
“Got it!”
Darkness had fully settled now, and they were walking along, searching for a place to rest for the night, when it happened.
“…!”
A sudden unease descended upon them without warning.
Roga stopped abruptly.
“…What’s wrong?”
“Shh.”
“…?”
“It’s too quiet.”
When had it started?
The chirping of birds, the loud cries of insects—all had ceased.
In the eerie silence, only the sound of raindrops tapping on leaves seemed unnaturally loud.
‘Could it be… No, please let this be a mistake…!’
Roga turned his head carefully, unease creeping through him.
Yet as if to ignore his silent prayer, a pair of yellow eyes gleamed in the distance between the bushes.
Those eyes were drawing closer. Inch by inch. Ever so slowly.
“Damn.”
The Great Forest’s secret predator. A forest leopard.
The very same creature that had tried to devour Roga alive not long ago.
“Naru, listen carefully. There’s a leopard hiding in the bushes over there.”
“A l-leopard…?!”
“Yes, so come down from my back and stand behind me for now.”
Careful not to provoke the beast, Roga set Naru down gently and drew his Short Dagger with a sharp rasp. His hands were trembling.
‘I talked big, but what do I do now?’
Si Hyeon would have caught the beast without hesitation.
But for Roga, it was practically impossible.
‘Right, if I wait to be attacked, it’ll be too late. If I’m going to send Naru away, it has to be now.’
The moment the thought crossed his mind, Roga reached up and unhooked the Sun Bird Feather Necklace from around his neck, gripping it tightly in his palm.
‘I was saving this to give to him….’
But that necklace would likely never reach him now.
The goblin in need of the Sun Bird’s guidance was here, at Roga’s side.
“Take it.”
“This is….”
Roga pressed the necklace into Naru’s hands, almost by force, though his eyes never left the bushes ahead.
“You know the Sun Bird Legend, don’t you? This feather will show you where you need to go.”
“But what about you…!”
Naru looked back and forth between the Sun Bird Feather Necklace resting in his palm and Roga, uncertainty written across his face.
Roga grasped Naru’s hand firmly with his own and answered.
“I won’t be able to keep my promise to guide you there. I’m sorry.”
“Brother…!”
“Naru, from here on out you have to go alone. You can do it, right? No—you have to. You will. Understood?”
The time allowed had run out.
Roooooaaar—!
With a roar that thundered through the air, the beast lunged toward the two goblins.
“Go!”
Roga told Naru to flee, but he himself threw himself at the creature.
Crack!
“Agh!”
In the darkness, a dark mass seemed to flail through the air, and when Roga’s senses returned, he found himself rolling across the muddy ground.
‘It… it hurts.’
His ribs might be broken. With each breath, a sharp ache shot through him, leaving him without the strength to get up.
Yet he could not simply lie there.
“Eek! Brother!”
A thin cry pierced the air, tearing at his ears.
Gritting his teeth, Roga pushed himself to his feet, wiping blood from his lips as he roared.
“You bastard! Your opponent is me!”
A cry that rivaled the beast’s roar from moments before.
The leopard, which had been stalking Naru, startled at the outburst and turned its gaze toward Roga instead.
‘Good. This will work.’
But Naru, who should have been running, stood frozen with fear, unable to move.
“What are you doing? Go! Run!”
“But—but how can I leave you alone—?”
“Are you trying to get yourself killed too?! Your family is waiting for you! Don’t you want to see your mother?!”
At those words, Naru’s small shoulders trembled violently.
Clutching the Sun Bird Feather Necklace in both hands, tears welling in her eyes, she looked at Roga one last time before forcing herself to turn and flee.
Watching her silhouette fade into the distance, Roga’s lips curved into a faint smile.
“…At least she can run.”
His legs weren’t in perfect condition, but they were good enough to carry him when it meant the difference between life and death. That would have to be enough.
But that relief was short-lived.
Roar!
The beast leaped high, its front claws raking toward Roga.
Had he not moved, those razor-sharp talons would have shredded his face.
Hiss!
Roga hurled his body into the mud.
Grunt!
Searing pain swept through him.
In the instant he thought he’d escaped, sharp claws tore a long gash across his shoulder.
By sheer luck, the Short Dagger Roga had swung half-reflexively found its mark against the leopard.
A shallow but long wound scored its front leg.
But that was all. Perhaps he’d only succeeded in enraging it further.
The leopard’s eyes gleamed with renewed ferocity in the darkness.
Low growl.
The beast rumbled, teeth bared and sharp.
Blood streamed from Roga’s shoulder where the claws had raked him, and his trembling would not stop.
Death had drawn impossibly close.
Garak’s words surfaced in his mind again.
— Weak men die the moment they become a burden.
‘Perhaps he was right.’
Roga’s situation now was exactly that.
Or perhaps he was already a dead man.
The old Roga would have squeezed his eyes shut by now.
Resigned. I’m weak.
He would have merely prayed for it to end quickly.
But now he could not.
Naru’s footfalls had not yet faded entirely into the distance.
And so Roga gripped the blood-stained Short Dagger more firmly.
“Come, then. Even if I die, I’ll cripple at least one of your legs.”
He directed the blade toward his enemy.
Just as Si Hyeon had shown him once, long ago.
* * *
Thud!
Roga’s body crashed into the mud again.
This was the fourth time.
Where once only his shoulder had been wounded, now there was barely an unblemished inch of his body.
The leopard facing him had accumulated a few shallow wounds of its own, true enough.
The kind that would heal with rest and salve in a few days.
Again and again—knocked down, rising like a toy, knocked down once more, rising to fight anew.
This time, he could not rise.
His body simply would not obey.
‘So this is truly the end.’
Death flickered before his eyes.
Yet as Roga stared into it, there was no fear in his smile—only a faint, peaceful curve at the corners of his mouth.
‘This is enough.’
Naru’s footsteps had long since been swallowed by the sound of rain.
By now, we should be far enough away.
The rain falling this hard will do the rest.
‘Go. Naru.’
I was sorry to leave him alone, but there was nothing more I could do except wish him luck.
The next instant, the leopard’s heavy foreleg came down on Roga’s back.
A low, rumbling growl.
Hot breath touched the nape of his neck.
One snap of those jaws and it would all be over.
But then—a voice he should never have heard.
“Brother!”
“…!”
Roga, who had faced death without flinching, snapped his eyes wide open.
“…Why.”
He forced his unresponsive body to move, turning to look.
Far behind, Naru stood there.
The Sun Bird Feather Necklace clutched tightly in both hands.
“Why did you come back…!”
I’d barely managed to send him away. Had just barely gotten him to run. And now he’d come back.
Something inside Roga crumbled.
“I told you to go! I told you to run!”
A low, rumbling growl.
The leopard, which had always shown more interest in Naru than in Roga, abandoned its half-caught prey and turned toward the boy.
The beast’s massive form turned away, moving slowly forward.
“No…”
Was this the end of recklessness?
Had Garak been right all along?
Should he have fallen to his knees before Si Hyeon and begged him to protect Naru?
He reached out desperately, trying to grab the beast’s leg, but his hand—stained crimson—found nothing, grasping at empty air.
“Run…”
Just as the beast, showing off its leisure, launched itself toward Naru—
Whistle!
An arrow cut through the darkness, streaking down from above.
Thwack!
By the time Roga registered it, the shaft had already embedded itself in the beast’s body.
“…!”
“Over here! There’s one of ours!”
“It’s a leopard! Hold formation and ready your bows!”
“What? The girl wasn’t lying? There really is a madman fighting a leopard alone?”
Goblin speech, sharp and clear.
‘Green-skins!’
The moment Roga turned toward that welcome sound, goblins emerged from the forest’s thick darkness.
Five of them, all armed as warriors with bows, swords, and spears.
“Kid’s got guts. Listen here, little one. You did well. Leave the rest to us grown-ups now.”
It was no idle remark—what followed was a one-sided hunt.
The enraged leopard charged fiercely, but the goblins covered each other’s backs, weaving and dodging with practiced ease.
Felines, after all, were ambush hunters—creatures that ended things in one pounce. A prolonged battle was not their strength.
Already exhausted from his clash with Roga, the leopard took a few more arrows before finally choosing to flee.
A frustrated roar.
The beast howled harshly, its anger evident, then vanished into the darkness.
Only then did Roga release the breath he’d been holding.
‘I… I’m alive…’
“Hey there. You all right?”
“Yes, thanks to you. Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. We goblins look out for each other. Look, sounds like you’ve got a story to tell, but let’s head back to our village first, yeah? No sense spending the night out here.”
Then he extended a hand—a goblin whose name Roga didn’t know.
But Roga couldn’t bring himself to take it.
“I’m sorry. I can’t do that.”
I am Garak’s brother—I betrayed my own clan.
I’m grateful for your help, but I cannot go with you.
I ask only that you protect this boy, for he has nothing to do with me.
He should have said it, but the words wouldn’t come.
‘I want to live.’
If not for Si Hyeon, his body would have died countless times already.
He’d thought that death held no fear for a life granted as a spare, a reprieve.
But now, in this moment, Roga wanted desperately to live.
“What about me…?”
Then a small voice rang out from behind the goblins.
“Roga!”
Naru, placed at a safe distance away, came running with tears in her eyes and collapsed beside Roga.
At the same moment, every goblin’s gaze fixed upon him.
“Roga…? You’re that Roga?”
‘Ah, so they already know my name.’
These goblins, whom he’d never seen before in his life, somehow knew who he was. The reason was as obvious as fire.
‘Garak’s brother… that must be it.’
A stigma he’d grown accustomed to by now.
“Yes, I am that Roga. My older brother is Garak. I’ll make no excuses. You can leave me behind. This child has nothing to do with me—please, just take her to her family….”
“What are you talking about? If you’re really that Roga, there’s no way we’d leave you behind.”
“…I’m sorry?”
“You’re the goblin who’s been liberating your own kind alongside a human, aren’t you?”
Roga’s face went blank.
Like a thief betrayed by his own restless feet, he’d thought only of his brother’s shadow cast over his name.
But these goblins—when they heard ‘Roga,’ they hadn’t thought of ‘Garak’s brother.’
They’d thought only of Roga himself.
“Yes, that’s right. But how…did you know me?”
“How could we not? There are at least two or three goblins you’ve saved in nearly every goblin village in the Great Forest now.”
Roga’s mouth fell open at an answer he’d never considered.
“Hah, well. We’d heard you were young, but this young? You’re just a kid, aren’t you? Younger than my own son. Hey, Torak. Take a look. You’d know. Is this really him?”
One of the goblins suddenly stepped forward, pushing into the conversation.
“Yes, that’s right. This young friend and that tall man rescued me.”
Then Torak flashed a bright smile and bowed his head in greeting.
“Thank you. You probably don’t remember, but I’m alive today because of you.”
“Yes… yes, you were in the Mine back then, weren’t you?”
“Well, you remember me—I’m honored.”
The goblin who’d first offered his hand to Roga let out a soft laugh.
“All right, no need to confirm anymore. Can you stand, Roga?”
“Yes… I…”
He said the words, but his body refused to obey.
Then Naru stepped forward and supported him with her small frame.
“Ugh! What are you doing, sirs! Don’t just stand there—help him! Can’t you see he’s hurt?”
“Ah, well, he said he could stand, so I thought…”
The goblins hurried to help support Roga.
Torak, who was half-carrying him rather than merely supporting him, let out a soft laugh and spoke.
“Does your brother weigh that much?”
……
“Don’t worry. If anyone ever puts their brother’s name before yours, I’ll knock their teeth in. Though I doubt anyone would be that stupid.”
Roga couldn’t answer, only managing an awkward smile.
‘I hope that’s really true.’
A sudden thought struck him, and Roga turned his head.
“Naru.”
“Hmm? What?”
Naru, being carried by another goblin, grinned back at him.
“How did you meet these people?”
She blinked for a moment, then pulled out the Sun Bird Feather Necklace she wore around her neck.
“This one showed me.”
“…Really? How?”
Could the legend connected to the Sun Bird’s feather actually be true?
“You said it would show me where to go. So I just ran.”
She just ran. That was quite the remarkable form of guidance.
‘Well, we’re alive—that’s what matters.’
Whether the legend was true or false hardly mattered anymore.
It was enough that both he and Naru were alive like this.
“Yeah, you did well.”
“Mm-hmm!”
Naru broke into a broad grin.
Just by stepping on a shadow, the skill copied right away
Author |
Killing Part
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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