Shadow Slave

Chapter 9

There was a problem.

They were planning to follow the road up to the mountain pass and then over it, getting as far away from the scene of the massacre as they could before the night came. However, the road was no more.

At some point during the last months, or maybe even just yesterday, a terrible rockfall occurred, obliterating whole segments of the narrow roadway and making its other parts untraversable. Sunny stood on the precipice of a vast chasm, looking down with no particular expression on his face.

"What do we do now?"

Scholar's voice was muffled by the collar of his scavenged fur cloak. His follower, Shifty, angrily looked around. His gaze stopped at Sunny — a suitable victim to vent his frustration.

"I'll tell you what we need to do! Get rid of some dead weight!"

He eyed Sunny's fine boots and turned to Hero:

"Listen, your lordship. The boy is too weak. He is slowing us down! Plus, he's weird. Doesn't he give you the creeps?"

The young soldier answered with a judgemental frown, but Shifty wasn't done.

"Look! Look how he's glaring at me! I swear to gods, ever since he joined the caravan, nothing had gone right. Maybe the old man was right: the boy is cursed by the Shadow God!"

Sunny struggled to not roll his eyes. It was true that he was unlucky: however, the whole truth was opposite to what Shifty was trying to insinuate. It was not that he had attracted misfortune to the slave caravan; on the contrary, it was because the caravan was doomed to begin with that he had ended up here.

Scholar cleared his throat:

"But I've never said that…"

"Whatever! Shouldn't we get rid of him just in case?! He can't go on for much longer anyway!"

Scholar gave Sunny a strange look. Perhaps Sunny was getting paranoid, but there seemed to be a bit of calculating coldness in the older slave's eyes. Finally, Scholar shook his head.

my friend. The boy

"But…"

putting an end

to leave anyone behind. As for how much

teeth, but

So what do

them looked at the broken road, then down the slope of the mountain, and finally up, where a sheer cliff wall was broken

of the mountain. It was sometimes used by pilgrims. Later, the Empire had

He looked up.

above us. If we reach it, we should be able to find our

the treacherous slope.

wasn't an almost vertical wall anymore, but still, the incline

the first

that? Are

Scholar helplessly shrugged.

have a

a bit of preparation, they began the ascent. Shifty and Scholar stubbornly carried the weapons they had picked up off the dead soldier's bodies, but Sunny, with some regret, decided to leave his newfound short sword behind. He knew that this climb was going to test the limits of their

extra gram of weight was bound to feel like a ton all too soon. As the weakest member of the group, he was already struggling to keep up, so there wasn't a lot of choice. Shedding a few kilograms of iron was the

out to be pure torture. Just half an hour later, he felt like his muscles were going to melt, with

to constantly remind himself to watch his footing, too. On this unstable, icy slope one misstep

about something pleasant,' he

happy thoughts could he

at the end of this trial. The boon of the First Nightmare was the most important thing given to an Awakened

more abilities and vastly improve their power. But it was this first one that determined what role an Awakened would be able to play, how great

main benefit of the First Nightmare's Boon was simple, yet possibly the most important: after completing their trial, Aspirants were bestowed with the ability to perceive, and interact with, Soul Cores. Soul Cores were the basis of one's rank and power.

one, but a tyrant like Mountain King had five. Coincidentally, the only way to improve your Soul Core was to consume Soul Shards scavenged

way to battle powerful Nightmare Creatures despite the risk of

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