Shadow Slave

For a few minutes, Sunny simply lay on the ground, letting the rain hit his face. From time to time, a bolt of lightning arced through the skies, drowning everything in blinding light. Other than that, it was almost completely dark. If not for his Attribute, he would have had trouble discerning the shapes of Nephis and Cassie, who were resting nearby.

After some time, however, a feeling of uneasiness entered his mind. Something was off. Sunny scowled, trying to understand where that feeling was coming from. Finally, he realized that it was his shadow. It was trying to draw his attention to something.

'Please, let me rest. I just want to rest.'

He was too tired to do anything. Both his body and mind were exhausted. However, the shadow was very persistent. It remained adamant.

In the end, Sunny moaned and rolled over on his stomach, then slowly stood up. Nephis turned her head and looked at him.

"What is it?"

He grimaced.

"I don't know yet. Something feels wrong."

Cassie shivered and got closer to Neph. Following his shadow's warning, Sunny looked around, trying to find any sign of danger in their surroundings.

Even with his vision, he couldn't see anything out of place. The upper part of the cliffs was well above the stormy sea, forming a small island. Its surface was rugged and uneven, with several protruding ridges breaking the line of sight. There was a large space between their group and the nearest ridge. That space was littered, seemingly at random, with piles of dirt and tall boulders.

Nephis got up and summoned her sword.

"Do you see anything?"

Sunny frowned.

"Not really…"

moment, another lightning flashed, briefly illuminating the small

and motionless… that's why Sunny had not recognized them for

scavengers were silently

The hairs on the back of his neck bristled and stood up on ends. One, two, three… he lost count because of panic and gritted

the only ones who thought of taking shelter from the dark sea on these cliffs. He

were a

his face,

"Sunny?"

turned his head to her and

Just… stay

without asking for the reason. However, a silent question

Cassie did the same.

his eyes and breathed in, trying to calm his panicking mind down. There were no hopeless

or patiently waiting out the storm, trying not to move in fear of attracting more terrifying monsters. Maybe they simply did not notice the humans. After all, it was unknown how well these creatures could see. Were they able to see in the dark?

There was still hope.

was different. He saw the deep darkness, the clamor of the storm that drowned out most of the sounds, the large distance between

murderous shadow. Didn't he dream of becoming a silent assassin? Well, here was his chance. He just had to execute each step perfectly… crawl through the darkness, strike without alerting the

and repeat. He already knew their strengths and weaknesses — all that was left was to put that knowledge to practice. And even if he makes a mistake, there were other means to fall back onto. Echo and Nephis could do their part if

could work.

looked at Changing Star

care of

seemed to dissolve into the

cover of darkness, Sunny sneaked forward. His steps were soft and measured, his breathing controlled. He quickly determined the optimal order of attack to minimize the chance of being discovered and proceeded to the first target — a hulking scavenger that was

and focused. He felt as though he was finally in his natural

looming silhouette of the scavenger approached, he slowed down and circled around his target. The monster did not move, oblivious to