Shadow Slave

Back then, it took him a couple of seconds to realize what she was talking about.

"The spire from your vision? The one with seven seals?"

Cassie nodded.

"Yes. In my dream, it seemed to be as tall as a mountain. I could even see it from the walls of the human castle, looming in the distance like a crimson spear piercing the skies. When the sun sets, the Spire's vast shadow falls over the castle and stretches east, as far as you can see."

She was silent for a moment, then added:

"The feeling I got when looking at the Crimson Spire was very similar to what you had described, only much more intense."

Sunny frowned, trying to remember the exact words Cassie had used to describe her vision. Seven severed heads guarding seven seals… a dying angel being devoured by hungry shadows… feeling of extreme terror and loss…

What was the deal with that Spire, exactly?

"Is it crimson because it's made out of the same stuff as the labyrinth?"

The crimson "coral" surrounding them was not, in fact, coral. It's just what they called it based on some resemblance, for the sake of simplicity. The actual nature of the strange material remained a mystery.

Cassie hesitated.

"Maybe it's the other way around. Maybe the labyrinth is made from the same stuff as the Spire."

In other words, the Crimson Spire might have been the source of all this madness. Still, it was just a theory — there was too little information to confirm it.

However, Sunny did feel that the Spire was, in one way or another, at the center of all things that they had encountered. He just hoped that it wouldn't be their final destination.

Knowing the reason behind his restlessness, Sunny was able to endure it much better. He even found a hidden benefit to this situation — as long as he sensed the shadow of the Crimson Spire, he could pinpoint the direction to the human castle, since it was situated somewhere between their location and the source of the shadow.

In a sense, the Crimson Spire had become his inner compass.

"Get ready."

his reverie. Shaking off the distracting

close

It was visible from quite a distance, sharply contrasted against the crimson

of bone. The skeletal remains of a colossal sea monster lay on an enormous mound of chaotically growing coral, with its arching spine protruding especially high above the ground. It was impossible to say what the terrifying creature had looked like while it was still alive, but one thing was certain — it was gargantuan even by the standards of

fact, the labyrinth was littered with remains of dead leviathans, their massive bones forming natural arches and palaces throughout it. They were easy to spot because the

actually reversed. To him, it seemed as though the coral was actually growing out of the old bones and spreading in every direction, slowly consuming the world. When he looked at the crimson mounds surrounding the colossal remains, he couldn't help but see them as rivers

almost sure that if they were to dig deep enough into the black mud to find the roots of the crimson forest, they would find nothing but endless layers

What a scary image.

about the nature of the labyrinth, the beast whose remains formed the Bone Ridge was especially large. Thanks to that, a portion of its long spine was tall enough to remain

the next task was crucial. They had to scale the dead leviathan and make

something did, they had no choice but to try and kill it, since there was no time to retreat to their previous safe

step was often

group moved around it, searching for a convenient path up. Eventually, they arrived in front of the creature's cracked, misshapen skull. With its lower jaw missing or buried under the mud, the upper formed a

spine, Sunny passed beneath the terrifying palisade of teeth and entered the cave. With his shadow leading the way, they made way to the back of the creature's skull and

a road. Actually, it looked a lot like a highway running through a long tunnel, with stark beams of light falling through the

its chitin legs produced

Nephis grimaced.

"Any movement?"

shadow and shook

looked forward and

"Let's proceed."

still summoned their swords before moving forward. It was not their

the gargantuan remains, so they were able to reach the

filling the inside of the sea monster's spine with the echoing sound

give them an opportunity to wash themselves, Sunny walked some distance away and sat

rise and devour the ivory whiteness. He had

half was free to wander. Sunny summoned the runes and checked the number of shadow fragments

Shadow Fragments: [96/1000].