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."

voice took Sunny out of his reverie. Shaking off the distracting thoughts, he focused on the task

were getting close

soon as they had first laid their eyes on this towering landmark. It was visible from

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

giant skeleton they saw during their journey. In 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 coral formations were especially tall and dense in their vicinity, as though

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

were to dig deep enough into the black mud to find the roots of the crimson forest, they would find nothing but

What a scary image.

Thanks to that, a portion of

dead leviathan and make sure that no other creature had decided to

but to try and kill it, since there was no time to retreat to their previous safe

step was often

front of the creature's cracked, misshapen skull. With its lower jaw missing or buried under the mud, the upper formed a vast,

cave. With his shadow leading the way, they made way to the back

under their feet was as wide as a road. Actually, it looked a lot like a highway running through a long tunnel, with stark beams of light falling through the gaps between the massive vertebrae. The tunnel was inclined upward,

Echo entered the spine, its chitin legs

Nephis grimaced.

"Any movement?"

the shadow

looked forward and slightly lowered her

"Let's proceed."

danger, they still summoned their swords before moving forward. It was not their first time

precautions turned out to be unnecessary. Nothing was hiding inside the gargantuan remains, so they were able to reach the highest point of the spine without having to cut their way through an unknown

the inside of the sea monster's spine with the echoing sound of rushing water. Sunny took the saddlebags off

a bath. Leaving the girls alone to give them an opportunity to wash themselves, Sunny walked some distance away and sat down, letting his tired

dim water slowly rise and devour the ivory whiteness. He had to make sure that nothing would crawl out of the

the rising tide, the other half was free to wander. Sunny summoned the runes and checked the number of shadow fragments in his

Shadow Fragments: [96/1000].