Shadow Slave

Moving through the ashen sand and piles of fallen leaves, a giant monster was coming down the hill.

Sunny gulped, his expression turning dark.

The creature was as large as a house, with its eight segmented legs resembling tall pillars. Its form was similar to that of scavengers and centurions, comprised of a crab-like carapace and a protruding, somewhat humanoid torso. However, this was where the similarities between them ended.

Instead of chitin, the behemoth's shell was seemingly made out of polished, lustrous metal. It was as though its whole body had been once submerged into a crucible of molten steel, emerging from it encased in an impenetrable suit of shining armor.

Beams of sunlight were reflecting from the chrome surface of the carapace, creating the bright glimmer Sunny had noticed. Massive but strangely elegant, the steel monster resembled a giant knight. Sunny was ready to swear that he had noticed the shapes of seven stars carved into its chest.

However, that knight was corrupted and evil. It radiated a sinister aura, like a demon summoned from hell to sow death and slaughter. The polished armor of the creature was covered with long, jagged spikes. Its humanoid torso had four mighty arms, two ending with powerful pincers, the other two — with razor-sharp, terrifying scythes.

The demon's head was more pronounced than that of a scavenger and crowned with several tall, sharp horns. Its metal face was almost human-like, but simultaneously repulsively monstrous and bestial. Just looking at it made Sunny's skin crawl.

'That thing… is scary.'

Whatever that creature was, its rank within the carapace legion was clearly higher than that of a centurion, not to mention of a lowly scavenger. It was the next step in their evolution. A general or a commander, perhaps. What were they called… legates? Praetorians?

Holding his breath, Sunny watched as the Carapace Demon descended from the Ashen Barrow. Stopping in front of the transcendent soul shard, it looked briefly at the kneeling centurion.

The deadly awakened monster shrank under its gaze, as if terrified of the larger Nightmare Creature. Sunny knew how it felt, since he did the same when the behemoth's eyes had briefly glided past his shadow's hiding place.

Not paying the centurion any attention, the Carapace Demon picked up the gleaming crystal and turned around. Then, it unhurriedly returned to the shade of the giant tree's branches.

Sunny slowly exhaled.

"Sunny? What is happening?"

He looked at Cassie, whose face was full of worry and curiosity. After hesitating for a little while, he said:

"There's a new threat. Stay quiet a bit longer, I'll explain later."

Back at the footsteps of the tall hill, the carapace centurion was finally ready to stand up again. Sunny was in a dilemma. He had to follow the monster to make sure that it doesn't stumble on their hiding place on its way back to the labyrinth.

see what the Carapace Demon was up to in its lair on the

was no time to think things

sliding over the grey sand. It masterfully avoided the carapace centurion's eyes and was already

just

in the deep shade cast by the majestic tree's scarlet crown, the shadow glided up the

the ground was covered with fallen leaves. The Ashen Barrow was indeed larger than any high natural feature they had encountered before, vast and spacious as an actual island. However, the traces left

center of the island, where the obsidian tree's enormous trunk was rising from the ground, with its broad roots stretching in

the tree, looking up at its lower branches. The transcendent shard was still clenched in its

it

shadow trace the creature's gaze and noticed several round, appetizing fruits hanging between the scarlet leaves. One of them looked especially

the sand and, completely forgetting about it, raised its body. It stretched

precious, the massive creature

eating fruits? This

quite sure of what he had just seen, Sunny had no choice but to command his shadow to leave and hurry to the base of the hill. The time was up, and if he wanted to catch up with the carapace centurion, he had to

Ashen Barrow and flew

'Phew.'

would not put him on the collision course with the knoll they had been hiding behind and finally allowed himself to relax...

was completely gone before slowly rising back to his

safe to come

up, stretching and massaging their limbs. Suddenly remembering how tightly they were pressed against each other while hiding behind the knoll,

was a necessary

appeared at the perfect moment to take his

"What happened?"

an eyebrow. For once, her

at the not-so-distant Ashen

return to the Bone Ridge. I'll

to say something, but then thought better of it and remained silent, simply giving him a nod. The trust they had built was enough

the golden rope around its torso, placed Cassie's makeshift saddle back on its carapace and helped the

them back onto the scavenger and took a step away.

Sunny had one more thing to do. Coming close to the knoll, he used his hands to brush

the same exact color as the bark of the colossal tree growing from the center