Shadow Slave

Previously, Sunny had considered the living statues to be just that, monuments brought to life by evil spirits. There were a lot of revenants like that walking the streets of the cursed city.

Take the Black Knight, for example — Sunny was almost sure that the bastard was actually just a suit of armor with a vengeful wraith imprisoned within it. He had no proof that there was an actual body in that moving steel fortress, at least.

However, after watching the Stone Saint die right before his eyes, he wasn't so sure that she and the Black Knight were the same anymore. There certainly were similarities… even the design of their armors was somewhat similar, as though one had originated from the other. But the stone warrior's armor seemed much more… ancient.

And then there was the ruby dust that flowed from the stone creature's wounds instead of blood. Since when did statues have blood? It was almost like these strange creatures were designed to possess their own weird form of life. Come think about it, the stone warriors resembled artificial beings brought to life by some dark magic much more than they resembled undead creatures.

'Mysteries, mysteries, mysteries all around!'

Perhaps the runes describing the Stone Saint would provide him with some answers.

The Echo, meanwhile, was coming to life. Two magenta flames ignited in her gemstone eyes. The stone of her armor suddenly gleamed with subtle metal shine, the smooth surface of her granite skin turned slightly less rigid. Silently turning her head, the Saint gazed at Sunny through the narrow split of her helmet's visor.

"Let's see…"

He concentrated on the runes.

Echo: Stone Saint.

Echo Rank: Awakened.

Echo Class: Monster.

Echo Attributes: [Battle Master], [Stalwart], [Mark of Divinity].

Attribute! What business did a Nightmare Creature have walking around with

with these other

on the battlefield, the Stone Saint is proficient

Attribute Description: [The Stone Saint is highly resistant to all forms of damage, as well as being

these silent stone warriors were so deadly. They were literally a bunch of killing machines created to last as long and deal as much damage

who had created

his gaze and read the

from stone to quell the

an artificial being or a descendant of one. In any case, that was before she was corrupted by… well. Whatever it was

it mattered. A monster was

warrior bore had to have come from their original creator,

Just like mysterious Weaver.

motionless Echo with his altered eyes. What he saw

strings that formed an infinitely complex pattern. Only in its case, the

embers were burning inside the Stone Saint's body, serving as anchors for the endless strings. One of them was

noticed another, much more primitive and crude system of adamantine threads. They pierced the

from diamond, but they were much less

sense. Wait, how does

artificial. The Stone Saint, too, was artificial, but in a much more mundane sense. She was made by a child of the

eerily similar to the technique

that mean that the Spell itself had come from the

believable. He needed to find out more, learn more, uncover more before even beginning to understand the true story that

there would be time for it

had something equally