Shadow Slave

Nephis stared at him for a few moments, then turned her head to Cassie and said:

"Follow behind us."

The three of them cautiously approached the entrance to the tower and lingered there, uncertain of how they should proceed.

In their minds, there were two outcomes to this unexpected situation.

One, the mysterious young woman would turn out to be a local Awakened. In that case, all their problems were going to be solved. If an Awakened happened to meet a group of Sleepers in the wild reaches of the Dream Realm, it was customary to guide them to the nearest human Citadel.

Of course, exceptions happened, but in general, Awakened strived to take care of Sleepers — in this alien land, humans had to band together. It was not only a moral obligation, but also in their own best interest.

Two, the stranger would turn out to be a Nightmare Creature. In that case, they were going to have a tough fight on their hands. Since the rank and class of the enemy were unknown, it was impossible to predict the result.

They just had to risk it.

Drawing a deep breath, Sunny followed Nephis into the cool darkness of the tower. Immediately, the appetizing smell of roasting meat hit his nostrils.

…His stomach growled.

'Crap!'

Before Sunny could react, a piece of bone flew past his head and hit the wall with enough force to shatter into tiny pieces. Belatedly, he raised the Midnight Shard and assumed a defensive stance.

But it was a little too late. The young woman had already been alerted of their presence.

Raising her head, she bared her teeth in a wide grin and murmured:

"Is someone hiding in the shadows? Why don't you come out to play…"

Her voice was deep, smoky and had a raspy huskiness to it. But what mattered the most was that she was speaking in the human language.

She was human!

Probably…

The stranger was still sitting in a relaxed pose, but Sunny didn't miss the subtle tension in her carved muscles. He had no doubt that the alleged Awakened could explode into a whirlwind of violence at any moment.

It was better not to provoke her.

followed her example and dismissed his sword. Then, the three of them hesitantly stepped into

woman looked at them in surprise and raised her

"Humans? Huh! Unexpected."

she smiled and

are

rose to her feet. The white fabric of her tunic shifted slightly, revealing even more of

Sunny blinked.

he realize how imposing her true height was. The woman stood considerably taller than even Nephis, not to mention Sunny

But Sunny had no choice. If he were to

dirty face with a forearm and gestured at

would you like

the polite invitation, they hesitated. After several seconds passed in awkward silence, Nephis finally took a step

voice uncharacteristically tense and full

you… are

blank expression, then blinked a couple of

I

silly joke. Nephis and Sunny glanced at

giggled a few more times and looked at

I am human! Why are you even asking? Anyway, come sit. My neck is tired from looking down

and Cassie finally approached and lowered themselves to the stones, looking at the tall girl with hungry

over, then

you guys around.

her

just reached

like a normal, well-adjusted person. It seemed that her endless attempts to improve her social skills had not been

The young woman grinned.

guys survived

and looked at them with

real feat.

for a few seconds, then

Nephis, and these are my companions, Cassia and Sunless. We

young woman gave them a

meet you! I'm Effie. Well, at least that's what people call me. I'm also

Awakened, just a Sleeper like them. Strangely, he didn't

silent,

the castle? There