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.

sword. Then, the three of them hesitantly stepped into the circle of light

woman looked at them in surprise and raised

"Humans? Huh! Unexpected."

and

where are

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

Sunny blinked.

height was. The woman stood considerably taller than even Nephis, not to mention Sunny himself. Complete with her robust physique, olive skin and archaic armor, she looked like an

in the eyes was sort of irritating, though. But Sunny had no choice. If he were

wiped her dirty face with a forearm and gestured at the

like

After several seconds passed in awkward silence, Nephis finally took a step forward and

her voice uncharacteristically tense and full of suppressed emotion, she cautiously

are

with a blank

I be?

she threw he head back and laughed loudly, amused by her own silly joke. Nephis and Sunny glanced at each other, confused as to what to

times and looked at them with sparks of glee dancing in

are you even asking? Anyway,

that, she sat down near the fire and assumed a relaxed pose. Nephis, Sunny and Cassie finally approached and lowered

them over, then frowned a

you guys around. Are

her a

have just reached the

her social skills had not been in vain. If

The young woman grinned.

case, my condolen… wait. You guys survived for

whistled and looked at them with newfound

real

lingered for a

and these are my companions, Cassia and Sunless. We are Sleepers who came here

young woman gave them a wide, friendly

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

a Sleeper like them. Strangely, he didn't remember ever seeing her in the

to remain silent, he leaned forward and

castle? There are