Shadow Slave

Several hundred Sleepers stared at the disfigured body, horrified. Jubei's scale armor disappeared in a rain of light, leaving him dressed only in torn, bloodied rags. A surprised, dazed expression was still frozen on his face.

Awash in blood and broken, the man who had been proud and defiant just a minute ago was now nothing but a pathetic corpse. He was sprawled on the floor in a glistening crimson puddle, reminding everyone of one simple truth.

Never, ever dare to disobey Gunlaug, the Bright Lord.

Or you'll end up just the same.

Sunny was probably one of the only two people in the grand hall who wasn't looking at the corpse. Instead, he was looking at Harus.

Harus himself was staring at the wall, absolutely disinterested in the gruesome fruit of his dark labor.

'What else was I hoping for? Stupid. Hope… hope is a poison. It will only get you killed.'

Sunny knew all the facts, but only now had he finally understood how hopeless it was to even think about challenging the Golden Serpent.

Everything in the Dark City was designed to make him and his army invincible. That was how the damn hunchback had managed to defeat the experienced hunter from the outer settlement so easily, using nothing but his raw strength. He hadn't even had to show his Aspect Ability. Why was the divide in their physical prowess so vast?

That was because with every human in the Dark City possessing the same dormant core, there were only two things that could make someone more powerful than the rest: Soul Essence and Memories.

And both were monopolized by Gunlaug.

Only he possessed the manpower and knowledge to freely hunt in the Dark City. This way, he had become the only person with a reliable source of both Soul Shards and Memories in his possession.

Whatever crumbs the independent hunters were able to acquire would inevitably end up in his hands, too, because Gunlaug also controlled the primitive economy in this cursed place. By providing food and safety in exchange for the so-called "tribute", he made sure that all the resources would flow in only one direction.

Into his hands.

which in turn would make his army stronger… and so forth. It was a simple, perfect, and harrowing cycle that made his power more

had arrived in the Dark City, the divide between Gunlaug's forces and everyone else here was too wide to ever be bridged. Sunny had no doubt that most of the elite warriors of the Host had their cores

few ever did. Advancing to the next rank removed that bottleneck and enhanced their bodies according to the saturation level of the core. But with no way to advance, people in the Dark City could only

that within these ancient walls, sworn into servitude to a single man, there lived

the man Nephis planned

words: "...no Sleeper

remembered dozens of skulls swinging in the wind

I really have to persuade her to give up for once. My life might depend on

that Changing Star even knew how to give up. At least not when it came to her

'Curses!'

that he even neglected to listen to Gunlaug's farewell speech. He had the general idea of what kind of bullcrap the bastard

into the darkness behind it. The lieutenants followed, with Harus being the last one to leave. As soon as they were

their places, and the crowd of Sleepers was

he glanced at the plates full of food and

a first

***

Sunny had done nothing but frantically gather information. Knowing that he will be leaving the castle soon, he became

their tactics and secrets. He observed how Guards were trained. He learned which

even studied various engravings and stone carvings that decorated the walls of the

the week they had paid tribute for came to an end. On the dawn of the eighth day, Sunny and

the fact that there was nothing outside these gates but a dirty slum, Sunny felt relieved.

even want to

finished this thought, Sunny realized that he didn't actually know what life in the outer settlement was like. Perhaps the castle

bad can it actually be? I guess they just never lived in the

head, he walked toward the gates, but then stopped when