Shadow Slave

As somber silence settled among the cohort, Effie grimaced.

"The weirdest part is, no one has even seen him come and go. Every time Harus was sent into the outer settlement, we only learned that people were dead in the morning. Doors, locks, and barricades can't seem to stop him, either. Once Harus is ordered to kill you, you just die. It is as though fate itself abandons you."

Caster frowned.

"So are you telling us that we stand no chance?"

The huntress shook her head.

"I'm saying that fighting him right now would be stupid. Not unless we learn how he is able to seemingly turn his victims… no matter how many of them there are… completely powerless."

With that, she glanced at Nephis, who lingered for a moment and then shook her head.

"Our friend in the castle doesn't know either."

Effie grinned.

"Ah, so that mysterious friend of yours is not omniscient after all. Well, in that case, my advice stands. We should run."

At that moment, Sunny finally spoke up:

"But, Effie… can we even run away from him?"

The smile disappeared from her face. Suddenly grim, she hesitated for a while, and then said:

"I know of a way. But… it's going to be dangerous. Very dangerous. However, I don't know how else to shake him off our trail. So you decide, princess."

was silent for a bit, and then

reaching the resting place of the first cohort is

exhales, almost as if relieved.

follow me. And

***

straight south, they were now traversing the

with this part of the ruins. During the past few months, he mostly stayed north of the Bright Castle, sometimes venturing northeast. He stayed away from the western areas because they

against the Spire Messenger. Back then, they were headed for the ruins of

a lot of time to observe the surroundings. Pretty much all of his attention

to stare at

some Fallen creature and

one point, a lone Blood Fiend attacked him from the deep shadows of a dilapidated building. Gunlaug's executioner simply raised a hand and shattered the skull of the Nightmare Creature with

He didn't even blink.

I killed plenty of

admit that he was deeply unnerved by the power of the murderous hunchback. Maybe because he couldn't get rid of the feeling that by

he wasn't sure which

its side, stretching far away into the distance. The buildings that

ancient city, burning as a shining beacon in the eternal darkness of the

least its ruin remained. The ancient inhabitants of the Dark

Sunny sighed.

"Where to now?"

at the massive

"Inside."

by an especially vile tribe of monsters, and attracting their attention

back and keep it close. When we enter the lighthouse, we will have to act

to look at Harus