Shadow Slave

Without wasting any time, Nephis silently jumped into the crevice. Just before she did, white flames ignited in her eyes. The darkness swallowed her lithe figure whole, like the maw of some unknown creature.

'Damn it all.'

With a resentful expression on his face, Sunny stepped forward. However, before he could approach the crevice, Caster inadvertently blocked his path. A moment later, the proud Legacy was gone, too.

Sunny lingered for a moment and then looked back. He wanted to check if Cassie needed help going down, but he didn't have to worry. Kai was already gently holding her in his arms.

The charming archer softly rose into the air, hovered there for a second, and then glided into the darkness. Sunny blinked a couple of times and shook his head.

'Show-off…'

Effie soon followed the rest of the party, taking her radiant Memory with her. Left alone in the darkness, Sunny shivered, wrapped himself in the shadow, and jumped down.

He fell for a few seconds and then landed on hard stone, the impact sending a painful tremor through his bones. Standing up, Sunny found himself in a narrow tunnel. Its walls were made out of weathered stone, clearly put there by human hands. The rest of the cohort was already there, preparing for battle.

Nephis had summoned her silver longsword. Because the tunnel was not wide enough to freely use it, she was holding it with both hands — one armored gauntlet rested on the hilt, while the other was on the blade itself, halfway to its tip.

Caster was wielding a sword, too. However, his was a graceful jian with beautiful patterns etched on its blade, with a triangular guard carved out of green jade. Sunny didn't know what was the tier of that Memory, but he knew that it was extremely powerful. He had seen it cut through flesh, bone, and steel alike.

Currently, the jian was emanating a ghostly green light.

Effie had summoned her large round shield, but chose to leave the ancient bronze spear in the Soul Sea. While she was skilled enough to make use of it even in this narrow space, the shield would be much more formidable, especially considering her herculean strength.

Kai looked rather gloomy. Casting a mournful look over his shoulder, on the fletching of his heavy arrows, he sighed and outstretched his hand. Instead of a bow, an elegant falcata appeared in it. The beautiful curve of its blade glinted, reflecting the light.

The last one to draw her weapon was Cassie. Unexpectedly, she unsheathed a slender rapier from the scabbard that was attached to her belt… and let go of it. To Sunny's surprise, the rapier did not fall to the ground, but rather stayed floating in the air, as if attached to the blind girl by an invisible string.

Then it rotated slightly and hovered in front of her… with its tip pointing straight at Sunny.

"Uh… what?"

and turned her head

Quiet Dancer.

scratched the back of his

Echo and a partner of mine.

answering her words, the rapier suddenly circled around the blind girl and returned to its... her?.. previous position. It

"Huh… alright."

their conversation, Effie called out to

Now would be the perfect time to invite your

cohort stared at them with

Sunny gritted his teeth.

to

people were giving

"Effie! Tell them!"

Just this fact alone told Sunny how dire

an Echo, and a powerful one at that. Go on,

Stone Saint stepped into the tunnel out of his shadow. Her ruby eyes were burning with crimson flames from behind the visor of the helmet. The taciturn monster briefly glanced at the people gathered around

.

into a group of eight… well, if a moody flying rapier could be counted to be

a dark expression, Effie looked in the direction

We've wasted enough time already. Follow

the tunnel. Sunny followed, commanding the Stone Saint to stay close to Kai and

his foot. Looking down, he saw… a

"What is this place?"

glanced back, and then answered in a

"The catacombs."

He frowned.