Shadow Slave

'How… how the hell is this thing even moving?'

Defying all logic, the skeleton lunged at Effie with a speed that even Sunny himself wasn't capable of. With no muscle tissue connecting the bones together, the strange creature was still able to stand upright, run… and attack with vicious strength.

A moment before the undead monster closed the distance between them, Effie screamed:

"Stay together!"

Then, she turned her torso and slammed her shield against the lunging monstrosity. With a thunderous crack, the skeleton was thrown back. Its skull and ribcage shattered, showering the tunnel with sharp bone splinters. Like a broken marionette, it fell to the ground in a shapeless pile.

Sunny stared at the mess of broken bones with in confusion.

'Wait… that's it?'

The huntress yelled, tearing him away from these thoughts:

"Don't stop, move!"

The cohort rushed forward, following Effie into the depths of the catacombs. When Sunny was approaching the remains of the reanimated skeleton, he noticed something that made a cold chill run down his spine.

The bones were still moving, slowly assembling themselves back into the shape that resembled a human. Just as he stepped past the creature, one skeletal hand suddenly thrust in his direction, trying to claw at his leg. If not for Sunny's quick reaction, it might have succeeded in injuring him.

of the Midnight Shard, he crushed the clawing hand and threw it away. Falling on the stones a few meters back, the hand remained motionless for a moment, and then began crawling back to

after another. Those too damaged to be of use were simply replaced by one of

thought

keep moving instead of trying to

because these creatures were…

...Or rather, undying.

If so, things were

darkness ahead of them. For a moment, he felt

this wasn't the cursed sea. Instead, it was dozens… no, hundreds of skeletal feet scraping against the cold stones of the

even thousands

monsters populating the catacombs were coming to rip the six

gripped the Midnight Shard tighter and hurried after

and

***

stream. Appearing from the darkness of the catacombs, they lunged at the

inhuman strength, bulldozing through the skeletons like an incarnation of ancient fury. Her round shield acted as a wrecking ball, shattering the undead monsters left

crushing force of a devastating flood. She was holding the longsword by the blade, using its crossguard and pommel as an improvised mace. With white flames dancing in her eyes, she moved from one skeleton to another, skillfully deflecting their blows and crushing one

ghostly green light, slicing through bones as if without meeting any resistance. The proud Legacy fought with graceful precision, always managing to immobilize the enemy with just one

made paving the path through the horde of monsters seem almost easy. However, Sunny knew that it was anything but. Each skeleton was stronger and

true