Shadow Slave

In front of them, the ground was shattered, creating a titanic fracture. The canyon was so deep and vast that Sunny had to strain his eyes to see the other side of it. Crimson coral clung to its walls, spilling over the edge like a torrent of blood.

A long time ago, a graceful bridge of white stone connected the two sides of the canyon together. Now, however, it was broken, with only its base remaining in place.

Looking at the bridge, Sunny realized that there must have been an ancient road somewhere beneath their feet. It led directly to the main gates of the ancient city, moving across the colossal canyon by means of the miraculous bridge and passing beneath the grandiose arch of white marble.

Come to think of it, the headless knight, the Ashen Barrow, and the graceful woman whose hands had saved him twice were also situated in a straight line. Perhaps there was another road leading east, too.

However, this thought disappeared from his head as quickly as it had appeared. All his attention was drawn to the remnants of the stone bridge, where...

Stood another giant statue.

Right above the weathered ruins stood a colossal stone warrior. He was clad in an archaic cuirass, with a beautiful spear resting on his shoulder. The warrior was facing south, as though greeting the travelers who traveled on the road to reach the ancient city.

…Of course, his head was missing.

More than that, the whole statue was covered in vast sheets of dull grey spiderweb, as if dressed in a solemn burial shroud. Sunny shivered, afraid to imagine what kind of creature was capable of creating the thick metal cables of the web that encompassed the stone colossus.

Noticing his expression, Effie smiled.

"Scary, huh?"

Sunny gave her a nod, hoping against all hope that they would not have to find out the answer to his question.

For once, his hopes were not shattered to pieces.

The vivacious huntress sighed.

"I haven't seen it myself, but I heard stories of the creature that used to make its nest here. It was the mother of all these damnable spiders we've been dealing with for the past week. A huge menace of a Nightmare Creature, as big as a house and utterly deadly. Armored like a hover tank, too."

Sunny gulped and cast a sideways look at Nephis.

"What's a hover tank?"

of times, then answered

You've seen a PTV before, right? PTV stands for a "personal transport vehicle", as you know. I hope. Well, a tank is sort of like that, only much bigger and heavier, with thick armor and a kinetic or energy cannon installed on it. The government

was a kid.

shivered. Mundane people had no business fighting against

were had no business facing them. It's just

to try and

Effie laughed.

We won't be meeting the Spider Mommy. In fact, no

relief and glanced at the

But how do you

She shrugged.

the Bright Castle — before he went and got himself killed trying to conquer the Crimson Spire. The huntress who showed me the ropes when I arrived on the

giant mass of

been one hell of a battle, huh? Anyway, I'm glad that she

Sunny frowned.

are you

huntress leaned on her beautiful bronze

an awakened tyrant, I guess. Can you imagine? All these creepy crawlers serving a sentient commander. Thank gods

looked at her with a

would that mentor of your gave away

for a few moments, then

use a

her carefree tone, he could tell that that smile was fake. Effie did not let it show, but Sunny could tell that the death of

cohort had perished in the catacombs, their corpses

something else was on

Midnight Shard, Zenith Shard. Was there

the Midnight Shard from Nephis, who

it had been enthralled by the Soul Devourer, appeared as the leader of the Nightmare Creature in that region of the Labyrinth… just like the

headless statues, two powerful abominations, two Memories with similar names. Wasn't it a little bit too much to

at Effie,

from a shard of

he said it, Cassie slightly turned her head, listening to their conversation. That small detail told Sunny everything he