Shadow Slave

Inside the giant nest of spiderwebs, a desiccated corpse of the colossal Matriarch lay shriveled on the floor, its iron carapace shattered by some devastating blow. The creature was long dead, but the sight of it was still terrifying.

The vast abdomen of the brood mother, however, appeared to have been severed much later than her fatal battle against the Lord of the Bright Castle. It almost looked as if it was… torn apart from within. Inside the terrifying wound, Sunny noticed the shattered remnants of five giant, metallic eggs.

The size of them was about the same as that of the five monstrous Fallen Beasts that had destroyed the original Stone Saint and her brethren back in the Dark City.

'So… that was where they came from.'

Looking away with a shiver, Sunny noticed numerous cocoons of spiderwebs attached to the walls of the nest all around the dead Matriarch. Inside them, withered carcasses of Nightmare Creatures of all shapes and sizes were preserved in a strangely good condition.

This was a true museum of terror.

The Nightmare Creatures appeared as though they were kept alive inside the cocoons for a long, long time before finally succumbing to death and turning into mummified corpses. Perhaps the abominable spiders stored them there for later consumption.

Or… not.

Noticing a few cocoons that had been broken open and what was inside of them, Sunny had to try hard to stop himself from vomiting.

The iron spiders did not use the monsters caught in the cocoons for food.

...They used them as incubators.

The creatures in the broken cocoons had been devoured from within. A few of them still had hundreds of small, moist eggs embedded into their flesh, with embryonic spiderlings moving weakly behind the slightly transparent shells.

'Curse… it all…'

Damn these spiders, damn the Labyrinth, damn the Forgotten Shore… and especially damn the damned Nightmare Spell that had brought him here. Sunny suddenly felt tired of this long, feverish, neverending nightmare he had found himself in.

was still to

grimace suddenly appearing on his face, Sunny called out to his companions. Then,

a rough silhouette of a human

them stood somberly around the cocoon, each consumed by their own dark thoughts. Finally, Nephis

you sword cut

summoned the enchanted jian and took a

"Be careful."

Changing Star, Caster lingered for a second, and then faced the cocoon with grim determination written on his face. As ghostly green light emanated from the blade of his sword, he swung it with the graceful precision of

through the metal wires of the cocoon, splitting it open. A shriveled human body fell

faces pale and full of ghastly resentment.

just

young man whose corpse they found in this harrowing place did not die an easy death. In fact, being eaten alive from the inside by a hundred of tiny Nightmare Creatures was probably the worst fate imaginable. At least Sunny couldn't think of

still, he

with an expression of horrifying agony frozen on it forever. Despite the overall

the Academy with them, the one who had called him a shorty

at their

you guys

a few moments of silence, Caster

name was Stephen. He was the youngest heir of the Pandavar

'Stephen…'

learn the name of this arrogant young man back when they were preparing to venture into the Dream Realm at the Academy. In fact, he had really disliked

him, he had forgotten all about it. Sunny would never wish this fate on anyone, let alone one

took overtook the cohort. They had already known that the other three Sleepers sent to the Forgotten Shore this year never made it to the Dark City, which meant that they had perished somewhere in

in the future? If not today, death could be waiting for them tomorrow. Perhaps years from now, it would be their corpses

her teeth and turned away. Then, she