Shadow Slave

Sunny remained on the swinging hammer of the colossus for a while, resting and trying to catch his breath. However, very soon, the dark sea rose high enough to make his position perilous.

With a deep sigh, he stood up and dislodged the Prowling Thorn from the stones. Waiting for the colossus to raise his hand, Sunny jumped down. The wind whistled in his ears, and a few moments later, he landed on the wrist of the giant in a roll. As soon as Sunny got back to his feet, the stone surface beneath plummeted down.

Thrusting the kunai in another crack, he gritted his teeth and held on to his dear life. Soon, the ground he was standing on sloped down, and then turned into a vertical wall, with nothing but the dark abyss of the cursed sea visible below. Hanging off that wall, Sunny cursed and waited for the colossus to bring his arm back up.

When it finally happened, Sunny immediately dashed forward. He had several precious seconds before the pendulum swung again, and had to cover as much distance as possible with each swing of the giant's arm.

Too slow, and the cursed sea would catch up to him.

The closer he got to the elbow of the walking statue, the more inclined his path was. Eventually, Sunny had to climb instead of run. His hands were tired from fighting and supporting his weight, but he stubbornly continued moving forward and up.

Once Sunny reached the elbow and climbed higher, the amplitude of the swinging reduced considerably. Now he just had to scale the vertical wall and reach the shoulder of the giant.

Climbing the slippery stone was not easy, but he had gotten used to such tasks a long time ago. In any case, it was way better than that time Sunny had to race against the rising sea during a furious storm, only to get swept away by the black water and be saved by Nephis at the last moment.

This time, at least, he didn't need her to save his life.

That would be embarrassing...

Some time later, Sunny climbed over the edge of the circular platform, crawled to its center, and sprawled beside the other members of the cohort, who were waiting for his return with tense expressions on their faces.

"Sunny? Are you alright?"

a little bit disheveled, but still ridiculously gorgeous. Sunny stared at him in dismay, then

"...I'm alive."

short while later, Nephis called

"What were you fighting?"

Sunny grimaced.

I threw him back into

sat up and looked at the surface of the dark

No one

gone now, so rest

***

When they rose to their feet, Sunny lay down

he had thought that he would not be able to fall asleep atop the walking stone giant. However, Sunny had underestimated how exhausting this long night would end up being. Even the body of a powerful Sleeper

the stone platform was sort of soothing.

up, summoned the Endless Spring and greedily drank some water. Someone had left a plate

hits the

cooking, he glanced at their intrepid leader and

to laze

Sunny was sleeping, the stone platform had transformed. Plates of iron stripped of the abominable spiders and stored in Effie's bag were inserted around its perimeter, with the golden rope strung between

the left shoulder of the giant while Nephis observed their

the Labyrinth, no matter how fantastical, was still full of danger. It was

Sunny scoffed.

much work. What's the wors… uh, no. I'm not going to finish that

him,