Shadow Slave

As the red pollen settled in his lungs, Sunny suddenly sensed something subtly moving inside them. Then, a wave of excruciating pain pierced his chest. With a loud scream, he fell to his knees and grabbed at the Puppeteer's Shroud. A stream of blood escaped from his mouth and splashed on the ancient stone.

In it, tiny blooms were sprouting roots, greedily drinking the crimson liquid and growing with visible speed.

Looking at them with dark resentment, Sunny gritted his teeth and slowly stood up.

By the time he straightened his back, the pain had subsided a little. The bloodthirsty flowers were already turning black and dying, destroyed by the odd blessing of the Blood Weave.

The insidious Nightmare Creature tried to devour him from inside, but really, it just signed its own death sentence. In a few short minutes, it would be destroyed completely by the furnace of his tenacious body.

And even if some part of it survived, Neph's purifying flames were going to finish the job.

…Until then, he would just have to endure this torture.

"Come... come closer, you bastards!"

As the Midnight Shard appeared in his hands, another monster was already climbing onto the shoulder of the walking colossus.

Lunging forward, Sunny brandished his sword and decapitated the foul creature, then kicked it in the chest to send it flying down. A moment later, he jumped back, narrowly avoiding being grabbed by another primate.

Before the beast could even react, the razor-sharp tachi flashed across its body, severing both of its arms.

More red pollen burst into the air. Holding his breath, Sunny shifted his stance and attacked once again in one swift, fluid motion. The Midnight Shard pierced the knee of the massive primate, making it topple.

any kind of mobility it once

'Good enough…'

going to

would have to think

only I could

excruciating pain that was tearing him from inside, Sunny grimaced and dashed forward to face

or so, he forced himself to cut out all unnecessary thoughts, turning into a ruthless hurricane of steel. The Midnight Shard danced from one Nightmare Creature

disengaged from the fight, leaving a carpet of bleeding bodies in his wake. Launching himself back a few meters, he slid on the stone and left the cloud of red mist. Only then, finally, he allowed himself to draw in

forward. However, a moment later, something glistened in the mist, and a

continued its lunge. But in the next second, the head of the monstrous ape was violently jerked backward, and, losing

the makeshift battlement, creating an invisible trap. By moving forward with the kunai still stuck in its skull, the unfortunate creature pulled the string taut, causing an invisible net to rise into the air. Entangled in it, half

battlement nor the invisible string were going to last long, but at least

an awakened monster,

[Your shadow…]

'...Finally.'

Spitting out a mouthful of

saw made him

of the colossus was about to reach the collar of the stone

about to be surrounded. And

least going to drag as many of you as possible with me into a deeper, darker

the middle of the giant's back just in time to collide with the first of the advancing primates and send it flying all the way down to

Sunny had no room to maneuver on the narrow path. In fact, he was having trouble simply keeping his balance due to the