Shadow Slave

Held in the ancient statue's hand was a gargantuan skull that looked almost like that of a human, but simultaneously vastly different.

Apart from the size, the shape of it was all wrong. If Sunny had to describe what exactly was different about it, he would have trouble putting it into words, but everything about the skull screamed of wrongness, malignity, and evil.

The vile aura it radiated was almost palpable to the touch. Sunny suddenly felt nauseous and weak, as if just looking at the gargantuan skull was seeping the life out of him.

This sensation was somewhat similar to that he had experienced when trying to read the runes describing the Unknown, only magnified by a thousand times.

…The most prominent and obvious difference, though, was that the gargantuan skull had three eye sockets instead of two, the third one situated above the other ones, right in the middle of its forehead. Its canines were also more prominent and heavy than that of a human.

The lower jaw of the skull was missing, and it was from there that the seven gigantic tentacles protruded. Surprisingly, looking at the tentacles themselves did not have the same sickening effect on Sunny.

With a sense of dark astonishment, he realized that the horror of the depths was using the terrible skull as a shell, hiding inside of it like a weak and vulnerable sea creature would… only, of course, nothing weak or vulnerable would have ever survived the corruption of these ancient bones. In fact, he could see the black oily flash bulging from the dark chasms of the skull's three cavernous eye sockets.

In a flash of lightning, Sunny noticed that the tentacles were moving, coiling themselves around the arm of the stone colossus. Three of them were heavily damaged, but the remaining four were still full of unimaginable power.

Their combined strength was more than enough to shatter the ancient stone.

Despite the fact that his arm was already starting to crack, the colossus seemed indifferent to the devastating embrace of the abyssal creature.

'What… what is he doing?!'

As if answering his question, the dark sea suddenly surged and split apart, releasing the stone giant's other arm from its cold depths. With rivers of black water streaming from it, the hand of the colossus slowly rose, reaching all the way into the raging skies.

The hurricane winds broke against it, powerless to move the arm of the colossus even by a centimeter.

his hand was suddenly enveloped in

a glow. In were arcs of electricity running all

Sunny's eyes widened.

And then another, and another. Dozens of lightnings landed on the stone hammer in short succession, the roar of

electricity, the ancient stone heated and turned incandescently bright, emanating a furious

a moment, everything was

abhorrent

stared, paralyzed

was thrown back by a terrible, ear-piercing, cacophonous wail. That wail was like nothing that a living being should ever have been able to produce, and much louder than even the deafening thunder tearing the raging skies. It came from

the terrible wound delivered to

from the body of the horror of the depths was nothing but

the wall of it was heading right

was overwhelmed by

'W—what…'

must have looked no different from the tenebrous mass of storm clouds that surrounded them, the black surface of the sea, or even the fetid blood of the

Sunny, who could see through any shadow, knew instantly that it was not the same. Because his gaze could not

was certain that if that darkness touched their bodies, all of them

kind of fate he couldn't even conceive of, let

his mouth and screamed as

"Neph! Light!"

a second left before the wave of darkness washed over them. If Changing Star was late even by a moment or wasted time thinking over his words and

But she didn't.

soon as Nephis heard the unreserved panic in Sunny's voice, she instantly summoned her flames and channeled them into her