Shadow Slave

Sunny had already faced off against a Spire Messenger once.

Back then, the vile creature had killed several experienced hunters in a span of just a few seconds, and the rest had only been spared this fate because of Effie's strength…

That and the fact that the Messenger had no need to fight them and chose to retreat and search for easier prey.

There was nowhere to retreat in this hidden cavern. Sunny didn't even know how the flying abomination had gotten here in the first place.

However, he was not the same inexperienced kid he had been all those months ago, either.

Sunny had grown considerably stronger. His arsenal of Memories was better now. His skill and technique were far beyond what he had known in the past, and his kill count had crossed a hundred Nightmare Creatures a long time ago.

There was the Stone Saint, too.

But, most importantly, his Memories were empowered by the Crown of Dawn.

Theoretically, Sunny could stack three augmentations on the Midnight Shard — one from his shadow, one from the miraculous crown, and one from the Blood Blossom, as long as someone managed to make the Messenger bleed.

Hopefully, that would be enough to breach the gap between a dormant human and a Fallen Beast and allow him to actually wound the abomination, unlike the previous two times he had tried to cut into the flesh of similar horrors — Corpse Eater and the giant eel that had tried to hitch a ride on the ancient colossus.

…But first, he had to survive.

that the Puppeteer's Shroud had a decent chance of withstanding a blow from the Messenger thanks to the enhancement of the Dawn Shard, but also not even reamotely willing to put that to the test, Sunny dove to the

to Effie, the other to the Stone Saint. The terrible beak came down, aiming at

been easily pierced and torn apart, as if it was made out of paper instead

whose flesh was made of stone and weighed accordingly, was launched into the air like a

the

distance between them and the ferocious abomination, Nephis and Caster attacked from the sides. One sword shined with

wielded by the cohort might have been enhanced, but their masters remained the same. They

swords. Two more shot at

Messenger twisted its neck and caught Kai in its

Nephis and Caster aside. Using powerful hind legs to throw itself into the air, the abomination lunged at the retreating archer, who twisted his body

arc around one of the legs and tied an

'Crap!'

had time to think before his hand was

exactly what he

Sunny used the momentum of the pull to

Messenger as though someone had launched him from

air and bit into the

'Do it!'

cut into the flesh of the Fallen

But it was enough.

of the Messenger's wing. With all the speed given to him by the combination of using the Dark Wing to levitate and the Prowling Thorn to create momentum, the blow Sunny had delivered was truly devastating. In fact, it was so forceful that