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.

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

abomination collided against two shields — one belonging to Effie, the

the round shield that protected Effie from knee to shoulder would have been easily pierced and torn apart, as if it was made out of

of them back. Even Shadow Saint, whose flesh was made of stone and weighed accordingly, was launched into the air like a doll made of

they had bought the cohort the precious second

and Cassie flew in different directions, creating some distance between them and the ferocious abomination, Nephis and Caster attacked from the sides. One sword shined

the cohort might have been enhanced, but their masters remained the same. They couldn't compete with a

front limbs swiped forward, deflecting the swords. Two more shot at the attacking humans, forcing them

twisted its neck and caught

hind legs to throw itself into the air, the abomination lunged at the retreating

triangular blade cut an arc around one of the legs and tied an invisible string around

'Crap!'

all Sunny had time to think before his hand was jerked forward

was exactly what

Sunny used the momentum of the pull to turn his laughably slow levitation

he shot in the direction of the Messenger as though someone had launched him

Shard flashed through the air and bit

'Do it!'

to cut into the flesh of the Fallen Beast. Granted, it felt as though he was trying

But it was enough.

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 every bone in his