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.

blow from the Messenger thanks to the enhancement of the Dawn

moment later, the massive abomination collided against two shields — one belonging to Effie, the other to the Stone Saint. The terrible beak came down, aiming

was before, 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 paper instead of

however, still threw both of them back. Even Shadow Saint, whose flesh was made of stone and weighed accordingly, was launched into

they had bought the cohort the precious

directions, creating some distance between them and the ferocious abomination, Nephis and Caster attacked from the

been enhanced, but their

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

the Messenger twisted its neck and caught Kai in

hind legs to throw itself into the

arc around one of the legs and tied an invisible string around

'Crap!'

to think before his

was exactly what he

a blur behind his back, Sunny used the momentum of the pull to

direction of the Messenger as though

Shard flashed through the air and bit

'Do it!'

stalwart blade was able to cut into the flesh

But it was enough.

to levitate and the Prowling Thorn to create momentum, the