Shadow Slave

Sunny ran to the statue with every bit of speed he could manage. Which was quite a considerable amount, by human standards... no, even by those of other Sleepers.

As the wind whistles in his ears, the shadow flew off the blade of the Midnight Shard and turned around, observing the wounded abomination. Despite the fact that its wings were mangled, the Messenger did not seem perturbed. On the contrary, it opened its terrible beak and let out a blood-curdling shriek, then lunged at the tiny humans with even more bestial fury.

'...I think it's not happy!'

Despite the mortal peril his companions found themselves in, Sunny did not stop to help them. Nephis had said that the creature guarding the cave had to be killed by a person who had touched the ancient statue — until someone did, this battle was nothing but a futile and stupidly dangerous game.

The essence of combat was murder, after all. If no one truly aimed to kill the damn thing, how could they ever hope to survive?

So Sunny was helping them after all, in a way.

Behind him, things weren't going well for the cohort. The Messenger was too big, too strong, too swift for a group of Sleepers, no matter how talented. It was already a miracle that none of them had been torn to pieces already.

But how long would that last?

As the shadow watched, the terrifying beak came down again… and once again, bounced off Effie's stalwart shield.

However, this time, a wide crack appeared on the surface of the round shield.

Before the huntress could even react, several powerful limbs shot at the cracked shield, each striking it with the force of a cannonball. Finally, the Memory gave in and shattered — along with Effie's arm. Sunny saw fragments of bone piercing her olive skin as it twisted at an unnatural angle.

'Damn! Faster!'

Saint. Simultaneously, Nephis managed to penetrate the barrier created by the creature's front limbs. Her sword flashed and bit into the

around and return to his side.

Sunny's speed doubled.

ferocious battle, he

it, a human figure suddenly appeared in front of him in a blur and slid on the black sand, stopping right in front

torn by the claws of the terrible beast, leaving four deep wounds on his muscular

exactly. He did notice, however, a crystal amulet in the form of an hourglass hanging on a silver

A charm Memory? I didn't know

Legacy put his bloodied hand on the statue and closed his

wearing one back

eyes a second later, Caster glanced at Sunny with a dark expression and

he disappeared, Sunny crashed into the stone pillar, unceremoniously using it to stop his momentum. Bouncing off the hard surface, he rolled on

'Agh! Dammit! That hurt!'

counted as touching

Had to.

Arrow piercing the flesh of the Spire Messenger and shattering a moment later. It wasn't

the Dawn Shard, so it was more of a nuisance than a real threat to the beast. Still, it managed to

needed —

he held the Midnight Shard behind

one of us is can kill it first, Caster. Wouldn't it be funny if an outskirt rat like me got a third Ascended Memory, while a lofty

Sunny commanded the Stone Saint to switch