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!'

by the Stone Saint. Simultaneously, Nephis managed to penetrate the barrier created by the creature's

around and return to his side. His view of the battle immediately disappeared, and soon, the shadow caught

Sunny's speed doubled.

the sounds of a ferocious battle,

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

shiny scale armor was torn by the claws of the terrible beast, leaving four deep wounds on his muscular chest. Blood was streaming from them, leaving the handsome

bit off, somehow… Sunny just couldn't tell what was wrong with him exactly. He did notice, however, a crystal amulet in the form of an hourglass hanging on a silver chain around his

A charm Memory? I didn't

put his bloodied hand on the statue and closed his

wasn't wearing one back on the marble arch.

expression and turned into a blur once again, rushing back

stop his momentum. Bouncing off

'Agh! Dammit! That hurt!'

counted as touching

Had to.

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

massive abomination, aiming at its eyes. The elegant rapier was an Echo, and as such did not enjoy the gift of the Dawn Shard, so it was more of a nuisance than a real threat to

— blood, as much blood

the Midnight Shard behind

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

from his prey, Sunny commanded the Stone Saint