Shadow Slave

The fiend shifted its weight, then lunged forward with a shrill giggle. It was terrifyingly powerful and fast, but because its movements were clearly telegraphed, Sunny had plenty of time to react.

Diving under the long arm of the abomination, he narrowly avoided being torn apart by the sharp talons and lashed out with the Cruel Sight. As the silver blade bit into the abdomen of the creature, piercing its tough skin just under the ribs, he continued forward and spun.

Just a split second later, Sunny was already behind the enemy.

…However, he wasn't safe.

Without pausing ever for a moment, the bizarre monstrosity pressed its hands against the ground and then kicked back with both legs. There was enough power in that strike to shatter a small hill, but Sunny was already moving, getting out of range.

He had not observed how the fiend fought against the Chained Worms for nothing. He knew that the wretched thing could use all four of its limbs to attack, and that its joints seemed to be able to bend in any direction. Not only did he know what the abomination was capable of, he also knew what it liked and tended to do.

He also knew where it was most vulnerable, and where none of his weapons would be able to do any harm. That's why he had aimed for its gaunt body instead of the much larger and obvious target — the chest itself.

Sunny had always been very perceptive, and practicing Shadow Dance only sharpened his ability to observe and understand such things. Maybe it was thanks to that that he had managed to learn so much about the fiend so fast.

As the soles of his boots scraped against the dark stone, a fleeting thought passed through his mind:

'How would it feel to shadow a Nightmare Creature… I wonder…'

Then, he had no more time for unnecessary thoughts.

Crushing through blackened bones, the abomination bent its joints in the opposite direction of where they were supposed to turn, spun, and lunged at him once again. This time, it was moving on all fours, the lid of the chest serving as its lower jaw. That made it almost impossible for him to dodge out of the way.

…Sunny had no idea why the golden coins weren't spilling out, but luckily, they seemed to be held in place by some strange force.

Unable to use his maimed arm to help himself keep balance, he had no choice but to jump down and roll under the attacking fiend. The Cruel Sight flashed again, leaving a deep cut on the leg of the creature. At the same time, a pulse of sharp pain radiated through Sunny's entire body… even though he took care to protect his broken bones, he couldn't keep them from scraping against one another completely.

But the worse pain was still to come.

'That is going to hurt…'

would have to perform it from an awkward position, it was not going to be as devastating as the previous blows. The

were absolutely deadly even if there

in his direction, Sunny sent both of his shadows from his body to encompass the Puppeteer's Shroud. A moment later, the talons slashed across his torso… and slid

to create distance between himself

Twisted Rock rose even higher, and the burden of the Crushing suddenly pressed him down even

***

on the verge of passing out from exhaustion

"Argh! Curse you!"

over, using the shaft of the Cruel Sight to keep himself standing upright. His breath was ragged and pained, and drops of both

were not going

both

between himself and the vile giggling fiend had gone for much longer than either of them had ever expected. After the first few minutes, it had become apparent that neither one could

to succumb to the dozens of shallow wounds that Sunny had delivered to it. What's worse, all of its vital organs seemed to be hidden inside the chest, which

the most terrible

between two

their fight lasted for a simply stupid

world of pain. The abomination looked even worse. Its gaunt body seemed to have gone through a meat

was ready to

giggled once again. This time, the giggle sounded tired, slightly bewildered…

bastard really, really wanted to rip Sunny

him with one hand, but crashed heavily to the ground instead. Lying there motionlessly, the bizarre creature let

had to be having an extremely rough time, too. In fact, it was certainly being tortured by the oppressive force much more. Very soon, both of them were going to

to kill

that he would be able to take another step, Sunny extended the Cruel Sight to its full length and thrust it forward. The silver blade pierced the skin of the fiend, causing

to death, you

of the second tier, after all. Whatever boost it could provide was not that substantial when

tried to dodge the attack, but failed to move fast enough due to the merciless pressure of the Crushing. It tried to stand

appeared

'Got you…'

But Sunny could still move… he could still attack... he had not even used any of the shadow essence that had been accumulating in his cores