Shadow Slave

Sunny stared at the blind girl with surprise clearly written on his face. Allowing this surprise to seep into his voice, he asked:

"The vine creature? You want to kill that thing?"

Why would she want to attempt to do something that dangerous?

Cassie nodded.

"Yes."

He shook his head.

"That bastard sprawls through the entire island, its vines buried underground. It is Corrupted, which means that our weapons will barely be able to cut it. And, if that was not bad enough, the vines produce clouds of deadly poison. Are you sure that you want to attack it?"

The blind girl lingered for a few moments, then answered calmly:

"It is a Corrupted Monster, indeed. It is terrifying and lethal, yes. But I am sure that we can destroy it, with enough preparation. Everyone has weaknesses, after all. That creature is susceptible to fire, for example. There must be other things we might be able to exploit, too."

Sunny thought for a while, then shrugged.

"Fine. I will help your cohort fight the monstrosity on the Shipwreck Island. I will not promise that we will succeed, though."

Cassie sighed.

"Then we have a deal. My cohort and I will remain in the Desecrated Growth until our business here is done. I expect it to take a month, at least. Maybe more. After, we will return to the Sanctuary, recuperate, and proceed to the Shipwreck Island."

She paused for a moment, and then added:

"And then, I will help you challenge the Second Nightmare."

Sunny smiled.

don't die before that,

turned back to the roots

If we don't die

***

to the Sanctuary, Sunny had a lot to think

sorts of complicated emotions. The manner

of mutual benefit. After all, Sunny could be a very pragmatic person when he needed

of the ancient ship, this time to do battle with the vine monster that ruled over the island. Sunny knew very well how dangerous that thing was, so he had a lot of preparations to do if he wanted to come

Cruel Sight,

about that. However, Sunny was not going to let this vision affect his decisions. The last time he had

thing to do was to keep it in his mind, but continue to act as if nothing

to and back from the Desecrated Grove, Sunny approached the Sanctuary of Noctis in the middle

water falling

it, for now.

meant that

dead Chain Worm had brought with it to the Iron Hand Island started this whole ordeal,

waiting for him up

for a couple of moments to

in the shade of an ancient

'The moment of truth…'

summoned the Covetous Coffer, took out one of the gold coins

coin shimmered, reflecting the moonlight, and

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

smile appeared on Sunny's

runes, he

Shadow Fragments: [224/2000].

'It works!'

throwing a dozen or so on the altar each time he had to return to the real world — to minimize the chances of

that the reward was in his sight, he