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

to the roots of the dead

don't

***

way back to the Sanctuary, Sunny had a lot to

complicated emotions. The manner of their relationship, at least, was set clear — it was purely an alliance of convenience, and

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

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 out of that

divine flame augmentation of the Cruel Sight, however, was going to come in

winter. Or falling into the Sky Below, at least. That… he didn't even know what to think about that. However, Sunny was not going to let

it in his mind, but continue to act as if nothing had changed. At least he thought that this

Noctis in the middle of the night. His shadow essence reserves

water

for now. First

sky, which meant that he was

with it

waiting for

garden and approached the clear pond in its center. Stopping for a couple of moments

white altar stood in the shade of an

'The moment of truth…'

took out one of the gold

coin shimmered, reflecting the moonlight, and

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

big smile appeared on

the runes,

Shadow Fragments: [224/2000].

'It works!'

Sunny thought of going about using the coins in a slow and deliberate manner, throwing a dozen or so on the altar each time he had to return

the reward was in his sight,