Shadow Slave

Sunny rolled over his shoulder and jumped to his feet, the blade of the Cruel Sight slicing through a vine that was flying through the air to ensnare him. Blood was streaming down his back, and poison was entering his lungs.

What's worse, a concentrated dose of it must have been infused into his bloodstream by the black thorns. Sunny suddenly felt feverish and weak, and a sense of cold paralysis was spreading through the left side of his body, which took the most damage.

He was still able to move, and Blood Weave was already working to contain and devour the toxin. But before it prevailed, Sunny was in a dire situation.

Gritting his teeth, he dashed to the side, hoping to escape the sunlight and use Shadow Step to reach the abominable creature in the center of the cargo hold. Before he could dive into the saving darkness of the shadows, however, a massive vine crushed into the floorboards, shattering them and barring his way.

Sunny froze for a fraction of a second, realizing that there was nowhere to escape. Dozens of vines were already moving in his direction, glistening in the sunlight as clouds of murky mist escaped from the pores on their surface. Even though the root section of the vines was not very mobile, the sheer amount of them made it almost impossible to survive the onslaught.

What's worse, the vines were contracting, pulling more and more of their length into the cargo hold.

He cursed.

...At least the pressure on the Fire Keepers should have diminished.

Sunny, however... Sunny was one moment away from being killed.

He was not going to be able to reach the monster without the help of the shadows, but bathed in the merciless sunlight, he also had no chance of diving into their embrace.

All he could do was use his own.

Commanding one of the shadows to unwrap itself from his body, Sunny sent it toward the ghastly corpse and staggered as the strength and resilience provided by it disappeared. The second shadow slid from the Cruel Sight and attached itself to his feet, meant to serve as a threshold through which he was going to step.

Now, all he had to do was to survive the short second it was going to take the first shadow to reach its goal.

was easier said

of his body to its limit, Sunny felt his joint groan and his tendons tremble on the verge of tearing apart. Twisting at an almost impossible angle, he dodged one of the vines, placed his hand on the spongy carpet of the brown moss, and performed a bizarre spin, narrowly sliding

torturous training he had put himself through to accommodate the inhuman demands

He was swift enough to avoid being caught, but not swift enough to escape unscathed. The black thorns tore into his right side, and more blood flowed down his

"Argh!"

his ligaments rip. Dodging the swarm of vines was like being a fly surrounded

only had to survive in their lethal, moving maze for a

around him, Sunny dove into his shadow and emerged right in front of the vile mass of brown moss… and the remains of the human encased within

in one fluid motion, he thrust its incandescent blade into the

'Got you!'

And then…

Nothing happened.

remained unmoving, its eyes full of terrifying emptiness, its body a harrowing mess of torn flesh and

of moss continued to contract and expand, and the vines themselves continued to pursue the invader. Even the divine flame seemed to

Sunny paled.

'Crap…'

***

simply refused to die, for whatever reason, and the ancient remains that were its source appeared to be immune to flame, even if

wreck, so of course, the dashing griffin rider couldn't have known that the creature itself did not share the

'Damn! Now what?!'

were already

they could ensnare Sunny, though, two ruby eyes ignited in his shadow, and a graceful figure of the demonic knight lunged forward out of it. The blade of her stonelike sword flashed through the air, easily severing several vines, and then her

Saint was Ascended, and augmented by one of his shadows, her strength was truly frightening. The taciturn demon spun in the mass of vines, cutting them down like a

shadow around himself and retrieve the Cruel