Shadow Slave

Sunny almost stumbled because of the terrible realization.

Was the mutilated body inside the nest of moss… still alive?

'How could that be?'

Thousands of years must have passed since the flying ship crashed on this desolate island. How long had this poor soul suffered this harrowing torture? What sin had they committed, and who had doomed them for an eternity of ghastly suffering? How had the vines ended up growing from their flesh, and why?

But most importantly… how the hell was that mangled thing not dead?! Even divine flame was powerless to end its grisly, gruesome existence.

If Sunny could find the answer, maybe he would be able to kill the Corrupted Monster, after all.

Using the momentary lull in the onslaught of the vines that Saint's appearance had bought him, he faced away from the fight and tried to understand what the host of the abominable growth was pointing at.

He desperately hoped that the ancient human was, indeed, trying to point at something, and not just convulsing in terrible pain.

'Where is it… what is it…'

His gaze flew to a certain point on the wall of the cargo hold and lingered on it.

At first glance, there was nothing different about it. That section of the bulkhead was just like all the rest, ancient and overgrown with brown moss. But as he looked closer, he noticed a small gap in the layer of moss, as well as a strange bend to the vines growing on that particular wall.

It was as though they, too, wanted to avoid something lodged into the wooden boards.

That had to be it!

small circular gap, just a splinter of wood sticking out of it at a sharp angle. His heart was beating like a wild beast in a cage,

flood of slithering vines, he hesitated

something…

that section of the wall for a reason. Or rather, he hoped that

his way through the cargo hold,

deadly toxin. Well… it was miraculous enough that he could withstand it at all, considering that the poison came from a creature two whole Ranks above Sunny.

it broken and singed, and crashed into the overgrown bulkhead near the small gap in the brown moss. Drawing in a hoarse breath, he stared at it with enough intensity to melt

'Wait… is it?'

His eyes widened slightly.

to be a splinter turned out to be

into it by someone's hand, was a rather simple-looking knife. Its shape, however, was

on the white altar of the Sanctuary of Noctis, except for the fact that this one wasn't cut from a single piece of

it also wasn't cut from

if a tree branch had somehow grown in the shape of

'What does it mean?'

a split second, and then decisively grabbed the handle of

tell me that I need a thousand coins

where it

Something else happened, though.

handle, all the vines in the cargo hold surged in his

Sunny paled.

'Crap!'

mass of slithering vines could crush him, he abandoned all attempts to escape and thrust his

from his grip, cut a sharp arc in the

demon immediately dashed toward the pulsating mass of