Shadow Slave

Six days later, the cohort had almost reached the safe haven of the Citadel. The speed with which they traveled reduced significantly due to the heavy wounds the Fire Keepers had sustained, so all things considered, it was a very good result.

As days went by, their healer had continued tending to his companions, so by now, most had already recovered — except for those like Shakti with especially grave injuries, of course. Those would only be healed after they had returned to the real world and then came back. Even then, their physical bodies were going to sustain serious internal damage and require a prolonged period of treatment.

As the sun disappeared in the Sky Below, the cohort reluctantly made camp. From where they were now, only a handful of islands separated them from the Sanctuary. However, some of those islands were populated by Nightmare Creatures too dangerous to attempt traversing their hunting grounds, so the Fire Keepers were going to have to make a big detour.

Since traveling in the darkness was a big risk, they had no choice but to spend another night in the wilderness and continue their journey tomorrow.

Sunny didn't mind.

When everyone fell asleep, he quietly turned into a shadow and slid unseen between the lookouts. The darkness of the night might have been a threat to them, but to him, it was an ally.

For Sunny, it was time to hunt.

He had been venturing alone into the deadly expanse of the Chained Isles for the past five nights, and this one was not an exception.

During that time, Sunny had taken more risks than he usually would, challenging Nightmare Creatures that he had studied before, and those that he knew almost nothing about. Hunting the latter ones was a deadly endeavor, but with Saint's help, he managed to emerge victorious from each battle without sustaining too many wounds.

since even when Sunny received damage, it blocked most of it. Nothing had been

the Cruel Sight gleamed, reflecting starlight as it manifested in his hand. Sunny rose to his feet and

reached was descending, but still high enough for him to feel the remnant effects of the Crushing. Still, Sunny didn't care. Tonight, nothing was going to stop

just one step away from fully saturating

ruin that stood forlornly near the center of the island. He had been to this place and explored it before, so he knew

might have been beautiful once, but now, it was warped and misshapen, its walls full of cracks and on the verge of collapsing. Sunny didn't know what purpose it had once served, and how it was destroyed, but

melted wax. Its walls had collapsed outward, which told him that whatever force had devastated the structure had come from within,

were of the Awakened Rank, and resembled stone gargoyles. They had lived near the edges of the island, and Sunny had already killed most of them, if not all, during his first months on the

inside the ancient building. Those were of the Fallen Rank, and looked like beautiful specters. Beneath their eerie beauty, though, hid an ocean of madness, evil, and bloodlust. The first time Sunny

the wraiths only appeared at

Cruel Sight, which had the

his helmet, Sunny looked at the ruin through the narrow slits of his visor, and walked into the darkness that reigned

***

[...Your shadow grows stronger.]

ghostly form of a beautiful young woman he had just pierced with the incandescent blade of his spear. Or rather, she had seemed beautiful before

had anticipated, even if the [Ghost Blade] enchantment of the Cruel Sight allowed him to strike them down. Not only because their movements were fast and unpredictable, defying the logic of combat he was familiar with, but also because their attacks seemed to be able