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.

received damage, it blocked most of it. Nothing had been able to pierce the bleak steel of his

soared into the sky, then crushed heavily to the ground. The silver blade of the Cruel Sight gleamed, reflecting

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

step away from fully

forlornly near the center of the island. He had been to this place and explored it before,

of collapsing. Sunny didn't know what purpose it had once served,

stones were damaged and looked like melted wax. Its walls had collapsed outward, which told him that whatever force had devastated

ruin before. There were two types of Nightmare Creatures inhabiting the island of jagged rocks. The first ones were of the Awakened Rank, and resembled stone gargoyles.

of the Fallen Rank, and looked like beautiful specters. Beneath their eerie beauty, though, hid

wraiths only

much stronger and had the Cruel Sight, which had the ability to harm incorporeal enemies, this

Sunny looked at the ruin through the narrow slits of his visor, and

***

[...Your shadow grows stronger.]

woman he had just pierced with the incandescent blade of his spear. Or rather, she had seemed beautiful before showing her true face — a twisted, terrifying maks of

strike them down. Not only because their movements were fast and unpredictable, defying the logic of combat he was familiar with, but also