Shadow Slave

Sunny sat silently on his bed for a while, irritated by the fact that someone had disturbed his sleep. With singing, no less!

Slowly, however, his expression softened.

'Well… at least they have good voices… yeah…'

The young women sang beautifully. Their voices flowed and resonated with each other, creating harmonies that made him feel tingly. The song was neither sad nor happy — instead, it made Sunny feel a deep, poignant longing. A wistful sigh escaped from his lips.

'Maybe… maybe I should go introduce myself?'

Since these beauties were having a party, surely they wouldn't mind some company?

Sunny lingered for a few moments, then frowned. Slowly, he looked down and studied his shadows, which were silently trembling. His face darkened.

'There is just this one problem…'

How the hell was he able to hear the singing so clearly? His cabin was separated from other neighboring compartments by thick alloy bulkheads. The entrance hatch was securely fastened, isolating him from the rest of the battleship. No sound should have been able to penetrate inside so easily.

Suddenly, an old memory surfaced from the depths of his mind. For some reason, Sunny remembered how the members of the cohort had sealed their eyes with wax before traversing the dark river below the Hollow Mountains.

'Odysseus…'

His frown turned into a deep scowl. Sunny hesitated for a moment, then summoned the Undying Chain. As the lusterless, bleak steel of the slender armor weaved itself from light and encased his body, his thoughts seemed to have turned a little clearer.

The [Chains of Longing] enchantment provided the wearer with a high amount of protection against mind attacks.

However, contrary to his expectation, the beautiful singing was not affected at all. Sunny could still hear it clearly. He still felt moved by the alluring voices.

'Wait… what language are they singing in?'

Strangely, Sunny found himself unable to understand the words of the melodious song.

Even stranger, he had somehow failed to notice that fact earlier.

mind, unobstructed. They echoed and resonated with each other there, making him feel a bit weird. However,

Sunny blinked.

'I'm hearing voices.'

tilted his

voices constitute an

was supposed to immediately inform the nearest navy officer

up. No matter how much his heart desired to meet the beautiful singers, there was no way he was going to follow the

tugging on his heartstrings. His heart

cabin and went to find an officer to report his hallucinations to. After a few steps, his foot suddenly made a splash, as if it landed into a shallow

His scowl deepened.

of this size. The crew slept in shifts to make sure that a complete complement of sailors and specialists always tended to its internal systems and manned

right ahead, behind a corner. There was not a soul around, and the thin layer of water made Sunny feel uneasy. After hesitating for a moment, he sent one of his

checkpoint seemed in perfect order. A junior officer in a blue uniform was standing near

not see

water a hallucination, as

his teeth, then walked forward and approached

"Excuse me."

turned around and looked at him without any particular

"Yes?"

pale skin and dark, slicked back hair. There was nothing particularly memorable about him, except for how still his face seemed to

and then

uh… the safety manual says to inform the nearest officer if I hear voices. Well, I do. Hear

lively. A strange

What do you

Sunny rubbed his face.

hear

at him for

that case, please follow me to the

step forward, but then lingered for a moment and leaned slightly to the side instead. Glancing behind

shadow appeared exactly how it was supposed to appear. It swayed slightly on the surface of the water, staring at Sunny as shadows often

intuition was not exactly ringing an alarm, but it had become strangely