Shadow Slave

Marble Shell...

Sunny stared at the runes with a thoughtful expression on his face, then concentrated on them. Immediately, new strings appeared in the air, forming a description.

Attribute: [Marble Shell].

Attribute Description: [In the deep darkness of the underworld, a prideful demon forged seven suits of splendid armor for his favorite creations. The intricate shells were both a boon and a test, since only those worthy of his regard could unlock the mantle's true potential and bear its weight.]

There were more runes, but Sunny stopped to think for a bit.

'Favorite creations...'

He knew that Saint and her kind were an artificial race created by Nether, the ruler of the Underworld and the Demon of Choice... or Destiny, depending on how one decided to translate the runes. He also knew that Saint's armor bore a strong resemblance to the Mantle of the Underworld, although it was not quite as impressive.

The original Stone Saint had been one of the smallest and weakest living statues that used to dwell in the Dark City. By the time Sunny reached the place of their battle against the Fallen attackers, the bigger and more powerful warriors of her kind had already been destroyed, leaving only her, an Awakened Monster, to finish the fight.

What he got from all that was that Saint had only been a foot soldier in Nether's army... most likely.

The armor she wore was a true masterpiece of craftsmanship, but not something on the level of the seven Mantles, which had been gifted to the high-ranking officers of the stone legion by the Prince of the Underworld.

'Gods. If Saint is just a foot soldier, then just how terrifying was Nether's army?'

Well... they had to have been pretty terrifying, in order to challenge the gods. The Stone Saint he had killed on the desolate plaza of the Dark City was a pale remnant of her original self, as well, since the living statues had not been consumed by Corruption yet during the war between the daemons and the gods.

Shaking his head, Sunny turned his attention back to the runes. The description of the Marble Shell was a bit unusual, since it included much more information than that of other Attributes.

He continued to read:

Truth], [Stalwart],

of [Stalwart]. The extremely high protection against physical attacks and the high protection against elemental attacks remained the same, but the moderate protection against mind and soul attacks had been elevated to high protection,

'Very good...'

other three traits required essence to function. From now on, Sunny would have to circulate it through his own body in certain ways instead of pouring it into the

how the essence had to be circulated exactly, and his control over it was intricate enough to achieve the

three traits, however, were extremely

and [Shell] were connected, and in fact mutually exclusive. That was because

while the Mantle was an active

it provided all the benefits of the Mantle of the Underworld, including access to its enchantments,

and stared at his arm

same, but somehow even

called a creepy porcelain doll often enough,

stone. Basically, it was becoming rigid when struck. After a few experiments, which must have looked really weird from the side, he determined that he could control the

to all kinds of damage. I'll be able to repair damage

of Truth] and felt his fist becoming much, much heavier. Then, he made his entire body

feels so

to float, but he could potentially jump extremely high or hit

silly smile appeared on

effect of a single

body with the shadows, he would be augmenting his

benefit of binding the

Sunny's eyes widened.

'Wait a second...'

he not dismissed the Puppeteer's Shroud to take a look at his skin? Which meant... which meant that he could benefit from the defensive qualities of