Shadow Slave

1016 The Fall of Falcon Scott (34)

The monstrous killer whale snapped its jaws, savaging several massive Nightmare Creatures at once. Clouds of blood and pulverized flesh escaped from his maw like a red tide.

Powerful currents of crimson water swirled around his massive body, ripping even more abominations apart. A dozen thralls were destroyed when the great predator rammed through them at dreadful speed.

Armored fins moved, slicing bodies like giant blades.

A split second later, Bloodwave shot past the barrier of flesh, leaving devastation in his wake. He continued forward, heading for the eerie flower of white cloth that was the Terror.

Naeve and Sunny were left behind, though. Their task was to deal with the thralls and prevent them from attacking the Saint from behind.

'How the hell... do I do this?'

Fighting underwater was not at all like fighting on land. At this depth, Sunny felt as though he was constantly being pressed down by an immeasurable weight, both from without and from within. His Ascended physique and augmented strength were enough to deal with it, but he still felt a strain considerable enough to demand adjustment.

It was a lot like fighting while under the effect of the Crushing.

More importantly, though, there was nothing to support him here. Usually, a fighter's might came from being grounded — without the ground under Sunny's feet, his blows would lack power. They would also push him away with the same force that had been exerted on the enemy, making battle flow and positioning a nightmare.

So, he saw two ways to fight effectively — one was to grapple the enemy and use their own body as support, bringing combat to an extremely close range. He would be greatly disadvantaged in such a scenario due to the length of his blade. The other was to use acceleration and maneuvering to turn each of his attacks into a deadly charge.

Sunny had a sinking suspicion that he would have to utilize both approaches today.

one of the thralls — his harpoon shot forward, piercing the creature's head. The Nightwalker pushed it through all the way, then let go of the shaft, grabbed it again near the head a

more time to observe the Nightwalker, forced

of darkness. A menacing bone scythe cut down, threatening to split Sunny apart. He was somewhat certain that his skin would withstand the edge, but there was no point in taking

jade blade easily cut through the scythe, breaking it, and then continued forward to sever the flesh mannequin

Spell whispered into his ear, its voice unaffected by the heavy

have slain a

[Your shadow...]

bleeding remains of the abomination to launch himself sideways. A

were already closing in on

took a deep

this is not

but not as hopeless as he had expected. The greatest threat — the Terror itself — was currently preoccupied with Bloodwave. The thralls, meanwhile, were numerous and much more powerful than they had the right to be. However, there was one factor working

were no more native to the dark

awkward. Their initial assault was dreadful, but mostly because many had been launched forward by the long pieces of white cloth that swirled around and trailed behind the Terror, behaving like the tentacles of a giant monster. Now that their momentum was spent, the thralls were

Sunny, too, thanks to the Nimble Catch. An Awakened would have been torn to pieces in

his Aspect was not as useless underwater as he had thought. There were no shadows around him to manifest... but that was only because he could not compel living shadows to obey him. Of those, there were plenty — shadows required a surface to exist, and each

which allowed Sunny to sense their movements even if he did not see them. It

Creature... and dove into its shadow, appearing on top of the chitinous monstrosity that had

through the thick carapace,

slain a Fallen

[Your shadow...]