Shadow Slave

1082 Ancient Chimneys

He reached the giant chimney without too much problem, avoiding the teeth of the vicious fish-like creatures with the help of the Dark Wing and a couple of perilous leaps. The structure was wide and incredibly tall, reaching at least three hundred meters into the sky... and that was just the part visible above the water.

There were a few holes in the frame of the alloy smokestack, so Sunny did not waste time jumping through one of them. He found himself in a vast, dark well, still water radiating bone-chilling cold a few meters beneath his feet. A tiny circle of light was visible hundreds of meters above.

Sunny did not know what kind of industrial behemoth had demanded such an enormous chimney - three of them, in fact — and what kind of poison had been billowing out of them into the atmosphere in the past. However, even now, decades or even centuries later, the air inside was acrid and hard to inhale, reminding him of the worst days in the outskirts.

Grimacing, Sunny looked around, and then jumped to a piece of scaffolding a dozen or so meters above his current position.

Landing noiselessly on the weathered alloy, he smiled at Saint, who had been standing there, still as a statue, holding a bow in one hand. The taciturn knight turned her head slightly, acknowledging his arrival, then indifferently continued to watch the base of the smokestack.

He could feel Nightmare hiding in the darkness nearby, dissolved into the shadow form. The black steed moved, greeting him, and then grew still once again.

"Good work, guys."

Sunny's comm hissed.

"Get up here, I'm bored out of my mind."

He sighed, then turned into a shadow himself and ascended the tall structure, gliding upward in a wide spiral. As Stmny was going up the old alloy walls, he found himself involuntarily thinking about how long it would take Imp to eat the whole thing. Then, he caught himself and scoffed.

'Gods, what am I thinking about?

But... it was really a lot of alloy...

and the walls were blackened by fire and soot. The acrid smell was somewhat reduced by the proximity to the open

the pieces of machinery, her feet hanging above the abyssal drop. Noticing Sunny step out of the shadows, she closed

"Here you are."

He nodded.

for

Reaper shook

week. Honestly, having a chance to just sit and relax for

Unit, just like Sunny. They mostly worked alone, but for the more dangerous missions, Army Command grouped two or more scouts together. As a result, the two of them continued to cooperate and fight side by side through most of the past

up and looked around,

what

Sunny shook his head.

"No. Do you?"

edge of the alloy

the smokestack, and on top of it... was another furnace. This one meant to burn all the toxicity out of the smoke and prevent it from getting into the atmosphere. lіghtnоvеlcave․c~оm. So, each of these chimneys used to

scratched the back

"...Sounds kind of stupid."

glanced at him with a bleak

Anyway, let's get to the top. The faster we finish the mission, the faster we can get the hell out of this

ring ladder, and climbed onto the lip of the giant chimney. It was as

of the desolate landscape beneath them. Almost at the same time, two of his shadows reached

"Well?"

hesitated for a

inside. Something... huge." All the shadow could see were loops of flesh coiled inside the dark well of the ancient smokestack, filling almost a