Shadow Slave

Strips of meat were roasting above the fire, and a delicious fragrance permeated the air. The remains of the Corrupted Monster crackled as they burned. Somewhere far away, ancient chains rattled loudly.

Darkness shrouded the world outside the circle of light cast by the dancing flames.

"... and that was the moment when the explosives detonated. Boom! I don't know how the whole city did not just slide into the ocean, but it was really something. The wall fell, the buildings crumbled to dust, the earth itself sank. Oh, but I did not see any of this, of course, because I was right in the middle of the explosion, protected only by a few layers of manifested shadows."

The members of the cohort were staring at Sunny with wide eyes... well, except for Cassie, of course. Nephis had been paying more attention to roasting the meat, but as the story went on, she seemed to become more and more distracted.

He grinned.

"And the Scavenger was right there with me! I couldn't let the wretch escape into the shadows, so I held on to him with one hand, and pummeled him with the other. At that distance, swords were of no use, so he started biting. And let me tell you... his teeth were really, really sharp..."

Sunny smiled, revealing his own teeth, then suddenly made a ferocious face.

"But not as sharp as mine. I bit the bastard, too! At that point, the sphere of shadows was already breaking, and the heat inside was like an oven. It had survived the initial detonation, but got tossed around by the shockwave, and then rolled down into the crater before finally shattering."

His expression relaxed.

"Well, anyway. I came to my senses a bit faster than the Scavenger, who got pinned to the ground by some debris. Problem was, I still had no way of breaking his armor... luckily, I still had a chest full of the dark beetles with me. lіghtnоvеlcave.c|о|m. So, before the fiend could free himself, I poured the beetles out, and they ate him alive. A fitting end for a corpse eater, don't you think? And since those beetles were not exactly living things, the Spell attributed the kill to me. So, that was how I received a new Shadow."

There was silence for a few moments. Eventually, Effie shook her head.

a siege capital, and waited for weeks to ambush you at the worst possible moment? Since when are Nightmare Creatures

glanced at her with

just going to ignore the fact

Sunny laughed.

first months of the

a startled pause. In the silence, Cassie

they alright? You said that the Ravenous Fiend gravely wounded one of

smile slowly

a

Luster lost his legs, but he survived. He's currently back in the Northern Quadrant, recovering after receiving treatment from the best government healers. Kimmy is right here in East Antarctica, she is with Army Command

His eyes grew distant.

Quentin is still marked as missing in action, officially. As for Belle, Dorn, and Samara, they died a few days later. When we tried to fight

silence that

"I'm sorry."

sharply. It was strangely off-putting, to hear those words coming out of her mouth... he knew very well that she was not

I unknowingly been waiting for something stupid like that for the

his head, then put

a way of reminding you that no matter

lingered for a bit, looked at Nephis, and said in a

a bitter thing, failure, but after everything is said and done... I think it is

Perhaps... perhaps it was because he felt protective of her - Changing