Shadow Slave

"Sunny! Wake up!"

Sunny opened his eyes and tensed. Sensing the world through the shadows, he couldn't feel any danger, but there was urgency in Neph's voice. Something was wrong.

As his mind entered a state of battle readiness, he pushed himself off the ground and briefly studied the fissure. It was still night, so everything was enveloped in deep darkness… that darkness, of course, could not hinder his sight. Sunny saw every detail of their small camp and of the weathered walls of black rock surrounding it.

Everything seemed fine.

Saint, who was guarding them from high above, was also calm.

He turned to Nephis and asked:

"What is going on?"

She pressed a finger against her lips and whispered:

"There was a sound."

The next moment, he heard it too. A dull, echoing crackle that came from somewhere below, spreading through the rock in a subtle vibration. Like a stone breaking.

He frowned.

'What is this…'

Sunny and Nephis froze, listening to the eerie sounds coming from within the carapace of the Black Turtle. They had not dared to venture there after salvaging the meat. The shell had been hollowed out, but they didn't know by how much, and even though they had heard the sounds of Nightmare Creatures inside the carcass of the Great Monster from time to time, this crackling was entirely new.

A small whirlwind of sparks appeared in the air, manifesting into a softly glowing paper lantern. Placing it on the lid of the Covetous Coffer, Nephis lowered her head and pressed her ear to the ground.

another cracking sound, and she suddenly

noticed something that was out

floor of the ravine. Just as Neph flinched, it suddenly grew, spreading through the black rock in both

few meters up the wall, and when the cracking noise disappeared, a small piece of rock

suddenly

think it's

another sound, this one so loud that it was almost deafening. Sunny felt the ground suddenly shift

"It's breaking!"

knew what was happening, Sunny jumped. As Nephis and he soared into the air, the floor of the fissure below them suddenly split

Memories like the Coffer that were dismissed and disappeared in a whirlwind of sparks, everything else — the fire pit, the sleeping bag, the bed made of soft moss, and the rest of it — fell into the darkness in

the collapse was not over

entered his nostrils, and he saw the small

'Goddammit!'

higher. He was aiming to repeat the process and send himself to the surface with the next

flew out of the fissure, rolled on the ground, then dashed back to its edge and grabbed Neph's

rolled away in a heap, the entire

thought that the entire island was falling apart entered

was not

the landscape of the Black Turtle's shell was changing. It seemed that the schism originated from the location below the central region, where their camp had been located. Wide cracks spread through the black stone, and a wide surface either crumbled

was affected, to, but to a smaller degree. It was just a chain reaction that forced the ground to tilt and slide into

their shelter was still

on Nephis. Their limbs were entangled, and both of them were covered in stone dust. Struggling to breathe, he slowly pushed

pit, Sunny and Nephis looked down with bleak

camp, where they had spent so many

today, but there would be more collapses in the future. Eventually, the entire shell would