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.

cracking sound, and

as he noticed something that was out

small, thin crack appeared on the floor of the ravine. Just as Neph flinched, it

the wall, and when the cracking noise disappeared, a small piece of rock splintered

suddenly

think it's going to

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

"It's breaking!"

air, the floor of the fissure below them suddenly split and collapsed, revealing a vast cavern of darkness and crimson

in a whirlwind of sparks, everything else — the fire pit,

collapse was not over

the rocks, the walls tilted, too. A horrible stench of blood entered his nostrils, and he saw the small crack he had noticed before expanding. Countless new ones appeared, as well, and the

'Goddammit!'

with the next jump, but the spot that he was aiming for suddenly broke off and plummeted down in an avalanche of stone. Cursing, Sunny manifested the

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

rolled away in a heap, the

panicked thought that the entire island was falling apart entered

devastation was not as

was changing. It seemed that the schism originated from the location below the central region, where their camp had been located. Wide cracks

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

their shelter was still

both of them were covered in stone dust. Struggling to breathe, he slowly pushed himself away and

dazedly above the newly formed pit, Sunny and

where they had spent so many peaceful

central region today, but there would be more collapses in the future. Eventually, the entire shell would crumble, leaving them stranded and lost in the sea