Shadow Slave

'Damn... that hurt...'

Sunny stumbled back, feeling his hand tremble. He was too slow and failed to avoid an attack... or rather, he was fast enough, but the attack still passed his defense, somehow. Knowing that it could deal serious damage, he had no choice but to block it with his forearm.

His fingers momentarily lost strength, and the hilt of the Sin of Solace slid from them. Luckily, he was holding the great jian with both hands, so it did not fall into the water. Still, losing the leverage prevented Sunny from delivering a truly powerful blow - the jade blade sliced through the Drowned Warrior, but the damage was not fatal.

The entire hall suddenly quaked, and pieces of debris fell from the ceiling. The water flooding the dark expanse surged, and a tall wave spread from where the depth dweller struck down, trying to crush Nephis with its entire weight.

Stepping on the wave, Sunny allowed it to move him out of the path of a jagged harpoon and lunged into another attack.

He had killed plenty of abominations already... but he had also taken a beating. Right now, the flooded hall was engulfed by violence. Sunny, Saint, Fiend, Nightmare, and the two Echoes were resisting the dreadful advance of the Drowned guardians while Nephis was fighting the gargantuan monstrosity.

Cassie... Cassie was still at the entrance to the hall, motionless. Her eyes were obscured by the silver mask, but it seemed as though she was looking directly at the Defiled sybil, ignoring the furious havoc of the battle separating them.

He gritted his teeth, worried.

Had Nephis made the right choice?

Sunny knew that she had. Out of the three of them, he was best suited to face a large group of enemies due his Aspect and his Shadows. Cassie had no combat Ability to help her fight the horror of the depths, which meant that Neph had to.

power of the Defiled sybil. Unlike the depth dweller who possessed overwhelming physical might,

one in

a creature of the same caliber as the Remnant of the Jade Queen - a dreadful beetle Saint Tyris

Cassie really be able to survive facing an

Sunny was worried, worried...

is she not

that moment,

a combat Ability, she was still an Ascended with a fully saturated soul core. She was by no means weak or lacking

remains of a crumbled

path by a few centimeters, but that was enough to miss

the slender rapier piercing the creature's eye with surgical precision. The kill

to topple, the blind girl was already moving forward. She danced between the attacking abominations, elusive like a ghost. Her movements were swift, but not hurried... they even seemed a little slow. It was just that she was never where the enemy weapon's struck, while her dagger and rapier never seemed

she took was precise and calculated. Every blow she dealt was fatal.

It was flawless.

moved across the battlefield, leaving several corpses in her wake. She did not seek out the Drowned to kill - instead, she avoided as many as she could, only crossing blades with those who barred her path. Even then, each

were distracted by Sunny, his Shadows, and the Echoes. The horror of the depths, meanwhile, was

seemingly effortless advance looked

pile of