Shadow Slave

Eventually, they arrived at the bone orchard. The skeletal remains of the dead horrors towered above them, and the subtle sweet smell emanated by the Hollow Butterfly permeated the flowing fog.

The members of the cohort looked around tensely, unnerved by the eerie scene. Sunny, however, had been to this sprawling graveyard many times. He walked nonchalantly between the bones, his steps hurried.

"Follow me. It's right ahead."

Soon, the Great Monster revealed itself from the mist. Even though Sunny had explained that it was not dangerous, his companions still couldn't help but grip their weapons tighter.

"What... the hell... is that?"

Jet's voice sounded hoarse.

Looking back, Sunny gave her a pale smile.

"Nephis and I call these creatures Dark Butterflies. We've seen another one in action, much further upstream... needless to say, it's a blessing that the one in front of us is Hollow."

The four of them stared up at the gargantuan form of the Great Monster in apprehension. After a few moments of silence, Nephis finally asked:

"So, why are we here, exactly?"

Sunny lingered for a few moments.

"Since it's Hollow, we won't earn anything by killing it - no soul shards, no Memories. But its body is perfectly healthy. And it's a body of Supreme quality, so... we are here to butcher it."

sparks ignited in

weapons out of

nodded with a tired

they'll still be akin to

motionless butterfly silently, then

get to

of the helpless Great Monster was not that deranged, provided that one was capable of rending its impregnable carapace. Sunny was by no means an master artisan, but knew more about blacksmithing and crafting than an

able to achieve success, even though it was going to take some time. But wasting some time here was also

the caverns before both of those

this place was one of the safest on Wind Flower - perhaps because the Hollow Butterfly's scent scared

and observed, while Sunny, Cassie, Saint, and Fiend

the six legs of the Great Monster. Severing them was no easy task, but with the help of the five shadows and the augmentation of the Crown of Dawn, as well as a scattering of useful utility Memories, the work progressed at a

the time Nephis had finally regained enough essence to heal Jet, the lower parts of the Hollow Butterfly's legs were laid out on the ground in front of them. They were still too large to be used as pikes - each at least ten meters

could use her augmenting Ability, everything

six makeshift pikes in front of them, each crafted from chitin of Supreme quality. There was also a bundle of crude javelins, and a pile of long splinters

the Siege Souvenir - a javelin he had crafted from the remains of a Corrupted abomination, then enchanted and used to kill a Fallen Titan. Sadly, there was no time for him to enchant the ones in a similar manner. One day was too short to create any kind of

also reminded him of his battle with the Ravenous Fiend. The vengeful creature had used a crude

picked up a slightly curved splinter of the Hollow Butterfly's chitin. Its edge was sharp enough to serve as a sword,

and roughly circular, to Saint. Sunny had personally made it

we are

ready as they would be... at least in this