Shadow Slave

As soon as Sunny shut the gate behind them, the terrifying roar that had been approaching was cut off. A few moments later, the tower seemed to shake a little, as if something had crashed into its walls.

However, apart from a little dust that fell from the ceiling, nothing happened. They seemed to be safe.

...From the threats outside, at least.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Sunny took a step back and looked around.

His eyes narrowed a little.

"Well, that... is unexpected."

He had wondered about what the interior of Aletheia's Tower would look like a lot. In his mind, there were two possibilities... either it would be perfectly preserved and full of tantalizing knowledge, or serve as the lair for the most harrowing abomination yet.

The truth was that it was both and neither at the same time.

From what Sunny could tell, the interior of the tower had once been austere, but elegant. None of that elegance remained, however - at some point, a dreadful Nightmare Creature had made its way inside.

He was currently staring at that Nightmare Creature.

Its torso was hanging from the ceiling, terribly mutilated and seeping with black blood. The creature's revolting skull was crushed, and one of its arms was severed at the elbow. A vast and utterly disgusting puddle of blood, viscera, and brain matter covered most of the floor.

Looking at the corpse of the gargantuan, vaguely humanoid creature, Sunny couldn't help but feel a sense of deep, primal terror.

Aletheia's Tower had indeed become the lair of a dreadful abomination...

However, the abomination was dead.

Cassie was observing the corpse, too. She seemed unnerved.

After hesitating for a few moments, the blind girl said quietly:

was a Great

Sunny gulped.

a Great Tyrant in our Third Nightmare, even? That has

something capable of mutilating a

was that damned

he had some time, he noticed signs of a terrible battle. Everything inside the tower had been obliterated, turning into piles of splinters and rubble. Here and there, the corpses of the Tyrant's

still inside? It had to be, considering the nature of

of the tower locked? Why was the

it even

blood, Sunny knelt and touched it.

"It's cold."

killed recently. Had it been

He glanced at Cassie.

your

She frowned.

"...To flee."

blind girl sighed

is danger,

The black steed would not be able to move freely in the narrow confines of the tower,

him and Cassie to

to flee after dying so many damned

She nodded.

"I agree."

found the stairs and

fact, it seemed that the clash between the Tyrant and whatever it was that had killed it had mostly taken place on the higher floors. Sunny could tell just by looking up - starting from the

hanging dead from the ceiling of the first one. Sadly, most of the

sighed and started climbing. The blind girl followed by holding the hilt of the

second-to-last level. Here, a chunk of the floor still remained, leading to a narrow staircase. The battle

of the tower was emanating