Shadow Slave

According to what the Sleeper had told them, his two friends were not very far from Sunny's territory — however, they were well beyond the reach of his Shadow Sense.

It had taken the youth two days of wandering to stumble upon the Fragment of the Shadow Realm, where he was picked up by Saint. The only reason he had survived such a journey across Godgrave was because Nephis and her people had burned away most of the Nightmare Creatures on the surface, clearing a path to the vicinity of the Nightmare Temple.

Sunny could traverse the distance a Sleeper could walk in two days in a couple steps, but using Shadow Step in such a manner was bound to consume a vast amount of essence, especially if he had to bring Nephis with him.

Transporting her and two more humans all the way back was out of the question — unless he wanted to find himself severely weakened in the middle of a Death Zone, not to mention sabotaging his other two avatars.

In short, he would rather move in a less wasteful manner.

Flying suited him fine.

As Nephis was summoning her beautiful wings, Sunny extended his shadow sense outward. He was cautious about exploring the abominable jungle — there were many Nightmare Creatures here who could feel his gaze, and were not shy about gazing back.

Soon, his expression darkened.

«We will proceed slowly.»

The white wings appeared in a gust of wind.

Illuminated by a soft radiance, Nephis raised her hands to tie her silver hair up. Stopping what she was doing, she raised an eyebrow and glanced at him, slightly confused.

«Haven't we decided to fly in order to save time?»

Sunny stared at her for a couple of moments, then slowly looked away.

«…Yes. but if something truly powerful notices us, we'll be stalled. Maybe even forced to escape. So, we will traverse a dozen kilometers or so at a time. I'll scout for danger when we stop.»

He pointed to one of the vine bridges stretching toward the dome of the Hollows.

«Head there first.»

a few moments, then nodded and bent her knees slightly. Then, she jumped powerfully, raising a gust of hurricane wind with one flap of her wings. Sunny dissolved into

soared above the dense canopy of red leaves and

did, countless gazes

«Not good…»

the jungle, moving to intercept them like a buzzing cloud. Each

out a

to have to

made a decision, however, Nephis' black sword suddenly ignited with blinding white

of the approaching swarm, causing a single radiant spark to glide above the jungle,

a hurricane of flame was born from it, enveloping the swarm. Burning abomination fell down like a rain of white fire,

been immolated slowed down,

with a pure

above the jungle, she was like a small sun… and if there was

were swallowed by the

the

«Damn.»

How convenient!

of ways to deal with abominable giants and ferocious beasts. But these misbegotten pests had caused him so much grief in the past year… now, he didn't even have to move a talon when they appeared. Hugging Changing Star's thigh was so

were living

two later, they

out once again, this time without being

the decapitated body of a hideous primate monster plummeted down, crashing into

stalk of a red vine, using the vambrace of her armor to clear the wall of the living pillar of poisonous thorns. Then, she thrust her gauntlet into the moss to find a handheld. Half-standing and half-banging above the abyssal drop, she

form, landed on her

him briefly, but did not say

extended his shadow sense forward once more, sensing several truly powerful adversaries hiding under the thick canopy not too far away from

sky bridge, hidden from sight by the mess of red leaves. The best

forward, taking a smooth