Shadow Slave

Her teacher seemed to be sulking, and did not speak with her the next morning. Rain crawled out of her tent, disassembled it, and prepared for a long day of marching across the desolate plain.

She was in a good mood because of having managed to tease her teacher successfully last night.

There was no need to do the survey work anymore, so the team moved west at a brisk pace. They were also familiar with the terrain, and could follow an optimal route instead of wandering aimlessly.

Of course, Tamar of Sorrow had been exaggerating a bit when she said that they would go in a straight line. The Moonriver Plain was within the borders of the Song Domain, but the only Citadel here was far to the south, at its very edge. And since there was nothing but the Hollow Mountains to the north, this land was wild and dangerous.

There were plenty of Nightmare Creatures here, and so, the survey team had to avoid the hunting grounds of the more dangerous abominations.

Still, they were making good progress.

The further west they went, the more canyons barred their path. By now, the members of the survey team were very familiar with crossing them, so much so that it had almost become a habit.

They would try to find the place where a stone bridge once stood, since the canyons were usually narrow there. The remains of the bridges also further narrowed the chasm.

Then, young Tamar would mount her wolf Echo and leap over the canyon while holding a rope. After fastening it on the other side, she would raise a simple pulley system.

The carts and equipment would be transported over the chasm first, and the people would follow. The whole process was a bit tiring, but not especially dangerous - even if the canyon started to wail and was suddenly flooded by rushing water, the ropes remained above the powerful current.

The porters just had to be careful not to look down.

The canyons were incredibly deep, their depths shrouded in inky darkness. Falling down meant death. The currents, however, were incredibly violent - so, falling into the water was not much safer.

The survey team reached another canyon and went through the familiar motions. This one was not very wide, but it was still going to take some effort to transport all the equipment to the other side, Rain, who was usually one of the last people to traverse the chasm, leaned on the cart she had been pulling and took a deep breath.

Since the crossing was monotonous, and they had already gone through the process countless times, It was easy to grow numb and allow one's mind to wander. However, even while presenting a relaxed facade, Rain still maintained vigilance. lіght\nоvel\world~c`о/m. She knew all too well that a moment of carelessness could mean death in the Dream Realm.

Which was why she was one of the first people to see it.

Tamar and her Echo were already on the other side, and the ropes were drawn across the chasm. The carts had been attached to the hooks and pulled over the canyon. Now, it was time for humans to follow.

There were three ropes - one for them to walk over, two to hold with their hands. Awakened Fleur was in the middle of crossing, and one of the survey specialists was waiting for his turn to follow.

However...

by something. It was the dead man

was just as empty and expressionless as ever. However, he had just turned his

She frowned.

always been passive and quiet. He never did anything

he

'Crap...'

there was movement in

swiped at the survey specialist. it's desiccated palm was the size of his entire body, and the vicious claws

Rain's eyes widened.

nick of time. The claws missed him by a hair's

did snap the three

"Fleur!"

tore apart the silence, but he was far away to

are you shouting about... she's an

fall into the canyon,

porters who were in real danger, because the enormous hand was

saved them wasn't a miracle, but the cold

the canyon, watching the others cross. She reacted at the first sign of danger. The Echo was standing guard further away, so she simply jumped

all

a Sleeper, and twice now that she had Awakened. The second Ability allowed her to burst with startling

was how Tamar crossed the canyon without the help of her

a leather-bound ricasso. Tamar was a young woman of medium height, so the great sword looked comically large in

her Awakened Ability again and shot forward, delivering a terrifying slash to the wrist of the hidden abomination's arm. Despite the fact that it was as thick as the trunk of

of an eye. At the same time, the hideous hand

on the ground... and continued moving, crawling toward the

"Ray!"

dashed to Intercept the hand,

Creature was already climbing

body and long, sinewy limbs. Its head was disproportionately

of all, it seemed to possess too

toward

was barely any time

warriors would never do in a battle - she jumped high into the air, dragging the great length of the brutish zweihander