Shadow Slave

Chapter 1800: Return to the Black Mountain Chapter 1800: Return to the Black Mountain

Sunny often thought about the slave caravan, but he never actually tried to learn more about the events that had transpired in the Nightmare.

He knew that they had happened at the dusk of the Golden Age, not long before the start of the Doom War. Back then, the gods had grown indifferent and distant, and the soldiers of an expansionist empire that worshipped War wiped out the Shadow cult, burning down all its temples.

However, he did not know much about that empire and the lands it had conquered. The history of the Dream Realm was overshadowed by the calamitous destruction of the Doom War, and while it was possible to learn a thing or two about the previous eras, the devastation had erased most traces of the last human civilizations.

So, Sunny had never actually expected to behold the Black Mountain again.

He stared at its distant peak in bewilderment. Then, a sense of subtle curiosity bloomed in his heart.

‘...Might as well take a look'

Sunny actually felt a hint of sentimentality.

Back then, it took the caravan days to scale the mountain pass, Sunny remembered the agony of walking up the mountain road vividly - the cold, the pain, the biting touch of the iron shackles that shredded his wrists. He had felt so tired and weak, not knowing if he would survive the cruel march.

Many of the slaves had not, and ended up being tossed off the cliff after falling into the snow.

It was a hard thing, to climb a mountain while hungry and on the verge of freezing.

Today, Sunny simply stepped into the shadows and appeared halfway up the slope.

Step, step, and another step.

Just like that, he was standing below the towering edifice of the Black Mountain.

Thousands of years had passed since the day the slave caravan was destroyed. The mountain road had already been old and crumbling back then now, no trace of it remained.

For a few moments, Sunny contemplated staying here for a while to find the old bones. He was curious to know what had actually happened to the nameless slave and Auro of the Nine. Had they escaped the Mountain King? Or had they perished?

He was quite certain that Auro had survived. But what about the young temple slave?

However, Sunny quickly dismissed that idea.

It would take him months, or maybe even years, to dig through the snow and find the traces of the caravan if any traces remained, Even then, there was no guarantee that he would be able to tell anything about the past from them.

So, with a sigh, Sunny looked up, at the peak of the Black Mountain.

The only place he could visit was the mysterious temple that had stood there, surrounded by bones.

But before that...

him from all sides. A moment later, the snow exploded, and hideous figures

slaughter was swift and

gauntlets of the Onyx Mantle to crush the abominations. He danced between them like an omen of death, coldly and methodically destroying

Until none remained.

snow was painted red by blood, and a fine crimson haze

‘Huh.'

the ground like a carpet. The creatures were hideous and appalling, resembling something that a mad artist would paint after waking up from a feverish nightmare, Most of them were Fallen Beasts and Monsters... and although he was sure

had subjugated a legion of Mountain King's Larvae in Antarctica not too long

much more powerful, they resembled the Larvae

Sunny smiled faintly.

I be reunited

wasn't dead, it would have grown much more

eradicated the most dangerous Nightmare Creatures in this area of the Dream Realm during their march north, and they would not have tolerated a powerful

Black Mountain, he would have been

step through the shadows and appeared directly on the peak of

for a while, looking ahead with an expression of awe on his pale

still there, under the moonlit

In the center of it, illuminated by moonlight, stood a magnificent temple. Its colossal columns and walls

least it did once. Now, the temple was in ruins: fractures and cracks marred the black stones, parts of the roof had collapsed, letting in ice and snow.

did not change at all. It was as if thousands of years had no effect

was that now, there were even more bones surrounding it. There were thousands of bones scattered around, carpeting the ground. Some belonged to

think of

so

Mountain King had devoured its victims? Somehow, Sunny doubted it.

No, before that.

this temple,

Sunny remembered Scholar mentioning that pilgrims used to climb the mountain in the ancient times. Who were these pilgrims, and what had

of the Shadow cult was a recent event during his First Nightmare... however, the temple looked as if it had been ruined thousands of years ago even

as an offering to all the

Stranger still...

still been alive at the time of the Nightmare. And yet, the Spell spoke of them

Sunny shivered.

the actual gods, and not a substitute of them put in place by the Spell?

Probably not.

so, what did it mean? And how had Shadow God

last part wasn't that surprising. The gods were the ones who had created things like time and death, after all. So, it wasn't strange to Imagine that they had a special relationship with these laws, A god could very well respond to