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Chapter 2378: Eerie Clues
Shadow Slave

The only witness - Slayer - was not talking, but Sunny had some other clues, as well. His own state, for example.

Quite a lot of his essence was gone. Not only that, but he could not summon any of his shades, which meant that they all had been destroyed in the battle and were currently repairing themselves.

The Shadow Wolf and its pack, the Obsidian Wasps, and Abundance. 'Had I actually implemented the shade augmentation strategy?' It was possible.

But had he implemented it against the adversary… or against one of his companions? There was no answer to that, although Sunny doubted that either Slayer or Kai could have survived his assault.

The three Snow figures were dead, and he was missing an arm. So… unless it was Kai who had bitten it off in his dragon form, Sunny was inclined to believe that he had clashed with the Cursed Demon and the two Monsters, instead.

He glanced at Kai peculiarly. Kai noticed it and forced out a smile. "What?"

Sunny lingered for a while, then shook his head. "Nothing. Just wondering how sharp your teeth are?"

Kai touched his lips, then blinked a couple of times and looked away.

The problem was that the shades of the three Snow abominations were not in Sunny's soul. Which meant that, although they were dead, he had not killed them - and neither had Slayer. So how the hell had they died?

Sunny folded the wings he had manifested and landed on a rock outcropping at the edges of the lake of lava - too close to the misty shore of the sea of clouds to feel comfortable. Kai landed nearby, and the two of them stared at the enormous corpse in front of them.

Or rather, a half of it. The Cursed Monster was unmistakably dead. It was an indescribable monstrosity that was vaguely humanoid in form, with myriad eyes littering the malformed dome of its grotesque head. It had a gaunt, pale torso and too many arms, each ending in a set of traumatic claws… as for the lower part of his body, there was no saying how it looked. It was missing. Sunny could swear that the detestable face of the fallen deity had frozen in a grimace of horror.

He glanced at Kai and shivered. "Any idea how it died?"

Kai remained silent for a moment, then said stiffly: "Well, I am pretty sure that it died from being torn in half." That was pretty indisputable logic.

…Well, actually, it wasn't. A Cursed Monster would not have been killed by something as mundane as being torn in half. Neither would it have been terrified in its last seconds.

Feeling a cold shiver run down his spine, Sunny forced out a pale smile. "Are there soul shards inside?"

Kai nodded slowly. "I see one. But, if you don't mind… I'd prefer it if we don't try to dig it out just yet."

Sunny scoffed, then grimaced and pressed a hand against his wounds. "Yeah. Let's not, just yet."

There was another corpse they had to take a look at, almost exactly on the other side of the shattered volcano. Flying there took them a little bit of time, and when they reached the colossal remains, Sunny just stared at them with a peculiar expression.

The second corpse… had turned out to not be the second corpse. Instead, it was the lower half of the Cursed Monster they had already investigated. There was no explanation as to how it ended up all the way on the opposite side of the lake of lava, and no additional clues as to how the creature had died. Neither was there any trace left of the second Cursed Monster. It had simply vanished, as if it had never existed at all… just like the Snow Demon had.

Maybe their bodies had drowned in the lava, maybe they had fallen into the sea of clouds. Possibly they had simply ceased to exist for some unknown reason. Anything could have happened, really.

Sunny took a shaky breath. "Let's… let's explore more. We might find something else."

And so they did.

In truth, he did not really hope to find more clues. He simply wanted to get away from the mangled remains of the Cursed Monster and do something to occupy his rattled mind. Sunny and Kai spent some time exploring the lake of lava. They studied the eerie, half-formed sculptures of volcanic rock protruding from it here and there. Being close to them gave both an eerie and unpleasant feeling, so they proceeded to investigate the shores of the lake instead.

Eventually, they did find something.

"Well, what would you know?" Sunny landed on a small island of cooled lava and looked down incredulously.

He seemed to have found his missing arm. It was still encased in the black carapace of the Jade Mantle, laying in the middle of a vast web of cracks that stretched from one edge of the small isle to another. The hand was missing a couple of fingers, but those that remained were still clenched into a fist.

His severed hand was holding onto something. Sunny crouched near it and tried to pick up an impossibly thin piece of torn string that protruded from the mangled fist. He failed at first, and only succeeded after putting some Will into his touch.

The string was infinitely fine, but also unbelievably durable, almost impossible to tear or cut. It resembled a single thread of black silk, or maybe a single string of a frightening spider web. All he knew was that at some point in the past two days, he had lost an arm while trying to cut that thread.

Looking at Kai, Sunny remained silent for a while, and then asked in a subdued tone: "So… what do you think happened to us?"

Kai's expression was deeply disturbed. He shook his head faintly, then said quietly: "I don't know."

Sunny let out a long sigh. "Well, I have a couple of ideas."

But really, he was in complete darkness, just as full of doubt as Kai.

That Cursed Demon… it must have been some kind of Mind Demon, if such things existed at all. Whatever Kai beheld on the snowy mountain might have been simply its vessel, while the Demon itself might have been a being of neither flesh nor spirit. It might have been like an idea, instead.

At least that was what Sunny imagined after witnessing all these unexplainable things. In any case, Sunny and Kai had fallen under the influence of the Demon… had maybe become its new vessels, even. They would have been simply debilitated at first, then fully taken once the morning of the attack came. Slayer must have restrained them before that, but that was as much as she could do.

How had she defeated the Demon and the two Monsters, then? Sunny did not know.

He vaguely suspected that the strings Kai had seen were how the Snow Tyrant controlled the rest of its figures. So, by severing one of those strings, Sunny must have liberated one of the abominations - the Cursed Demon itself, possibly - from under the Tyrant's control. Which meant that he had been resisting whatever had happened to him at least to some degree. Maybe?

He must have.

And then…

There was no knowing what had happened then. Possibly the Demon itself had killed the Monsters. Maybe Slayer had somehow incited and dodged it until the sun rose above the horizon.

If the Demon had failed to eliminate the Ash figures and stayed on a black square after the end of its move… Who knew what could have become of it?

Nobody did. It was a complete mystery, and a frightening one, at that.

Sunny was in pain, tired, and deeply disturbed. He did not even want to admit how disturbed he was - it was to the point that missing an arm seemed a minor thing in comparison.

Picking up his arm from the stone, he turned and glanced at Kai with a somewhat lost expression. "You know… I have never lost a limb before. This is a first."

Kai smiled weakly. "Really? I would have thought…"

Sunny shook his head. He wanted to add something like "well, unless you count the head as a limb", but remained silent instead. He was not in the mood for that.

Eventually, he said in a concerned tone: "Really. I guess… we've won, though? Should we be happy?"

Kai did not answer.

Sunny did not speak for a while, either.

Somehow, this particular victory - if it could even be called that - made him feel more troubled than any defeat.

Shadow Slave
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Comments 171

  1. Online Offline
    Intrepid_Reader1
    + 54 ⋅ 0 -
    ',Where did my arm go?'


    Weaver could relate
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    1. Offline
      Sumer
      + 7 ⋅ 0 -
      Oh damnnn crazy parallel!!!
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  2. Offline
    Bha
    + 5 ⋅ 0 -
    2385 Untainted Spirit

    Sunny concluded that the Rat King couldn't simply be a mob of brainless pests — he had fought swarms of monsters before, and they bore no resemblance to the foe he confronted now. The creature he was battling was truly a horde, but one directed by a singular Will.



    This suggested there existed a lone source of that Will — the root of the countless army of twisted rats that craved to consume Slayer in wild hunger. Even if there hadn't been, the Snow Tyrant would have imposed it upon the Rat King...



    After all, it required some means to command the Snow Beast figure, and Sunny doubted his opponent could freely generate an infinite number of invisible threads to dominate each separate rat.



    Therefore, he had theorized that a single thread would exist, linked to one specific rat. That rat was the leader of the Rat Legion, concealed somewhere in the terrible ocean of crawling vermin — the conduit through which the Snow Tyrant commanded the Cursed Beast, as well as its origin.



    Locating one rat among millions seemed like an impossible challenge... it was far more difficult than finding a needle in a haystack, to put it mildly. After all, neither the needle nor the haystack was meant to shift, much less writhe and churn in insane bloodthirst on the shaking slopes of a collapsing mountain.



    But if anyone could achieve that goal, it was Kai.



    He had been the first among them to detect the presence of the invisible threads, after all. Sunny himself wasn't even certain he was able to perceive them — but Kai could.



    And while he wasn't able to distinguish the original rat from its countless siblings, he could spot a glimpse of the Snow Tyrant's thread again. And then... he could trace it to the target.



    That was how Sunny planned to turn his enemy's own strength against them.



    The issue, naturally...



    Was that he and Slayer needed to survive long enough for Kai to accomplish his task.



    And that wasn't merely challenging, but also grew increasingly harder with every passing second.



    Slayer was like a black tempest, racing across the mountain in a whirlwind of gore and shredded meat. She had always been a formidable presence in the past — a wicked, menacing force — but now that she was enhanced by shadows and ash, brandishing enchanted blades crafted by the Sovereign of Death himself, her freezing malevolence was simply magnificent to witness.



    The mountain was completely blanketed by the swarming rats, so Slayer could only exist in the aftermath of incredible carnage. She had to cut a route for herself with her severing weapon, and when that wasn't sufficient, she had to flee into the small pockets of temporary safety created by Kai's devastating bombardment. Sunny directed her through the shadows, matching the frantic rhythm of the horrifying battle.



    The slaughter was beyond imagination. The vision of it all — the scarlet glow of the sunset, the dark writhing barriers of vermin closing around them like landslides, the clouds of fine red mist floating on the breeze — was unbelievable.



    The sound, however, was the most terrible — the ear-splitting, thunderous symphony of noises produced by the multitude of maddened rats was revolting, shocking, and completely beyond description... especially since Slayer's hearing was extraordinarily acute, able to detect the sound of a needle falling many kilometers distant.



    It reached the point where Sunny believed he was experiencing delusions, hearing a buzz of insane voices emerging from the rustle of countless vermin rushing to tear his Shadow to pieces. Those voices weren't voices, and the words they uttered weren't words... and yet, somehow, he could still dimly comprehend them, at least occasionally.



    "Starving... starving... we are starving... we are... starvation..."



    That was what he imagined he heard, echoed countless times by the countless frenzied voices, until it became meaningless.



    Slayer moved without pause, weaving through the spaces between the tendrils of the swarm that sought to devour her. Her movements were quick and elegant, but the destruction she unleashed was completely savage, gradually staining the entire mountain red. Sunny was horrified by the ghastly extent of the violence she was committing... but simultaneously, he found himself being fascinated by it.



    It was truly a pleasure, to observe a master performing what they excelled at — to experience it all as they were experiencing it, feeling each stride, muscle tension, and vibration of the blade.



    He was quite accustomed to Slayer's combat style by now, and yet, he had never felt her exerting herself like this before. Now that Sunny had the front row to the dark performance of it all, he could detect more subtle details about how his Shadow wielded her weapon.



    There was a certain... honesty to how Slayer fought. He had observed how pure her emotion appeared, and that purity translated to her every action. There was no deception, no hesitation to her grim dance — just honest, pure, and unwavering determination to wound, mutilate, and destroy.



    This wasn't to say that Slayer's combat style was crude or simple — quite the opposite. It was nothing less than beautiful.



    She was just committed completely to her every gesture without reserving anything.



    Her purpose and her deeds were perfectly aligned.



    It was an unusual state of existence, one that was foreign to Sunny... and would be to most humans, as well. After all, humans possessed countless thoughts and countless experiences. Such a level of focused certainty was impossible for most, if not all, and would only be damaging otherwise.



    But Slayer made it function. In fact, she made it function magnificently.



    The honesty of her determination influenced how effectively she could employ the Will, as well. Since no obstacle existed between her purpose and her actions, nothing was lost in translation — as a consequence, she could accomplish far more with far less, displaying a level of efficiency and effectiveness that Sunny found remarkable.



    She employed the Will with incredible skill.



    That was why Slayer and Sunny were still breathing, and relatively unharmed.



    Nevertheless...



    With every second that elapsed, the swarm expanded.



    The routes Slayer carved in the mass of squirming rats grew thinner, the time the openings existed grew briefer, and the barriers of vermin surrounding them grew higher.



    Sunny wasn't certain how much longer they would be able to endure before the Rat King buried them under its disgusting mass.



    'Come on, Kai...'
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    1. Offline
      Bha
      + 2 ⋅ 0 -
      2386 Vermin Sprint

      When the conclusion arrived, it arrived abruptly.


      Slayer was sprinting through an opening between two floods of pests, her blade whistling as it moved at tremendous velocity, cutting apart individual rats who had succeeded in leaping at her from the churning mass of their companions.



      The corridor she had carved was about to vanish, and no retreat was possible — Kai was delayed with his next shot, so no pocket of refuge had been formed by a devastating blast.



      Slayer was already channeling essence into her weapon, preparing to trigger its enchantment right after using it just a moment before — it was inefficient and risky, but their options were limited.



      It was then that Sunny detected a compressed and crushing mass of barely restrained energy hurtling toward them from behind at horrific speed.



      Nearly simultaneously, he perceived a rapid shadow soaring across the obsidian bridge... the shadow of a projectile.



      In the following instant, the arrow blazed overhead and struck the mountain near the summit.



      There was no blazing explosion, this time...



      But what happened next was orders of magnitude more devastating.



      The mountain quaked as an incredible amount of concussive energy and noise was discharged instantly. Countless rats were immediately crushed by the annihilating shockwave, transforming into a scarlet mist. Beyond that, no pocket of safety was formed on the incline this time — instead, the unbreakable stone simply fractured, and massive tons of it were hurled high into the atmosphere.



      The geyser of broken stone stretched into the heavens, widening as it climbed.



      Then came the thunderous boom of the impact and the mighty tremors that caused several portions of the cracked slope to crumble.



      The devastation near the summit was far worse, though.



      Actually, the entire summit was destroyed, collapsing under its own mass and tumbling down. A tremendous rockslide transformed the western side of the mountain into a scene of chaotic ruin, rolling clouds of debris blocking the sight as countless rats were flattened and entombed under the massive stones.



      Then, the wreckage that had been launched into the sky descended, crushing even more.



      ...That was the outcome of Kai using the final enchantment of the Supreme bow Sunny had forged for him — the proven and reliable [Death Dealer], modified to incorporate his newest understanding of weaving.



      Kai must have channeled most of his essence into this single shot, sending his most lethal arrow flying.



      And there was only one explanation he would have done that.



      Sunny wanted to smile.



      The destruction of the mountain's summit, the countless rats destroyed by the initial strike and the rockslide that followed... all of it was merely a byproduct. Kai's real target was one rat — the origin of the Rat King.



      He must have discovered the invisible thread and followed it to the source rat's location.



      After that, his mission was straightforward... he had to strike that single moving rat among a million identical pests, from dozens of kilometers distance. What could have been easier than that?



      And he succeeded.



      Sunny was certain of it, because he could already detect the swarm's behavior shifting.



      His heart was filled with savage joy.



      The first transformation was somewhat subtle and difficult to explain. The rats weren't confused, and the Will of the swarm didn't weaken in its terrible, overwhelming power — but it became more chaotic and uncontrolled, abandoning all semblance of direction. That was because the rat swarm had broken free from Snow Tyrant's dominion.



      The second transformation was far more significant, though.



      It only took Sunny a moment to notice that something was missing. And when he focused on that glaring absence, he understood that no fresh rats had emerged to replace the ones destroyed by the rockslide.



      With the death of its creator, the swarm stopped its endless expansion. The Rat King was Rat King no longer... now, it was simply a massive horde of famished abominations.



      And these nightmare beasts were already beginning to consume each other.



      Sunny spent a heartbeat watching the terrifying sight of countless rats attacking each other to tear each other to shreds.



      Maybe if this was permitted to persist, if all the innumerable rats were allowed a chance to devour each other... then, at the conclusion, a new Rat King would have emerged. A single horrific creature who had fed on the meat of its relatives, and absorbed the essence of the entire swarm to become the source of a new rat pestilence.



      But Sunny and Slayer were present to stop that from occurring.



      Well... primarily Slayer.



      'Go on! Move!'



      She didn't make Sunny request twice.



      Before the violent tremors rocking the mountain could stop, and long before the dust of the massive rockslide settled, Slayer had already resumed her savage massacre. She was almost joyful, butchering vast sections of the rabid vermin with each elegant sweep of her blade.



      This time, the openings carved in the swarm by her weapon sealed much slower. And after a while, they didn't seal at all.



      Soon enough, Kai joined them, too. He arrived in the form of a dragon, scorching the slopes of the mountain with the sonic blasts of his eerie songs.



      The sun was rapidly sinking behind the horizon, and the mountain was groaning, barely sustaining its own weight — after all, the rats had chewed on it in their hunger, consuming its foundation.



      Sunny, Slayer, and Kai were competing against time.



      There were too many rats to eliminate, some of them trapped under the stone wreckage, but still breathing. Perhaps they would have failed to wipe every single one of them out, but fortunately, Kai's sight could pierce the slopes of the mountain, while Sunny's shadow sense could encompass the mountain entirely.



      In the end, he detached himself from Slayer and released his essence outward, creating countless shadows to finish off the remaining survivors.



      And then, just before the sun vanished behind the horizon, Sunny finally heard it...



      [You have slain an enemy.]



      Releasing a long breath, he settled on the ground and looked west.



      The fight against the Cursed Beast, the Rat King, was finished.



      They triumphed.
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      1. Offline
        Bha
        + 1 ⋅ 1 -
        Slightly modified with AI ...
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  3. Offline
    menlinks
    + 1 ⋅ 1 -
    Chapter 2380 Changing Balance

    By dawn, Sunny's bones had mended, and his arm was not at risk of dropping off anymore. That said, he could not really use it yet, so it just dangled weakly at his side.

    There was also the issue of the missing fingers. Unlike the arm itself, he had never located them — so, the fingers would have to develop on their own, which was not going to be a quick or comfortable process.

    Of course, if Sunny managed to escape from Ariel's Game early, Nephis would cure him in no time…

    The issue was that he had a far greater chance of never exiting this odd place at all.

    As the sun revealed itself from beyond the skyline, three new Snow figures did, indeed, move to fill the surrounding peaks.

    Both Sunny and Kai felt nervous about scouting their enemies, considering what had occurred the last time they tried, but they had little option — going into combat blindly was a far worse possibility.

    So, Sunny gathered his courage and asked Kai to take a peek.

    This time, his friend stayed quiet for far longer than usual. When he finally turned to Sunny, there was a very odd expression on his face.

    Sunny scowled, not liking it one bit.

    "What?"

    Kai paused for a few moments.

    "Listen, Sunny… before I say anything… I feel that I need to mention that I have nothing…"

    Sunny pressed his lips.

    "Stop delaying. Out with it!"

    Kai cleared his throat, then gestured at the northern peak.

    "Well. There is no other way to put it. But there's… there's a dragon on that hill."

    Sunny blinked a couple of times, staring at his friend in shock.

    After a few moments, he asked calmly:

    "A dragon?"

    Kai nodded.

    "Yeah… it's a white dragon. It's very gorgeous, actually."

    Sunny stared at him some more.freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

    "Are you mocking me?"

    Kai laughed nervously.

    "No. Why would I joke about something like this?"

    Sunny raised a shaking hand and tugged on his hair.

    "No, seriously? What the hell is this… how come… listen here, you!"

    He raised pointed an accusing finger at Kai.

    "Let me tell you, I've been around the Dream Realm and back! And never — not once! — have I encountered a dragon without you around. What are you, a dragon magnet? How the hell are you drawing all these dragons, bastard?!"

    Kai coughed a couple of times.

    "Calm down, please. Well… true, people call me the Dragonslayer, and I have an Attribute of that name. But if you think about it, technically, I only ever met one dragon.

    The other one was myself, so that doesn't really count. So… you can't blame me for this dragon, alright? I have no control over where dragons decide to appear, or why…"

    Sunny stared at him with doubt.

    It couldn't be a coincidence, could it? Every time there was a dragon, Kai was somewhere nearby.

    Granted, the same could be said about most members of the cohort, since they were usually in the same place. Still!

    'Damn Dragonslayer…'

    Sunny let out a long breath, then winced and decided to let it go.

    "...What about the other two peaks?"

    Kai gestured to the eastern peak.

    "That peak… seems to be overrun with rats. I can't count how many of them are there, because there are too many.

    The whole mountain is crawling with them, and they seem to be… devouring the mountain."

    Sunny raised an eyebrow.

    "How in the world… actually, never mind. And the last one?"

    Kai hesitated, but chose not to point to the southern peak. In fact, he did not even glance at it again.

    "There is someone we've already seen on the mountain to the south. It's the Devil from the tree… the one who looks like a human, or at least human-shaped.

    It knows we are watching."

    He paused for a moment, then added:

    "The dragon seems to be a Devil, too. The rats are a Cursed Beast… the entire horde of them feels like a single entity."

    Sunny remained quiet, thinking.

    A Cursed Devil to the north, a Cursed Devil to the south, and a Cursed Beast to the east. Things looked quite grim.

    He was barely in a condition to fight, and most of his shades could not be summoned yet. Slayer was in a rough state, too… her situation was worse than his, really.

    Just like Sunny, she could not move one of her arms, which meant that she could not draw her bow.

    There was a day left before the three Cursed nightmare creatures descended upon the Shrine of Truth. The odds would not be any better tomorrow, either.

    Kai looked at him anxiously.

    "How are we going to repel this assault?"

    Sunny lingered for a while, then smiled.

    "Well, the answer is simple."

    He looked at Kai and shrugged, wincing from the pain of his damaged arm moving up and down.

    "We won't."

    As Kai looked at him silently, Sunny shook his head.

    "I am not battling two Cursed Devils and a Cursed Beast. So, instead of waiting for them to come…"

    He looked east.

    "We will strike, instead."

    He had come to the Shrine of Truth to make his warriors stronger. And he accomplished just that — with the jade figures in his possession, Slayer and Kai would receive the third ash enhancement.

    As long as his Will empowered them, that would make them as deadly as any Great Nightmare Creature.

    More than that, his army — as long as it was given time to repair itself — now consisted of two Sacred shades and two groups of Great Shades.

    The Snow Tyrant, meanwhile, only had two Devils and one Beast left. It was actually at a disadvantage in terms of pure numbers.

    What a shocking reversal it was, considering its overwhelming numerical advantage at the start.

    More importantly, the Snow Tyrant had to send all of the figures that had been protecting it into battle. Which meant that it was almost defenseless.

    So, there was no point in staying in the Shrine of Truth anymore. Sunny had the enemy where he wanted.

    Breathing deeply, he summoned the few Obsidian Wasps that had already repaired themselves and sent them off to dig out soul shards from the remains of the dead Cursed Monster.

    Then, he turned to Kai.

    "Prepare yourself. We'll be battling another god in the evening."

    It was time to do some rat hunting.

    'Thank the gods!'

    ...He would finally have something to eat.

    Shadow Slave
    Chapter 2381 Final Hunt
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    Chapter 2381 Final Hunt

    It was the depth of night when Sunny and Kai returned to the temple. Slayer was still resting, so he simply placed one of the jade figurines next to her and gave the other one to Kai.

    The last one, though… that final one, he kept to himself.

    The Shrine was angled and drowning in lava, so placing the figures on the altar was an awkward task. Still, Kai could fly, so it did not pose much of a problem.

    As the third ring of ash was forming around his soul core, Sunny left once again, threw a cautious look at the eerie sculptures rising from the lake of lava, and made his sacrifice.

    This was going to be the final truth he would learn before killing the Snow Tyrant. They were going to leave the Shrine of Truth in a few hours, which meant that even if another abomination fell to their blades, he would only be able to make another offering after conquering the Snow Castle — if it was similar to the castle of Ash.

    Sunny was not sure what would happen after the Tyrant died, so there was even a possibility that this was going to be the final truth he would receive as a reward in this cursed game.

    He took a deep breath.

    The figure of the Snow Demon drowned in the lava, and Sunny found himself somewhere else once again. But this truth was unlike the rest.

    Sunny was in agony.

    His shadowy body was being devoured alive by a terrible curse, his hidden mind was being consumed by savage illusions.

    His heart was being torn apart by indescribable terror, and his very spirit was shattered, his will and desire to live stripped from it by a merciless hand.

    There was no comfort for him, no relief. No choice but to die.

    And yet, he refused to. He stumbled, walking across the sand with unsteady steps, surrounded by darkness.

    Somewhere above, the black sky shimmered with the light of countless silver stars, but their pale radiance was not enough to illuminate the shadowy valley, let alone warm his mangled, freezing body.

    Blood was flowing out of his mouth, spilling through the fangs of his mask as it shone with a beautiful golden light… with the light of divinity. Radiant blood was flowing out of the wounds covering his body, too, soaking the fabric of his dark mantle.

    Step. Step. Another step.

    Sunny was running out of steps he was destined to make. There were only a few left.

    "Aahhhh…"

    A moan slipped from his lips, its subtle sound distorted by the mask. Then, another sound came.

    The sound of leaves rustling under the foot of a predator. The sound of graceful wings parting the night sky.

    The sound of an arrow piercing the fabric of fate.

    The arrowhead struck him in the neck, and he was thrown to the ground. Sunny fell to his knees, the drops of golden blood shining like precious gems on the sand.

    Raising a hand, he grasped the smooth black wood of the arrow's shaft — not too different from the polished wooden surface of his mask — and pulled the arrow out, shattering it in his grip.

    The steady hand of the archer who had sent the arrow flying was much too weak to harm a being such as him. It only managed to pierce his flesh because there had already been a wound there, on his neck, left by a far more terrifying foe.

    The arrow was of no consequence… The legendary poison smeared on its tip, however, was anything but.

    It was a poison that was not supposed to exist in the world anymore, and yet, here it was. A freezing cold spread through his body with alarming speed.

    Then, it invaded his soul, his mind, and his spirit. Suddenly, Sunny felt weak.

    He even found it difficult to keep his eyes open. His broken body trembled.

    Cold, cold. He was cold, and alone.

    He was going to die alone, unwitnessed… just like he had lived. No one would even remember that he existed at all.

    Death was approaching.

    It came in the sound of soft steps, taking the shape of a woman who walked quietly out from the darkness.

    The woman wore battered dark armor and a veil that covered her beautiful face, her long, luxurious hair tied into a braid. The starlit night cast a deep shadow onto her, but he could see her cold eyes clearly.

    He could see his reflection in them, too. A shadowy figure shrouded by a tattered mantle, a mask of black polished wood covering its face.

    He was Weaver, the Demon of Fate. The mighty, terrible daemon…

    That mighty daemon was now kneeling in front of a mortal huntress.

    A muffled laugh escaped from the daemon's lips, made strange and elusive by the mask.

    "You Nine… ah, how we despise you…"

    The Demon of Fate knew the endless despair of struggling against Fate better than anyone else. The Nine were nothing but pitiful mortals, but they were also destined.

    Their lives were a convergence of fate. To anyone else, they would seem tiny and pitiful, no more than vermin… but to Weaver, who could see the great tapestry of fate, their figures towered like those of giants, looming above, oppressing Weaver with their crushing weight.

    The woman looked down at the daemon silently. The daemon smiled behind the mask.

    "It was your doing, wasn't it? Oh, what a wicked trap you set for us. We have escaped our siblings… but it seems that we've failed to escape you, in the end."

    The daemon knew the woman well. She had been stalking Weaver for a long time, this mortal with a pure soul.

    Sometimes, she came as a beast. Sometimes, she came as a huntress. The daemon had not seen her moving stealthily across the realms, enduring battle after battle all in order to grow stronger… but they had felt her figure growing closer and closer in the tapestry of fate, constricting them like a serpent.

    Until they could not move at all, and there was nowhere to go. Finally, the woman spoke.

    The daemon had thought that her voice would be triumphant, but it was simply tired.

    "I know what you are."

    The daemon was tired, too.

    "If you know what we are, then you know what destroying us means. There is a price that has to be paid for slaying a daemon.

    Are you prepared to pay that price?"

    The woman did not answer. The daemon let out a long, sorrowful sigh.

    "You know nothing, child. You poor girl... it is too late. Please forgive me, if you can."

    The woman unsheathed her sword then and plunged it into the daemon's chest in one fluid, swift motion.

    There was no hesitation in her strike, and no mercy. That shadowy figure fell to the ground, lifeless.

    The black mask stared blindly at the starlit sky, then fell apart into a hurricane of sparks. The huntress sighed deeply and looked at the sky.

    At long last, her task was finished. She swayed lightly and raised a hand, touching her veil in confusion.

    Her lips moved subtly, producing a barely audible whisper.

    "…What task?"
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    1. Offline
      saagar
      + 2 ⋅ 0 -
      hey we have these can u post chapter 2385
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  4. Offline
    menlinks
    + 2 ⋅ 1 -
    Chapter 2379 Point of No Return

    Sunny had never discovered any solutions.

    The puzzle of the Snow Demon stayed unresolved, and he suspected that he might never learn what that being had been and what it had done to him and his allies. Perhaps they would encounter each other again, someday, in the shadowy depths of the Shadow Realm.

    But since Sunny did not even know what the strange Demon had appeared like — or if it had even appeared like anything at all — they would not identify each other. So, he could only comfort himself with the fact that the mysterious horror was dead.

    Dejected, Sunny and Kai went back to the Shrine of Truth.

    Slayer was still resting against the stone atop the angled pillar, apparently sleeping… Sunny had never witnessed a Shadow sleep before, so she must have been truly drained by what happened during the two lost days. He could call her back into the protective darkness of his soul, but that would mean not being able to call her again until her injuries were completely healed.

    And that was a luxury he could not afford right now.

    After all, three more Snow figures were going to encircle the Shrine of Truth come dawn — most probably. Now, there were only five of them remaining on the board: two Beasts, two Devils, and the Tyrant itself.

    So, at least one of the three figures was probably going to be a Devil.

    Sunny shut his eyes, suddenly conscious of just how bruised and damaged his body was. He was lacking an arm, damn it…

    Well, actually, he wasn't lacking it anymore. He had located his arm, it was just not connected to his body.

    '...That's somewhat amusing.'

    Clenching his teeth, Sunny banished the Jade Mantle and the replacement arm he had created from the shadows. Then, he pushed the cut arm to the torn stump and swore quietly, focusing on managing the flow of his blood.

    Kai watched him with a curious expression.

    "What are you attempting?"

    Sunny glanced at him and grinned darkly. "Trying to regrow an arm."

    In reality, even some Saints could regenerate missing parts of their bodies — it just required a lot of time. Supremes were even more resilient, but Sunny naturally did not have much knowledge into how long it would take a Sovereign to regrow a limb... there was simply no information on that matter.

    He recovered a lot quicker than most due to the Blood Weave, but still, reattaching a severed arm was going to waste much less time than growing an entirely new one. Plus… he was fond of his arms.

    They had experienced a lot with him.

    "I need both hands for cooking, you know? As well as for... other activities..."

    His effort to brighten the mood failed.

    After that, neither Sunny nor Kai talked for a while. Both felt discouraged.

    They might have survived the fight, but it was not due to their ability or work. It was not even due to fortune… there was simply no reason for why they were still alive, which meant that they were only alive by chance.

    Eventually, Kai breathed out.

    "I don't know why I am shocked."

    Sunny lifted an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

    Kai paused for a while, then smiled weakly.

    "I guess it is because of you and Nephis. The two of you have a tendency of making the impossible appear normal. You are strong beyond logic, and the way both of you think is beyond logic too.

    So, sometimes, it is simple to forget that the things you do are not logical. They are not normal at all."

    He moved his head.

    "It is not normal to defeat a god. In fact, it is completely unreasonable to even attempt fighting a god — especially an ancient, evil, corrupted one. And yet, that is what we have been doing ever since entering the weird realm, isn't it?

    Not only that, but we've even managed to destroy several of those fallen deities. You appeared to take it in stride, so at some point, I found myself believing that that was how things were meant to be.

    But, Sunny…"

    Kai became quiet for a few moments, then looked at him with a small frown.

    "They're not. No matter how strong we are, these beings are still Cursed Ones. They are former gods… they are actual beings of legends.

    The frightening and disturbing kind of legends. So, I shouldn't have been shocked when something like that occurred. Actually, it is a wonder that something like that had not occurred sooner."

    Sunny frowned, not entirely sure how to reply.

    "Are you trying to say that I am careless?"

    Kai moved his head. "No… not really.

    Being careless means that you have a choice between security and risk, and we weren't really given a choice, were we? It is not like the Cursed Ones would not have hunted for us if we stayed motionless, here in this damned place."

    He breathed out.

    "What I am trying to say is that, maybe, encountering that Snow Demon was a bit of fortune. It gave us a warning that beings like that are beyond our level… so much so that we cannot even comprehend them, let alone fight them.

    Well, some of them, at least. Every foe we face can be our final. And what would you know?

    We managed to receive that warning without perishing. That's a good thing."

    Sunny examined him for a while, then agreed slowly.

    Kai was correct. Sunny had done well facing Great Nightmare Creatures, so he assumed that battling against Cursed Ones would not feel much different now that he was a Supreme.

    But really, every single one of them was an opponent he could not afford to undervalue.

    In fact, he had been fortunate not to encounter any truly dangerous Great horrors, probably because most of the ones he had killed came from the jungles of Godgrave. In the Dream Realm, they were on the younger side, and not as evil as those great terrors that had been roaming its awful reaches since the times of the Doom War.

    And Cursed Nightmare Creatures were on an entirely different level, as far as evil was concerned.

    Kai breathed out.

    "I also understood… that you were correct."

    Sunny looked at him with a silent inquiry.

    Kai stayed quiet for a moment, then spoke in a serious tone:

    "Before all this began, you told me that a couple of Supremes would not be able to guard humanity, and that becoming Sacred was the only path for you and Nephis. You appear so incredibly powerful to me, so out of reach... so, I did not take it seriously enough.

    But now I see now that you were correct. The Cursed Ones are already this frightening, and I don't even want to picture what Unholy Nightmare Creatures are capable of.

    I am not sure that I can. So, there is indeed only one path — forward. Whether we want it or not."

    Sunny stared at him for a bit, his expression unreadable.

    'A warning, huh?'

    Then, he winced and swore loudly.

    Kai jumped.

    "Oh… I'm sorry. Was I too bold?"

    Sunny clenched his teeth and shook his head.

    "No, it's just… I think my nerves are reconnecting…"

    He could suddenly sense his missing arm again…

    And while being reunited with it felt amazing, it also hurt like hell
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  5. Offline
    TonioMondaya
    + 0 ⋅ 0 -
    We're cooked yall
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    1. Offline
      Susoman Patra
      + 5 ⋅ 0 -
      Even if i have to search every day for new leakers i ain't gonna buy that over the top costing privilege on webnovel shi costs 1k a month just 1 f#cking month that money is equal to 8 penguin classics or entire kingkiller chronicle
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  6. Offline
    Ahmed bahey
    + 1 ⋅ 0 -
    Its becoming more intense
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    TheFaze
    + 2 ⋅ 0 -
    There is someone who can recommend an alternative site for <Shadow Slave>.
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    1. Offline
      ArMiks
      + 0 ⋅ 0 -
      Check my post below my friend
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  8. Offline
    Bastard Son of Fate
    + 1 ⋅ 0 -
    Ln pub got shutdown and now Ranobes isnt uploading these chapters hmmm
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    1. Offline
      Susoman Patra
      + 2 ⋅ 0 -
      Prob cause webnovel is now getting stricter with laws and since they can track the pirates theyre taking action directly
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      1. Offline
        Bastard Son of Fate
        + 1 ⋅ 0 -
        Alr well hopefully ranobes doesn’t get shutdown
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      Crimsonmoon47c
      + 0 ⋅ 0 -
      Are there any other sites where ss latest chapter is available
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      1. Offline
        Bastard Son of Fate
        + 0 ⋅ 0 -
        I don’t know any
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      2. Offline
        Susoman Patra
        + 0 ⋅ 1 -
        Comment section has plus //
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  9. Offline
    ArMiks
    + 10 ⋅ 0 -
    Guys there are some interesting stuff in the place where novels are binned. Just thought some might wanna see
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    1. Offline
      musokeal
      + 0 ⋅ 1 -
      Why thank you my good sir
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    2. Offline
      Susoman Patra
      + 0 ⋅ 0 -
      I dont understand what bin? Any one please explain
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    3. Offline
      Mahito Musashi
      + 0 ⋅ 0 -
      Where is it?
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    4. Offline
      ArMiks
      + 0 ⋅ 0 -
      my friends look for the italicized ones
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      1. Offline
        saunorine
        + 0 ⋅ 0 -
        novel bin's Shadow Slave page is 404'd...
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        1. Offline
          ArMiks
          + 0 ⋅ 0 -
          i tried it as well, and you're right. but i tried it again while logged in and it worked
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          1. Offline
            saunorine
            + 0 ⋅ 0 -
            just made a throwaway acc on bin, still 404'd :/
            they have todays 2 chaps?
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            1. Offline
              ArMiks
              + 0 ⋅ 1 -
              yes. i just checked again just now and it's still ok for me tho
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              1. Offline
                BK201
                + 0 ⋅ 0 -
                Tell me what happens in these chapters. naif
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                1. Offline
                  ArMiks
                  + 1 ⋅ 0 -
                  SPOILER ALERT!! brief summary 2385-2386

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                2. Offline
                  BK201
                  + 0 ⋅ 0 -
                  THANKS
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  10. Offline
    Susoman Patra
    + 1 ⋅ 0 -
    Guilty please post the chapters its 4 am already butwhy
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    1. Offline
      Bastard Son of Fate
      + 0 ⋅ 0 -
      G3 already has been posting chapters, its ranobes not uploading them here
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