Shadow Slave

The embrace of impenetrable darkness was broken by the furious white light of Changing Star's incandescent sword. Illuminated by it, six people were standing on the shore of a raging river. Their faces were pale and grim.

The canyon had disappeared, consumed by the rising surge of the black water. Now, the cursed sea was flowing over its edges, ready to swell and flood the narrow passages of the great Labyrinth in an unstoppable wave.

Sunny felt cold water wash over his feet and shivered. The rest of the cohort reacted exactly the same — even Kai, who could escape into the lightless skies at any moment, seemed to be deeply unnerved by the closeness of the encroaching sea.

Among the six of them, only three had truly experienced the perils of this dark abyss. They knew that the real dread came not from the sea itself, but from the terrors that hid in its cursed depths.

Like the host of the of whispering voices that they had heard beneath the branches of the Soul Tree.

Or the gargantuan creature that had almost cost Nephis her life.

However, Sunny was not going to make a remark to educate the rest of the cohort. After all, what they were trying to do right now was to summon one of these terrors from below.

One that was different from all the others.

"Sunny?"

Peering into the darkness, he lingered.

"I don't see anything… yet."

The water was already to his shins and rising swiftly. Sunny grimaced and struggled with the desire to turn around and run away without looking back.

If he was fast enough… if he was lucky enough… he could still make it to the giant statue before the torrent of darkness drowned him under its crushing weight.

Instead, Sunny glanced at Nephis and Cassie.

The blind girl had glimpsed this secret of the Forgotten Shore in her visions and shared it with Changing Star. Changing Star had devised a plan to make use of it.

Both of them were confident that they were going to succeed. So, he was going to be confident, too.

Sunny didn't fully trust either of his former companions, not anymore. But he trusted their judgment.

…Just as that thought appeared in his mind, there was a subtle movement at the edges of his vision. Turning his head, Sunny stared into the darkness… and trembled.

"...It's here."

Out there in the distance, a massive shape was moving through the waves, attracted by the light of Changing Star's incandescent blade. The sea seethed and swirled around it, the black mass of water easily pushed away by the approaching creature.

Nephis gritted her teeth and somehow made her flames burn even brighter, forcing the darkness to retreat another dozen steps.

"Get ready!"

A few moments later, the furious sounds of a massive body moving through the dark water reached their ears. The creature was a true giant, easily towering above the waves even though it was walking on the bottom of the canyon.

…Well, no surprise.

Full of terror and awe, Sunny watched as the thing they were waiting for came closer. Soon, he could discern the general shape of it.

Two hills that rose above water were its shoulders. And right between them, where the head should have been…

There was nothing but emptiness.

There were seven headless statues on the Forgotten Shore, but only six marks on the map created by Nephis. Not because she had failed to learn of the seventh one…

But because the seventh statue never stayed in one place for too long.

And now, that stone colossus was walking through the flooded canyon, his shoulder scraping against one of its walls. The wide chest of the headless giant pushed the water away, creating whirlpools in his wake.

Raising one colossal arm, the statue easily destroyed the protruding remnants of the ancient bridge that got in its way. The debris rained into the black waves, disappearing into them without a trace.

This… this was their fast and safe — comparatively — method of traveling to the edges of the Forgotten Shore.

'Truly insane,' Sunny thought, stunned by the sheer scale of everything that was happening.

Come to think of it, it was really ironic. The next day after he had decided to return to some semblance of sanity, something this crazy was about to transpire.

It was as though the whole world was mocking him.

Shaking his head, Sunny turned to the cohort and yelled:

"He's coming!"

The black water was already to their knees. The members of the cohort tensed and prepared themselves for what was about to come.

They only had one chance to do this. Failure meant death.

A few moments later, the massive shape of the stone colossus entered the circle of light created by Nephis. Its shoulders rose above the waves, close enough to the now invisible shore of the flooded canyon for them to see every tiny crack on the surface of the weathered stone.

Now wasting any time, Changing Star ran forward and jumped. A moment later, the blade of her sword hit the surface of the statue and slid deep into it, as if melting the ancient stone. Using the sword as purchase, Nephis started to climb to the giant's shoulder.

The other members of the cohort were following closely behind her. Kai was carrying Cassie in his arms, flying to the top of the colossus with no problem at all. Caster seemed to simply disappear and appear a moment later on the giant's shoulder, standing side by side with Changing Star.

…Only Sunny was having trouble. With him not being very tall and the water level rising with each second, he found it hard to gain enough momentum for a proper jump.

'Damn... how irritating...'

However, before he could come up with a solution, Effie simply grabbed him by the collar… and tossed Sunny into the air.

'W—what?!'

For a few short moments, Sunny was flying. All he could hear was wind whistling in his ears.

Then, he landed on top of the giant statue, rolled, and barely prevented himself from falling back into the cold embrace of the dark sea. Before he could even stand up, the mighty huntress landed near him and grinned.

"Such a light…"

However, before she could finish the phrase, the stone colossus moved, making everyone stumble and fall.

Leaving the ruins of the bridge behind, he turned around and indifferently began walking away from it.

He was walking south.