Shadow Slave

The fiend shifted its weight, then lunged forward with a shrill giggle. It was terrifyingly powerful and fast, but because its movements were clearly telegraphed, Sunny had plenty of time to react.

Diving under the long arm of the abomination, he narrowly avoided being torn apart by the sharp talons and lashed out with the Cruel Sight. As the silver blade bit into the abdomen of the creature, piercing its tough skin just under the ribs, he continued forward and spun.

Just a split second later, Sunny was already behind the enemy.

…However, he wasn't safe.

Without pausing ever for a moment, the bizarre monstrosity pressed its hands against the ground and then kicked back with both legs. There was enough power in that strike to shatter a small hill, but Sunny was already moving, getting out of range.

He had not observed how the fiend fought against the Chained Worms for nothing. He knew that the wretched thing could use all four of its limbs to attack, and that its joints seemed to be able to bend in any direction. Not only did he know what the abomination was capable of, he also knew what it liked and tended to do.

He also knew where it was most vulnerable, and where none of his weapons would be able to do any harm. That's why he had aimed for its gaunt body instead of the much larger and obvious target — the chest itself.

Sunny had always been very perceptive, and practicing Shadow Dance only sharpened his ability to observe and understand such things. Maybe it was thanks to that that he had managed to learn so much about the fiend so fast.

As the soles of his boots scraped against the dark stone, a fleeting thought passed through his mind:

'How would it feel to shadow a Nightmare Creature… I wonder…'

Then, he had no more time for unnecessary thoughts.

Crushing through blackened bones, the abomination bent its joints in the opposite direction of where they were supposed to turn, spun, and lunged at him once again. This time, it was moving on all fours, the lid of the chest serving as its lower jaw. That made it almost impossible for him to dodge out of the way.

…Sunny had no idea why the golden coins weren't spilling out, but luckily, they seemed to be held in place by some strange force.

Unable to use his maimed arm to help himself keep balance, he had no choice but to jump down and roll under the attacking fiend. The Cruel Sight flashed again, leaving a deep cut on the leg of the creature. At the same time, a pulse of sharp pain radiated through Sunny's entire body… even though he took care to protect his broken bones, he couldn't keep them from scraping against one another completely.

But the worse pain was still to come.

'That is going to hurt…'

Sunny had already known that he would not be able to get back to his feet before the next attack came. Due to the fact that the abomination would have to perform it from an awkward position, it was not going to be as devastating as the previous blows. The Crushing had also become considerable enough to slow down both of their movements…

But those long and sharp talons were absolutely deadly even if there was not much force behind them.

As the fiend pivoted and snapped one of its limbs in his direction, Sunny sent both of his shadows from his body to encompass the Puppeteer's Shroud. A moment later, the talons slashed across his torso… and slid from the lusterless black leather of the chest guard without piercing it.

The strike itself, however, was still powerful enough to throw Sunny flying back. He counted on that, though, and used the momentum to create distance between himself and the vile creature. Landing on his feet, Sunny suppressed a groan and brandished the Cruel Sight once again.

As the heavenly chain rattled, Twisted Rock rose even higher, and the burden of the Crushing suddenly pressed him down even more.

***

Some time later, Sunny was on the verge of passing out from exhaustion and pain.

"Argh! Curse you!"

He staggered back and hunched over, using the shaft of the Cruel Sight to keep himself standing upright. His breath was ragged and pained, and drops of both sweat and blood were rolling down his face.

Things… were not going great.

For the both of them, actually.

The ferocious clash between himself and the vile giggling fiend had gone for much longer than either of them had ever expected. After the first few minutes, it had become apparent that neither one could easily kill the other.

Sunny was too devious and slippery to be caught by the bizarre creature, and the damned chest monster was too vigorous and resilient to succumb to the dozens of shallow wounds that Sunny had delivered to it. What's worse, all of its vital organs seemed to be hidden inside the chest, which was nearly indestructible.

It was the most terrible battle of all…

A battle between two cockroaches!

As the result, their fight lasted for a simply stupid amount of time.

By now, both were in rough shape. Sunny was almost dead from exhaustion, bleeding from several ugly wounds, and in a world of pain. The abomination looked even worse. Its gaunt body seemed to have gone through a meat grinder, and its long tongue was hanging lifelessly over the edge of the chest, not even trying to move.

Neither was ready to give up, though.

The fiend panted heavily and stared at Sunny. Then, it giggled once again. This time, the giggle sounded tired, slightly bewildered… but mostly full of searing hatred.

The bastard really, really wanted to rip Sunny to shreds now.

Staggering forward, it tried to swipe at him with one hand, but crashed heavily to the ground instead. Lying there motionlessly, the bizarre creature let out a despondent growl.

The Crushing was almost unbearable by now. Sunny wasn't sure that he would be able to withstand it for much longer, so the abomination had to be having an extremely rough time, too. In fact, it was certainly being tortured by the oppressive force much more. Very soon, both of them were going to be completely immobilized.

He just had to kill it before that happened.

Not sure that he would be able to take another step, Sunny extended the Cruel Sight to its full length and thrust it forward. The silver blade pierced the skin of the fiend, causing more black blood to seep out.

'Good… bleed to death, you piece of crap!'

He could feel the enhancement of the Blood Blossom become a tiny bit stronger, but at this point, it was already meaningless. The charm was just an Awakened Memory of the second tier, after all. Whatever boost it could provide was not that substantial when dealing with Fallen Nightmare Creatures and Ascended weapons, especially past the point where the incremental increases in its potency were truly substantial.

The abomination tried to dodge the attack, but failed to move fast enough due to the merciless pressure of the Crushing. It tried to stand up… but failed.

A grim smile appeared on Sunny's face.

'Got you…'

His enemy, it seemed, was now completely helpless. But Sunny could still move… he could still attack... he had not even used any of the shadow essence that had been accumulating in his cores this whole time. The reserves weren't large, but there was some...

Retrieving his spear, he gathered his strength, and then thrust it forward again, delivering another wound to the bizarre creature. And then again, and then…

'Die, just die already…'

…And then, the fiend giggled mockingly, and suddenly gathered its limbs, which then disappeared into the bottom of the chest. A few seconds later, the whole body of the creature was out of sight, leaving only the adamantine, indestructible chest standing in the middle of the stone island. The tip of the spear scraped against the dark wood, not leaving even a scratch on it.

Sunny stared at it, dumbfounded.

Then, he let out a yelp, and as the power of the Crushing increased even further, fell to his knees.

"What the hell?! Come back here, you coward!"

His hands trembled from strain as he lifted the Cruel Sight and struck the chest once again, to no result whatsoever.

Sunny seemed to have overexerted himself with that last strike, because the spear fell out of his hands and plunged to the ground, striking the stone with enough force to send a few cracks through it. Then, it bounced and rolled away, finally getting caught on a piece of bone about two meters away.

He stared at the Cruel Sight with a shocked expression, and then dismissed the Memory instead of trying to walk… or crawl… that far to retrieve it.

Sunny turned to the chest and gritted his teeth. A moment later, sparks of light appeared around his hand again.

"Don't think that it's over!"

The lid of the chest trembled, and then rose a bit. The creature clearly strained to achieve even that much.

A gloating, hateful giggle emerged from the depths of it a moment later.

…That was the exact moment when Sunny tossed a polished crimson gem that had appeared in his hand toward the chest. Just a split second after the Broken Oath flew inside the abomination's maw, the lid snapped close, pressed down by the obliterating force of the Crushing.

A muffled sound resounded from within the chest, but no matter how much the lid trembled, it didn't rise again.

Sunny fell to the ground and laughed, then groaned and whimpered as he arduously crawled a few meters away and finally grew still just outside of the Broken Oath's soul-destroying reach.

Laying there in complete exhaustion, unable to move anymore, Sunny grinned.

"Who's laughing now? Try to swallow that, you bastard…"