Shadow Slave

Chapter 8

“Because the monster isn’t dead.”

These ominous words hung in the silence. Three pairs of eyes widened, staring right at Sunny.

“Why do you say that?”

After thinking about it, Sunny came to the conclusion that the tyrant was, indeed, still alive. His reasoning was pretty straightforward: he did not hear the Spell congratulating him on slaying the creature after it fell off the cliff. Which meant that it was not slain.

But he couldn’t explain that to his companions.

He pointed up.

“The monster jumped from an incredible height to land on this platform. Yet it wasn’t harmed at all. Why would it be killed by falling off the platform?”

Neither Hero nor the slaves could find a flaw in his argument.

Sunny continued.

“Which means that it’s still alive, somewhere down the mountain. So by going back, we will be delivering ourselves into its maw.”

Shifty cursed loudly and crawled closer to the bonfire, staring into the darkness with terror in his eyes. Scholar rubbed his temples, mumbling:

“Of course. Why didn’t I realize myself?”

Hero was the most stoic of the three. After thinking it over, he nodded.

“Then we go up and over the mountain pass. But that’s not all…”

He glanced in the direction where the tyrant had fallen.

“If the monster is still alive, there is a high possibility that it will return here, and then pursue us. Which means that time is of the essence. We will need to move as soon as the sun rises.”

He gestured to the torn bodies littering the platform.

“We can’t allow ourselves to rest the whole night anymore. We need to gather supplies now. If there was a chance, I would have liked to give these people at least a humble burial after gathering all that we can from then, but alas, fate has decided otherwise.”

Hero rose to his feet and brandished a sharp knife. Shifty tensed up and watched the blade carefully, but then relaxed, seeing that the young soldier showed no sign of aggression.

what we need to find. Let us

with the tip of

oxen carcasses to get us

platform — most of it drowning in deep shadows — and

“I’ll look for firewood.”

and right, with a strange gleam in

find us something

left. Hero gave him a long

stored on the wagon. But each of my fallen brothers was carrying

***

for dead soldiers with half a dozen flagons already weighing him down. Shivering in

— was badly injured and dying, but,

time was running

the dying soldier and looked him over, searching for the

‘What irony,’ he thought.

reaching for something. Sunny looked down and noticed

like

didn’t answer, watching the young slave with some unknown, intense

Sunny sighed.

well do. After all, I

forward and slit the old man’s throat with the sharp edge of his broken blade, then threw it away. The soldier twitched, drowning in his own blood. The expression in his eyes changed — was it gratitude? Or hatred? Sunny did not

was nothing at all. It seemed that, for better or worse, his cruel upbringing in the real world

the old man,

Spell’s voice came whispering into his

slain a dormant

Sunny flinched.

right. Killing people is also an achievement, as far as the Spell is concerned. They don’t usually show

fact and put it away. But, as

have received a

froze, opening his eyes

give me

to enchanted items. One received from a dormant-rank enemy wouldn’t be too powerful, but it was still a boon: weightless and undetectable, able to be summoned from nothingness with a simple thought, a Memory was incredibly useful. What’s more, unlike corporeal things, he would

Give

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