Shadow Slave

Chapter 40

“Halt!” Sunny whispered, observing the group of scavengers through his shadow.

As soon as the word left his lips, Nephis immediately summoned her sword. After studying the surroundings for a second, she turned her head and glanced at him with a question in her eyes.

Cassia, meanwhile, froze in place and hesitantly raised her staff.

Sunny counted the monsters: one, two, three… five…

‘Curses!’

The hulking beasts seemed like the losers of the pack, similar to the one he had killed. However, their wounds were not as pronounced and terrible. Each of them was much more of a threat than the mangled one from before, and there were half a dozen of them at least.

“There are scavengers on the path ahead, six of them. They’re slowly moving in our direction.”

Nephis cast a gaze forward. There was a calculating look on her face.

“They’re done with the carcass?”

Sunny thought for a moment and then shook his head.

“No, I don’t think so. But maybe there’s not enough meat for everyone anymore, so some stragglers had no choice but to leave with an empty stomach.”

Nephis nodded and gestured to a nearby branching path.

“We’ll circle around them.”

The three Sleepers hastily moved forward and changed paths, giving a wide berth to the group of monsters. Tense and grim, they continued walking, trying to stay on course and not get lost in the labyrinth.

However, in the next hour, they had to turn in a random direction again and again, avoiding other scavengers. The distance between them and the giant statue was not shortening at all.

At some point, they were catching their breath near one of the numerous dead ends of the crimson labyrinth. They had no choice but to wait, since a large number of creatures was moving past their hiding spot, separated from them by a long length of a twisting coral passage.

Sunny sighed and shook his head.

“We can’t go on like that. At this rate, we’ll never make it to safety before sunset.”

Cassie was the first one to react.

“Maybe… maybe we should turn back?”

That was a reasonable suggestion. However, Sunny felt reluctant to agree.

Nephis shared his thoughts. With a blank expression, she said:

“It will only get harder tomorrow.”

She was right. By tomorrow, there would be even more scavengers flooding the labyrinth.

“Then what should we do?”

Changing Star tilted her head, thinking. After a while, she turned to Sunny.

“Fight.”

dozens of those

tried to hide his derision

know that you are skilled with the sword, but have you forgotten that each of those things is a whole rank above

Nephis nodded.

groups.

moment,

there’s one or two of them, there’s a

wanted to retort, but couldn’t find a

“Fine.”

him for a

you studied the corpse of the scavenger

was that

Sunny

“No.”

it to safety before the sea returned. And why

Teacher

a short pause, Nephis

one is obvious: it’s their joints. Anything that has to be flexible can’t be too

dead monster, one could better understand their strengths and vulnerabilities. This idea was

Meanwhile, Nephis continued:

scavenger and deal serious damage to its body. However, unless you succeed in severing its spine, the wound won’t be fatal. It’ll still be

whenever she talked

‘Curious.’

back, approximately at the level where the eyes are. There’s a slightly concave, discolored cavity in their armor. It is where several armor plates connect. The chitin there

know. However, that weak point was too high to be hit by a human — after all, scavengers were more

his thoughts,

around a scavenger is almost impossible

at him

be the bait. My task will be to make it turn around and then restrain it, exposing the third

Sunny gulped.

there’s

usual, Nephis

“Don’t die.”

***

stretch of the labyrinth with no suitable branching paths

far into that passage, a massive

situation and waited for Changing Star’s feedback.

in the

that, Nephis gently guided Cassie to the wall of the labyrinth and helped her find a

here. We’ll

some thought, she

“Soon.”

walk away, Cassie grabbed her hand.

you… be

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