SHADOW SLAVE: HEIR OF ABYSS

Author here, before you read this chapter please read this part. I have been uploading chapter for maybe 2 or 3 months, the issue I am facing right now is something you guys can solve only. I request you to..... PLEASE COMMENT MAN, I DON'T KNOW WHY ARE YOU NOT COMMENTING IN THE CHAPTER. IT PREVENTS ME KNOWING THE PROBLEMS IN MY WRITING, IF YOU FIND THE CHAPTER BORING OR BAD TELL ME I HAVE NO ISSUES ATLEAST I WOULD BE ABLE TO IMPROVE. ;-; SO PLEASE COMMENT, IF NOT A REVIEW THEN ASK ME SOMETHING RELATED BUT COMMENT SO I CAN KNOW PEOPLE ARE ENJOYING IT OR NOT. AND DON'T DARE TO SKIP THIS PART.

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"Something is following us."

Sunny's frown deepened. Not wasting any time, he moved forward and caught up to Nephis, Wren, Caster, and Effie. The huntress glanced at him and slightly tensed.

"Did your shadow notice an enemy?"

The shadow was currently a few hundred meters ahead of the cohort, scouting for any signs of danger.

He shook his head.

"Cassie felt that we are being followed. I'm going to withdraw the shadow and sent it back to take a look. Stay vigilant."

Effie gave him a nod. Of course, as the pathfinder of the party, she was always vigilant. He was just warning her so that she could adjust her approach.

The two of them were well accustomed to working together, so there was no need to waste words.

Sunny commanded the shadow to return and fell back to the rear of the party. Once there, he concentrated on the shadows that surrounded them, trying to feel if there was something there that could not be seen.

But there was nothing.

Ahead of him, the rest of the cohort was silently preparing for the worst. Not wishing to let the unknown pursuer know that they were ready to act, no one summoned their weapons yet. No one had even turned their head. However, Sunny could see from the tension in their muscles that this peacefulness could explode into a storm of movement at any moment.

Changing Star and her hunting party did not earn their fearsome reputation by mistake.

Finally, the shadow was back. Not letting it rest even for a second, Sunny immediately sent it to observe the streets that they had just left. His perception was split between its vision and his own.

The feeling of vulnerability he experienced when the shadow was away heightened. Sunny sighed with grim resignation. The fact that he was at the back of the cohort and, as such, would be attacked first if anything happened did not help one bit.

'Calm down. You don't even know what is tracking the cohort.'

A few moments later, the shadow was safely hidden in the darkness of a ruined building, observing the crossroad that one would have to pass to follow them. Sunny continued walking, pretending to not know anything.

A few seconds passed in tense silence, then a few more.

'Where are you? What are you?'

Depending on the nature of the mysterious pursuer, their response would be different. If it was a Nightmare Creature, they would either have to fight it or try to throw it off their scent. However, if the creature turned out to be one of the truly horrifying existences that stalked the ancient ruins… then things would get really tricky.

There was also another possibility. And that was that they were not being pursued by a monster, but by humans instead. A team of Hunters might have been sent by Gunlaug to ambush Changing Star and her people.

If that was the case… honestly, Sunny didn't know what would happen. However, he was sure of their ability to withstand an attack from the Host, even if the enemy held a numerical advantage.

The others seemed to share the same thought.

After a few minutes passed, the shadow finally noticed movement. Someone was slowly walking in the middle of the street, not even trying to hide their presence. At first, Sunny thought that it was one of the revenants that populated the Dark City. The figure, while human in appearance, was strangely crooked, with a dark unadorned cloak hiding its limbs and features. But then…

Sunny suddenly felt cold fear grip his heart.

He recognized those glassy, lifeless eyes. The hideous pale face that terrified so many people.

…Harus. It was Harus. The murderous butcher who had torn Jubei apart with his bare hands, Gunalug's cruel executioner and hidden blade.

Walking through the cursed ruins with the same bored expression that he had in the grand hall of the Bright Castle on the day of Jubei's execution, Harus was following in their footsteps.

Gunlaug did not send dozens of Hunters to ambush Changing Star. Instead, he sent just one man.

Sunny shivered.

'Damn it. Why… why am I so afraid of that guy?'

But he knew why. It was because, deep down, he felt that they were alike. Harus was the personification of everything that Sunny was afraid to become.

Trying to shake off his fear, Sunny walked forward and glanced at Nephis. Then, he said in a raspy voice:

***

"It's that… that damn hunchback. He's following us."

'Why does my intuition always had to be this correct?'

Wren was not afraid of Harus, he could have easily killed him. What frustrated him is that this would blow his cover, and to prevent it they had to take a path which he didn't liked. After learning about it from Effie's past expedition. 

'So the Catacomb is the only place left now.'

He turned his head toward Effie and calmly said:

"Huntress Athena, I suggest you to lead us to the second path that we talked about."

Caster scowled.

"Run? Why? Surely, no matter how strong Harus is, we can take him down. None of us are weak, either. Even if we can't defeat him one on one…"

Effie shook her head.

"You don't get it, do you? We can't fight Harus. No one can. Many people have tried, and they're all dead now."

She gritted her teeth.

"He is a monster in human flesh, Caster. He is insanely powerful. But that's not even the problem. The problem is that no one knows his Aspect. All we know is that once Harus comes for you, you die."

She sighed.

"I've seen many people try to resist once they caught wind that Gunlaug is going to send Harus to get rid of them. Strong people, weak people. Some tried to fight him alone, others recruited fearsome allies. Come the next morning, all of them were dead. No matter how powerful they were or how many of them gathered to give him a fight, no one ever survived. All that was left was blood and corpses..."

Wren sighed.

"I hope that this provides you a clear explanation, Sir Caster."

Caster didn't say anything, even if he could he wouldn't. The words came from Wren, and he didn't had enough guts to defy him, if possible he would rather choose to fight Harus instead of Wren of the Valor Clan.

Nephis and Sunny glanced at Wren. But they didn't say anything, all they knew was that Wren was trying to maintain his cover even though they don't know why.

Effie glanced at Wren and said:

"Are you sure that you prefer to go to that hell rather than fighting Harus?"

Wren smirked.

"Hell or not, it doesn't matter. I prefer fighting a enemy who I have information about."

Effie rolled her eyes.

'Another crazy guy we have here.'

Even if Wren was good strategist, he was still a butler of the Changing Star. He cannot act without her permission and unconsciously he forgotten to ask it. So Effie being a good friend had to do it for him.

"I know the way. But… it's going to be dangerous. Very dangerous. However, I don't know how else to shake him off our trail. So you decide, princess."

Neph was silent for a bit, and then simply nodded.

"We will face Harus some other day. Right now, reaching the resting place of the first cohort is the priority."

The unruly huntress exhales, almost as if relieved. Then, she said:

"Then follow me. And prepare yourself…"

***

After that disturbing discussion, Effie changed their course slightly. Instead of moving straight south, they were now traversing the ancient city heading for its eastern border.

Sunny wasn't too familiar with this part of the ruins. During the past few months, he mostly stayed north of the Bright Castle, sometimes venturing northeast. He stayed away from the western areas because they were closer to the Crimson Spire, and had not explored much of the south because it was too far away from his cathedral.

The last time he had been here was on the day of the bloody fight against the Spire Messenger. Back then, they were headed for the ruins of the lighthouse that had once stood near the impregnable wall of the Dark City.

Not that he had a lot of time to observe the surroundings. Pretty much all of his attention was concentrated on Harus, who was following them like a hound.

He didn't like having to stare at the menacing hunchback at all.

'Why don't you go fight some Fallen creature and die, bastard?'

However, Harus seemed to know the ruins just as well as Effie. He somehow avoided the worst creatures on his path while never losing the scent of Changing Star's cohort. At one point, a lone Blood Fiend attacked him from the deep shadows of a dilapidated building. Gunlaug's executioner simply raised a hand and shattered the skull of the Nightmare Creature with one lazy punch.

He didn't even blink.

'Big deal. I… I killed plenty of those, too.'

However, Sunny had to admit that he was deeply unnerved by the power of the murderous hunchback. Maybe because he couldn't get rid of the feeling that by the end of it all, only one of them would remain alive.

And he wasn't sure which one.

Soon, they were nearing the tall expanse of the city wall. Not too far away, the remnant of a giant tower lay broken on its side, stretching far away into the distance. The buildings that the tower had fallen on thousands of years ago were shattered and turned into dust.

The ancient lighthouse might have been proud and magnificent once. Perhaps it had even served as a symbol of the defiant will of the people of the ancient city, burning as a shining beacon in the eternal darkness of the cursed night. But it had fallen a long time ago… just like the people that built it.

At least its ruin remained. The ancient inhabitants of the Dark City had just vanished, not even leaving bones behind.

Sunny sighed.

"Where to now?"

Effie gestured at the massive ruin.

"Inside."

They were currently hiding in a collapsed building near the collapsed tower. This area was populated by an especially vile tribe of monsters, and attracting their attention would spell trouble for the entire cohort.

"Call your shadow back and keep it close. When we enter the lighthouse, we will have to act quick."

Somewhat relieved, Sunny did just that. Not having to look at Harus anymore was a reason for celebration.

Staying low to the ground, the six of them dashed from their hiding spot to the broken lighthouse. Without wasting any time, they found a breach in its wall and climbed inside.

Effie summoned her radiant Memory, bathing the interior of the ruined tower in light. Due to the fact that it was currently lying on its side, they found themselves in a massive, echoing tunnel.

Looking around, Effie found her bearings and led them deeper into the tunnel, extreme tension apparent in her every move. While walking, she began to speak:

"Listen to me very carefully and do as I say. Once we're inside, don't separate from the group. Stay together and keep your weapons at hand. The place we're going to is full of Nightmare Creatures. They're not too strong, but they're… special."

She bit her lip.

"Don't even try to kill them. Just defend yourself and keep moving. If you stop, you'll most probably die. Same thing if you slow down and get yourself surrounded. But if we can preserve our formation… we might survive. I hope."

'You hope? What do you mean, you hope?!'

Before Sunny could voice his outrage, they reached their destination.

Right in front of him, the floor of the tunnel was broken, forming a narrow crevice. It was filled with darkness, leading deep down into the ground… and then deeper still. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't see what was at the bottom.

The huntress glanced at him.

"What are you waiting for, doofus? Jump!"

Sunny gulped.

"You want me to jump… into that?"

By his side, Kai sighed and looked down on his freshly cleaned, stylish armor. An expression of pure sadness appeared on his beautiful face.

"Oh, well. Here we go again…"

***

Without wasting any time, Nephis silently jumped into the crevice. Just before she did, white flames ignited in her eyes. Wren stood there as she reach down, the darkness swallowed her lithe figure whole, like the maw of some unknown creature.

'She didn't have to do it. They don't like it.'

Although the darkness was friendly to Wren, the creatures residing in it were not. He had sensed them, though also seemed to connected to some sort of source. Wren wasn't sure what this connection did, so all he could now was just observe.

Following Nephis he jumped, the darkness materialised itself on it's own, making his descent silent as possible. Soon all members of the cohort were down here in the narrow tunnel, all of them had entered although Sunny was a bit in pain. His landing was a little rough, though the darkness around him relieved the pain thanks to his [Mark of Abyss] attribute.

Nephis had summoned her silver longsword. Because the tunnel was not wide enough to freely use it, she was holding it with both hands — one armored gauntlet rested on the hilt, while the other was on the blade itself, halfway to its tip.

Caster was wielding a sword, too. However, his was a graceful jian with beautiful patterns etched on its blade, with a triangular guard carved out of green jade. The jian was emanating a ghostly green light.

Wren was wielding a katana which was pitch-black with white engravings similar to it's black wooden sheath, the square guard of the katana was pristine white. Sunny didn't know what was the tier of that Memory, but he knew that it was extremely powerful. He had seen it cut through flesh, bone, and steel alike.

Effie had summoned her large round shield, but chose to leave the ancient bronze spear in the Soul Sea. While she was skilled enough to make use of it even in this narrow space, the shield would be much more formidable, especially considering her herculean strength.

Kai looked rather gloomy. Casting a mournful look over his shoulder, on the fletching of his heavy arrows, he sighed and outstretched his hand. Instead of a bow, an elegant falcata appeared in it. The beautiful curve of its blade glinted, reflecting the light.

The last one to draw her weapon was Cassie. Unexpectedly, she unsheathed a slender rapier from the scabbard that was attached to her belt… and let go of it. To Sunny's surprise, the rapier did not fall to the ground, but rather stayed floating in the air, as if attached to the blind girl by an invisible string.

Then it rotated slightly and hovered in front of her… with its tip pointing straight at Sunny.

"Uh… what?"

Cassie smiled and turned her head to him.

"Ah, please forgive Quiet Dancer. She is shy around strangers."

Sunny scratched the back of his head. Sensing his confusion, Cassie explained:

"Dancer is an Echo and a partner of mine. We work well together."

As if answering her words, the rapier suddenly circled around the blind girl and returned to its... her?.. previous position. It was still pointing at Sunny in a rather unfriendly way, though.

"Huh… alright."

Interrupting their conversation, Effie called out to him:

"Hey, Sunny. Now would be the perfect time to invite your girlfriend to join us."

The rest of the cohort stared at them with confused expressions.

Sunny gritted his teeth.

"How many times do I have to tell you, she's not my girlfriend!"

Noticing the weird stares that people were giving him, he sighed.

"Effie! Tell them!"

The huntress did not even continue to tease him. Just this fact alone told Sunny how dire their situation really was…

"Sunny also has an Echo, and a powerful one at that. Go on, summon her."

He did, and a moment later, the Stone Saint stepped into the tunnel out of his shadow. Her ruby eyes were burning with crimson flames from behind the visor of the helmet. The taciturn monster briefly glanced at the people gathered around it well mostly at Wren, and then indifferently turned away to peer into the darkness. 

'So this is the Stone Saint. Quite a unique echo, well a shadow if I say, looks like Sunny's divine aspect wasn't just a Divine aspect in name. I wonder what kind of growth this unique shadow of yours will show, Sunny.'

Wren was amused when he had seen Stone Saint's name, and the description of her was what made her most special. The last child of the -unknown- had created her, he was sure that the Spell wasn't referring to the Abyss God, when mentioning the -unknown-. The last child, he wasn't sure who it was, but they were related to Weaver maybe they were even their sibling.

'You have lot of things to answer.'

Wren thought as he stare at Sunny and the new members of the cohort. Their group of seven had turned into a group of nine… well, if a moody flying rapier could be counted to be a member.

…Suddenly, a distant noise made everyone freeze for a moment. With a dark expression, Effie looked in the direction it came from and sighed.

"Right. We've wasted enough time already. Follow me… and be ready."

With that, she took a step forward and headed deeper into the tunnel. Sunny followed, commanding the Stone Saint to stay close to Kai and Cassie.

After a while, something crunched under his foot. Looking down, he saw… a bone. A human bone.

"What is this place?"

The huntress glanced back, and then answered in a somber tone:

"The catacombs."

He frowned.

"Since when are there catacombs beneath the Dark City? Why have I never heard you mention them?"

Effie lingered before answering:

"The catacombs were always here. They span beneath the whole city, it's just that most of the tunnels had collapsed a long time ago. As to why hunters don't like to mention them… it's because very few are crazy enough to explore what little remains of the catacombs, and even fewer return to tell the tale."

Then, she added:

"No matter how powerful Harus is, a person can only survive here if they know their way around. And only a couple of us, outer settlement hunters, do. So we should be able to lose him."

Meanwhile, Sunny noticed more and more bones littering the ground. All of them looked like they had once belonged to humans.

'I don't like this.'

Looking up, he asked:

"Can we get back to that thing you said about how very few people manage to escape from here alive? Why is that?"

The huntress grimaced.

"That's because…"

However, before she was done speaking, something appeared out of the darkness and barred their way.

Sunny opened his eyes wide.

Right there in front of them, a corpse was standing on the edge between light and darkness, staring at the six humans with the black chasms of its empty eyes sockets.

…No, not really a corpse. A skeleton.

Defying all laws of logic and physics, a creature made of nothing but human bones suddenly lunged forward, baring its teeth in a hungry grin.

Wren eyes widened a little.

'What in the name of Abyss, is this thing?'