Shadow Slave

The piece of flotsam had survived untold years of drifting on the currents of the Great River, and was so sturdy enough that Sunny couldn't easily leave a scratch on it despite being an Ascended Tyrant. Nevertheless, in just an instant, it was utterly obliterated.

The thousands of manic runes carved into its surface were destroyed. All that remained were tiny splinters, and even those disappeared a split second later when the giant jaws snapped shut.

A massive serpentine head appeared from beneath the water, two monstrous eyes staring at Sunny with hunger and malevolent fury. Azure scales glistened in the sunlight, each one larger and thicker than the armor plates of a heavy military APC. The creature... was utterly enormous, ancient, and seemingly mad.

But Sunny was already in the air.

The height of his vertical jump was nothing to scoff at, so there was a lot of distance between him and the sharp narrow snout of the abomination. However, it did not matter, because the giant sea serpent continued to rise from the water, revealing its tower-like neck.

Its maw opened again like the gates of a dark abyss.

Another second later, it had already shot two dozen meters into the sky, threatening to swallow Sunny whole.

'Curse it... why does such a huge monster even want to eat a tiny morsel like me?!'

But then again, Nightmare Creatures were not really interested in human flesh. What they wanted were human souls... and as far as souls went, Sunny's was powerful and vast despite his modest size.

'Damn it!'

Sunny twisted in the air and kicked down. He was not trying to strike the sea serpent - instead, he used one of its fangs as a trampoline to catapult himself even further up. The timing of this desperate maneuver had to be incredibly precise, and the tiniest mistake meant death... but he was nothing if not quick. Especially when augmented by all five of his shadows.

And if the bastard lost a tooth as a result, well that would be even better.

However, the sea serpent's fang did not break from Sunny's powerful kick. In fact, it was almost the opposite - if not for Bone Weave, Sunny's leg might have snapped. The giant fang seemed utterly indestructible, like a monolith made of pristine crystal jade.

Wincing in pain, Sunny shot higher into the sky... and the creature followed. The serpent's long body continued to rise from the water, revealing its terrifying size and length. Just from the small part that could be seen, he judged that the abomination was at least a couple hundred meters in length.

It was a true leviathan.

'Gods...'

Sunny was not sure that he could escape high enough to save himself from the sea monster... or rather, the river monster. Even worse, he had nowhere to land. All around them, there was nothing but water.

He looked at the approaching maw in despair...

And then, the Memory he had summoned finally manifested itself into reality.

It was not the Sin of Solace, nor was it any other weapon.

Instead, it was a long and narrow needle forged out of black metal, with golden wire wrapped around one of its ends.

The Heavenly Burden.

Without hesitating even for a moment, Sunny drove the needle into his forearm, grimaced, and swiftly sent all his shadows to wrap themselves around it. Instantly, the speed of his ascent increased tremendously.

The Heavenly Burden did not give a person the ability to fly, but it did make the things it pierced float upward. Usually, the speed with which one drifted into the sky was not too great, but with the augmentation of five shadows, things changed.

The maw of the azure leviathan, which had been drawing closer to Sunny at a frightening pace, slowly started to fall behind. He was ascending into the air faster than the serpent was rising from the water.

The surface of the Great River already seemed rather distant.

'D-damnation... why do I feel like a hot air balloon?'

After a few more minutes, the giant jaws snapped shut once again, and the leviathan stopped, staring upward with dark, hungry madness burning in its huge inhuman eyes.

About fifty meters of its long body had already risen from the waters of the Great Rivers, looming above them like a tower of glistening azure scales. Streams of water flowed from the long ridge of its dorsal fin, with curved spikes protruding from it like giant blades.

The monstrous sea serpent... was rather magnificent.

Or it would have been, if not for the clear signs of decay and corruption marring its massive body.

Its eyes, which had been golden once, were now dim and cloudy, with lines of crimson pus spreading from them toward the long snout. The azure scales were covered by countless scars, some of them missing entirely to reveal pale, desiccated flesh. Pieces of rotten meat were stuck between its dark fangs.

The ancient serpent stared at Sunny, and Sunny stared back.

'This... is not good.'

The leviathan was large enough to be a titan. Granted, dwellers of the depths were often larger than their land counterparts... but if it was indeed a titan, then Sunny was in big trouble.

Because titans had all kinds of ways to kill someone like him from afar.

Shuddering, he concentrated and peered through the azure scales. He needed to understand what the creature's Rank and Class were...

What Sunny saw left him shaken and revolted.

Darkness... nothing but vile darkness, with only one pronounced node that was the source of it.

His mouth was suddenly dry.

'...A Great Beast.'

Still being carried into the sky by the Heavenly Burden, Sunny let out a stifled laugh.

'Well, that's... unexpected.'

He had never thought that he would be glad to see a Great Beast one day.

But he was.

A Great Beast was a harrowing creature of indescribable destructive power, but it was still fundamentally a Beast. And Beasts did not usually possess any unnatural powers.

So, while the Azure Serpent was without a doubt an absolutely disastrous foe for Sunny, meeting it was still better than encountering a Titan, a Terror, a Tyrant... or even a Devil of a lesser Rank. Because the creature couldn't do anything to him while Sunny remained in the sky.

'Ah... but there is a problem...'

Forcing himself to look away from the towering monstrosity, Sunny studied the vast expanse of the Great River.

There was nothing but water, no matter in which direction he looked.

He had nowhere to land.

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