Shadow Slave

After the Shadow Saint had ruthlessly eviscerated the carapace centurion and confirmed Sunny's suspicion that he wouldn't be able to cultivate her in that way, he was left with nothing much to do.

The night was still young, but he had already achieved his goal. Now, he was free to do whatever he wished… however, there weren't very many options available in the cursed city.

He could continue to hunt, reveling in the newfound power. With the Stone Saint at his command, Sunny would be able to bathe the ruins in monster blood. However, that thought, no matter how seductive, left him uneasy.

Hunting in this hellish place required patience and preparation. He only survived this long by carefully scouting the potential battlegrounds in advance and studying his prey from the shadows to learn its strengths and weaknesses, not rushing into a fight until he was absolutely sure that there was a solid chance of victory.

Shadow Saint or not, betraying these principles would still get him killed. And with his mental state, uh… slightly unstable, Sunny didn't trust himself to stay cautious once the easy wins kept piling up. He had to proceed slowly.

Looking around the quiet ruins, Sunny smiled slightly. Actually, he wasn't that far from the Library…

He had indeed turned hunting Nightmare Creatures into a sort of profession, but it was just that: a job. Like any well-adjusted young man, he also had a hobby.

In his free time, Sunny liked to explore the ruins.

The warm feeling of satisfaction he had experienced after finding the hidden nest of the Vile Thieving Bird never left his memory. There was something deeply engaging in uncovering fragments of long-lost history and piecing them together. Maybe Sunny had inherited this passion from Teacher Julius, or maybe it had always been slumbering deep within his heart.

In any case, he enjoyed exploring the ancient city a great deal. It was full of all kinds of mysteries, both large and small. After thousands of years had passed, most traces of the past had been erased by the merciless flow of time. But by looking in the right places and exercising critical thinking, insight and imagination, it was possible to piece together tiny shards of truth.

Every time the seemingly disparate clues clicked into a coherent picture, Sunny felt a pleasant rush. Interestingly enough, it didn't matter whether that picture pertained to something important or completely useless.

In fact, he enjoyed learning about the small details of the daily life that the inhabitants of the ancient city had once led much more than he enjoyed learning about the possible origins of the catastrophe that had befallen them — despite the fact that the latter was directly related to his own survival.

For example, he was very curious to learn more about the young priestess whose private quarters he had made into his secret lair. The things she had left behind told him a lot about how the people of the city used to dress and think about the world, filling his imagination with colorful pictures of crowded streets and solemn cathedrals. But it was still not enough.

His latest exploration project was the ruins of a grand library. Of course, none of the books and scrolls had survived the thousand of years in the cursed darkness. Luckily, the people who used to live in the city before its fall were very fond of stone engravings. He spent a lot of time studying the intact wall carvings, as well as fragments of surviving frescoes.

One fresco, in particular, was especially grandiose and tantalizing, covering the entire floor of the library's main hall. Sadly, it was almost completely buried under rubble. Sunny had managed to clear some of it away, but most pieces of the collapsed roof were too heavy for him to lift. Maybe the Shadow Saint would have more luck.

It was a suitable plan, but, for some reason, Sunny felt strangely reluctant to return to the exploration of the library on that particular night.

'Huh… what else can I do?'

He jumped down from the stone column and approached the dead carapace centurion to carve out some meat and the soul shards.

Come to think of it… come to think of it, the spot marked on the crude map that he had found on the body of the strange hunting party's leader was not that far away, too.

Maybe he could check it out.

Sunny vehemently shook his head.

'No, no… the map has to be fake anyway. Right?'

Trying to suppress the unhealthy fire of curiosity burning in his chest, Sunny concentrated on the task at hand. Once the meat and the shards were in his possession, though, the persistent desire to follow the map returned.

'And if it's not fake, that's even worse. Who knows what kind of horror those fools were searching for?'

Surely, there wouldn't be any treasure or important secrets hidden there. This whole thing smelled of nothing but peril. In fact, it reeked of something sinister, terrifying, and utterly evil.

Sunny sighed.

'But honestly, what's the harm in taking one tiny look? It's just one look... what's the worse that can happen?'

***

Quietly stepping through the stone rubble, Sunny cautiously approached the spot marked on the map. For some strange reason, very few Nightmare Creatures seemed to choose this remote part of the city as their hunting grounds. It was as though they were compelled to avoid this place.

Come to think about it, that fact alone would be enough to scare Sunny away. In normal circumstances. But with the Stone Saint hiding in his shadow, he felt a bit braver.

He would be able to run away if anything happens, at least.

Approaching a large building that had been magnificent once, Sunny climbed over the collapsed wall and found himself in a dark and secluded courtyard.

In the center of the courtyard, there was a well. Its round mouth loomed like an open wound in the stone, filled with nothing but empty blackness. The well was covered with a strange, ornate iron grate. It must have weighed several tones at least, as though someone desperately wanted to prevent anything from ever lifting it from its place and leaving the well open.

Sunny gulped before approaching and looking through the grill of the grate. The silent well was so deep that he couldn't see its bottom.

…Maybe there wasn't one.

Picking up a small stone, Sunny dropped it down. The black mouth of the well swallowed the stone, making it disappear.

Many seconds passed, but there was no sound of the rock hitting anything.

Sunny was almost ready to try again, but then…

The well spoke.

A melodic, strangely enchanting voice resounded from its dark depths, filling Sunny's ears with sweetness.

"Ah, a guest…"

He staggered back, his eyes opening wide in fear.

'Nope. Not doing that!'

Sunny wanted to turn around and run away, but something stopped him from following his instinct. He sensed that leaving without finding out more was going to be a wrong decision.

And the voice sounded so… so human-like…

It was like the voice of someone you would want to be your friend.

He shook his head, breaking free from the reverie.

'What were those damned fools up to?! What are they doing there in that damn castle?! I need to warn Nephis… no, wait… I need to find out more first. I'll try to understand what is going on here, but if there's any sign of danger, I run.'

Greeting his teeth, Sunny forced himself to stay still.

A moment later, the well whispered:

"How wonderful. I haven't been fed in a long, long time…"