Shadow Slave: Endless Souls

'I probably should have read the chapters hidden behind the paywall.' There is a saying that when someone faces death, their brain overworks, leading to some random thoughts. Perhaps that's what happened to Edward.

[Ding! You gained 10 SP!]

[Ding! You gained 10 SP!]

[Ding! You gained 10 SP!]

Edward looked at the ugly beast with awe on his face. After all, It was his first time seeing a monster like this. The creature had two stumpy legs, an emaciated, hunched torso, and disproportionately long, multijointed hands - two of them, each ending with a set of horrifying bone claws, and another two, these ones shorter, ending with almost human-like fingers. The thing that at first glance looked like dirty snow turned out to be its fur, yellowish-grey and ragged, thick enough to stop arrows and swords.

On its head, five milky, white eyes regarded the slaves with insect-like indifference. Beneath them, a terrible maw crowding with razor-sharp teeth was half-open, as though in anticipation. Viscous drool was running down the creature's chin and dripping into the snow.

It was ugly - yes - but it was strangely beautiful; the strange shapes endlessly moving on its body were like moving patterns as if drawing, creating a sense of mysterious charm. He glances at Sunny, who's closest to the monster; he quickly pulls him towards himself, creating distance between them and the monster. Which is proven to be correct the next second, it swung its claw in its general direction.

Those sharp claws, each as long as a sword sliced through the broad-shouldered man a fraction of a second later and sent streams of blood flying through the air. Drenched in the hot liquid, Sunny, who was on the ground, was shocked, and his fellow slave - now simply a corpse - fell on him from above.

[Ding! You gained 10 SP!]

"Be careful, kiddo, you might turn into minced meat any moment if you stand there like that," Edward whispered to him low enough not to be heard by the beast, then stopped Sunny from pushing the corpse away and placed his hand on his mouth. He glared at him coldly, but Edward ignored it; he saved him from the pain of getting blood in his eyes. He should be a little grateful, right?

Sunny tried to escape from Edward's arms, but Edward didn't let him go; as the beast jumped over them, a deafening chorus of screams filled the night. But that wasn't the only chorus Edward had heard, though; the system notification was truly nice, too. He then pushes the body that was lying over Sunny away and unlocks his shackles.

Sunny looked at him with shock in his eyes. With a smirk, he said to Sunny. "Well, why don't you run you clever boy?" He pushes Sunny away making him even more confused. "Hey, brat! give me the way will ya?!" Shifty-looking slave screamed towards Sunny, who saw that the key was still stuck inside his unlocked shackles.

He also saw a rather horrifying scene, the corpse of his fellow slave. Right under his eyes, the corpse was going through a nightmare-inducing metamorphosis. Strange bone growths pierced its skin, extending like spikes. The muscles bulged and wriggled, as though trying to change shape. The fingernails were turning into sharp claws; the face cracked and split, bearing open a twisted mouth with one too many rows of bloodied, needle-like fangs.

Only then did he understand the meaning behind Edward's rather cryptic words. He ignored the shifty slave's roar for the key and started running. To his surprise, he stumbled upon one of the fallen soldiers who was still holding his sword; it seemed like one of the falling rocks and ice smashed his head cleanly.

'What are the chances?'

Sunny quickly tried to snatch the weapon from the corpse in dead cold hands. Luckily, it wasn't infected with that strange worm-like thing that was inside the monster, meaning it was just a corpse. While he struggled to free the weapon from the soldier's corpse in his hand, the transformed corpse monster was slowly heading toward the other two slaves.

After freeing the sword and seeing his own reflection on its cold metal blade, his mind somewhat cleared up; with a little clearer mind, the horrible realization struck him like a shooting star in the clear sky.

Nightmare Creatures had their own hierarchy: from mindless Beasts to Monsters, followed by Demons, Devils, Tyrants, Terrors, and, finally, mythical Titans, also known as Calamities. The First Nightmare was almost always populated by beasts and monsters, rarely with a demon mixed in. And Sunny had never, ever heard about anything stronger than a single devil appearing in it.

However, the creature had clearly just created a lesser version of itself — an ability that belonged exclusively to tyrants, the sovereigns of the Nightmare Spell, and those above them.

What was this tyrant even doing in a First Nightmare?

How powerful was that damn [Fated] attribute?!

But there was no time to ponder.

Unfair or not, there was only one person now who could save Sunny - himself. As long he killed that creature he should be considered as finishing his First Nightmare.

The broad-shouldered man — what was left of him — slowly looked towards his direction, his mouth producing strange clicking noises. 'Where the hell is that damned soldier?' Sunny couldn't help but ask for Edward's help once again. Without giving him time to fully come to his senses, the monster lodged itself towards him; Sunny cursed and rolled back. Weight of the newly added weight of the two corpses of the shifty man and scholar pulled the monster back, giving Sunny enough time to take hold of himself.

After getting up, it dragged its body towards Sunny. The sound of the chain jingling made Sunny's heart skip a bit, A duo of corpses gets dragged by it. One arm of the monster, now fully equipped with five jagged claws, shot forward to meet him, but Sunny sidestepped it with one calculated movement. The sword's blade flashed with faint white light under the moonlight before digging into the monster's body.

Red and blueish blood sprouted from its wound, but Sunny's weak and skinny arms weren't strong enough to extend enough force to finish it in one swift slice. 'Damn it!'

The creature's failed wailing echoed through the night; luckily, the bigger one didn't come to protect its spawn. Sunny, after failing to pull out the sword from the monster's body, decided to use another strategy; it was a rather simple one. He turned around and ran towards the closest armored corpse he could see to snatch their weapon.

After all, as long he killed this piece of shit, he would be freed from this nightmarish land; the Spell won't demand him kill the tyrant at his First Nightmare, right? If so then this wasn't trial but simply execution.

The good thing was, the monster was bleeding and becoming weaker and couldn't move its clawed hand now. Causing its movement speed to slow down significantly.

The bad thing was, by immobilizing its good arm and fatally wounding it, the worm inside it seemed like it had decided to go through another metamorphosis. Now, from the back of its back, two small limbs were growing at visible speed. And from looking at its location and growth speed, this set will be way bigger than the previous two owned by the broad-shouldered man.

'Oh c'mon! The original one had only two arms!'

Luckily, he stumbled upon another weapon. This time, he didn't need to struggle to free it from the corpse, and it was a spear! Sunny finally felt like his [Fated] attribute making some amends for him by sending him a better weapon.

The monster bulged its muscles; its two brand-new multijointed arms finished growing. The chain creaked, caught on the bone spikes, as though slowly breaking apart. This means that soon, it will break free from the weight of the two dead slaves.

'Just great!'

Without wasting any more time, he lodged himself towards the creature, aiming the tip of the spear towards him trying to pierce the creature with one simple strike. He put most of his weight into this one strike, hoping that it would be enough to kill it.

The monster, now close to its death bed from bleeding, its senses and instincts sharpened to their limit, noticing the whistling of the spear, swung its claws towards it. It's the claw and the tip of the spear clashed, as the expected iron tip of the spear held on its own but not the wooden handle. The spear is a blade stuck in the monster's palm, distracting it; Sunny closes the distance between himself and the creature quickly.

Holding the handle of the sword, using his own back as a lever, and using the weight of his whole body, he successfully pulled out the sword. Causing it to let out another weird shrieking; red and blueish blood comes out like a fountain as it falls on its knee, finally dying from blood loss.

[You have slain a dormant beast, Mountain King's Larva.]

***

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