The disaster ca without warning.
One mont, the five Sleepers were sailing across the endless expanse of the Dark Sea beneath the warm golden glow of the floating lantern. The black waters were calm, the boat gently swaying with the waves as they continued their journey toward the Human Castle.
For the first ti in a long while, things had seed peaceful.
The next mont, the ocean exploded.
The calm black water suddenly erupted around the boat as enormous tentacles burst from beneath the surface.
They rose silently from the darkness below before slamming into the makeshift vessel from every direction.
Everything happened too fast.
Sunny wasn't even able to see what kind of creature was attacking them before another massive tentacle crashed into the hull.
The boat had only been made from wood and several bones taken from the Carapace Demon. It had been sturdy enough for travel, but against a creature of this magnitude, it stood no chance.
Wood splintered.
Bones shattered.
The entire vessel broke apart.
Freezing cold water swallowed everyone.
Sunny barely had enough ti to take a breath before he was dragged downward by one of the tentacles wrapped around his leg.
The world instantly beca darkness and pressure.
Cold water filled his ears while the surface rapidly disappeared above him.
He gritted his teeth and looked around.
Far away, he managed to see Nephis struggling against several thick tentacles that had wrapped themselves around her body.
Her silver sword flashed through the darkness.
One tentacle was severed.
Then another.
Then another.
But for every tentacle she destroyed, two more imdiately took its place.
It was like fighting an endless swarm.
Sunny summoned Midnight Shard and slashed at the tentacle binding his leg.
The black blade cut through flesh.
Dark blood spilled into the water.
The tentacle loosened.
Imdiately, Sunny kicked forward and swam toward Nephis.
However, before he could get far, more tentacles surged toward him from below.
One.
Two.
Three.
Five.
Dozens.
The creature seed endless.
Sunny's expression darkened.
Then he noticed sothing else.
Not far away, Cassie was struggling in the darkness.
His heart nearly stopped.
'She's blind!'
Imdiately, Sunny activated Shadow Bond.
The connection between their souls pulled at him.
In the next instant, his body vanished and reappeared beside Cassie.
He grabbed her before another tentacle could reach her.
Cassie flinched in surprise but quickly recognized him.
Unfortunately, that only made them a larger target.
The surrounding tentacles imdiately surged toward them.
Sunny tightened his grip on Midnight Shard.
He prepared himself for impact.
Prepared himself for pain.
Prepared himself for death.
But the attack never ca.
Instead—
The water around them suddenly turned crimson.
A terrifying heat erupted through the darkness.
Then ca flas.
Impossible flas.
Flas burning beneath the sea itself.
The surrounding water violently evaporated as an overwhelming crimson inferno exploded outward.
Tentacles burned.
Flesh lted.
Several of the attacking limbs were completely destroyed in a single strike.
Sunny looked up.
There, surrounded by crimson fire, was Senrix.
The full armor variant of Crimson Engine covered his body.
The black-crimson armor glowed like molten tal beneath volcanic stone.
Cracks of burning light spread across its surface.
The furnace-like chestplate pulsed with power.
The six chanical wings behind him blazed like six burning halos.
Yet despite his overwhelming appearance, the armor was damaged.
Four of the six wings had been completely destroyed.
The remaining two were heavily damaged.
Large sections of armor were cracked and broken.
Even so, Senrix continued moving forward without hesitation.
His crimson eyes burned brighter than the flas around him.
A single swing of his arm unleashed another wave of fire.
More tentacles were reduced to ash.
Before Sunny could react, Senrix grabbed him by the shoulder.
Then he pointed toward the distance.
There, far away above the surface of the sea, a giant stone hand rose from the darkness.
*Sunny! Once you reach that stone hand, imdiately tell the others that one of your innate abilities allows them to teleport to you just like you can teleport to them! Telepathic ssages are part of it too, apparently!*
Before Sunny could even respond, Senrix threw him.
The force behind the throw was absurd.
Sunny and Cassie shot through the water like arrows.
The stone hand rapidly approached.
Then Sunny turned back.
What he saw froze him in place.
Senrix wasn't retreating.
He was diving deeper.
Much deeper.
Straight toward the monster.
The damaged wings behind him suddenly regenerated.
Crimson flas erupted again.
Then his armor began to grow.
Larger.
Larger.
Larger.
The deeper he descended, the bigger Crimson Engine beca.
Soon, Senrix's armored form was as large as the headless knight statue Sunny had once used as shelter.
The giant armored figure reached forward.
A tentacle thicker than a tree wrapped around his arm.
Senrix grabbed it.
Then pulled.
The sea shook.
Sothing enormous began rising from below.
Only then did Sunny finally see the creature.
It was a grotesque mass of flesh and bone.
Its body looked malford and unnatural.
Thousands upon thousands of tentacles writhed from every direction.
A single enormous eye stared from the center of its body.
The second eye seed to have been destroyed long ago, leaving behind only a ruined socket.
The sight alone was enough to make Sunny's skin crawl.
Then he rembered Senrix's words.
Imdiately, he focused on Shadow Bond.
*Nephis! Elysia! You can teleport through our connection! I'm at a giant stone hand!*
The response ca almost instantly.
Nephis appeared first.
One mont she was nowhere to be seen.
The next mont she materialized beside Sunny.
Her appearance was terrible.
Her armor was damaged.
One arm was bleeding heavily.
Without hesitation, white flas appeared around the wound.
The flesh imdiately began healing.
Then Elysia appeared.
Her condition looked even worse.
Her cloak mory had been completely destroyed.
Large portions of her armor were cracked.
She looked exhausted.
"And there goes my Zenith Shroud. If not for that mory, I wouldn't have escaped the tentacles at all."
The mont she finished speaking, Elysia collapsed onto the stone hand.
A second later, she was already asleep.
Sunny blinked.
"...Seriously?"
A faint snore answered him.
"W-what happened, Sunny?"
Cassie asked quietly.
She was still trying to understand the situation.
"A giant tentacled abomination attacked us and destroyed the boat. I managed to teleport to you through Shadow Bond. Apparently there's a range limit though. I couldn't reach Elysia at first. Luckily she got closer before things got worse."
Cassie released a relieved sigh.
Then she suddenly froze.
"...Where's Senrix?"
Before Sunny could answer—
"I'm here."
The familiar voice ca from nearby.
Everyone imdiately turned.
Senrix climbed onto the stone hand.
His condition was awful.
Five of his six wings were gone.
Half of Crimson Engine had been destroyed.
The left arm of the armor was completely missing.
Cracks spread throughout the remaining sections.
Surprisingly, Senrix himself only had a bleeding wound on his forehead.
Though his actual left arm looked badly damaged beneath the armor.
"Damn that abomination."
He sat down heavily.
"It nearly destroyed Crimson Engine."
Then he glanced toward Nephis.
Without saying anything, Nephis stood.
She walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder.
White flas appeared.
The wound on his head disappeared.
The damage to his arm slowly healed as well.
"Thanks, Neph."
For the rest of the night, the five Sleepers remained atop the giant stone hand.
They treated injuries.
Shared what little supplies remained.
And rested beneath the warm golden glow of Elysia's Soul Lantern, which she had thankfully managed to recall into her Soul Sea before the monster destroyed the boat.
Below them, the Dark Sea continued to rage.
Above them, dawn slowly approached.
Hours passed.
Then finally—
The first rays of sunlight appeared beyond the horizon.
Golden light spread across the world.
The darkness retreated.
And for the first ti, they saw it clearly.
A massive wall stood in the distance.
Ancient stone towers rose proudly above the shoreline.
Countless structures stretched beyond the walls.
The Human Castle.
For a mont, nobody spoke.
After everything they had endured.
The Soul Devouring Tree.
The Carapace Demon.
The Dark Sea.
The countless horrors of the Forgotten Shore.
They had finally arrived.
A tired smile appeared on Sunny's face.
Beside him, Cassie quietly sighed in relief.
Even Nephis seed slightly less tense.
Elysia raised her head and stared at the distant city.
Senrix simply sat there in silence.
The Human Castle stood before them.
And sohow—
They had survived long enough to reach it.
[Volu 1: Dreaming sword]
A/N: I'm finally done!!! I could finally slow down my updates and make chapters better! Wohoo!
Anyways how the chapter guy? For I think it's not that had for the end of an volu because volu 1 of shadow slave also ended at the exact scene that I ended volu 1 and I will end volu 2 the sa way, volu 3 and 4 will be different as Senrix will be Senrix.
Here's so clue on everything you can expect for the next volu
The hunter of the beast goddess will finally show itself to us, and you'll be not that shock on who will it be as it is rather obvious who.
Gunlaug being different?
The fourt ranked of the rankings Aurelia will finally appear here.
Caster being different?
Eleven sleepers of the whole batch was sent here? And it's 99% the top 10 of the rankings?
Anyways I will update either tomorrow or the next day after that, school now is only a week away and I'm gonna be busy all the ti so expect slow updates.
Here's what Cassie saw in her vision in chapter 35.
The hungry shadow and the radiant angel: [image]
Gunlaug (slightly different here but you get the idea): [image]
Second sun and eternal love (slightly different but you get the idea):[image]
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