Shadow slave reacts to the novel

'Roll, you creaky piece of shit!'

Sunny pressed himself against the wagon, pushing with all he had. Four powerful oxen that used to pull it were now dead, and instead of them, three tired slaves were trying to do the job. Even with the slope of the road helping them, the speed of the wagon was agonizingly slow. The tyrant, in comparison, was moving much faster.

"Well, well, well. Slaves, huh?" Mordret said, gazing at Sunny with an amused smile.

Sunny glared at Mordret.

Pushing Hero back with a deadly swipe of his lower arms, he raised the other two to its neck and tried to grab the chain that was wrapped around it like a noose. However, this time Mountain King's fearsome physique turned into a disadvantage: its long, terrifying bone claws were perfect for tearing flesh apart, but they weren't the best tool for precise manipulations. It took the tyrant some time to get a hold of the chain without slicing its own neck open.

Noctis gazed at the screen and stated "what a graceless creature, I hope that you won't have to fight such mindless creatures ever again"

Sunny froze. 'Is this guy wishing foe me to fight titans, does he want me to die or something?'

As Noctis noticed Sunny's troubled expression he smiled and said "an fallen titan would be a great challenge for you, my friend and it even might damage you're brain enough to make you realize your tasteless sense of fashion... only black, truly disappointing"

Sunny replied "yeah... if you say so, I just might start putting on some more colorful clothes... but isn't wishing a fallen titan on someone a bit much?"

At the same time Morgan couldn't help but express her boredom "this is a waste of time..."

As the fighting maniac that she was, she would have rathered fighting some fallen creature than watching a scrawny little boy from the outskirts. And some others could only agree even if this was the best scene yet, it was still lacking any type of amusement for the killers in this room.

...they would even rather comedy than this.

Obviously, some didn't think this way, but it was a shared opinion... and Sunny couldn't blame them.

By then, the wagon was nearly at the edge of the cliff.

'Come on! Just a little bit more!'

What followed happened very quickly. The wagon's rear wheels finally slid from the road, hanging over the dark, seemingly bottomless pit beneath. The creature turned, staring expressionlessly at the three slaves with its five milky, dead eyes. The wagon careened, throwing Shifty and Scholar off their feet, and then froze, balanced precariously on its middle axis.

"Will it finally die, so we can move on from this shitshow?" Jet asked, even if she was invested because he was an outskirts rat like her she also was slowly getting bored.

Sunny was the only one left standing. He cast a last glance at the towering monster, and then slammed his shoulder into the front of the wagon, putting all of his weight behind it.

"Not alot weight than, huh?" Effie said, obviously insulting him.

"Just eat someone." Sunny said to Effie who was stuffing her face full since the beginning

...And seishan too, wanted to stuff her face full. full of children, but still she wanted to stuff her face full.

The wagon finally lost its balance and rolled over the edge, scraping its underside deafeningly against the jagged rocks. Sunny fell forward and landed on his knees, narrowly saving himself from tumbling down the cliff with it. Turning his head to the tyrant, he gave it a wicked smile.

Mountain King made a move to lunge at the scrawny slave, but it was already too late. A moment later, the chain on his neck drew tight, and he was yanked back with tremendous force, flying over the edge of the cliff like a rag doll. The creature fell into the darkness silently, as though refusing to believe that it was defeated by a tiny human.

"Good job, Sunless. You are so great." Caster clapped as he sarcastically talked to Sunny.

Sunny glared at the bastard and he promised himself that he would kill him no matter what, even if he was a legacy.

'Go and die, bastard.' Sunny thought.

Then he took one deep, ragged breath and dropped to the ground, utterly exhausted.

'Is this it? Did I pass the trial?'

He rested on the cold stones, staring at the night sky, and waited for that faintly familiar, but elusive voice to announce his victory. But instead of that, wave after wave of pain that he had earlier chosen to ignore finally started to catch up with his abused body.

"Why is it stalling for so long?" Morgan expressed her displeasure and Caster could only nod along like a good tag-along...

Trying so hard to get into the good graces with the Valor that Sunny almost felt bad for the pathetic legacy and broke his promise to kill him in advance.

Well, almost...

Sunny groaned, feeling hurt all over. The skin on his back, slashed by a slaver's whip and pierced by the bone spikes of a newborn larva, especially, was in agony. He was also starting to shiver, once again consumed by the dreadful cold.

Kai, looked away uncomfortably. Even though he was in the dream realm for some time already, he still can't get used to people getting hurt like this.

Cassia, even if not even a Sleeper yet, shared the same feeling... well, everyone that didn't yet have their first nightmare or were Awakened for a year or two felt this way...

Well, Nephis, the scion of the immortal flame didn't seem bothered but she didn't seem bothered by anything.

'I guess not.'

His thoughts were slow and muddy.

'What else am I supposed to do?'

A dark figure appeared above him. It was Hero, looking calm and as handsome as ever. There were dirt and scratches on his armor, but otherwise, the young soldier appeared to be fine. He extended one arm to Sunny.

"Glazing another male, huh Sunless?" Athena smiled at the shadowy slave.

Sunny glared and grit his teeth, "I'm just describing him!"

"Sure, you are" Athena was clearly amused by his reaction and at the notion of bullying him a bit.

"Stand up. You'll freeze to death."

Sunny sighed, accepting that his First Nightmare was not over. Then he clenched his teeth and slowly rose to his feet, ignoring Hero's helping hand.

"What an annoyance... you truly are worthless, how did you not manage to kill it?" Morgan complained and Sunny only held back his growing hatred by reminding himself that she is the scion of valor and can kill him.

...Mordret sent a jab her way, tho "says a Master... only powerful enough to kill a Awakened Tyrant... truly pathetic, if I was a master I would be capable of killing an corrupted creature at least."

"You are a creature, yourself Monster..." She truly hated Mordret with a passion...

Around them, there was a scene of utter carnage. Except for the three slaves and Hero, every member of the caravan was dead. Their bodies were littering the ground, horribly maimed or torn into pieces. Here and there, a repulsive carcass of a larva could be seen. Shadows cast by the bonfire were dancing happily across the stone platform, seemingly unperturbed by this morbid view.

"What a scene..." seishan reveled at the amoun of blood, there are even some children there...

Revel could only gaze in disgust at her sister... why could none of them be normal...

...one is some weirdo with a blood fetish, another one is some seductress and another is some emo, and she could still go on about how the rest of her sisters are.

Sunny was also too tired to care.

Roan, understood this feeling, very well...

Shifty and Scholar were already up, looking at Hero with weary apprehension. With or without shackles, they were still slaves, and he was still a slave driver. Noticing their tense gazes, the soldier sighed.

"What? Getting released? What a bore... I thought that I would at the very least see collared men here..." Effie sighed dramatically.

"Come closer to the fire, all of you. We need to warm ourselves and discuss what to do next."

Without waiting for their response, Hero turned around and walked away. After hesitating for a few moments, the slaves followed.

A bit of time later, the four of them were seated around the bonfire, soaking up pleasant heat. Shifty and Scholar were close to each other, maintaining a safe distance from Hero. Sunny sat apart from everyone — not because he had a specific reason to distrust one more than the others, but simply because he didn't like people in general.

Nephis felt the same way...

...She also disliked human interactions, even more so if those human interactions included her.

Growing up, Sunny was always a misfit. It's not that he had never tried to become close with someone, it's just that he seemed to lack the ability. Like there was an invisible wall between him and other people. If he had to put it in words, Sunny would say that he was born without a small, but important gear in his brain that everyone else seemed to possess.

Nephis again could sympathize, but rather she blamed her lack of that gear on those despicable sovereigns.

...She would do anything to kill them, even sell her soul.

As a result, he was often baffled and stumped by human behavior, and his attempts to imitate it, however diligent, inevitably fell flat. This strangeness made others uncomfortable. In short, he was a bit different — and if there was one thing people hated, it was those different from them.

"Well, don't worry Sunless than," Mordret exclaimed "you will fit right in with all the mistakes and misfits of this world"

"Are you talking about yourself and those despicable reflections of yours?" Morgan commented and Mordret smiled sadly as if he was some victim.

Over time, Sunny simply learned to avoid getting too close to anyone and settled comfortably into his outcast role. This habit served him well, since it not only made him self-reliant, but also saved him from being stabbed in the back by shady characters on multiple occasions.

Mordret smiled pleasantly at Sunny, making him feel uncomfortable and whispered "Well, if they haven't backstabbed you than it must be the other way around seeing your little stunt."

Sunny obviously realized what would happen when that appeared but, he didn't think Mordret would think about this too...

That's why he was not thrilled to share the rest of this Nightmare with three strangers. Instead of trying to start a conversation, Sunny sat quietly by himself, lost in thoughts.

"It looks as if a cat cut your tongue, boy." Jest snickered to himself and Anvil only rolled his eyes at the senile old man beside him.

After a few minutes, Hero's voice finally broke the silence:

"Once the sun rises, we will gather whatever food and water we can find and go back down the mountain."

Shifty gave him a defiant look.

"Why should we go back? To be put in chains again?"

"Die a freeman or live as a slave. What would you choose, Sunless. Well, judging by your clothes, you would chooseliving as a slave, no?"

Sunny asked angered "what do my clothes have to do with anything?"

Noctis chuckled to himself, like the deranged man he was.

The young soldier sighed.

"We can go our separate ways once we leave the mountains. But until then, I'm still responsible for your lives. We can't continue up the road since the way over the mountain pass is long and arduous. Without the supplies that were stored on the wagon, your chances of making it are not high. That's why going back is our best hope."

"What a shame" Mordret sighed to himself.

Scholar opened his mouth, planning to say something, but then thought better of it and remained silent. Shifty cursed, seemingly convinced by Hero's rational words.

"We can't go down."

Hmm? Why not? Kai asked.

Aiko also was confused and thus the traitor explained: "the Nightmare Creature hadn't died yet, seeing that there was no reaction from the Spell.

Kai merely nodded, finally understanding.

All three of them turned to Sunny, surprised to hear his voice.

Shifty barked a laugh and glanced at the soldier.

"Don't listen to him, your lordship. This boy is, uh, touched by the gods. He's crazy, is what I'm trying to say."

"Well, he isn't wrong" Asterion muttered to himself. He was nearly 5% sure of it, he was 5% sure that Sunless had a divine aspect.

Hero frowned, looking at the slaves.

"The two of you are only alive thanks to this child's bravery. Aren't you ashamed to badmouth him so?"

"Ungrateful" that was all Jet said.

Shifty shrugged, showing that he wasn't ashamed at all. The young soldier shook his head.

"I for one would like to hear his reasoning. Tell me, why can't we go down?"

Sunny shifted, uncomfortable in the center of everyone's attention.

"Because the monster isn't dead."