Shadow Slave

Abundance crawled across the Nightmare Desert, flowing over white dunes like a dark river of flesh while its terrifying maw swallowed the Deathless. The ancient undead quickly recognized the new threat and attempted to destroy the Sacred worm, but the wings of the Shadow Legion’s formation prevented them from getting close.

The lesser shades melted under the assault of the skeletal remains of the ancient warriors who had been cursed by Shadow God… but that was what Sunny expected. In this battle, the role of the weaker shades was to be destroyed. Their dogged resistance paved the way for the rest of the legion, allowing it to continue on. Abundance and the Shadow Legion advanced, swiftly moving into the depths of the desert.

Sunny stepped through the shadows and appeared in front of the gargantuan worm, regarding the vast expanse of white sand in front of him. There were countless Deathless there — those far away were still engaged in the eternal battle among themselves, but those who were closer had already switched the target of their malice. Even worse, that awareness seemed to be spreading toward the horizon, with more and more undead turning their empty eye sockets to the distant shape of Abundance.

‘I’ll have to cull them.’

There were all kinds of Deathless out there. All of them were strong, but some were horrifically powerful. There were fewer of the latter on the outer edges of the Nightmare Desert, but there were going to be far more of them as Sunny and Nephis drew closer to the Tomb of Ariel.

And as they reached the last stretch of their journey… Sunny did not even want to think about that.

In any case, at the moment, the wings of the formation were protecting Abundance from flanking attacks, while its maw swallowed the Deathless in the front. However, if any of the truly powerful undead appeared in the Sacred worm’s path, it could be severely damaged and eventually destroyed.

So, Sunny had to stop them.

He called upon his strongest champions — Saint, Slayer, and Serpent — to move ahead of Abundance and prevent the strongest Deathless from reaching it. He joined them personally, as well, manifesting a heavy quarterstaff out of the shadows.

As the colossal worm devoured the world behind him, Sunny rushed forward to engage the enemy… and to avoid being swallowed by his own Sacred shade, as well. It was a nerve-wracking experience, to battle undead horrors while a giant maw of a godworm was getting closer and closer to him from behind.

…But it was also a little thrilling.

For a short while, Sunny allowed himself to dissolve into the violent song of the battle. Nephis had been right — being able to engage in straightforward combat for the first time in a long while was indeed a privilege.

He moved between the shadows, clashing with the champions of the undead horde in relentless melee. There was no shortage of powerful opponents for him to fight… but for now, at least, he was the strongest, if just barely.

Their martial skill was also unmatched, so he greedily absorbed it through Shadow Dance, feasting on the generous collection of long-forgotten battle styles and techniques for the first time in years.

The Shadow Legion advanced swiftly as a result, even as its wings were suffering heavy casualties. The reason why none of the powerful Deathless had been able to pose a serious threat to Abundance yet, however, was not only the fearsome strength of Sunny and his champions — it was also the Curse.

Now that all seven links of the Curse were in close proximity to each other, the power of its enchantments drastically increased. Sunny had learned how to use his shadowbound relic better over time, as well.

Instead of infecting every enemy around him with the Weakening Curse, he cast it upon the strongest enemies among the Deathless with great precision and flawless timing. Therefore, the full power of the debilitating enchantment descended upon a single creature at the most inopportune time, making the attacks of Sunny and his champions so much more devastating.

‘Good… good, more!’

Sunny revelled in the ferocious dread of the calamitous battle.

As the battle on the ground ravaged the white dunes, another battle was happening in the sky. There, Nephis was the sole target of countless Deathless, evading their deadly attacks and setting countless projectiles aflame to preserve her body.

Because of it, it seemed as if the sky was on fire, white flames raining down upon the earth.

Her main goal was to draw the attention of the undead warriors and prevent too many of them from attacking the Shadow Legion, but from time to time, she unleashed rays of roaring white flames upon the white dunes, sowing destruction and annihilation among the Deathless.

The combination of her incredible aerial mobility, her Aspect, her mastery of Shaping and knowledge of the Names, the vastness of her Domain, and of the ingenious enchantments of the Blessing created a truly devastating foe for the undead captives of the Nightmare Desert.

For a while, their strategy worked, and they moved deeper and deeper into the sea of dunes.

There was one problem, though… Abundance was able to crawl forward with such speed because it simply swallowed the Deathless instead of battling them. That meant that the undead horrors of the desert were still whole and undamaged, trapped in the Sacred worm’s limitless belly.

And that meant that while Sunny and his champions prevented the strongest Deathless from damaging Abundance, they could not protect the gargantuan creature from being damaged from within.

The Deathless Abundance swallowed kept mangling it from the inside, and despite the boundless ocean of vitality the Sacred shade possessed, it gradually slowed down, coming close to being vanquished.

It was not vanquished, though.

Because just then, Nephis unleashed a wave of celestial fire that incinerated the javelins flaying at her and dove down.

Landing on the back of Abundance, she kneeled and placed her hand on the Sacred worm’s black hide.

And a moment later, the entirety of the titanic creature ignited with a soft white radiance.

Abundance was not a part of Neph’s Domain, which meant that she could not heal it from a distance. But nothing prevented her from healing it directly.

So, all the damage dealt to Abundance from within was gradually being healed by the soothing white flames.

Some distance away from the colossal worm, Sunny smiled darkly.

‘Nothing beats a good healer.’

The night deepend as the battle raged on. Looking ahead, he hesitated briefly.

Was he deceiving himself, or did the distant silhouette of the Tomb of Ariel really draw a little closer?