Shadow Slave: Endless Souls

Soon, the rich smell of roasting meat permeated the air. At the same time, the sun was beginning to approach the horizon; a loud rumble came from somewhere beneath, and first traces of the black water began to appear between the crimson walls of the labyrinth.

Sunny looked east, where the skies were already growing dark. Then he uncomfortably shifted.

"Do scavengers come all the way up here?"

Nephis turned the meat and nodded.

"Yes. But… only at night. In the day, most of them seem to disappear."

Sunny grinned, having an idea of why there weren't a lot of monsters in the labyrinth of the day.

"That's because they all gather near the place where I had been spending my time recently. You should have seen it - the tall cliff to the west of here. Well, it's a statue."

Edward looked at the west finally locating the statue he had been searching for.

'I swear! It wasn't there when I checked yesterday.'

Cassia opened her eyes wide.

"A… a statue? But for you to survive, it should be…"

"Yes, it's a giant statue of a knight, at least two hundred meters tall. He was missing his head, so I hid on top of his neck. Anyway… the day we were sent here, two sea creatures fought each other near that statue. When the water receded, I saw an enormous carcass lying there, with hundreds of scavengers slowly tearing it apart."

Nephis glances towards Edward as if remembering his mention of a manmade structure he has seen. But Edward didn't notice that because he was having really dangerous thoughts.

'Perhaps I should delay our stay here a little longer? Once they finished feasting we can fight our way through them. I bet I can farm tons of SP from it.'

[-4000 SP]

[Soul: Folk of Rage Soul

Rank: Dormant

Powers: [Phantom Scales], [Physical Enhancement (Guardian)], [Aquatic Attributes], [Night Vision], [Raging Blows].

Description: Sequence 8 of Tyrant Pathway. It's an upgradable soul but upgrading it will allow it to ascend to the next sequence but doesn't exactly mean the rank of the soul will be upgraded.

Price: 12000 SP]

[Physical Enhancement (Guardian)]: You are no longer a simple sailor but an embodiment of the rage of the folks. They could be just simple villagers of an old fishing village or your crew mates but that doesn't anymore. You have become faster and more resistant making you a natural disaster to fight against. Fighting against you is simply the same as fighting against a storm.

[Folks Of Rage]: Nothing is more terrifying than the rage of the angry folk, the more you try to suppress them stronger their resistance will be. The more you get hurt more enraged you become allowing you to display might beyond your own limits.

"That would explain the lack of Nightmare Creature in the day. How long?"

Sunny blinked.

"How long what?"

Changing Star stared at him for a few seconds, making everyone feel uncomfortable.

"How long... until they are done devouring the carcass?"

"Oh. One day more, two at most."

Edward was silent not disturbing their discussion, his prolonged silence didn't matter much to them, well that's how they are trying to look outside. As time goes by they run out of subjects they share interest in. Bringing silence among the group.

When they were finished with their meal, the dark sea was back, and the night was upon them. Everything was consumed by absolute darkness.

Of course, Sunny could easily see both Nephis and Cassia. Under the cover of the night, Changing Star remained pretty much the same. The blind girl, however, allowed her true emotions to show, thinking that no one would see. She seemed much more lost, lonely, and frightened than she did in the day.

As for Edward? He remained silent focusing on something, maybe he was checking his info using the Spell or maybe even falling asleep while keeping his eyes open.

As if trying to resist these feelings, Cassia said in a bright voice:

"How about we formally introduce ourselves? I'm Cassie."

Nephis glanced in her direction and shrugged.

"Neph."

Next, it was Sunny's turn. He exhaled, glad that they didn't ask his name directly. Most likely, he would still have been able to provide his human name - however, it also might have depended on the wording of the question.

Relieved, he smiled and answered:

"I'm Sunless. But you can call me Sunny."

He then fell silent for a few moments before saying in a casual tone.

"Since we're going to be depending on each other, should we share what abilities and Memories we have at our disposal?"

This was a logical suggestion. If they were going to fight side by side, knowing each other's strengths was more or less vital. Still, he noticed Nephis glancing in his direction with a guarded look on her face.

Luckily, he was obscured by darkness.

He also wanna know more about their Aspect Abilities, he has a feeling that Edward's Aspect wasn't as simple as just being pure physical enhancement. So, once any of them decided to backstab him he will be somewhat prepared.

"I'll start," Sunny said, both to show his sincerity and to reveal information about himself in a controlled manner.

After all, once others started asking questions he might not be able to fully control the information leaving his mouth because of his Flaw.

"My attributes give me an affinity to shadows. I also have a slight affiliation with divinity. Lastly, I am prone to finding myself in unlikely situations."

Cassie listened carefully, and then lowered her head, as though embarrassed.

"Uh… he is telling the truth. Not that we doubted your honesty!"

Sunny cleared his throat and smiled, hiding his nervousness:

"Really? That's good to know. But… why are you so sure that I am being honest?"

The blind girl shifted a little.

"Oh! That's my Ability. I can "see" people's Attributes. Sometimes, I also receive, uh, "visions". They can be about the future or the past. I mean, that's what I think… it only happened a couple of times. Even though for some reason I can't see Edward's Attributes they are... in lack of better terms hidden."

Info brought to him by the blind girl made Sunny's ear perk up.

"That's a good Ability. Speaking of Abilities: you have already seen mine. My shadow can move independently and explore. It can't affect the material world, but we share sight and hearing. That way, I can spot danger before encountering it. The shadow is fast and stealthy: it can go anywhere and is almost impossible to notice. Oh, I can also see in the dark."

While they kept talking in Edward's mind their voices went farther and farther as his mind wandered through the endless stream of thoughts contained in his mind. As for where these thoughts come from and what it is, you don't need to know because sometimes the human mind wanders to somewhere it shouldn't and can't stop.

"Edward..."

"Edward..."

"Edward!"

Edward finally comes back to reality as he hears Cassie calling his name and looks at her with a confused look on his face.

"What?"

"Your Aspect Ability, we are sharing it so tell us about yours."

'Oh right, there was something like that in the original too.'

"Physical enhancement, precognitive combat, and small stealth enhancement, you could say it's completely combat-oriented one."

"Isn't that a little too brief?"

Sunny asked Edward as his eyes twitched a little, after all even silent Nephis given them more info about her Aspect Abilities than this guy.

"It's that simple you know nothing more and nothing less."

'My shadow completely disagrees with that you damn asshole!'

***

I JUST checked my Patreon account since I didn't do it for a while and found out someone actually became a member of it.

TwT I wanna cry.

My first member. Not sure about your Webnovel name but thank you @Patrik