Shadow Slave novel Chapter 2899

The King of Nothing was preparing, too. Only, unlike Cassie, he wasn't drawing runes on the black stone. Instead, he was simply bringing some of his vessels to the Ebony Island.

Looking at them, Rain could not help but feel her stomach churn.

‘Creepy, creepy, creepy...’

Mordret of Nowhere seemed like the most inhuman of the Sovereigns for more than one reason. It was not just that his soul was split among millions of vessels... it was also that most of those vessels were not human. Instead, they were Nightmare Creatures. The Chained Island bordered the Hollow Mountains in the north and the Glass Hell in the west, so it was an important confluence point for the King of Nothing. It was also a gate leading south, across the regions of the Dream Realm conquered by the King of Swords decades ago, and over the Black Mountains, where the heartland of the Dream Realm lay.

So, there was always a constant procession of ghastly abominations passing through the Ebony Island. Some came from the Hollow Mountains, while some came from Godgrave — the latter especially gave Rain chills, because she still vividly remembered watching too many of her comrades being torn apart and devoured by the hideous creatures of the scarlet jungle.

The nightmarish vessels of the King of Nothing came to Chained Island through one of the Mirror Gates and left through another, traveling toward the Black Mountains, where a fierce battle was raging across countless peaks. They had rarely lingered before, but now, things were different.

As Rain watched, a colossal abomination that resembled a hideous tick dragged its swollen belly across the ash, numerous revolting shapes moving beneath its gray skin in a nauseating pattern. Reaching the edge of the island, it turned to face the Ebony tower and fell to the ground heavily, burrowing all eight of its segmented legs deep into the obsidian bedrock.

A swarm of eerie, transparent abominations — Rain recognized them as the crystalline insects from the Glass Hell — followed, carrying heavy plates of forged metal. Moving with flawless precision, they began constructing an iron cradle around the gargantuan tick, as if wanting to protect it from threats coming from neighboring islands.

Looking at it, Rain couldn't help but feel like she was watching a squad of army engineers build fortifications around a fixed artillery position.

On the other side of the island, something that looked like a hill of long black hair was laying on the ground. There was a ghastly abomination hidden under the mountains of black hair, though — a thing that looked like a hybrid between a spider and an ape, its long limbs ending with enormous hands.

A crowd of mundane humans was dismantling an ancient ruin near the monstrosity, all wearing the same absent expression. Dozens of them strained to move each enormous block of obsidian, piling them near the abomination.

To Rain, it looked like soldiers preparing projectile ammunition for an enormous trebuchet.

Some distance away, a swarm of Nightmare Creatures that resembled crystal wasps was spilling over the edge of the island like a glass river. They crawled down its inverted slopes and hid on its dark side, far away from where anyone could see them.

They were stealth aircraft deploying to protect the island from aerial attacks from the Sky Below.

Somewhere else, a dozen horned beasts were pulling a massive shape covered in black fabric across the obsidian. Rain was almost sure that it was meant to serve as an air defence battery.

Things like that were happening all across the Ebony Island.

...In a few areas, groups of small abominations were planting scarlet seeds into the ash. The same was happening on all islands surrounding the Ebony Tower.

‘Crazy bastard. Is he creating mine fields out of the scarlet jungle?’

Rain was suddenly covered in cold sweat. That loathsome jungle was only contained by the incinerating skies above Godgrave. What was going to happen if someone brought it away from that white abyss? Would it consume all of the Dream Realm like an unstoppable tide?

She shivered.

‘Well... probably not.'

After all, the scarlet jungle had existed for thousands of years, but never moved past the arm bones of the dead god.

So, perhaps the King of Nothing knew what he was doing, after all.

"Rain. Stop staring at those things."

Rain flinched again and hurriedly looked back at the runes.

She hesitated for a few moments, and then sighed.

“The one in the basement is nice. The other one, though... is a bit of a horror show."

Cassie smiled.

“He can hear you, you know?"

Rain coughed, then shrugged nonchalantly.

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