Shadow Slave novel Chapter 3018

Sunny studied Effie for a short while.

She had long recovered from the harrowing starvation forced upon her by the Dreamspawn, looking as hale and brimming with vitality as ever. Her figure was just as outstanding as it had always been, her skin was dewy and supple, and her eyes were bright and clear.

However...

There was a shadow hiding in their depths, one that had not been there before.

Sunny hesitated, then manifested a similar kind of club to hers. Walking over to stand over one of the balls, he asked:

"Shall we compete to see who can hit a ball further?"

Effie gave him a dubious look.

“There's no way to see where they fall, though. How are we going to judge the winner?"

Sunny scratched the back of his head.

Even the vast reach of his shadow sense was not enough for that purpose. He could potentially send one of his incarnations or Shadows to the shores of the Stormsea, but that felt like too much hassle.

“Whatever. Let's just whack some balls, then."

He remembered how Effie had done it and swung the club. This time, it did not shatter — sadly, the ball still exploded.

Sunny sighed.

“Damn."

Effie laughed and swung hers, then watched her ball streak across the sky with satisfaction.

Sunny spoke in a neutral tone:

“Everyone seems inclined to talk about the Fourth Nightmare today. Jet, Kai... now you, too."

Effie shrugged.

"Well, today is Remembrance Day. It has been a year since the end of the Plague, and the immediate fires caused by it have been put out. Now, for the first time, we have time to look to the future instead of focusing on how to deal with the fallout of the past. So it's only natural that everyone is thinking about the Nightmare."

Sunny lingered a bit.

“You seem to be in a bad mood."

She shook her head.

"Not bad. Just... there's a lot to consider, I guess."

Effie studied the vista of the Bastion.

"Do you know that people in Bastion almost never have nightmares? Not in the past year, at least. As a result, we are doing much better than all other cities. Crime is down, productivity is up — the same goes for most other parameters. That's how important good sleep is, I guess, especially when the entire species is dealing with a recent trauma."

She glanced at Sunny and smiled a little.

"And it's all because of that horse of yours. Ever since it settled in the real Bastion, things like that keep happening. That's the impact one Supreme creature can make. So, how can I not be thinking about the Fourth Nightmare?"

Sunny remained silent for a long while, considering his words carefully. In the end, he said:

"No one is forcing you to challenge it, Effie. You don't have to do it if you don't want to."

She chuckled and looked at him with humorous sparks glistening in her hazel eyes.

"Sunny... did you ever want to challenge a Nightmare?"

He could not help but scoff.

“What? Of course not. It was just that the circumstances forced me to... still forcing me, actually. I would much rather live somewhere comfortably without the need to risk getting killed."

Effie sent another ball flying with a loud thunderclap.

“There you go, then. The world is ending, Sunny, and I have a lot to lose. So, I am quite motivated to grow as powerful as I can and prevent it from falling apart completely. It's just... it's deeply ironic, don't you think?"

As Sunny shrugged, unsure what to say, Effie sighed.

She stared at the scattered balls for a while, then spoke in a quiet tone:

"Sunny... you were seven when your mother died, weren't you?"

He was surprised by the question.

Effie grimaced and rolled another ball closer to herself. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Effie hesitated for a moment.

"He doesn't remember what happened, so he's fine. Actually, he's not fine... he saw what state I was in back then, and I think that left a mark on him. So, he's completely focused on achieving natural Ascension now. He and Aiko have a competition to see who can become a Master first. Uh... crazy times we live in, right? Natural Ascension, who could have thought?"

She smiled.

“Hey, Sunny... do you remember, back on the Forgotten Shore, I once told you that the Dream Realm is a paradise?"

He nodded.

"I do. I mean, how could I have forgotten something so nonsensical?"

Effie chuckled, then inhaled deeply.

“Now, I don't think that it's a paradise... it's not a paradise yet."

She picked up another club and rolled a ball closer.

"But I think we can make it into one, if we really try. We will probably fail... but we won't know unless we try, will we?"

Sunny opened his mouth to answer, but at that moment, the Spell suddenly whispered into his ear.

It said...

[You have slain a Fallen Monster, Undetectable Forest Maw.]

He froze for a moment, then glanced at his club.

‘Huh.'

Noticing his expression, Effie raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

Sunny remained silent for a moment, then smiled.

“Oh... I think I won our competition, that's all.”