Shadow Slave novel Chapter 105

Chapter 105 Living Stone

Previously, Sunny had considered the living statues to be just that, monuments brought to life by evil spirits. There were a lot of revenants like that walking the streets of the cursed city.

Take the Black Knight, for example — Sunny was almost sure that the bastard was actually just a suit of armor with a vengeful wraith imprisoned within it. He had no proof that there was an actual body in that moving steel fortress, at least.

However, after watching the Stone Saint die right before his eyes, he wasn't so sure that she and the Black Knight were the same anymore. There certainly were similarities… even the design of their armors was somewhat similar, as though one had originated from the other. But the stone warrior's armor seemed much more… ancient.

And then there was the ruby dust that flowed from the stone creature's wounds instead of blood. Since when did statues have blood? It was almost like these strange creatures were designed to possess their own weird form of life. Come think about it, the stone warriors resembled artificial beings brought to life by some dark magic much more than they resembled undead creatures.

'Mysteries, mysteries, mysteries all around!'

Perhaps the runes describing the Stone Saint would provide him with some answers.

The Echo, meanwhile, was coming to life. Two magenta flames ignited in her gemstone eyes. The stone of her armor suddenly gleamed with subtle metal shine, the smooth surface of her granite skin turned slightly less rigid. Silently turning her head, the Saint gazed at Sunny through the narrow split of her helmet's visor.

"Let's see…"

He concentrated on the runes.

Echo: Stone Saint.

Echo Rank: Awakened.

Echo Class: Monster.

Echo Attributes: [Battle Master], [Stalwart], [Mark of Divinity].

Sunny blinked. Mark of Divinity? That was the same as his original Attribute! What business did a Nightmare Creature have walking around with the traces of divinity left in its evil, corrupted soul?

And what with these other Attributes…

Battle Master Attribute Description: [Born on the battlefield, the Stone Saint is proficient in all forms of combat.]

Stalwart Attribute Description: [The Stone Saint is highly resistant to all forms of damage, as well as being fully immune to mind and soul attacks.]

Bewildered, Sunny shook his head. No wonder these silent stone warriors were so deadly. They were literally a bunch of killing machines created to last as long and deal as much damage as possible on the battlefield.

But who had created them?

Leaving the Attributes alone, he lowered his gaze and read the next line of runes:

Echo Description: [Deep in the cavernous halls of his dark domain, the last child of the -unknown- had created them from stone to quell the fire burning in his resentful heart. However, that fire only grew hotter. Designed to bring peace, they were instead born into an endless war.]

Huh… the Unknown again. Or rather, their children. It seemed like his theory was correct. The Stone Saint was either an artificial being or a descendant of one. In any case, that was before she was corrupted by… well. Whatever it was that had corrupted all the Nightmare Creatures, and especially those in the cursed city. Now even gods wouldn't be able to describe what exactly she was.

Not that it mattered. A monster was a monster.

Sunny was more interested in the fact that the traces of divinity that the stone warrior bore had to have come from their original creator, who was at least partially one of the Unknown. Which meant that the Unknown, indeed, were closely related to the gods and to divinity itself.

Just like mysterious Weaver.

Taking a step forward, he hesitated and then carefully put his hand on the breastplate of the Stone Saint's armor, right across from the place where the main nexus of her Spell Weave was situated.

To his surprise, the breastplate felt like stone and was warm to the touch. It was as though a furious crimson flame was burning inside the Nightmare Creature's chest.

'Huh.'

As soon as Sunny touched the Echo, a new string of runes appeared in the air in front of him.

[Transform Echo into a Shadow?]

He hesitated, once again afraid to make the choice. What was he going to do if the process made the Stone Saint weaker, or even useless?

Trying not to think of this possibility, Sunny sighed and forced himself to say:

"Yes!"

An imperceptible change happened to the Soul Sea, as though a gust of wind suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The tranquil dark water seemed to simultaneously stay still and move restlessly. Then, a sudden pressure came from somewhere above.

Raising his head, Sunny saw two dark beams descending from the depths of the Shadow Core. One of them fell on the Echo, while the other landed on one of the silent shadows that stood motionlessly behind his back, as though connecting them together

Bathed in the dark light, the shadow of the dead Stone Saint slowly dissolved into it.

And then the Echo began to change…