Shadow Slave novel Chapter 229

Chapter 229 The Passenger

The colossus rose from beneath the turbulent waves, rivers of black water streaming down his stone body. Now that the walking statue had climbed out of the canyon, the cursed sea was barely up to its abdomen… for the moment.

Once the dark waters reached higher, the giant would be submerged in them up to his shoulders once again.

Sunny had to get rid of the unwelcomed passenger until then.

Far below, flattened against the chest of the colossus, a strange creature had attached itself to the ancient statue. It looked like a cross between a translucent jellyfish and an eel. However, Sunny could see a deformed skeleton of a giant humanoid being trapped within the transparent flesh of the repulsive abomination.

He shivered.

Compared to the stone giant, the eel looked rather small… however, this was just an illusion. Really, the creature was as large as a train. Its jaws were full of sharp fangs and wide enough to swallow a human whole.

'Curses.'

If there was one good thing about the situation, it was that the eel did not seem to be a Corrupted Nightmare Creature, but merely a Fallen one. Perhaps it survived in the cursed sea by attaching itself to the true terrors of the depths and feeding off the remains of their prey.

As soon as Nephis spoke, Sunny noticed long feelers of the creature tremble and move, as though reacting to the sudden sound. The eel turned its head slightly in their direction.

When he answered, the feelers rippled once again, and the monstrosity turned its head once more, this time staring directly at Sunny.

'Crap…'

A moment later, translucent tentacles appeared from beneath the abomination's body and shot up, finding cracks in the weathered stone and pulling it toward the neck of the colossus.

…Where the cohort was.

Changing Star must have felt something, because tiny white sparks suddenly ignited in the depths of her eyes.

Sunny put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head.

"Don't."

Stone giant or not, lighting a beacon in the middle of the cursed sea was not the best of ideas. Now that it had escaped the confines of the canyon, the real horrors were out and about. Just like the cohort had discussed before, light was their last resort, something they would summon only if the moment came where there was no other choice but for all of them to fight.

And whether Sunny liked it or not, that moment was not upon them yet.

With a reluctant scowl, he turned away and said:

"I'll handle it."

…The giant eel was his problem to solve.

'Yeah, that's great and all. But how the Spell am I supposed to get rid of this thing?'

Looking down, Sunny calculated that he had a dozen or so seconds left before it was time to act. The repulsive abomination was slowly crawling toward them, scaling the torso of the giant statue at a disturbingly steady pace.

'Think, think…'

Several seconds later, Sunny approached Effie and kneeled by her side. Taking the huntress by the hand, he put something into her palm and said:

"Do you feel the colossus moving up and down? That's his steps. I need you to start counting them. If I'm not back after thirty steps, throw the thing I gave you in that direction as hard as you can. Alright?"