Shadow Slave novel Chapter 1970

Darkness had descended upon Godgrave, where the sun never set. Karna was both startled and, despite not wanting to admit it, scared. He had in his possession a Memory that granted him a night vision akin to that of a nocturnal predator, and yet, he suddenly found himself blind.

Which meant that the darkness surrounding him was not simply a vast shadow, but true darkness instead.

He could not see anything... but he could hear.

There were plenty of sounds.

The roars of the enthralled Nightmare Creatures, the screaming human voices, the clangor of metal, the nauseating crunching of splitting flesh. It all happened in an instant, turning the peaceful melody of creaking wheels into a deafening clamor of battle.

‘How can he…’

But there was no time to guess.

Snarling, Karna activated his Awakened Ability. In the next moment, he switched places with an Awakened warrior who had been guarding a wagon a few dozen meters behind.

There was still only darkness, so Karna switched places with another soldier, moving even further back.

‘Come on, come on…’

Finally, he escaped into the light.

In front of him, the front of the caravan was swallowed by a pool of darkness. Behind him was chaos — everyone was startled by the unexpected attack, not knowing what was going on.

There was something different about the state of the caravan, as well. Apart from those unfortunate souls caught in the pool of true darkness, the rest of the soldiers were alright. So were the thralls of Beastmaster.

However, the pilgrims — each and every one of them — were gone, replaced by tall bonfires.

Someone, or something, had set them all aflame in these few short moments.

Karna paled a little and jumped onto the wagon, looking ahead, in the direction where the Lord of Shadows had been standing before.

He saw the sinister Saint almost instantly.

The Lord of Shadows was calmly walking down the bone slope, his steps graceful and unhurried. The back of a black odachi rested on his shoulder, and his white hair was fluttering in the wind.

There were still several hundred meters separating him from the caravan, but the madman was indeed intending to face them all alone. Karna's eyes narrowed.

If so... he was going to oblige.

Raising his bow, he put some strength into his voice and bellowed:

"It's the Lord of Shadows! Brothers, with me... attack!"

And they did.

The warriors surged forward, the wagon drivers cut the Nightmare Creatures loose, allowing them to rush at the Valor's hired fiend in a murderous frenzy. Arrows streaked across the sky, and scores of Aspect Abilities were unleashed.

The sight of it was daunting.

However, in the next moment, Karna felt his mouth turning dry.

It was because countless shadows suddenly moved all around them, coming alive.

The light of day seemed dimmer now, the darkness deeper.

Some of the shadows shot from the ground, turning into needle-sharp spikes — they pierced the bodies of Beastmaster's thralls. Some turned into black chains that slithered across the ground, binding soldiers and pulling them down.

Some even turned into black hands, each with seven fingers that ended in sharp claws, blocking the Aspect Abilities.

Blood spilled on the white bone, a terrible cacophony of screams permeated the air, and several wagons were split apart by the unleashed violence.

Karna growled.

"Curse you!"

A Saint was a powerful existence, but not an invulnerable one. They still bled like humans and could be killed by humans.

All it would take was one sword that struck true, one arrow that bypassed the enemy's onyx armor...

Nocking an arrow on the string of his bow, Karna activated both its enchantment and his Ascended Ability, then drew it and took aim.

‘Come on!’

He was far inferior to Saint Dar in terms of archery. But he was still better and far more deadly than almost any other archer out there. And so...

Karna let his arrow loose.

It shot forward at terrible speed... and disappeared.

A split second later, though, it emerged out of nowhere mere meters away from the Lord of Shadows, ready to plunge into the eye of his fierce mask a split second later.

Its instantaneous arrival was both bizarre and insidious, and it left the enemy no time to react.

However...

Even though the Lord of Shadow could not have predicted what would happen, and had only a fraction of a second to move, he still did.

In the next moment, his hand shot upward and caught Karna's arrow, holding it a few centimeters away from his eye.

Karna staggered back.

‘I—impossible…’

But a heartbeat later, the Lord of Shadows was suddenly standing in front of him.

‘He…’

Karna's eyes widened.

He had followed the arrow back. Had he... stolen Karna's Ascended Ability?

Just like he had stolen Princess Revel's true darkness.

"He's here! Fight!"

The black odachi moved.

In the next few minutes, Karna witnessed a scene of pure horror.

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