Shadow Slave

'Crap!'

This was the only thought in Sunny's head as he awkwardly fell backward, allowing the pincer to close right in front of his face with a loud "clack". The jagged, chitinous blades were so close that he could clearly see bits of mud sticking to their surface.

Sunny landed on his back, narrowly avoiding the unexpected strike. The good thing was that he managed to avoid being injured or even killed. The bad thing was that he was sprawled on the ground, unable to quickly create distance between him and the attacker. The massive pincer was still hovering above.

Just as this realization dawned on Sunny, he desperately rolled to the side. In the next moment, the pincer lunged down, sending small tremors through the mud. If not for his quick reaction, Sunny's chest would have been caved in by that blow.

He was just beginning to stand up when the pincer swiped sideways. Luckily, Sunny was ready: instead of trying to dodge or block the attack, he went with it, letting the pincer collide with his outstretched hands and cushioning the blow.

As his arms screamed in pain, Sunny used the force of the blow and allowed his body to be sent flying through the air. This way, at least, he would get out of the pincer's range.

He might not have been taught how to fight, but one thing he knew very well was how to fall!

Instead of breaking his neck or having the breath beaten out of him by the landing, he braced his body and nimbly rolled before stopping some distance away from the ambushing monster.

'I take it back!' Sunny though, remembering his sarcastic critique of Hero's battle rolls. 'Rolling is an integral part of any respectable monster-fighting technique!'

Then, he looked up, trying to ascertain the situation.

In front of him, the attacker had finally shown itself. It burrowed from under the mud, casting a vast shadow over kneeling Sunny. Its tiny eyes were full of rage, hunger, and malice.

monsters he had spent so much time observing. Towering over him at almost three meters in height, the bulky creature moved its mandibles and produced a jarring,

carcass with the rest of your buddies, you

in a rather bad shape: half of its eight scythe-like legs were broken, and there were cracks in its thick carapace, each oozing with viscous azure blood. Additionally, he was missing one of its two pincer arms, which seemed to had been torn off entirely

hoping to catch easy prey. It could have just followed the other monsters and joined on the feast. Sunny was

than an awakened human. It was also weightless and inaudible — that's why the monster did not react when the

also consider himself lucky — by the same logic, he would not have been able

luck could wait for later — right now, Sunny had a far more pressing thing to do. Namely, try

here!' he ordered the shadow

second, the space he occupied a moment before was torn apart by the attacking monster. Its heavy pincer crashed into the side

his balance and continued moving. He was hoping that the bulky, heavily armored, wounded creature would not be able to match his speed, but unfortunately, it turned out to be surprisingly agile. Its scythe-like

pincer, and finally caught a second of reprieve. His eyes darted around, desperately searching for something to use as a weapon. Almost instantly, he noticed a long, smooth, sharp bone left behind by some unknown creature sticking from the mud. Without slowing down, he bent down and grabbed

in a narrow, sharp tip. It was almost like a spear. The problem was, even with the added length of this makeshift spear, Sunny's range of attack was still shorter

creature's armor. However, he didn't dare to. At that short of a distance, the monster could easily crush him into a paste by using just its

idea entered Sunny's

bit shocked, he momentarily couldn't decide whether it was the product of audacity or foolishness. Either way, he wasn't insane enough to

left leg. It was grazed by the edge of the pincer. The Puppeteer's Shroud held, not allowing the monster to draw blood, but the force of the impact was enough to throw Sunny tumbling to the

was no

wide, Sunny understood that it was time to act crazy. So, instead of trying to dodge, he stopped

Sunny felt as though he was going to be split apart, but his armor, received from defeating an awakened tyrant, resisted the crushing bite of the monster's pincer. Every muscle in his body tensed, delaying the moment when his insides

above, wrapping itself around the Puppeteer's Shroud. With the protective properties of

The young man couldn't free himself from the monster's grip, while the monster could not kill the prey by cutting