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.

the pincer 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, piercing

devouring the giant carcass with the rest

eight scythe-like legs were broken, and there were cracks in its thick carapace, each oozing with

no need to hide in the mud, hoping to catch easy prey. It could have just followed the other monsters and joined on

that it wasn't much more observant than an awakened human. It was also weightless and inaudible — that's why the monster did not react when the shadow had passed over its

the other hand, Sunny could also consider himself lucky — by the same logic, he would not have been able to dodge the

for later — right now, Sunny had a far more pressing thing to

the shadow and jumped

occupied a moment before was torn apart by the attacking monster. Its heavy pincer crashed into the side of a coral pillar, sending

match his speed, but unfortunately, it turned out to be surprisingly agile. Its scythe-like legs pierced the mud behind him, and the pincer was already flying through the air again, threatening to decapitate the young man at

eyes darted around, desperately searching for something to use as a weapon. Almost instantly, he noticed a long, smooth,

the added length of this makeshift spear, Sunny's range of attack was still shorter than the monster's.

the cracks in the creature's armor. However, he didn't dare to. At that short of a distance, the monster could easily crush him into

crazy idea

was the product of audacity or foolishness. Either way, he wasn't insane enough to actually

moment, the pincer lashed out again. This time, Sunny was a little late to evade, and as a result, a sharp pain pierced his left leg. It was grazed by the edge of the pincer. The Puppeteer's

was no time to

instead of trying to dodge,

an awakened tyrant, resisted the crushing bite of the

With the

to be at an impasse. The young man couldn't free himself from the monster's