Shadow Slave novel Chapter 574

Before the gates of the temple, a large hall stood, submerged in darkness. The air was permeated with the smell of rot, and at least a dozen of eviscerated bodies lay on the cold stones, staring into nothingness with their empty eyes.

Sunny had long become accustomed to such sights, so he wasn't too bothered by it. The implication, however, left him feeling cold.

'Damnation…'

He entered the hall, both Saint and the Serpent emerging silently from his shadows. Cassie followed, gripping the hilt of the Quiet Dancer so hard that her fingers turned white.

Sunny walked over to the nearest corpse, held his breath, and knelt beside it, studying its wounds. Then, with a grim expression, he moved over to the next one and did the same.

It took him some time to check on each of the slain Lost, and by the end, his eyes were full of darkness.

The blind girl remained silent for a few moments, then asked, her voice tense and trembling:

"...How did they die?"

He lingered for a second, then shook his head.

"Sword wounds."

Each of the fallen sentinels was killed with one precise, fatal strike. However, most of them were terribly mutilated and covered in multiple wounds — none of them lethal, but all aimed at inflicting the maximum amount of pain.

The killer, whoever it was, wanted his victims to suffer before they died.

Well… Sunny was pretty sure that he knew who the killer was.

Mordret. The man — or thing — that he had set free.

It seemed that the Prince of Nothing had a sadistic streak about him.

…But that wasn't the problem.

From everything that Sunny had learned before, he assumed that Mordret possessed a bizarre and powerful Aspect that allowed him to deal either mind or soul damage to other living beings. That made him extremely dangerous.

The prerequisite for this Ability seemed to be looking the prisoner of the Night Temple in the eyes… which was good, since both Sunny and Cassie could naturally counter it — Sunny by fighting with his eyes closed, Cassie by simply being blind.

However, these Lost had clearly died in a ferocious and bloody melee. That meant that, on top of everything else, Mordret was a fighter of incredible skill… skilled and powerful enough to not only kill a dozen experiences Awakened with a sword, but also to play with his victims before he did.

Just how was Sunny supposed to win against someone like that?

He sighed, then walked past the corpses and approached the gate.

Master Welthe had told them that the Citadel was sealed, and no one except for Saint Cormac would be able to open it. However… Sunny had to check for himself.

He wrapped all three shadows around his body and tried to push open the gates, but to no avail. The heavy doors didn't budge even when Saint joined him. None of the keys their jailers had carried were of any use, too… there wasn't even a keyhole to insert them.

Sunny looked beneath the surface of the gates, hoping to see the same type of primitive weave he had seen in the door of the Ebony Tower. But there was none.

"Curse it."

He gave the gates a good kick, then turned around and walked back to Cassie in frustration.

"...I guess we aren't getting out of here until the Saint arrives."

Which would happen in a week, at the earliest.

Would they even be able to survive that long?

The blind girl frowned, then asked with uncertainty:

"Where to, then?"