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nAs the dust settled, Sunny abandoned his hiding spot on the roof of one of the buildings surrounding the square and jumped down. Avoiding the puddles of fetid blood, he walked among the corpses littering the ground and approached the dying stone monster.

nThe Nightmare Creature was lying on her back, her body battered and broken. From up close, Sunny was able to see it better.

nThe black armor of the strange monster was slowly turning to stone. In its gaps, he could see her slightly lighter skin. It was smooth like polished granite and dark grey in color. Streams of ruby dust was flowing from the terrible wounds, looking almost like blood.

nTwo crimson gems that served her as eyes slowly moved, focusing on Sunny. There was no particular expression in them, just tired stillness. The flames that used to burn inside were slowly dimming.

nThe statuesque creature stared at him without making a sound. In fact, Sunny wasn’t sure that these monsters were even capable of producing sounds. Throughout the whole fight, she had remained eerily silent.

nHe sighed.

n“Life is not fair, huh?”

nWith these words, he summoned the Midnight Shard and thrust it through the visor of the dying creature’s helm. Even at the death’s door, the stonelike flesh of the living statue proved to be extremely tough. However, he put enough strength into his strike, not wishing to make the poor thing suffer more than necessary.

nHe was always glad to kill a Nightmare Creature, but this one deserved a quick death. To be honest, he was very impressed by the small stone warrior’s desperate last stand.

n“They didn’t know who they were messing with. But you showed them…”

nAt that moment, the familiar voice of the Spell resounded in the darkness:

nYou have slain an awakened monster, Stone Saint.

nYour shadow grows stronger.

nSunny smiled.

n‘That’s four shadow fragments. Finally! Four hundred and three…’

nHowever, in the next second, he forgot what he was thinking about. Because the Spell wasn’t done talking.

nWhispering into his ear, it slowly said:

nYou have received an Echo: Stone Saint.

n***

nSunny’s eyes opened wide.

nDid he hear it right?

nAn Echo? He had finally received another Echo?!

nCautiously looking around, Sunny lowered his voice and said to the shadow:

n“You heard it too, right?”

nThe shadow stared at Sunny in exasperation, then gestured at its mouth, lowered its hands and didn’t say anything.

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n“Exactly! That’s what the Spell said!”

nHumming a song, he paced back and forth for some time, then suddenly flinched.

n“Oh, right. I should get out of here. Now that the stone people are gone, who knows what kind of horrors will try to make this square their nest.”

nHe made a move to leave, but then stopped and looked at the scene of slaughter with avarice.

n“However… I really should get some mementos first…”

nIt’s not every day that you stumble upon that many dead Nightmare Creatures before the carrion eaters arrive to feast on the corpses. This was a chance he won’t get any time soon…

nSunny hesitated for a few seconds, trying to decide which monsters to approach first. The spiders were obviously much stronger. If they were really of the Fallen rank, their soul shards would be incredibly valuable.

nHowever, buying anything with a bunch of Ascended soul shards would be very suspicious. Plus, it would take a while to find the crystals inside the massive bodies of the giant beasts.

nThe living statues were of the lower rank, but their shattered remains were easy to search. The other inhabitants of the cursed city could arrive at any minute. So…

nWith a deep sigh, Sunny ran to the nearest pile of shattered stones and kneeled beside it, hoping to notice the gleam of the soul shards as soon as possible.

n…He was barely done with the second dead statue when a sudden noise made him stop. Knowing that greed had doomed a lot of people to their deaths, Sunny suppressed the desire to linger here to the last possible moment and quickly dashed away, putting the last crystal he had managed to find inside his armor on the run.

nSummoning the kunai, he threw it into the air and then pulled on the invisible string, making the dagger spin around a stone column. As soon as the string coiled itself around the column, he jumped and made the string contract, sending him flying up.

nJust like the golden rope, the invisible string that connected the kunai to his wrist was incredibly sturdy and capable of changing its length at will, which allowed Sunny to use the throwing dagger as an improvised grappling hook from time to time.

nUsing the top of the stone column to jump even higher, he grabbed onto the cracks in the wall of one of the ruined buildings and quickly climbed up. By the time he reached the roof, the noises produced by the approaching creature were already loud enough to make him shiver.

nWhatever that thing was, Sunny didn’t want to find out. The sound it produced while moving made him think of a giant snake… one with countless mouths, each hissing the notes of a strange, maddening tune.

nLuckily, he left the wide square just in time to never meet that abomination.

n***

nBy the time Sunny had returned to the ruined cathedral, the night was already coming to the end. The eastern horizon was growing lighter, and the sound of the black waves crushing against the city wall was growing restless.

nWalking across the support beams stretching above the grand hall, he caught the glimpse of the marching Black Knight and sighed.

nOne day… he was going to kill the bastard on some glorious day.

nBut not this day.

nToday, he had other things to do.

nReaching the safety of his hidden lair, Sunny put the soul shards into his treasure chest and then sat down on a magnificent wooden chair.

nThere was an excited smile on his face.

nIt was finally time to find out what was the difference between a normal Echo and one transformed into a Shadow.

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