Shadow Slave

1485 Traveresing the Vortex

Traveling through the twisting underwater tunnel was a constant struggle... but,
strangely enough, it was mostly safe. Just as Wind Flower had said, as long as
the Chain Breaker did not touch the water, there was little inside the vortex that
could threaten them.

If the flying ship did touch the spinning walls of the tunnel, though, death was all
but guaranteed — not only because of the terrible current and the obliterating
pressure, but also because causing even the smallest ripple was going to alert
the harrowing beings dwelling in the unfathomable depth of the Great River of
their presence.

Staying away from the walls was not challenging at first, but the deeper they
descended, the more perilous that situation became. The tunnel grew narrower,
while its twists became more frequent and steep with each passing day.
Sometimes, it bent so much that the Chain Breaker flew forward for a while
instead of continuously descending.

It was as though they were really traveling through the intestines of an
unimaginable beast.

Worse of all was the fact that the tunnel was not static. It constantly moved,
undulating, making it seem as though the walls of spinning water were pursuing
the graceful ship.

Perhaps they were.

Sometimes, the water was shrouded in abyssal darkness. Sometimes, it shone
with blinding light.

Nephis steered the ship in the darkness, but when the depths of the Great River
ignited with beautiful radiance, Cassie had to take the oars. The rest of them
were forced to escape to the interior of the flying vessel, leaving her to face the
harrowing shapes moving through the radiant water alone.

Anyone would have been shaken and mentally strained by having to endure the
horror and pressure of those terrible creatures in solitude. Despite that, Cassie
remained calm and seemingly unperturbed... Sunny did not know if that was a
good sign or not.

What he did know, however, was that they would have never survived the journey
through the vortex without the Chain Breaker. They would have been long
swallowed by the Great River if Cassie had not repaired the enchantment circuit,
as well.

As it was... Sunny felt that they would, perhaps, make it to the other side of the
vortex unscathed.

Days passed in tense silence. The deeper they descended, the more palpable
the pressure assaulting their minds was. The abyssal darkness was suffocating,
and the radiant light was dreadful. More than that... at some point, the world itself
became strange, playing tricks with their minds.

Time was growing convoluted and elusive, as if it, too, was being crushed by the
oppressive weight of the water surrounding them. Sunny and Nephis,who had
already experienced something similar in the time storm, were less affected by
this strangeness than the other members of the cohort. However, eventually, they
too grew accustomed to the eerie unstableness of time.

With time, space had also become unreliable.

At first, Sunny thought that it was the Chain Breakers flight that had lost its
smoothness, making the flying ship shake and shudder from time to time.
Sometimes, it would jerk, and sometimes, it would sway.

But then, he realized that it was the fabric of reality itself that had becometwisted.
He understood it while carrying a cup of tea, brewed with the invigorating water
of the Endless Spring, to Nephis. Usually, a walk from the lower deck entrance to
the stern would have taken him less than a minute, and a few dozen steps.
However, this time, Sunny counted at least several hundred steps before
reaching the runic circle.

The tea he was carrying was still hot and steaming, though.

“That is... not good."

He stared at the tea cup in his hand, then at Nephis, who was steering the ship
without seemingly having noticed anything strange.

“What if it was not the deck that had been stretched like a rubber band, but one of
us?"

What if the space between the ship and the walls of the tunnel suddenly
contracted?

Suddenly, the surrounding darkness seemed much more terrifying.

But there was nothing any of them could do about it. Worrying about being torn
apart by fractured space was not going to do him any good, either.

So, Sunny distracted himself by concentrating on weaving.

After around seven cycles of darkness and light — he couldn't tell exactly how
many because of how strange time had become — he successfully altered the
[Capacious Chest] enchantment of the Covetous Coffer to allow it to store living
beings. He had not copied the weave of a Supreme Memory, but rather borrowed
a few elements from it.

Sadly, it was a futile effort. Sunny might have changed the weave of the
enchantment to remove the limitation on inanimate objects, but he was nowhere
near knowing how to integrate a livable space into the chest's storage space.
There was no meadow, no forest, and no river inside of it.

Which meant that there was also no light, no water, and no air there. There was
nothing at all. So, unless he wanted a living being to suffocate to death, placing
them inside was out of the question.

Theoretically, he was able to hide his shadows in the Covetous Coffer now, since
they did not need to breathe. However, Sunny struggled to imagine why he would
want to do such a thing. Maybe to punish them for misbehaving...

He did not share these thoughts with the shadows, but they still started to avoid
the toothy chest, for some reason.

Time slowly passed.

Or, maybe, it was passing quickly.

All Sunny knew was that the depths of the Great River seemed more and more
dreadful each time he looked into the abyssal darkness. Even Cassie was
starting to look unnerved.

The tunnel was not getting narrower anymore. However, its twists and turns were
becoming wilder.

And then, one day...

The Chain Breaker seemed to stop.

Sunny was startled as the familiar feeling of motion completely disappeared.
Standing up from where he was sitting, he noticed the other members of the
cohort looking perplexed.

Then, he heard Neph's stifled yelp.

Looking at the stern, he saw her gripping the steering oars so hard that her
hands had turned white. She was moving both oars in a strange manner... not
slowly and smoothly, like usual, but instead forcefully and with a sense of
urgency.

“What the hell?"

Why was Nephis even moving the oars if they were standing still?

Looking at the walls of the tunnel, Sunny flinched.

The walls... had turned into a blur.

The Chain Breaker was frozen in place, but the tunnel itself was flying past it at
tremendous speed. The twists and turns that Nephis had been cautiously
navigating were now flashing past them, forcing her to steer the ship as fast as
she could... and much faster than that, even, if they wanted to survive.

“Doesn't make any sense..."

Sunny was confused for a moment.

How could the flying ship both remain in place and be steered around the bends
of the tunnel?

It was as if the world itself was being spun and moved by Neph's hands.

But then again, when was the last time the world made any sense?

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Perhaps the static position of the

Chain Breaker was Le a pater of
EEISDECHYES Perhaps, ey were

stinply being carried by some
unfathomable, eerie force. The

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the latest chapter there!

What did it matter?

The only thing that mattered was for Nephis to guide them through the swiftly
moving tunnel.

And she did. Completely focused, she guided the Chain Breaker, not allowing the
water to swallow it. A minute past, then another, then another...

Then, an eternity.

Suddenly, the tunnel disappeared.

Something flashed, blinding Sunny, and was then replaced by darkness. He
could feel motion once again.

...In fact, he could feel a lot of motion!

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It was as if the Chain Breaker had

been shot from a catapult. Thei ’ n

speed was sq dreadful thatthe was
iFBtEnty blown back a dozen meters,

and only managed to remain on the

ship by clutching at the railing. The
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the latest chapter there!

“D—damn!

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Sunny felt a tremendous force

pushing him back, and a hurrigane

wind crashing int Bet ith primal
ANI he could do was grit his teeth

and hold on for his dear life. The

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the latest chapter there!

Slowly, their speed decreased. Nephis, who had been pressed into the aplustre,
pushed one of the oars and rolled the ship.

It was only then that Sunny realized that the Chain Breaker had been flying
upside down.

As the flying ship revolved around its axis, Sunny fell on the deck and weakly
picked himself up.

It seemed that they had escaped the vortex.