Shadow Slave: World's Favorite

In the Black Tower that served as résidence for the ravenous Pathfinder, poised steps echoed, or they should have, instead only silence was heard as the bare feets of something moved with purpose, in the direction of Effie.

She continuted eating, quite content with continuing her feast in ignorance, not that she could have seen the entity coming.

"Are you going to finish that?"

"—!"

Instinctively she swung her fist at the direction the voice came from, all while taking a step back, her years of fighting in the Forgotten Shore having honed her reaction time to a Sleeper's limit.

But that was it, she was still after all, only a Sleeper.

"Hey I'm human! Don't get so pressed."

The figure held a relaxed smile, as if nothing she could do would be able to harm it- him, his laid back demeanor was one of the few things that told her that even in this cursed place, it was special.

His hair looked like short rays of sunlight that suffused his very being with power, blending with his warm ebony skin, looking down at his eyes, a blush almost crept on her face. They were hypnotising, their rainbow coloration shifting each time he blinked, coupled with his warm smile and presence...

'Presence...?'

She didn't really notices it when he entered the room but everything seemed to be... more. As if the World itself focused on him. This weird feeling along with his shockingly beautiful face and modern clothes he worn filled Effie with something she hadn't felt in a while.

Hope.

"An Ascended?"

As soon as the words left her mouth, a confused look appeared on the man's face, before he broke into an almost hysterical fit of laughter.

"An Ascended? Lady Athena, you should know better than me that only Sleepers exist in this place."

"But your clothes?"

"A Memory."

This was it was Effie turn to explode in laughter, for a moment hope resurfaced in her heart, simply because of a few clothes and a charming smile at that!

She ended laughing as they shared a moment of silence, smiling at each other while doing so. Before long the man spoke again.

"I'm Baldr by the way. Lady Athena, would you be interested in becoming my—"

"Pathfinder? No way in hell."

"I was about to say wife but..."

He joked, it was a joke right?! The confusion in the tall huntress eyes grew deeper, but she wouldn't get out-teased by anyone, not alive at least.

"You sure about this offer sugar? It's not the kind of thing you say to any woman you know?"

This made Baldr ponder for a moment, seemingly deep in thoughts he whispered just loud enough for her to hear.

"I haven't figured all of this love stuff yet, it's interesting but you might be right, I need more experience!"

'So he WAS serious?!?'

A pang of pain made Effie almost grab her heart as she mourned the loss of a great catch, the mischievous smile on the radiant teen's face quickly dispersed the remaining sorrow. Accompanied by a cough, she followed on their pervious words.

"Okay let's not fool around anymore. I know you're a new Sleeper, I'd have known someone with the presence you have if they arrived last year."

That was the only correct possibility, she didn't know how he came to wear modern clothes but a person as striking as him wouldn't have gone unnoticed, for better or worst.

"So I'm curious, what makes you think I'd join hands with such a pipsqueak?"

The name didn't come from a place of mockery, for Effie it was simply the objective truth. Baldr was weak as of right now, it might change with a year or two but as of now it was simply impossible for him to—

"I think there's been a misunderstanding Lady Athena."

He scratched his head as if embarrassed about something.

"I don't need you to fight for me. I need your help in finding the optimal path to hunt everything in this Dark City."

A little chuckle left Effie's mouth, but a shiver ran down her spine. Those eyes, there was no arrogance in them, as much as she could tell he trusted his skills, or underestimated the monsters in the City.

"This is a whole lot of talking and next to no acting you're doing right now pipsqueak, why don't you bring me some proof first before engaging in your crazy idea?"

A thoughtful expression again appeared on the radiant teen's face, this time of course for completly different reasons. An idea seemed to pop in his mind.

"Then let's go hunt it!"

"Hunt what?"

"The nearest Fallen Beast of course."

■■■

In a certain area of the City, a creature brought back a corpse to it's den, a trail of blood following as it did. But that being did not have to worry about attracting other creatures, for the simple fact that it was an Apex Predator here in the City.

It's appearance ressembled that of a gorilla but the familiarity with any known animal ended there. It's skin was stripped of fur, almost laid bare for all to see making it look almost human if it wasn't for the rest of it. On some areas of it's body, overgrown red coral seemed to drink the blood of the creature it had just slain and was currently carrying on it's back.

It's arms were massive in size, the knuckles of it's hand having been covered with vicious spikes of coral growth. Unsurprisingly it's legs were much the same. Compared to it's torso, the limbs of the creature looked almost comical in size.

Looking up at it's head one could see that it's mouth was completely covered by the same coral, keeping the creature from consuming flesh, only letting it drink the blood of it's foes.

The creature stopped for a moment, it's eyes glowing red with an untold amount of fury. Someone had invaded it's den. It threw the carcass aside and directed itself toward thee center where a puny Sleeper stood.

"Anem."

Baldr prepared himself as the creature charged toward him, he took a step back while the winds coalesced themselves into a shape he had grown familiar with. The beast raised one of it's fist, bringing it down like a sledgehammer.

The radiant teen sidestepped the blow, gently sliding the wind into the flesh of the creature through Pragma. The problem with the Fallen masters of the Dark City for the Sleepers was simple.

They were too durable.

Other than their obvious superior physicality, it was almost impossible for Sleepers to harm those beings, with a few exceptions when the parties would meticulously plan around them. And even then, such parties would get decimated for their inability to exploit those weak points.

So it was much to Kai and Effie's surprise that the young Sleeper seemed to have the ability to cut wounds in the creature with what seemed to be an invisible sword.

For other people, while Baldr's clothes and debris fluttered due to the coalesced wind, it still appeared invisible to most, even for the radiant teen, only being able to clearly see them after calling out to their True Name, making the element he used as a sword extremely deadly in this case.

"Didn't he arrive yesterday here?"

"He did, I witnessed it."

Both Sleepers wore bewildered expressions, and a certain thrill formed in them as they saw who they first assumed to be a fool, prove himself to be a hero.

Baldr continued to dance with the creature, it was fast, but not as fast as Caster. And it made it's moves all the easier to not only predict but also dodge. The ferocity of the beast never seemed to reach him as he continued to move around it, slowly bringing it to a halt.

Or that's what he would have hoped.

The more the creature bled, the more ferocious it became, that wouldn't have been a problem if it wasn't that it also became faster and stronger. It's pale skin slowly turning a reddish hue.

'Is this another effect of the red corals?'

He would have to end this, if the Beast only grew stronger as they fought he'd have to kill it with a decisive blow.

A paticularly vicious uppercut came Baldr's way, tearing the ground of the Fallen Beast den as the red corals scrapped against it. In a moment that made the observing Sleepers blood freeze. The radiant teen rather than dodging the blow jumped towards it, seemingly taking the full brunt of it.

■■■

"Baldr!"

Kai's shout alerted the creature of their presence, making Effie curse loudly at him, it didn't matter now anyway, it was too late. Baldr was sent flying into the air... with absolutely no damage.

'What the—!'

Effie looked bewildered but looking at it again, his ankle was almost completely torn, flailing uselessly in the wind as he ascended further up in the air due to the sheer force of the blow, Kai prepared to catch him in the air, relieved that his friend was safe and sound for the most part.

Instead a shout came their way.

"Don't come! I got this!"

The same smile still plastered on his face, but it radiated an amount of madness the hungry Pathfinder had failed to notice before. In truth Baldr didn't need to do much more to have her convinced.

Not only his willingness to fight against a Fallen Beast but the absolute prowess he displayed. Effie also knew he was as fresh as they come since from his own words, he needed her so that he could quicklly fill his Soul Core.

But the smiling Sleeper seemingly had other plans.

■■■

'Velocity is one of the biggest factor in a strike.'

Rising to the the highest he could go with the blow, Baldr prepared for the fall. He could have potentially beheaded the creature if he got it in an optimal position but he struggled to do so due to still having inexperience in fighting beings bigger than him.

Picking the first fight against such a being and deciding it should be of the Fallen Rank might have been a mistake he'd have to admit. But that was that.

'What I have to do right now is easy though.'

The red coral growth was especially durable, the wind blade having a little difficulty biting into it. From the way the creature's skin took on a reddish hue and the corals on it's mouth?

Baldr assumed it wasn't that different inside of it, or it could be possibly worse, it's organs and inside having been completely replaced by coral growth. He couldn't know right now.

He had a trump card but he preferred not to use it as it was simply too strong. He still took his current fight as training after all.

If he relied on his secret weapon, how would he behave when that weapon didn't work? So he just had to overcome it.

'The barrier of Ranks.'

A being became infinitely more powerful the more its rank rose, right now it was like a human fighting against an ant with a stick.

How could the ant ever hope to beat the human? It was something he thought about for a while, knowing that he would potentially have to face beings infinitely more powerful than the Coral Gorilla he was facing now in the future.

Baldr had found the answer one night while practicing his swordsmanship. To put his everything in the stick, and wield it with enough skill to cut mountains.

As he accelerated down, the Fallen Beast waited for his arrival, the creature was dumb, but it wasn't completely dull either, it knew when a foe had nowhere to dodge.

It's fist was corked back, preparing to strike Baldr with all the might it could muster.

'Let's see then!'

The wind blade he had formed through their True Name hummed with power, finally revealing a greenish-white hue as he pumped his essence in it.

A strike was a result of multiplication.

The velocity of the strike, along with the weight it had and the skill of the one who did it, and a plethora of other parameters determined how strong that blow would come out.

So what if one of those factors vastly superseded the others? Then any additions to the other factors would almost rise the power exponentially. By taking the high ground he had done just that.

The Coral Gorilla striked him with all it's might as Baldr used Philia, then, as if cutting through butter, the fist of the Fallen Beast was parted in two. Along with one side came it's torso.

The cut was clean enough that it didn't even seem to impede the creature, that was before Baldr heavily crashed on to it, carrying both the upper body of the Coral Gorilla and himself to the ground with his momentum.

Only then did the voice of the Spell ringed in the radiant teen's ears.

[You have slain a Fallen Beast: Profane Blood Monk.]

Baldr waited for a few seconds but the voice of the Spell stayed silent.

'No Memory huh...'

That shouldn't have come as a surprise but one could not help but be greedy in these type of situations. Hurried footsteps coming in his direction took his attention.

"What in the Spell was that?! You do know how crazy what you've just done is, right?!"

Effie reaction was understandable in Baldr's mind, for her a Fallen Beast must have almost seemed like an impossible opponent, only having heard of a whole cohort- the one of the First Lord, slaying one.

Reflecting now, he must have looked like he was throwing himself to his death with what he had done. Both to his friend and his Pathfinder.

Because she was now, right?

"So about that—!"

Before he could ask, a sharp pain stung his leg. He had almost forgotten about it but it didn't forget to remind him. Fortunately he had a solution wich he discovered with the help of the Formless Toga.

Baldr used his ridiculously low amount of essence to make part of the Memory wrap itself around his feet before a pale green glow envelopped his ankle.

"Kai can you get the Soul Shard out for me please?"

They would provide him tremendous help in healing his wound with the additional essence they'd gift. The Memory had an ability to heal wounds both passively and actively. The radiant teen had discovered this power back in the Academy after much efforts to uncover it's abilities.

Before long Kai was able to find the soul shard and get it out of the body of the Fallen Beast with the help of Effie. As Baldr absorbed it he looked as his count turned from a pitiful zero to a still meager four, the Beast as it's Class indicated only gave him one soul shards.

Effie also seemed much more throughout than them, also going further by getting the Awakened Soul Shards out of the creature it had hunted.

The huntress came back with a grin.

"Bastard hunted a Demon, I managed to nab 2 Shards in there."

She gave them to Baldr and he basked in the feeling of getting stronger, and having more essence than before. He couldn't ponder on it, but it seemed like the effects of the Soul Shards were much more significant on him than other people.

He assumed that simply by the fact that a few Soul Shards were never noted as having a 'significant effect' on people, only when a change came in the hundreds like with Nephis did the change seem to matter.

'It's like musculation.'

Every penny counted, but you wouldn't see how drastic the change was since it happened over a long period of time.

If he was right, [Radiant Body] was finally working it's magic.

"So about that offer Lady Athena?"

With an expectant voice, Baldr looked toward the experienced Pathfinder only to see her shake her head with a grin.

"My friends call me Effie sugar, do that and I might consider it."

"So this is officially the formation of our cohort then."

This particular trio would become the object of fear for the Fallen Masters of the Dark City.

■■■

Okay this is done! We got a little timeskip next chapter since I don't want to bore you guys(and me) with continuous hunting. But normally some stuff is set to happen next chapter.

We will also see how the other trio is doing!