Chapter 2938 Vile Spawn

Sunny and Nephis glanced at each other. So, Ananke had encountered the Thieving Bird. That vile creature was indeed here, in the Tomb of Ariel. It had not left after escaping the Nightmare, choosing to make a nest instead.

A nest to nurture its fledgling spawn, perhaps.

‘That thing is alive, huh?'

Actually, he was not sure if calling the Vile Thieving Bird's Spawn "alive" was appropriate. It had been a Great Devil back on the Forgotten Shore, having yet to hatch from the egg. Sunny had destroyed the egg, and the shade of the Vile Spawn spent numerous years in the dark flames of his soul.

In the end, the Thieving Bird stole it back at the same moment it stole his fate.

And now, the Vile Spawn was somehow here, in the Tomb of Ariel, seemingly hatched and good as new.

‘Is that damn thing... a Shadow Creature?’

The probability was quite high. It had been a shade, after all.

Suddenly, Sunny froze and stared into the distance with a dumbstruck expression.

‘Wait. If the shade of the being from the egg was in my soul, kept warm by its dark flames, and then hatched after leaving it...’

Did that mean that he had involuntarily... brooded the Vile Spawn like a mother hen? Or had his soul actually been the egg that nourished the Vile Spawn until it was ready to hatch?

‘What the hell, I am going insane here...’

Sunny had heard about a parasitic bird — long extinct now, thank the gods — that would lay its eggs in another bird's nest and abandon them. The owner of the nest would unknowingly brood the alien egg along with the rest, and then feed and nurture the peculiar hatchling like its own.

Not only that, but the impostor hatchling would destroy the other eggs and push newborn chicks out of the nest to monopolize the food and attention of the parent bird.

Sunny shivered in disgust.

He did not know if the Vile Thieving Bird had anything to do with that extinct bird from Earth — most likely not — but he still could not help but feel used. Hearing that the Vile Thieving Bird's Spawn was out and about in the Tomb of Ariel, doing gods knew what, made him quite unsettled.

Not to mention that there was now also a Great Devil they had to deal with. However... at least one of the questions that had bothered Sunny seemed to have been answered. He had often wondered why the Vile Thieving Bird remained in the Tomb of Ariel after escaping the Nightmare, and now, he thought he knew.

It looked like that damn thing had stayed put, for a while, to nurture its fledgling. Once the Vile Spawn was ready to spread its wings and leave the nest, though... the Thieving Bird would most likely abandon the Tomb of Ariel and escape into the Dream Realm, as well.

So, Sunny and Nephis would have had to deal with it someday, anyway. A creature like that was going to wreak all kinds of havoc if allowed to roam the same realm where humanity was desperately trying to build a new home — they'd have to confront it eventually.

He sighed.

“The Vile Thieving Bird, huh?"

Remembering the feeling of its talons piercing his body, his soul, and his very being made him want to shudder.

He remained silent for a few seconds, and then asked:

"What do you know about it, Ananke?"

Ananke shrugged.

“Not much, Lord Sunless. After all, people don't usually survive for as long as I have by having a habit of getting close to Cursed Terrors. I've seen it from afar a few times — and every time, I turned back and rushed in the opposite direction as fast as I could."

Her expression soured.

"Still. Despite all that, I found myself missing quite a few items. I had a gorgeous vanity made from gold and ivory right there, in that empty corner — complete with a polished bronze mirror, no less. It was a relic from the world outside the Tomb of Ariel, passed down among the priestesses of Fallen Grace through generations. One day, though, it was simply gone."

Ananke pursed her lips.

“I am missing my finest cutlery, too. My best fishing net disappeared... and it was a Memory, kept safely in my soul!"

Her voice sounded indignant.

Nephis remained silent for a few seconds, then asked in an even tone:

"The Cursed Terror... stole your cutlery?"

Ananke nodded with a pout.

“You don't understand, Lady Nephis. There is no land in the Tomb of Ariel, and therefore, there are no ore veins to mine. All metal found here had to either be brought from outside or procured in some kind of unnatural way. So, silverware is quite precious to us, River People... I was quite crestfallen when it went missing."

Nephis cleared her throat, remained silent for a while, and then suddenly pointed to Sunny:

“That guy has around... one hundred and twenty million tons of mystical metal stored in his soul. So, don't worry too much."

Ananke blinked a few times.

Sunny did as well.

"I do?"

Then, he remembered.

“Oh, yes! I do."

He glanced at Ananke and smiled.

“You see... recently, I went on a sea voyage, ended up descending to the bottom of the Twilight Sea, and found a city populated by immortal abominations there. So, I stormed it with my army of dead souls and summoned a miniature black hole in the Void Chamber of its towering metal palace. The whole thing was compressed into a metal sphere, about yay big, and I drew it into my Soul Sea before escaping with all the loot I had plundered on the way to the palace."

His smile was a little proud.

“I never actually weighed that sphere, but by one of our friends’ rough calculations, that is how much it should weigh."

Ananke was looking at him peculiarly.

Did she, perhaps, not know what a black hole was? If she didn't, his explanation would seem quite disjointed...

"I am sorry, my lord. Your army of dead souls?"

Sunny scratched the back of his head.

“Oh, yeah. I am the Sovereign of Death, so my Domain consists of the shadows of every living thing I killed. There's about... actually, I don't know how many. I stopped counting after a hundred thousand or so."

Ananke stared at him for a few seconds, then glanced away and mumbled quietly to herself:

“The War Realm... right..."

She remained silent for a bit, then asked:

“So, my lord... you attacked that city, plundered its riches, and absconded with its entire palace?"

Sunny nodded.

“Yes. But let's get back to that loathsome, odious, thieving bird... ah, there really isn't anyone as greedy and shameless as that vile thing, is there?"

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