Chapter 52: Time Jump

In a dark city, in the middle of the night where only the strongest monsters dared to roam its streets, there was a person with their body covered by fine armor that accentuated their marked figure.

The boy was running back and forth while two other figures attacked and defended the boy who was fleeing from a half-giant creature.

The creature was a semi-human being of great size, with a robust and muscular body. Its arms and legs were powerful, and its torso was covered in scars. On its head, two long twisted horns protruded, giving it a demonic appearance. Its eyes were filled with madness as it chased those who disturbed its territory.

The two men who attacked it and dodged its attacks at the critical moment were wearing black armor with golden stripes and the other in hard leather armor that didn't seem very imposing. His chain, which was strong enough to avoid breaking immediately under the force of the fallen, was thrown by the man to obstruct the beast's path.

It clumsily fell into the trap and its horns got stuck in the ground. The man in black armor with golden stripes raised his sword and cut off the head of the fallen beast.

The three were injured but alive, still able to move and defend each other if any other monsters attacked them.

"That was close. I should avoid making such flashy moves in the coming nights."

The boy placed his hands on both men and they disappeared in an instant.

More than two months had passed since that fight against Harus, and Jonathan had been living in the castle as the new lieutenant beside Gunlaug.

Every night since then, he had sneaked out of the castle and come to hunt in the cursed city.

Normally, he hunted the awakened monsters, but occasionally he tried to hunt the beast-class fallen ones, like the one he had just killed.

The fallen beast was called the Underworld Dweller. Its territory was in a cave near the outer walls that separated the black ocean.

Jonathan had entered its cave after fighting three awakened monsters on top of a hill, which had broken after the consecutive attacks from his assailants.

Unfortunately, his three prey had been killed by the fallen beast and he couldn't claim their precious essence. But he managed to kill the fallen beast, which was a great prey on its own, and he had done it without preparations.

'Runes'

Name: Jonathan

True Name: Soul Appropriator

Rank: Sleeper

Class: Monster

Thread Cores: [2/7]

Soul Threads: [1893/2000]

Memories: [Fallen Legion Armor] [Container] [Store] [Torch] [Broken Heart] [Memory]...

Echoes: [Formless Leviathan]

Attributes: [Lost Soul] [Deception] [Lost] [Voracious Soul] [Flame of Divinity] [???]

Aspect: [Puppeteer]

Aspect Rank: Divine

Innate Ability: [Forethought]

Aspect Ability: [Soul Control]

Puppets: [Gunlaug] [Harus]

Defect: [Soul Bond]

He had grown a lot in these two months while hunting awakened monsters every night. He tried to hunt at least two awakened monsters, sometimes even fallen beasts, and thus he obtained such an amount of soul threads.

'Only 107 more thread fragments and I can have a third puppet. Ha! Am I some kind of OP protagonist? This growth is incredible.'

With the hunt over, Jony retraced his steps, carefully avoiding the patrols of any stronger abominations.

After becoming a lieutenant, he had Gunlaug order the hunters to teach him everything about the city, which they did.

Thus, Jonathan already knew the dark city very well, allowing him to travel through it with few problems. His ability to sense the souls of monsters also played an important role, as it informed him where and how far a creature was within almost a three-kilometer radius.

After some time of coming and going, dodging dangerous paths and other stray fallen beasts, he managed to see the mountain with the magnificent castle on top.

Jumping from house to house, he landed on the stone ground at the exit of the dark city and entered the territory of the castle inhabitants. Here, he had to be extra careful to avoid drawing the attention of Star Changer and Light's Lost.

He had maintained almost no contact with his former companions but also made sure they knew he was now with Gunlaug.

He wanted to avoid interfering too much in their development, but it seemed something else had changed in destiny. Sunny hadn't fought with Nephis, so he had been there from the beginning to the end of the construction and contribution in creating the faction in the outer settlement.

This had made people see him differently than in the novel. Another change was that Nephis was no longer the center of everything; it seemed Sasha, Isaac, and Ludwin had earned their respective factions within the outer settlement, but since they were all a united group, these factions were more like followers or admirers of different people in the group.

Still, the one with the most fame, though not by a huge margin, was Nephis. Her natural beauty and indomitable leadership had earned her almost the same reputation as in the novel, but not as overwhelming since she now competed in popularity with the other group members.

Scaling the walls in the darkness, avoiding the gazes and guard posts they had set up, Jony managed to bypass the outer settlement and was already entering the castle.

The next in line in popularity after Nephis was Sasha; she had earned the affection of the outer people for her great strength and the ability to make them stronger with her mere presence.

Her aspect ability was truly powerful when leading large groups like the new hunters from the outskirts.

Jony entered a part of the castle that was closed off by a large door with a serpent symbol. These were Gunlaug's quarters, once filled with his harem of beautiful women, but now empty after Jony had evicted them.

He lay down on Gunlaug's bed and closed his eyes, also dismissing his echo, which was the one Gunlaug used in the original novel. The Formless Leviathan could change at the will of its user; it had an attribute called [Liquid] and another [Shapeless] that allowed it to take any form its master desired and its colors changed at will. The [Liquid] attribute worked for creating weapons, shields, or whatever one wished.

Additionally, it had another attribute, [Psychic Pressure]. As the name indicates, it could emanate a great wave of pressure at those who looked at its face or the area designated by the echo's user.

Gunlaug's armor was truly powerful, and Jony wasn't surprised they called him "immortal." That armor was worthy of such a nickname in the cursed city.

Another thing Jony had pending was obtaining Saint, the best echo and his favorite in the novel.

He didn't plan to steal the echo from Sunny, but he did plan to get it himself and then give it to him, as he still wanted to keep events as close to the novel as possible, and Saint was a precious companion to Sunny.

But since Sunny no longer lived in the dark city, he wouldn't be able to get Saint, and that was one of the reasons why Jony ventured to hunt every night. The other was that he didn't remember the exact moment when Saint would fight the steel spiders, and he had to keep the plaza where she lived under surveillance to be able to get her echo after killing her.

But all that would be resolved in due time; now all he wanted to do was sleep. His sleep cycle had changed since he started hunting at night.

Jony closed his eyes and sleep overcame him, and he fell asleep.