Shadow Slaves
Chapter 6: Facing the Tyrant

Sunny goes to confront the Nightmare Creature. And not any creature, at that time, but one of the fifth category – tyrants that is scary and scary. The chances of survival were so low that anyone would laugh at his face if he suggested trying to fight him. If they were not Risen two or three ranks above that creature, of course.

Sunny certainly isn't.

However, he somehow had to deal with this Mountain King in order to avoid an even more miserable death. The ridiculous rate at which the odds stacked against him since the start of this delayed execution was a long time ago, so he had no more energy to think about it. Anyway, what to fear? He's just as dead. It's not like he can get any more deadly.

So why worry?

On the other side of the bonfire, things went from bad to worse. Most of the slaves are dead. Some of the soldiers were still desperately trying to fight the monster, but it was clear that they would not last long. Right before Sunny's eyes, the tyrant lifted up a dead slave, dragged the chain with him, and opened his dreadful jaw. With one devastating bite, the slave's body split in two, leaving only a bloody stump within the shackles.

The Mountain King's five indifferent milk eyes stared into the distance as he chewed, streams of blood flowing down his chin.

Seeing the creature's upper arm busy, one of the soldiers shouted and lunged forward, brandishing his long spear. Without turning his head, the tyrant stretched out one of his shorter forearms, grabbed the soldier's head with an iron grip and squeezed it, smashing the poor man's skull like a soap bubble. A moment later, the headless body was thrown onto a cliff and disappeared into the abyss below.

Shifty leaned over, spewing out his entrails. Then he trembled up and glared at Sunny.

“Well? We've checked, now what?”

Sunny did not reply, pensively observing the tyrant with his head slightly tilted to one side. Shifty looked at him again, then turned to Scholar.

“I told you, old man, that boy has a headache. How could he be so calm ?!”

“Sst! Keep your voice down, fool!”

Blood drained from Shifty's face as he slapped himself, covering his mouth with both hands. Then he threw a frightened look towards the tyrant.

Fortunately, the abomination was too busy partying with the lucky – slaves who were dead and the unlucky ones who were still alive – to notice them. Shifty slowly exhaled.

Sunny was engrossed in thinking, measuring his chances of survival.

‘How to get rid of that thing?’

He had no special powers, nor did he have an army ready to bury the tyrant under the pile of corpses. He doesn't even have a gun to at least scratch that damn bastard.

Sunny averted his gaze and looked past the creature, into the endless darkness of the moonless sky. As he looked at the night, a bright flash shot through the air and collided with one of the tyrant's arms, exploding into a rain of sparks. The young warrior – heroic liberator Sunny – had just thrown a burning stick of wood at the monster and was now defiantly raising his sword.

“Fight me, devil!”

‘A nuisance! Just what I need!’

Since Sunny couldn't possibly kill the Mountain King with his own two hands, he decided to ask for help. A human would not do his duty, so instead, he planned to use the power of nature.

‘Because I can't do that bastard myself, let's make gravity do it for me.’

He was thinking about the details of the plan when the young hero's foolish courage gave the opportunity. Now it all depends on how long that arrogant idiot can survive.

“Cute with me!” said Sunny as he started running to the far end of the stone platform, where the heavy wagon perched very close to the edge of the cliff.

Shifty and Scholar share a doubtful look, but then follow, perhaps confounding his calm with confidence, or perhaps divine inspiration. After all, it is a widely known fact that lunatics are often favored by the gods.

Behind them, the Hero nimbly ducked under the tyrant's claws, slashing at him with a sword. The sharp edges glide ineffectively across the dirty fur, not even scratching the creature's flash. In the next instant, the tyrant moved at a frightening speed, throwing all four of his hands towards his annoying new enemy.

But Sunny doesn't know. He ran at all his speed, getting closer and closer to the wagon. Once there, he hurriedly looked around, checked if there were any larvae nearby, and moved to his rear wheel.

The wagon was left at the top end of the stone platform, which narrowed and turned back into the road. It was rotated sideways to block the wind, with the front facing the mountain wall and its back facing the cliff. There were two large wooden slices placed under the rear wheels to prevent the cart from rolling backwards. Sunny turned to her friends and pointed to the slices.

“When I tell you, get rid of both. Then push. Understand?”

“What's the reason?”

Shifty looked at him with a dumbfounded expression on his face. The scholar only looks at the slices, and then at the tyrant.

The hero, miraculously, is still alive. He weaved between the limbs of the creature, always only half a second away from being completely ejected. From time to time, his sword floated in the air, but in vain: the Mountain King's fur was too thick, and his skin was too hard to be injured by ordinary weapons. There was a hint of fear on the young soldier's face.

All the other soldiers, as far as Sunny could see, were dead. So he really needed that one to live a little longer.

To Shifty, he simply said:

“You will see.”

The next moment, Sunny ran again, trying to follow the chain from the buffer affixed to the cart. The thing he was looking for was hard to notice because all the bodies, blood and innards were scattered on the stone platform, but for once, luck was on his side. Moments later, he had found what he needed the end of the torn chain.

Finding the nearest shackle, complete with the horribly disfigured body of a slave locked inside, Sunny knelt down and began fumbling with her keys.

There was a muffled scream, and with a sideways glance, he saw the Hero flying through the air, finally caught by one of the tyrant's attacks. Amazingly, the young soldier managed to land on his feet, sliding several meters across the rocks. All of his limbs were still in place; there were no terrible wounds on his body either. Without missing a single bit, the Hero rolls forward, takes his sword from where it fell on the ground, and then rolls it once again, this time to the side, avoiding the heavy pounding of the creature's feet.

“Ruling?! Who is rolling around in this situation?!”

Without wasting any more time, Sunny finally managed to open the shackles. Shaking the dead slaves off of them, he then immediately locked them up once again, this time around the chain itself – ended with a live knot and an emergency loop.

Now everything depends on his determination, hand-to-eye coordination and luck.

Turning to Shifty and Scholar, who were still waiting in the wagon, he shouted: 'She:

“Now!”

Then, picking up a long enough chain, Sunny stood up and faced the tyrant.

Hero glanced at him half. His eyes were fixed on the chain for a moment and then quickly followed it to the wagon. Then, without showing the slightest emotion, the young warrior doubled his efforts, distracting the creature from Sunny.

‘So she's smart too? What a scam!’

Clearing his mind of all unnecessary thoughts, Sunny concentrated on the weight of the chain in his hand, the distance between him and the tyrant, and his target.

Time seems to slow down a bit.

‘Please, don't miss!’

Gathering all his strength, Sunny spun around and threw the chain into the air, as if a fisherman were spilling his net. The circle opens while flying, closing the position of the fight between the Hero and the tyrant.

Sunny's plan was to put a circle on the ground close enough to them that, once one of the tyrant's legs landed in the trap, he could pull the chain and tighten it around the monster's ankle.

But his plan failed spectacularly.

That is, it was really a spectacle.

In the final moments, the Mountain King suddenly jerked backwards, and instead of falling to the ground, the circle of chains landed perfectly on his neck. A second later tightened, acting as an iron noose.

Sunny froze for a moment, not believing his eyes. And then clenched his fists, refraining from swaying him triumphantly in the air.

‘YA!’ he screamed in his heart.

A little while later, the wagon would roll off the cliff, pulling the tyrant down. Sunny looked back to be sure, and instantly became paler than usual.

Shifty and Scholar managed to remove the wedge from under the wheel of the wagon and now desperately pushed it to the curb. However, the wagon was spinning slowly very slowly. Much slower than Sunny anticipated.

He looked at the tyrant, panicking. The creature, surprised by the weight that suddenly pressed down on his neck, had already raised his hand to tear the chain apart.

Sunny's eyes widened.

The next second, Hero crashes into one of the tyrant's legs, making him lose his balance and stall for time. Sunny had already run to the wagon, cursing loudly in his mind. Achieving that, he threw himself into the damp wood with Shifty and Scholar, pushing with all the strength left in his rather small body, but was badly beaten and very tired.

‘Roll! Roll up, you bastard!’

The wagon drove a little, but it was still a bit slow reaching the edge of the cliff.

At the same time, the tyrant finally managed to hold the chain tied around his neck, ready to break free.

Now whether or not they are alive is just a question of what will happen first.