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Shadow Slave #3
Shadow Slave Volume 3: Prince of Nothing
Volume 3 (Chapters 351 - 600)
Growing up in poverty, Sunny never expected anything good from life. However, even he did not anticipate being chosen by the Nightmare Spell and becoming one of the Awakened - an elite group of people gifted with supernatural powers. Transported into a ruined magical world, he found himself facing against terrible monsters - and other Awakened - in a deadly battle of survival.
What's worse, the divine power he received happened to possess a small, but potentially fatal side effect...
Growing up in poverty, Sunny never expected anything good from life. However, even he did not anticipate being chosen by the Nightmare Spell and becoming one of the Awakened - an elite group of people gifted with supernatural powers. Transported into a ruined magical world, he found himself facing against terrible monsters - and other Awakened - in a deadly battle of survival.
What's worse, the divine power he received happened to possess a small, but potentially fatal side effect...
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Published January 1, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
June 2, 2025
Shadow Slave Volume 3 Prince of Nothing
5⭐+❤️
Prince of Nothing is the third volume of the webnovel Shadow Slave and it begins exactly where volume 2 ended with Sunny escaping from the first nightmare and waking up in the real world and having to deal with all the consequences of what he experienced in the nightmare all the time he spent asleep there and here in this volume we had a deeper look at the protagonist and now that he had his first survival in the realm of nightmares he knows he has to get stronger because the next ones will be as if not more dangerous than these were and then we see the whole unfolding of Sunny's decision in this volume where he goes from here I really liked the whole development of this volume and its ending the character that was presented as a possible villain of the work left me desperate enough and made me root for the protagonist to never face him again I won't go into details so as not to give spoilers but this character gave off an aura of impossible to be fought at this moment and overall I'm really enjoying my experience with this webnovel and I understand why many people recommend it as a top 3 webnovel ever written it really is a very good story and the author's writing is very It's nice to read and keeps you at home. When you finish reading a chapter, you can't wait to read the next one. I'm definitely going to start volume 4 right away because I need answers. Having said all that, read this webnovel because it's really worth it.
5⭐+❤️
Prince of Nothing is the third volume of the webnovel Shadow Slave and it begins exactly where volume 2 ended with Sunny escaping from the first nightmare and waking up in the real world and having to deal with all the consequences of what he experienced in the nightmare all the time he spent asleep there and here in this volume we had a deeper look at the protagonist and now that he had his first survival in the realm of nightmares he knows he has to get stronger because the next ones will be as if not more dangerous than these were and then we see the whole unfolding of Sunny's decision in this volume where he goes from here I really liked the whole development of this volume and its ending the character that was presented as a possible villain of the work left me desperate enough and made me root for the protagonist to never face him again I won't go into details so as not to give spoilers but this character gave off an aura of impossible to be fought at this moment and overall I'm really enjoying my experience with this webnovel and I understand why many people recommend it as a top 3 webnovel ever written it really is a very good story and the author's writing is very It's nice to read and keeps you at home. When you finish reading a chapter, you can't wait to read the next one. I'm definitely going to start volume 4 right away because I need answers. Having said all that, read this webnovel because it's really worth it.
July 29, 2024
Amazing
This volume was VERY good
Since I have been waiting for Sunny to come back to real world and interact with rain and other awakend, this gave me everything that I wanted, and even more, I laughed a lot, especially at the part where rain Met Kai and Effie. The part with two saints and Mordret was amazing and very scary.
So now the second nightmare, we shall go. I really want to know who the first member who entered the nightmare is I also want to know how Nephis will come to them
How the hell did I read 250 chapters in 2 days???? At this rate I will finish the novel way earlier and I don’t want it to end and to wait every week for the new chapter😭
This volume was VERY good
Since I have been waiting for Sunny to come back to real world and interact with rain and other awakend, this gave me everything that I wanted, and even more, I laughed a lot, especially at the part where rain Met Kai and Effie. The part with two saints and Mordret was amazing and very scary.
So now the second nightmare, we shall go. I really want to know who the first member who entered the nightmare is I also want to know how Nephis will come to them
How the hell did I read 250 chapters in 2 days???? At this rate I will finish the novel way earlier and I don’t want it to end and to wait every week for the new chapter😭
August 20, 2024
No wonder it's #1 on Webnovel. Nothing profound, but very entertaining!
February 17, 2025
De character development periode met veel lore over van alles
June 9, 2024
I think the reason I'm enjoying this so much is because it's just a Soll Levelling with a much better plot. And at the same time it has some similar aspects to the Lord of the Mysteries
June 24, 2025
Shadow Slave Volume 3: Prince of Nothing by Guiltythree
Shadow Slave Volume 3: Prince of Nothing continues Sunny’s brutal but fascinating journey. Picking up from the Forgotten Shore arc, this volume explores the aftermath of his escape and newly-awakened status. At approximately 300,000 words across 250 chapters (ch.351–600), it’s massive in scope and vision.
🌟 Overall Impressions & Narrative
Sunny returns to Earth broken, grappling with betrayal, loss, and his secret Mongrel identity. He’s thrust into political intrigue in the Chained Isles—assisted by Saint Tyris—while also trying to protect his sister Rain on Earth.
Strengths: Tactical prowess, ingenious plot progression, Lovecraftian horror, and jaw-dropping worldbuilding. Weaknesses: Some chapters drag with pacing issues (“filler quota”), and side characters occasionally feel underdeveloped.
Community sentiment: Many readers view this volume as the series’ high point, with intense narrative buildup and rich lore, although a few criticize the side cast's lack of emotional depth. Character Arcs Sunny (Protagonist): Major arc: From a traumatized fugitive to an awakened strategist balancing dual lives. His Mongrel persona gives him influence among the masses, while heartache fuels his drive. Development: His cunning shines, but grief and guilt over the Forgotten Shore losses weigh heavily. Nephis: Arc: Continues to push Sunny and lead in the Nightmare realms. Her moral complexity deepens—the world sees her as a hero, but Sunny knows her sacrifices. Mordret (Prince of Nothing): Arc: Emerges as the chilling major antagonist—omnipresent through reflection and shadow, capable of soul-possession. His ominous aura terrifies both Sunny and readers. Rain (Sunny’s sister): Arc: Mostly a grounding, emotional anchor for Sunny. Her vulnerability and his protective nature highlight his personal stakes. Saint Tyris: Arc: Mentor figure who helps position Sunny within political intrigue on the Isles, guiding strategy and acting as a high-level protector. Minor Allies (Cassie, Kai, Effie, others): Arc: Their presence is felt—especially in battle—but deeper development is minimal in this volume. Highlights & Criticisms Epic worldbuilding & diverse biomes: From dystopian Earth to the twisted Chained Isles, each locale immerses readers in eerie, surreal detail. Battlecraft: Schiller-style combat, visceral descriptions, and inventive tactics make action scenes unforgettable. Pacing issues: Some arcs, like the Dream Tournament and First Gate, feel prolonged, impacting momentum. Supporting character depth: While Sunny remains compelling, team members often lack significant growth or resolution.
> “Each character carefully placed … Sunny will become the undisputed ruler of the shadows.” > “The antagonists are never as simple as they seem … Mordret (My king) is a monster, but considering his upbringing, can you blame him?”Final Verdict
Prince of Nothing stands as a powerhouse of character evolution, world exploration, and thrilling stakes. While side plots sometimes drag and supporting roles are underexplored, Sunny’s arc—from trauma to strategic genius—is deeply satisfying.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ (4 out of 5 glowing stars)
ConclusionVolume 3 cements Sunny's transformation from victim to emerging power player, setting the stage for greater conflicts ahead. If you thrive on tactical battles, dark lore, and a bound protagonist with hard-won growth, this volume delivers. Just brace for pacing stretches and don’t expect in-depth side character arcs.
Looking forward to Volume 4? The stage is set, stakes are higher, and shadows are growing.
May 29, 2025
Mid dreamscape only thing stopping from a 2 star 3.5 rounded up.
February 25, 2025
I I liked this volume but Prince of nothing was the only interesting thing in the volume
July 27, 2024
Would honestly give this volume a 3.5/5. While the quality was still high and the moments were very entertaining, the momentum from the previous volume simply didn’t carry over. The biggest gripe is the fact that the ending simply left lots to be desired, the main antagonist in a state of ambiguity. That being said, it had its moments, and is still deserving of much praise.
December 4, 2024
Seeing how Sunny acts when he is awakened is amazing to me and this Volume introducing more and more layers to the power system is so interesting. It shows how sunny is so weak in comparison to the truly powerful beings in this world. Another Volume that I loved.
August 14, 2025
It is a gritty look into LITRPG/Progression stories.
It's nice to see Sunny enjoying himself a little bit before being thrown back into the void of insanity lol.
Always looking forward to the next one of Shadow slave I consume.
-Listened to the book, so I can't comment on the grammar.
It's nice to see Sunny enjoying himself a little bit before being thrown back into the void of insanity lol.
Always looking forward to the next one of Shadow slave I consume.
-Listened to the book, so I can't comment on the grammar.
February 4, 2025
Can’t wait for the second nightmare now. This volume seemed a little slow at some points but was still very good.
June 11, 2025
305K Words
July 4, 2025
The virtual arena is fun. The rest lacks some of the pizazz of previous arcs.
August 25, 2025
incroyable !!
August 1, 2025
I cannot tolerate the incongruent and unrealistic characterisation anymore.
Sunless, a hardened street rat, deprived of human rights and torn from his only remaining family for his whole childhood, constantly blushes at teasing and speaks like a sheltered child afraid of a bar of soap to the mouth. His exclamations—"Damnation", "Argh! Crap", "Curses!", etc.—feel absurdly out of place for someone shaped by such brutal survival. The pseudo-profanity should have been dispensed with entirely if it was a matter of keeping the language PG-13. It undermines immersion when protagonists and antagonists alike are uttering "What the Spell" amid dire circumstances, especially with Sunny saying "fuck" a couple of times in Volume 2, making for a glaring inconsistency.
For context, his shattered arm is in the maw of a mimic, and the only reason it has not severed is that his weapon is also in there, resisting yet slowly wilting under the bite force. Once it is free, he mentally celebrates with "Yes!" as if killing the creature or escaping would not be the urgent concern preoccupying his thoughts during this life-or-death situation, assuming the agony did not render them incoherent anyway. The juvenile way Sunny reacts in such scenes feels unnatural, like the difference between playing a video game and experiencing mortal peril. It neglects the physiological and psychological effects of extreme pain, fear and imminent danger.
Despite his cynical nature, Sunny is a soft-hearted, dense shounen character with a ruthless facade. His obliviousness to Mongrel's exploding popularity epitomises this. You just know Rain—the special snowflake little sister these shounen power fantasy web novels always forcibly insert—will embody these traits to an even more extreme degree. I feel misled because this was not always so. During the First Nightmare in Volume 1, three people fall victim to his premeditated murder when he poisons their scavenged water supplies. But in Volume 2, he becomes incensed after Nephis is willing to accept the inevitability of sacrifices in the attempt to escape the Forgotten Shore while hiding this truth to maximise morale and, therefore, survivability, a purely pragmatic decision.
Having grasped his true nature, one can only facepalm over his claims of being an "ingenious deceiver". This is the same guy who unwittingly had Nephis convinced he was supposed to assassinate her, let his True Name slip after a bit of alcohol when knowingly fraternising with a spy, lost all composure and required Caster to bail him out after killing said spy, realised too late that Nephis was holding back and wanted him to escape from the Crimson Spire, got blindsided by Cassia's logical betrayal and spent most of this volume strung along by Mordret. The amount of anti-feats calls into question either Sunny's self-awareness or the author's contempt for his audience's intelligence.
Regarding the Mary Sue that is Nephis, she transforms from an asocial, brusque loner into the manipulative cult leader of the Dreamer Army seemingly overnight, with the flimsy justification of picking it up from Sunny while travelling together for a month. Her Flaw is the intense pain endured during and after utilising it. However, it is a fake drawback rather than a real handicap because it only serves as a superficial consequence that is nerfed or forgotten about when the plot demands it. On top of this is her plot armour, much of which is off-screened yet defies the power scaling. Such feats include killing an Awakened Terror in her First Nightmare, resisting the mind hex of the Soul Devouring Tree through pure willpower, repelling an eldritch leviathan of the Corrupted rank after one of her hands is detached while underwater and defeating the Fallen-ranked Crimson Terror as a Sleeper. But the inevitable escape from the Forgotten Shore through the Hollow Mountains, a Death Zone infested with nightmare creatures capable of slaughtering Saints, will outdo them all.
Nephis' class advancement has never made sense, given her numerous responsibilities after killing Gunlaug and the fact her allies share in the kills. This contrasts with Sunny, who is often alone with no obligations beyond hunting for shadow fragments and memories, yet still falls further behind. Also, the soul damage inflicted by the sun during the Siege of the Crimson Spire would have exterminated all the nightmare creatures in the vicinity, reducing the rate at which the indomitable Nephis could saturate her core. But no, farming goes brrr! Meanwhile, Awakened Sunless with three shadow cores, Weaver's Divine Lineage, Ascended Tier VI armour and an Aspect Legacy can only last 36 seconds against a one-handed, armourless Master wielding a dormant sword. It should be clear who the actual main character is and which of them is the perpetual underdog despite being overpowered himself.
Sunless, a hardened street rat, deprived of human rights and torn from his only remaining family for his whole childhood, constantly blushes at teasing and speaks like a sheltered child afraid of a bar of soap to the mouth. His exclamations—"Damnation", "Argh! Crap", "Curses!", etc.—feel absurdly out of place for someone shaped by such brutal survival. The pseudo-profanity should have been dispensed with entirely if it was a matter of keeping the language PG-13. It undermines immersion when protagonists and antagonists alike are uttering "What the Spell" amid dire circumstances, especially with Sunny saying "fuck" a couple of times in Volume 2, making for a glaring inconsistency.
B—bastard! Let go of me, you vile piece of rotten wood!
For context, his shattered arm is in the maw of a mimic, and the only reason it has not severed is that his weapon is also in there, resisting yet slowly wilting under the bite force. Once it is free, he mentally celebrates with "Yes!" as if killing the creature or escaping would not be the urgent concern preoccupying his thoughts during this life-or-death situation, assuming the agony did not render them incoherent anyway. The juvenile way Sunny reacts in such scenes feels unnatural, like the difference between playing a video game and experiencing mortal peril. It neglects the physiological and psychological effects of extreme pain, fear and imminent danger.
Despite his cynical nature, Sunny is a soft-hearted, dense shounen character with a ruthless facade. His obliviousness to Mongrel's exploding popularity epitomises this. You just know Rain—the special snowflake little sister these shounen power fantasy web novels always forcibly insert—will embody these traits to an even more extreme degree. I feel misled because this was not always so. During the First Nightmare in Volume 1, three people fall victim to his premeditated murder when he poisons their scavenged water supplies. But in Volume 2, he becomes incensed after Nephis is willing to accept the inevitability of sacrifices in the attempt to escape the Forgotten Shore while hiding this truth to maximise morale and, therefore, survivability, a purely pragmatic decision.
Having grasped his true nature, one can only facepalm over his claims of being an "ingenious deceiver". This is the same guy who unwittingly had Nephis convinced he was supposed to assassinate her, let his True Name slip after a bit of alcohol when knowingly fraternising with a spy, lost all composure and required Caster to bail him out after killing said spy, realised too late that Nephis was holding back and wanted him to escape from the Crimson Spire, got blindsided by Cassia's logical betrayal and spent most of this volume strung along by Mordret. The amount of anti-feats calls into question either Sunny's self-awareness or the author's contempt for his audience's intelligence.
Regarding the Mary Sue that is Nephis, she transforms from an asocial, brusque loner into the manipulative cult leader of the Dreamer Army seemingly overnight, with the flimsy justification of picking it up from Sunny while travelling together for a month. Her Flaw is the intense pain endured during and after utilising it. However, it is a fake drawback rather than a real handicap because it only serves as a superficial consequence that is nerfed or forgotten about when the plot demands it. On top of this is her plot armour, much of which is off-screened yet defies the power scaling. Such feats include killing an Awakened Terror in her First Nightmare, resisting the mind hex of the Soul Devouring Tree through pure willpower, repelling an eldritch leviathan of the Corrupted rank after one of her hands is detached while underwater and defeating the Fallen-ranked Crimson Terror as a Sleeper. But the inevitable escape from the Forgotten Shore through the Hollow Mountains, a Death Zone infested with nightmare creatures capable of slaughtering Saints, will outdo them all.
Nephis' class advancement has never made sense, given her numerous responsibilities after killing Gunlaug and the fact her allies share in the kills. This contrasts with Sunny, who is often alone with no obligations beyond hunting for shadow fragments and memories, yet still falls further behind. Also, the soul damage inflicted by the sun during the Siege of the Crimson Spire would have exterminated all the nightmare creatures in the vicinity, reducing the rate at which the indomitable Nephis could saturate her core. But no, farming goes brrr! Meanwhile, Awakened Sunless with three shadow cores, Weaver's Divine Lineage, Ascended Tier VI armour and an Aspect Legacy can only last 36 seconds against a one-handed, armourless Master wielding a dormant sword. It should be clear who the actual main character is and which of them is the perpetual underdog despite being overpowered himself.
May 21, 2025
This was such a breathe of fresh air and a great seg-way into the next volume. Being introduced to Rain, Mordret and the whole Mongrel fiasco was dynamite. Laughed way too much. Adding layers to the Dream Realm and waking world, its current climate, politically and geographically, added much needed context which is slowly building a picture for where the story is heading.
July 31, 2025
Incredible, i love the downtime between the nightmares and the chained isles is a fantastic setting, the interections with Rain and the fantastic antagonist which is Mordret are all incredible but what makes this volume fantastic is Mongrel. What an incredible arc Can't wait for the second nightmare
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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