The reveal of the tyrant's survival was... frustrating to a lot of people. None of them were the type to complain, but it was hard to watch a situation continue to escalate.
"Geez, I can't remember anyone with worse luck than that! I mean, it must be that [ Fated ] thing, right?"
In the Shadow Room, Luster expressed his thoughts while running a hand down his face.
[ "Why do you say that?" ]
[ After thinking about it, Sunny came to the conclusion that the tyrant was, indeed, still alive. His reasoning was pretty straightforward: he did not hear the Spell congratulating him on slaying the creature after it fell off the cliff. Which meant that it was not slain. ]
[ "The monster jumped from an incredible height to land on this platform. Yet it wasn't harmed at all. Why would it be killed by falling off the platform?" ]
"In the moment excuse-making of the level of a god, as expected of you, Sunny."
Mundane Nephis shook her head as she said so. The amount of times that she had seen him coming up with the most logical excuses on the fly for why he was late or absent when they wanted to hang out was exhausting, to both Nephis and Cassie.
[ "Of course. Why didn't I realize it myself?" ]
[ "Then we go up and over the mountain pass. But that's not all…" ]
[ "If the monster is still alive, there is a high possibility that it will return here and then pursue us. Which means that time is of the essence. We will need to move as soon as the sun rises." ]
Hearing the Hero's reasoning, most people agreed that it was the best course of action.
[ "We can't allow ourselves to rest the whole night anymore. We need to gather supplies now. If there was a chance, I would have liked to give these people at least a humble burial after gathering all that we can from them, but alas, fate has decided otherwise." ]
"Hmmm, there isn't much they can gather in this place, they are limited to the original supplies of the caravan, and most of them were possibly destroyed during the attack."
Professor Julius shared with the rest of the Longing Room.
Effie turned towards him with a questioning glance.
"Isn't that enough for just four of them? Even if the supplies were cut into a tenth of their original size, it would still be enough to last for a long time, no?"
"Indeed, but they are also running away from an Awakened Tyrant, they cannot afford to carry too much with them. Right now, rather than food, they should focus on getting something to cover themselves from the cold of the mountain."
[ "Most of our water was stored on the wagon. But each of my fallen brothers was carrying a flagon. Gather as many as you can find." ]
As the Hero gave Sunny his task, their attention was brought to the screen once more.
[ The old veteran—the one who had whipped him for trying to accept Hero's flask—was badly injured and dying, but, miraculously, still clinging to life. Horrible wounds were covering his chest and stomach, and he was clearly in a lot of pain. ]
"Someone lived?"
[ 'What irony,' ]
[ The older man tried to focus his eyes on Sunny and weakly moved his hand, reaching for something. Sunny looked down and noticed a shattered sword lying on the ground not far from them. Curious, he picked it up. ]
"This Empire... they don't happen to be followers of War, do they?" Noctis commented
"If it's the Empire I'm thinking of, then yes, they are."
"I figured..."
[ "Are you looking for this? Why? Are you guys like Vikings, longing to die with a weapon in your hands?" ]
"Vikings?" Solvane seemed interested.
[ "Well, it might as well do. After all, I promised to watch you die." ]
[ With that, he leaned forward and slit the old man's throat with the sharp edge of his broken blade, then threw it away. The soldier twitched, drowning in his own blood. The expression in his eyes changed—was it gratitude? Or hatred? Sunny did not know. ]
[ Illusion or not, it was his first time killing a human. Sunny expected to feel guilt or fear, but actually, there was nothing at all. It seemed that, for better or worse, his cruel upbringing in the real world had prepared him for this moment well. ]
No one gasped or complained, most of them were soldiers of the Realm War, slaughtering other people on a daily basis almost as often as they slayed nightmare creatures.
Things were not as peaceful for the mundane people of the Alter Room.
For them, life had been peaceful. Even Sunny hadn't lived a life of extreme poverty and simply lived a hard and harsh life but never felt the hunger that the original had.
But killing a person and not feeling anything at all? For the first time that day, Mundane Sunny finally felt how different he was from that version of himself.
[ [You have slain a dormant human, name unknown.] ]
[ 'Oh, right. Killing people is also an achievement, as far as the Spell is concerned. They don't usually show this in webtoons and dramas.' ]
[ [You have received a Memory…] ]
Eyes widened.
It was Sunny's second kill since he had entered the First Nightmare, and he had already gotten a memory.
[ 'Yes! Come on, give me something good!' ]
[ 'A weapon! Give me a sword!' ]
His excitement echoed towards the rooms, making some chuckle at his childness.
As for Nephis and other enthusiasts of the sword, such as Morgan, Anvil, and Broken Sword, they were quite glad that Sunny was so excited for a sword.
[ [... received a Memory: Silver Bell.] ]
[ [Silver Bell: a small memento of a long-lost home, which once brought its owner comfort and joy. Its clear ringing can be heard from miles away.] ]
[ 'What a piece of crap,' ]
'That Bell...'
"Wait a minute... Isn't that the bell he had on his cafe back in Bastion?" Effie questioned.
"Now that you mention it, I think it is the same," her husband agreed.
As for the others, they were more interested in something else.
'The Lord of Shadows had a cafe?'
[ They spent the rest of the night seated with their backs against the bonfire, staring fearfully into the night. Despite the exhaustion, no one could sleep. The possibility of the tyrant coming back to finish the four survivors off was too frightening. ]
[ At the break of dawn, when the sun had lazily begun to warm up the air, they loaded themselves with all the supplies they'd managed to gather and set out into the cold. ]
However, things were not looking very bright.
[ They were planning to follow the road up to the mountain pass and then over it, getting as far away from the scene of the massacre as they could before the night came. However, the road was no more. ]
[ At some point during the last months, or maybe even just yesterday, a terrible rockfall occurred, obliterating whole segments of the narrow roadway and making its other parts untraversable. Sunny stood on the precipice of a vast chasm, looking down with no particular expression on his face. ]
[ "What do we do now?" ]
[ "I'll tell you what we need to do! Get rid of some dead weight!" ]
[ "Listen, your lordship. The boy is too weak. He is slowing us down! Plus, he's weird. Doesn't he give you the creeps?" ]
Frowns marred every single face. Even those that were not exactly fond or familiar with Sunny were irritated by Shifty's atittude.
In the Nightmare Room, Solvane clicked her tongue. Her beautiful face twisted in disgust.
"Why is the most useless of them all the one that cries the loudest?"
[ "Look! Look how he's glaring at me! I swear to gods, ever since he joined the caravan, nothing has gone right. Maybe the old man was right: the boy is cursed by the Shadow God!" ]
[ "But I've never said that…" ]
[ "We're not going to leave anyone behind. As for how much longer he'll be able to endure—just worry about yourself." ]
It was clear that the next challenge was not a big bad monster but the threat of being abandoned by the group.
They saw as they made a decision about their route and how Sunny was fantasizing about the rewards he would be given at the end of the trial.
[ 'With the amount of crap it had put me through, the Spell—if it has any conscience—has to give me at least an Awakened Aspect. Right? Or maybe even an Ascended one!' ]
The irony of that statement. To dream of the average and end up with the pinnacle.
[ "Try to rest as well. I'll take the first watch." ]
After a while, they watched as they reached a certain point and began to make camp, with Hero staying guard for the night, Sunny somehow managing not to be the worst off in the group.
[ "These two didn't look too well, so it's better to give them some time to recover. Don't let the flames go out and wake us up once the sun starts to rise. Or if… if the beast appears." ]
"They don't look well, huh? Oh Sunless, Sunless, how devious."
Mordret flashed a smile of intrigue.
[ The tiny dots littering the stones were the dead bodies of the slaves. ]
[ As he was watching them, a dark figure slowly crawled on the platform from beneath the cliff. It stayed motionless for a while and then moved forward, scraping its claws against the ground. Every time a claw hit one of the bodies, the tyrant would grab it and bring it to its maw. ]
"It really is alive, huh? Damnation." Detective Sunless cursed, thinking that he better have a good amount of alcohol in his room.
[ Far below, the tyrant suddenly turned its head, looking directly at Sunny. ]
Tension built up. Everyone was ready for another struggle for survival to ensue.
[ A few torturous seconds passed, each feeling like an eternity. Then the tyrant calmly turned away and continued to devour dead slaves, as though he had not seen Sunny at all. ]
[ 'It's blind,' ]
"Ah! I thought its eyes were weird at first, but to think that it was blind!" Julius barely controlled himself in excitement.
[ Looking back at everything that had happened earlier, he grew more and more certain of his guess. Those milky, expressionless eyes. Come to think of it, he never saw the tyrant moving them at all. And back when Sunny was pushing the wagon off the cliff, the tyrant only reacted after the wagon had started to fall, scraping loudly against the rocks. ]
[ Of course! It was all making sense now. ]
Indeed it did. And now he was in possession of the tyrant's weakness, if he could exploit it in some way, the chance of clearing the trial had just increased.
[ At the break of dawn, Sunny had woken the others up. Hero had hoped that a full night's rest would do Shifty and Scholar some good, but his hopes were crushed. Somehow, the two slaves looked even worse than before. It was as though yesterday's climb had overstrained Scholar too much. ]
[ "What's wrong with him?" ]
[ "It might be the mountain sickness. It affects different people differently." ]
"What do you think, Professor Julius?" Effie's Husband asked.
"It might be, but why aren't Sunny and 'Hero' affected? Are their resistances that high? I can understand the young soldier, but Sunny, on the other hand..."
[ "Did anything happen while we were asleep?" ]
[ "The monster ate the dead." ]
[ "How do you know?" ]
[ "I heard it." ]
Kai looked weirdly at the screen. As far as he knew Sunny, he had never lied, not a single time, no matter how much Kai wished he had. So it was weird, it was weird seeing him lie so casually, as if he was telling the truth.
It was the complete opposite of his current manner of speaking, which was telling the truth as if it was a lie.
[ "Then we'll have to move faster. If the creature is finished with all the bodies, it will come for us next. We need to find that old path before nightfall." ]
They watched as they resumed their journey until...
[ However, Shifty was falling farther and farther behind. His strength was abandoning him. ]
[ And then, at some point, Sunny heard a desperate scream. Turning around, he only had time to see a panic-stricken face. Then Shifty fell backward, his foot slipping on an ice-covered rock. He hit the ground hard and rolled down, still trying to grab onto something. ]
[ But it was too late. ]
[ Frozen in place and powerless, they could only watch as his body tumbled down the slope, leaving bloody marks on the rocks. With each second, Shifty looked less like a man and more like a rag doll. ]
[ A handful of moments later, he finally came to a halt, hitting the top of a large, protruding stone in a pile of broken flesh. ]
[ Shifty was dead. ]
"Oof. What a bad way to go."
Cassie watched silently, specifically, she watched Sunny's face as if searching for something.
'I see... Have we been walking in different directions this whole time? Me becoming a monster, and you becoming something else from it?'
She couldn't help but feel a tiny bit of regret in her heart.
[ No one knew what to say. ]
[ "It's a good thing that you took most of the supplies he had been carrying." ]
Hearing the words coming out of Scholar's mouth, some couldn't help but agree, and others couldn't keep themselves from frowning.
[ "May you rest in peace, my friend." ]
[ 'Wow. What a performance.' ]
[ Actually, Sunny had not believed in his benevolent act for a second. Every kid from the outskirts knew that people who acted kind for no reason were the ones to be most wary of. They were either fools or monsters. Scholar didn't seem like a fool, so Sunny became cautious of him from the moment they met. ]
"I guess that the saying is right, there are things to good to be true." Professor Julius comented.
"That was never hard to deduce, but sad to see every time." the Nameless Husband added, earning a nod from the professor.
[ 'Why do I feel so guilty?' ]
[ 'He got what he deserved.' ]
Hearing his inner thoughts, Nephis couldn't help but think of Sunny's morals. He was someone completely unbothered by killing or torture. For him, the target of such malice was what mattered. Wether they deserved it or not, not in a moral sense, but on a personal scale.
Sunny was someone incapable of dragging innocent lives into bigger fights because they did not deserve to die or suffer, precisely because they were not on that personal scale.
At least that was her own understanding of him. She hoped to increase that understanding in the future through these viewings.
[ Just as he was about to fall into despair, they finally found it. ]
Some time had passed and they saw as the trio climbed the mountain in search of the path that Scholar had talked about.
[ It was weathered and narrow, barely enough for two people to walk side by side. The path wasn't paved, but rather cut from the black rock by some unknown tool or magic, winding its way up the mountain like a tail of a sleeping dragon. Here and there, it was hidden beneath the snow. But most importantly, it was flat. Sunny had never been that happy to see something flat in his life. ]
[ "Told you." ]
[ "Stand up. It's not time to rest yet." ]
[ "Just… just give me a few minutes." ]
[ The young soldier was going to retort, but Sunny suddenly put a hand on his shoulder. Hero turned to face him. ]
[ "What is it?" ]
[ "It's gone." ]
[ "What is gone?" ]
[ "Shifty's body. It's gone." ]
[ 'Oh, right. They don't know that Shifty's name is Shifty. Ahem. Awkward.' ]
"So it really is following them. Is it tracking them somehow, one of his worm followers? Or maybe by scent?" Morgan raised a question.
As a strategic mind, she was one of the first ones to catch the implication of the corpse's disappearance.
[ "It's the monster," ]
[ "It's following us." ]
And Scholar had figured that out as well.
[ "You are right. And if it is that close, we will inevitably be forced to fight it soon." ]
[ The idea of fighting the tyrant was as frightening as it was preposterous. He might as well have said that they will all be dead soon. The truth of it was painfully clear to both Sunny and Scholar. ]
Detective Sunless studied Scholar's face and sighed.
'It seems that another slave is going to try and get rid of other me.'
[ "Not necessarily." ]
[ "Explain?" ]
[ 'Here it comes.' ]
Sitting on Regressor Sunny's lap, young Nephis looked at Sunny by tilting her head.
"Is the other you expecting something, Sunny?"
Sunny patted her head carefully.
"Yeah, he has an evil plan for me, you see?"
"Oh... Were you alright?"
"Somewhat, yes."
That seemed to be enough for the young girl, who looked at the screen and readied herself to stop Sunny's hands from covering her eyes once again.
[ "The beast had traced us this far in just a day. That means that there are two most probable possibilities. Either it is smart enough to realize where we are going, or it is following the scent of blood." ]
[ "Whether it is one or another, we can throw him off our trail and buy some time." ]
Eyes widened.
"Is he thinking of...?"
"Sacrificing Sunny?"
Those sentences were uttered by several people across the rooms. It was clear what Scholar's proposition was.
[ "How do we do that?" ]
[ "Why are you not answering? Speak!" ]
[ "We'll just have to… make the boy bleed. Drag him down the path, then leave him there as bait and go up instead. His sacrifice will save our lives." ]
[ 'Right on time.' ]
Diverged Nephis did not know what frustrated her more. If it was the blatant murder intentions towards Sunny or if it was the way he had already expected it to happen.
At that moment, she couldn't help but think of the face of the one she had betrayed and enslaved, of the one who sacrificed his life, not for her, but for the sole purpose of defiance.
He had been someone so distrustful, and yet, he gave them, both her and Cassie, everything that he could, his trust, his strength, his friendship, and his love. And they trampled over it.
One for his life.
The other because she couldn't handle the weight of the burden of fate and that she never needed to choose.
[ "What do you mean, make him bleed?" ]
[ "It's simple, really. If the monster knows where we are going, we have no choice but to abandon our plans to reach the mountain pass and go over the peak of the mountain instead. If the monster is following the scent of blood, we have to use one of us as bait to mislead it." ]
[ "Only by leaving a bleeding man further down the path can we reliably avoid the pursuit, no matter how it is tracking us." ]
[ "How can you bring yourself to propose something so vile?" ]
[ "Of course, it pains me! But if we do nothing, all three of us will die. This way, at least, the boy's death will save two lives. The gods will reward him for his sacrifice!" ]
"Fuck that! If he will be rewarded, then why won't you go get that reward, you prick!!"
Rain let herself explode. The frustration and anguish of the last viewing, along with the stress and tension of this one, finally made her explode.
For most mundane, what Sunny had suffered was already enough for a lifetime of suffering, and yet the world seemed to keep hammering him down before he could even properly stand up.
It irritated her beyond belief.
[ 'Gee, what a silver tongue. I'm almost convinced myself.' ]
No one presented any appreciation for Sunny's mocking thoughts, except for a certain person from nowhere.
[ "I have only one question." ]
[ "Yes?" ]
[ "You said that one of us must be sacrificed to save the other two. Why him? From what I see, you are far closer to the grave." ]
That was the truth.
In a scenario where one sacrificed someone from the group, the burdens go first.
That was a scene that Cassie had prepared for herself before the Winter Solstice, believing that to be the fate that awaited her.
[ "Before the first attack, he was already bleeding because of your senior's whip. During the attack, he was drenched in the blood of a fellow slave. His cloak, too, was soaked in it when the previous owner died. The boy already reeks of blood. Keeping him alive will put us in danger. That's why he is the best choice." ]
[ 'Curse you and your big brain!' ]
[ "That is true." ]
[ Sunny felt his mouth getting dry. Cold sweat was running down his spine. He tensed, ready to act… ]
[ "Your logic is almost unassailable," ]
The sound of the sword being unsheathed silenced any murmurs the rooms could have at that moment.
[ "However, you failed to account for one thing." ]
[ "What might that be?" ]
[ "It's that I know who you are, Your Grace. I also know what you've done and how you ended up a slave. Just one of the revolting crimes you have committed would be enough to make me want to kill you. So if there is someone among us who deserves to be sacrificed… it's you." ]
[ "But… but the smell of blood!" ]
[ "Don't worry about it. I'll make you bleed enough to overpower whatever residual scent the boy carries." ]
The movement was fast, the audience couldn't help but wonder if it was because Sunny himself failed to perceive it or was it because they themselves were not as powerful as usual.
[ Just like that, Scholar was done for. ]
[ "Wait for me here." ]
[ Then he grabbed the older slave and dragged him down the path, soon disappearing behind a rock outcropping. After a few minutes, terrible screams could be heard echoing through the wind. ]
[ He still couldn't believe how sudden Scholar's demise came to be and how ruthless it was. ]
[ "Let's go. We need to hurry." ]
After the demise of another slave who had wished for Sunny's demise, there were not that many ripples on the audience. The slaves had gathered little affection from the two slaves, and so their deaths did not bring that much disconfort.
For those that came from mundane lives, with the exception of the Devil Detective, the brutality was still slightly overwhelming, but maybe it was because they were watching things from a screen that made it easier for them.
[ "Don't feel guilty about what happened. It's not your fault. The decision was mine and mine alone." ]
[ "Besides, if you knew this man's sins… actually, it's better that you don't. Just trust me when I say that killing him was an act of justice." ]
[ 'I wonder which one of us feels guilty.' ]
Unlike the slaves, Hero was someone that the audience somewhat respected. His morals seemed to be in the right place, and he was the one willing to support Sunny in that hellhole.
Some of them even thought that Sunny's nickname was quite fitting.
[ "You don't like to talk, do you? Well, fair enough. Silence is gold." ]
"Huh, that sounds familiar." Luster commented.
[ The sun was setting, painting the world into a million shades of crimson. This high up, the air was clean and crisp, pierced by streams of scarlet light. Below them, a sea of maroon clouds was slowly rolling past the mountain. The stars and the moon had begun to reveal themselves in the vermilion sky. ]
[ It was quite beautiful. ]
[ However, Sunny could only think about how cold it was going to be once the sun fully disappears. ]
[ Before that happened, Hero had found them a shelter. Not far from the path, hidden behind some tall rocks, was a narrow crevice that extended into the slope of the mountain. Happy to be safe from the piercing wind, they explored the crevice and ended up in a small, well-concealed cave. ]
[ "Today we will camp without making a fire. The beast is too close." ]
[ Sunny sat down, putting his back against the cave's wall. Hero settled opposite of him, looking downcast and thoughtful. ]
[ "You know, it's strange. Usually, I can feel someone's presence even in absolute darkness. But with you, there's nothing. It's like you are just one of the shadows." ]
"That seems to be an effect of his Child of Shadows attribute." Seishan commented.
"No wonder he always seems to come out of the darkest corners of the room, he is just like Revel. I wonder if he also has a secret room where he stays holed up." Hel added, before receiving a shop to the head by her sister.
[ "Are you asleep?" ]
The question sounded much more serious than it should.
Nephis gripped the throne's armrest tighter as if trying to break it.
Sunny's voice sounded, it was unusual. In this nightmare he barely spoke, it would be normal for him to pretend to be sleeping, and yet.
He answered.
And that left the audience expecting something happening.
[ "Why? Are you waiting for me to fall asleep before you kill me? Or will you do it in the morning?" ]
The questions landed sharply on the ears of both the Hero and the ones watching.
Was Hero going to try and kill Sunny?
***********
A/N: Another Chapter, next two chapters are going to be about Sunny finishing the Nightmare and the Appraisal. Writing the 1st NM was an interesting experience and I hope you enjoyed it.
Check Out my other Fanfic:
> Cursed Shadow (JJK/JJK Modulo x Shadow Slave)
> Trailblazing Shadow (HSR x Shadow Slave)