Chapter 515: Traveling Together
The next day, Sunny left the Sanctuary in the company of the Fire Keepers. Traveling across the Chained Isles with Cassie and her cohort proved to be somewhat inconvenient — after all, they couldn't all turn into shadows and swiftly glide across heavenly chains as he could — but also a much more safe and pleasant experience than he was used to.
In fact, this was probably the most relaxed and serene journey Sunny had ever undertaken in the Dream Realm.
Even if the party moved slower, it was also much more battle ready and capable than any solitary Awakened could ever dream to be. Each of the Fire Keepers was a talented fighter with years of experience under their belt, and more than that, they fought together like a singular, finely tuned battle machine.
Even though Sunny didn't want to admit it, he had to give Cassie credit. Under her leadership, the cohort had become a beautifully cohesive battle unit in less than a year. She must have learned well from how Nephis had built her cohort, and then her army, back in the Dark City.
The fact that these young men and women shared a common past and had gone through a harrowing hell together must have helped a lot, too.
Whenever the party encountered Nightmare Creatures, Sunny felt a very strange and unfamiliar sensation… it was almost as if he didn't have to do anything. He could literally remain still, and nothing would happen to him — his temporary companions were more than capable of dealing with the abominations themselves.
Of course, that was only because the route they were taking had been carefully chosen to avoid the really dangerous places. There was another reason for why this expedition was going so smoothly… Cassie herself.
Traveling with a powerful oracle was a very convenient thing, indeed. Not only was she able to steer the cohort clear of anything they were not equipped to deal with, she also had a supernatural intuition when it came to predicting which islands were going to enter into a descent, and which were going to rise instead.
Thanks to that, they were able to avoid being caught by the Crushing and having to either endure it or scramble to escape to the nearest isle — which could have landed them into the hunting territory of extremely powerful Nightmare Creatures.
Just like before, Sunny and she worked together to make sure that nothing unexpected happened. With Cassie's intuition and his shadows scouting ahead, the cohort always had plenty of time to avoid a confrontation with dangerous abominations or thoroughly prepare for it.
...It was almost like the good old times.
The fact that Sunny — unlike the Fire Keepers, who had spent most of their time on the Chained Isles up north — knew this part of the region pretty well also helped. On the way, they had passed through many islands that he had explored and hunted on before.
Plus, he had the Covetous Coffer now, which made their rest stops and meals much more enjoyable. So, as far as traversing the Dream Realm went, this journey was almost enjoyable.
After a calm and comparatively uneventful week, they finally reached the Shipwreck Island.
***
This close to the Tear, the Nightmare Creatures were much more dangerous and vile. Sunny and the Fire Keepers were currently on the island he had visited before — the one with dozens of stone towers laying in ruins, overgrown by moss, and monstrous worms hiding underground.
They had just fought off a swarm of them, and were now approaching the edge of the isle. Soon, the sight of the gargantuan chain stretching into the distance opened to them, and they heard the sound of rusty metal scraping against ancient iron on the wind.
The Fire Keepers froze and stared at the distant Shipwreck Island... and the corpse of the metal giant that was entangled in the remnants of a broken chain, swaying slowly above the dark abyss of the Sky Below. They were as stunned by this forlorn visage as Sunny had been when he first saw the mangled remains of the steel colossus.
After a while, one of them said:
"That wound in his chest… what kind of force could have shattered such a creature? And his arm… we saw it already, didn't we?"
Sunny didn't respond, since the question wasn't directed at him, and thus his Flaw remained silent.
Another Fire Keeper lingered, then asked in a curious tone:
"Maybe we should climb down and investigate, after taking control of the island?"
Sunny glanced at her, then shook her head.
"I wouldn't recommend that."
The young woman raised an eyebrow.
"Why?"
A dark smile found its way onto his face.
"You think the monster in the wreck is bad? The being that dwells on the dark side of the island is much, much worse. Believe me. And that giant is well within its reach. In fact, I think that it uses him as bait to feed on the Chain Worms… those are Fallen Demons, by the way, and of a very nasty variety. They're just candy to that thing, though."
The Fire Keepers turned their attention to the underside of the Shipwreck Island, which was shrouded in darkness. Their faces turned solemn, and after a while, one of them asked:
"But what is it?"
Sunny shrugged.
"I have no idea. I only saw the tip of its root. That is why I am still alive, most likely… if I saw the whole thing, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."
After that, everyone remained silent. Sunny used that time to take another look at the two tall pillars that rose into the sky from the ancient stone structure on the other end of the chain.
Now that he knew that the ancient ship had been a flying one, the purpose of these pillars became clear, too.
They were wharves… or rather, mooring masts. The flying ship had to dock to something, after all, when it was not braving the vast expanse of the sky.
That made him think… there were several such pillars on the island, which suggested that Noctis had not been the only one in possession of a sky vessel in the ancient past. Maybe flying ships were how all the inhabitants of the Chained Isles traveled across the chasms of the Sky Below.
That made sense, really. The chains themselves were not exactly convenient roads, it's just that the Awakened used them for that purpose.
But how had the captains of the flying ships dealt with the Crushing? Or had there been no such curse on the Chained Isles before Hope escaped from its bonds?
His thoughts were interrupted by the loud rattling of the heavenly chain.
The Shipwreck Island was descending.
The Fire Keepers looked at each other. Their faces turned grim. Cassie gripped the hilt of the Quiet Dancer, and then said, her voice calm and steady:
"Get ready. You all know the plan, so I won't waste time repeating it. Stay strong, stay together, and stay alive. Today, we will be victorious!"
Sunny stretched his neck, then summoned the Cruel Sight.
'Let's hope your intuition is right this time, too...'
Chapter 516: Legacy of Ruin
Returning to the Shipwreck Island felt strange. It was almost exactly the same, but also different.
They followed the remains of the ancient road and crested the hill to see the desolate valley below. The wreck of the once graceful ship was at its center, the dead tree wrapped around its mast. Thick vines were growing out of the breaches in its hull and spreading outward, some laying on the ground, some buried beneath it.
Here and there, piles of wooden debris could be seen — those were the Sailor Dolls, which had yet to assume their humanoid form after shapeshifting to withstand the Crushing.
What had changed, however, was that there was no chain on the other side of the valley anymore. The Twisted Rock had been destroyed and crumbled into the Sky Below, and now, the Shipwreck Island directly bordered the Tear.
Sunny felt as if the air itself was slightly different as the result.
He gestured at the wooden debris and said:
"Those are the Sailor Dolls. In a few minutes, they will assume their usual form, and after one notices us, the others will know of our presence, too. They'll swarm you pretty fast."
The Fire Keepers had already summoned their weapons and were prepared for a fight. The faces were calm, cold concentration burning in their eyes.
Cassie nodded.
"This is it, then. We will see you on the other side."
Sunny hesitated for a moment, then glanced at the members of the cohort. Out of habit, he had wanted to tell her to be careful, but then remembered who she was, and who he was, what they had been through together, and how it all ended.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
"...Give them hell."
The Fire Keepers smiled. One of them laughed:
"I'm pretty sure that this place is already enough of a hell… you stay safe too, Sunny."
He sighed, then took a step back and disappeared into the shadows. Safely hidden in their dark embrace, Sunny observed as the Fire Keepers moved forward in a flexible battle formation. A few seconds later, he followed behind them unseen.
Soon, the piles of debris shuddered and started assembling into tall, menacing wooden humanoids, their arms ending with jagged blades.
The Fire Keepers did not wait for the first one to lunge at them, and launched an attack themselves.
Shakti, the former Artisan with an Aspect revolving around plants, drew a heavy bow, and sent an arrow flying. It hit the nearest abomination in the head and suddenly exploded into shards, creating a cloud of icy mist.
The creature swayed, then turned to face them, one side of its body in shambled. As it moved toward the humans, a thin crust of ice formed on its limbs, slowing the doll down.
Before it could strike with its blades, another Fire Keeper dashed forward and brought the blade of a heavy axe on its shoulder, severing one of the abomination's arms completely. Another appeared by his side, receiving a retaliatory strike on his shield. The young man grunted, but held his ground.
A moment later, the Sailor Doll was dead, hacked into pieces by the rest of the cohort.
'Not a bad start…'
But that was just the beginning.
Soon, the eight humans were surrounded by a dozen more Fallen Beasts, all towering above them with menacing, bloodthirsty determination. Things were about to turn bad for the Fire Keepers, but at that moment, Kaor — the Artisan specializing in carpentry — froze for a moment and narrowed his eyes. Immediately, a subtle change happened to the wooden creatures.
While not really rendered weak, they did, however, become a bit sluggish and slow. That made it possible for the members of the cohort to hold against the onslaught of the Nightmare Creatures a whole Rank above their own.
…It was not easy, though.
The Fire Keepers held their formation, but only just barely. The young men armed with the heavy axe was now using his Aspect Ability, which made the blade of his weapon shine with an angry red glow. It bit into the wooden flesh of the abomination he was fighting, penetrating much deeper than it should have been able to.
His partner was like a wall, refusing to take even a step back. He blocked strike after strike with his heavy shield, lashing out from behind it with a short spear from time to time to keep the enemies from simply overwhelming him with their size and mass. This was the healer of the cohort, so his fortitude and grit came from his physical prowess alone, not from any kind of Ability.
There was another Fire Keeper that used a shield, a young woman with dirty blond hair and an Aspect that allowed her to exert vicious strength with each strike of her sword. She fought in tandem with a young man who wielded two great swords… in his four hands. The second pair appeared when he activated his own Aspect Ability. These two were quite devastating together.
Shakti continued to fire her bow, switching between Memory arrows and mundane ones, which were crafted by Kaor. Her bow was powerful enough, and her aim precise enough, to deal heavy damage to the advancing Sailor Dolls. The carpenter himself was sustaining the strange hex he put on the abominations and covering her with a wooden staff in his hands, his face grim and full of resolve.
Another Fire Keeper possessed an Aspect that allowed him to gift his companions with an augmentation to stamina and endurance, as well as making one of them much more resilient. He wielded a curved sword and covering Cassie's back.
…And then, there was Cassie herself. Who had turned out to be perhaps the most deadly of them all.
She wielded the Quiet Dancer in one hand and a long dagger in the other, using it to deflect blows and launch an unexpected, quick attack from time to time. The delicate girl wasn't the strongest, nor was she the fastest of the Fire Keepers. However, she fought with confident grace and deadly insight resembling that of a true master.
If it was anybody else, Sunny would have assumed that they had long reached the pinnacle of skill and were now able to not only flawlessly follow, but also control the flow of battle… it reminded him of how Nephis fought, of how deeply attuned she was to the underlying laws that governed combat.
Of course, the difference was that while Changing Star was able to predict and manipulate the cadence of battle due to her knowledge, talent, and skill… Cassie could actually perceive a few moments into the future.
Which made her a frightening presence on the battlefield.
As Sunny watched, a towering Sailor Doll raised one of its blades and brought it down on the blind girl, aiming to cut her body in half. However, Cassie simply moved slightly to the side a split second before the blade would have sliced her apart, and lashed out with her dagger. At the same time, the Quiet Dancer suddenly flew out of her hand and shot through the air.
The dagger pierced the creature's chest, while the rapier threw its second blade a few centimeters of course, then continued forward and tore through another abomination's neck.
In the span of a second, two Fallen Beasts fell were heavily wounded, and soon fell dead to the ground.
…Still, Sunny recognized the truth of it behind the superficial appearance. Yes, Cassie had an incredible advantage due to her unique and powerful Aspect. But not just anyone would have been able to make use of it.
In fact, almost no one could have done what she did.
In the havoc of a battle — especially a battle between Awakened and Nightmare Creatures, where a fraction of a second could mean the difference between life and death — it was already immensely hard to perceive, comprehend, and react to the enemy's actions in time.
It must have been so much harder, then, to perceive both the present and the future, to comprehend not one but two states of the battle, and swiftly act in response to achieve the result… not to mention that Cassie was doing all that while being blind. The mental strain and burden o it all… Sunny couldn't even imagine it.
What he did know, however, was that it was impossible to perform such a feat without one crucial thing.
Clarity.
…It seemed that Cassie had not listened to the lessons Nephis had taught them for nothing. She was Changing Star's other pupil, after all.
Soon, the Fire Keepers had dealt with the first wave of the Sailor Dolls. But the second, larger one was already approaching.
Before it could reach them, though, Cassie grabbed the Quiet Dancer from the air, turned to her cohort, and yelled:
"Prepare!"
Then, she covered her mouth and nose with a hand, turned the rapier down… and thrust it deep into the earth.
A moment later, the ground shook.
Chapter 517: Baiting the Monster
Suddenly, the whole of the valley seemed to be moving. The ground shook and seethed, and slowly, green and brown vines started rising from beneath it like vile snakes.
The hulking Sailor Dolls that were about to descend upon the Fire Keepers froze, as if consumed by fear. Then, they turned around and stumbled away. Some simply crumbled into piles of debris, pretending to be dead.
Even these Fallen Beasts were terrified of the being that dwelled in the heart of the ancient wreck.
Cassie and her cohort, however, remained unperturbed. Moving with swift determination, they made their preparations. Just a moment after the blind oracle thrust her rapier into the ground, the Fire Keepers had strips of cloth wrapped around their mouths and noses. The corpses of the slain Sailor Dolls were dragged to form a circle around them and set aflame.
Soon, the cohort was surrounded by a ring of tall bonfires, the eight Awakened bathed in the waves of heat. They stood back to back, their weapons drawn and their faces full of grim resolve. Only Shakti was on one knee, her hand pressed to the ground. After a moment, she screamed something.
…Sunny was still observing from the shadows, his emotions in turmoil. Although he would no go so far as to call these young people friends, he had grown somewhat attached to them after going through the ordeal of the civil war in the Bright Castle and traveling together. These Fire Keepers were a likable sort.
He didn't want to watch them die while doing nothing.
But that was his role in this fight… he had to remain safely hidden until the Corrupted Monster's attention was fully concentrated on Cassie's cohort, and then deliver one decisive strike, ending it all.
That time had not come yet.
Consumed by dark discontent, Sunny continued to watch.
Reacting to Shakti's scream, one of the Fire Keepers suddenly dashed to the side. A fraction of a second later, the moss beneath his feet was pierced by a stem of a brown vine. It thrashed blindly, failing to catch anyone in its deadly embrace, but then seemed to have sensed the presence of life, and shot toward the nearest human.
The vine was as thick as a man's arm, and there were black thorns protruding from its glistening surface.
One of the Fire Keepers sliced at it with her sword, but the sharp blade just bounced off of the vine without leaving even a scratch on its surface. Two others simply fell on it, pressing the thing down with their shields. That gave enough time for the young man whose Aspect allowed him to enhance his weapon-type Memories to bring his glowing axe down, severing the vine.
As soon as he did, a cloud of poisonous mist shot out from the cut, enveloping the young man. Luckily, he knew to hold his breath and immediately jumped back. Cassie, who had sheathed her rapier and was now holding a familiar wooden staff, pointed it forward and summoned the wind. The cloud of poison was blown toward the bonfires and devoured by flame.
'...That axe is an Ascended Memory.'
Indeed, it was. In fact, all of the Fire Keepers seemed to be equipped rather well, and several of them wielded weapons above their Rank.
Quiet Dancer was also not the only Echo in their possession. Just as another vine appeared from the flames, its stem singed and damaged, a familiar shape suddenly weaved itself from sparks of light just beyond the ring of bonfires and pounced on it. It was a creature that looked like a giant praying mantis, its flesh composed of glass and bloodred clay.
Sunny remembered seeing these creatures during the siege of the Crimson Spire.
Two scythes came down on the vine, and bit deep into it. A moment later, the mantis dashed away with incredible speed, avoiding being entangled and shredded to pieces by the jagged black thorns.
Despite this efficient start, more and more vines were crawling toward the circle of fire, and several more appeared from beneath the ground inside it. With each moment that passed, the size of the vines attacking the Fire Keepers was bound to increase, too. The further from the wreck, the thinner and weaker the vines were.
But closer to the ancient ship, truly monstrous ones were already in motion, spreading outward with murderous intent. It was as though the monster was slowly unfurling its long limbs… which both spelled doom for the cohort of Awakened and was their intent.
Only when the primary vines were too far away from the main body of the creature to return at once could Sunny make his move. After that, he was either going to succeed and end the whole battle, preventing the Fire Keepers from perishing in the flood of vines… or they were all going to die together.
That moment of truth was swiftly approaching.
Faced with more and more vines, Cassie and her cohort did their best to resist. They cut apart those that were damaged by the fire enough for their weapons to become effective, and concentrated the efforts of several members on those which did not. But no matter how hard they fought, soon, the scales started to tilt in the favor of the Corrupted Monster.
Their formation was on the verge of being broken, and their actions, perfectly coordinated at first, were slowly turning desperate and hectic. Despite its terrifying speed, the Echo of the bloodred mantis was finally caught by the vines.
Its glass body was immediately shredded, and the creature was only saved from being completely destroyed by the swift reaction of its master, who dismissed it just in time.
…That was the moment when the primary vines finally reached the ring of bonfires.
Sunny threw one last glance at the desperately fighting Fire Keepers. His gaze lingered on Cassie, who wielded her long dagger at the head of the cohort, for a few moments.
Then, he turned away and stepped through the shadows.
A second later, Sunny emerged from the gloomy shadow on the hull of the ancient ship, far away from the mayhem of battle…
And very close to the terrifying creature that was the source of all that horror.
Summoning the Cruel Sight, Sunny held his breath, and jumped into the darkness nesting in a jagged breach in the hull.
It was time for him to play his role.
Chapter 518: Cargo Hold
Landing into the poisonous miasma of the ancient wreck, Sunny immediately turned into a shadow and glided over the ancient wooden boards, which were long ago overgrown with brown moss and bulging, thorned vines.
To be honest, he would have preferred to move through the ship as a human. Sunny knew that he was going to inhale at least some of the poison while fighting the being that dwelled in the cargo hold, so having some time to get accustomed to the debilitating effect of the toxin was better than going through that process in the middle of the battle.
But he couldn't risk getting noticed too soon. The whole battle was supposed to be over in just a few moments, anyway... alas, Sunny had little hope that everything was going to go as planned.
His previous experiences had taught him that very few things ever did.
Remembering the path he had taken during the hunt for Noctis coins, Sunny glided through the narrow corridors. This time, they were vastly different from how they had been before… after all, the monster was wide awake now.
The vines sprawling through the ancient wreck were pulsating and moving, spouting clouds of deadly mist. The air was murky and full of disturbing sounds of something slithering beyond the wooden bulkheads. It was as though Sunny was inside a giant, living organism.
A virus cell that invaded the ancient wreck to kill its host.
…Luckily, these were mostly just the roots of the vile vines. The parts that were really mobile and dangerous were far away, currently killing the cohort of Fire Keepers.
Suddenly grim, Sunny increased his speed, and soon reached the gates of the cargo hold, which were bent outward, as if straining to contain something pressing on them from the other side.
He could feel the vast space beyond the gate, and a massive shadow of the creature in its center, its form rhythmically expanding and contracting, as if breathing. With each contraction, a wave of warm wind blew through the remnants of the flying ship.
He lingered for a fraction of a second, and then gathered his resolve.
There was no time to waste.
Spending a small fraction of his essence to step through the shadows once more, Sunny appeared in the cargo hold… and froze, slightly stunned by the terrible visage of the Corrupted Monster.
'What… what the hell… is that?'
The cargo hold was very large, and filled almost entirely with thick, brown vines that snaked outward and disappeared in the breaches in the ancient wood. They all originated from a single source… a vast, pulsating mass of moss in its center.
In the very heart of the mass, however…
There was a shape of a human, their body twisted in a terrible convulsion. Sunny couldn't tell if the human was a man or a woman, alive or dead, but he was sure of one thing… the vines sprawling through the entire island all came from within the flesh of that creature.
They grew from the mouth of the abhorrent corpse, from their ears, piercing their chest and abdomen, snaking from beneath the skin of their arms and legs. The sight of it was both terrifying and repulsive, but most of all, it was… ghoulishly wrong.
It was as though the vines had once exploded from the body of the ancient human, killing them, but also somehow keeping them alive and breathing. And as long as the human breathed, the vines would continue to exist and grow, too, slowly absorbing the ancient ship, the valley beyond, all of the Shipwreck Island, and then, one day… who knew?
'That… that is the thing I need to kill?'
Sunny had seen many horrors in his life, and killed his fair share of them, but no matter how experienced and powerful he became, there were things that humans were just not meant to be able to behold calmly. Staring at the ghastly being trapped in the cargo hold of the flying ship, Sunny didn't lose his composure or resolve… but he couldn't help but feel a deep, cold sense of fear.
Fear, however, was a welcomed guest… fear told him that he was still sane, and had some measure of humanity left in his soul. As long as Sunny did not surrender to fear, it was alright to feel it from time to time.
'One strike… get close, exit the shadows, and thrust the Cruel Sight into its chest. The divine flame is going to do the rest.'
Steeling himself, he began to glide forward, trying to traverse the vast cargo hold as quickly as possible.
The plan, however, went wrong just a moment later.
Because as soon as Sunny moved, and long before he was able to get anywhere near the terrible creature, the corpse suddenly opened its eyes.
Those eyes were empty, dead, and as dark as the abyss of the Sky Below.
…And they were staring directly at him, as if the creature could easily pierce the veil of darkness and separate the intruding shadow from all the rest.
Sunny was caught.
'N—no way…'
He froze for a fraction of a second, stunned by the fact that the incredible stealth augmentation of his Aspect was broken with such ease.
And then, all hell broke loose.
***
Sunny's first thought was to retreat and run as fast as he could. After all, he was currently a shadow… and as far as he knew, thorny vines and poison were not capable of harming a shadow.
But if he did so, the Fire Keepers were going to die.
And more than that, he was determined to kill this thing. He wanted its shadow fragments, its Memory — if there were to be one — and its secrets. The terrible creature had to die for his plans to go smoothly, for his challenge of the Second Nightmare to have as high a chance of success as possible.
So, he didn't run.
Instead, Sunny dashed forward, flying toward the pulsating mass of brown moss and vines with as much speed as he could muster. It was only going to take him a second to reach the ghastly corpse, as long as simply stepping through the shadows would.
However, the host of the ancient wreck did not remain idle.
Countless vines sprawling on the floor and the walls of the cargo hold suddenly surged, spewing clouds of poison, and more emerged from the mangled flesh of the ancient being.
These vines, however, did not shoot at Sunny in a futile attempt to catch a shadow.
Instead, they flew upward, tearing the hull of the ship apart.
Bright sunlight flooded through the wide breach, and as it banished the shadows populating the cargo hold, Sunny was suddenly expelled from their safe embrace, rolling on the floor while the sharp thorns of the vines bit into his flesh through the fabric of the Puppeteer's Shroud.
His thoughts were in a state of momentary panic.
'...Not good!'
Chapter 519: Trapped
Sunny rolled over his shoulder and jumped to his feet, the blade of the Cruel Sight slicing through a vine that was flying through the air to ensnare him. Blood was streaming down his back, and poison was entering his lungs.
What's worse, a concentrated dose of it must have been infused into his bloodstream by the black thorns. Sunny suddenly felt feverish and weak, and a sense of cold paralysis was spreading through the left side of his body, which took the most damage.
He was still able to move, and Blood Weave was already working to contain and devour the toxin. But before it prevailed, Sunny was in a dire situation.
Gritting his teeth, he dashed to the side, hoping to escape the sunlight and use Shadow Step to reach the abominable creature in the center of the cargo hold. Before he could dive into the saving darkness of the shadows, however, a massive vine crushed into the floorboards, shattering them and barring his way.
Sunny froze for a fraction of a second, realizing that there was nowhere to escape. Dozens of vines were already moving in his direction, glistening in the sunlight as clouds of murky mist escaped from the pores on their surface. Even though the root section of the vines was not very mobile, the sheer amount of them made it almost impossible to survive the onslaught.
What's worse, the vines were contracting, pulling more and more of their length into the cargo hold.
He cursed.
...At least the pressure on the Fire Keepers should have diminished.
Sunny, however... Sunny was one moment away from being killed.
He was not going to be able to reach the monster without the help of the shadows, but bathed in the merciless sunlight, he also had no chance of diving into their embrace.
All he could do was use his own.
Commanding one of the shadows to unwrap itself from his body, Sunny sent it toward the ghastly corpse and staggered as the strength and resilience provided by it disappeared. The second shadow slid from the Cruel Sight and attached itself to his feet, meant to serve as a threshold through which he was going to step.
Now, all he had to do was to survive the short second it was going to take the first shadow to reach its goal.
…That was easier said than done.
Straining the flexibility of his body to its limit, Sunny felt his joint groan and his tendons tremble on the verge of tearing apart. Twisting at an almost impossible angle, he dodged one of the vines, placed his hand on the spongy carpet of the brown moss, and performed a bizarre spin, narrowly sliding between two more.
If not for the torturous training he had put himself through to accommodate the inhuman demands of Shadow Dance, this would have been impossible.
Feeling the skin of his palm burn, as though submerged in stomach acid, he retrieved his hand from the brown moss and immediately jumped backward to save himself from being entangled in the slithering vines. He was swift enough to avoid being caught, but not swift enough to escape unscathed. The black thorns tore into his right side, and more blood flowed down his body, while more poison entered his bloodstream.
"Argh!"
Sunny ducked, dashed desperately to the side, then rolled and threw himself upward from an impossible position, feeling his ligaments rip. Dodging the swarm of vines was like being a fly surrounded by a contracting mass of spiderwebs.
Luckily, he only had to survive in their lethal, moving maze for a second.
Before the vines could turn into an impenetrable barrier all around him, Sunny dove into his shadow and emerged right in front of the vile mass of brown moss… and the remains of the human encased within it.
The Cruel Sight flashed with pure light, and in one fluid motion, he thrust its incandescent blade into the chest of the monster.
'Got you!'
And then…
Nothing happened.
The corpse didn't react to receiving a mortal wound at all. Its ghastly face remained unmoving, its eyes full of terrifying emptiness, its body a harrowing mess of torn flesh and slithering brown vines.
The mass of moss continued to contract and expand, and the vines themselves continued to pursue the invader. Even the divine flame seemed to have no effect on the Corrupted Monster.
Sunny paled.
'Crap…'
***
He twisted the Cruel Sight, hoping that it would have some effect, but all was in vain. The Corrupted Monster simply refused to die, for whatever reason, and the ancient remains that were its source appeared to be immune to flame, even if the vines themselves were susceptible to it.
The information Cassie shared with him came from Master Roan, who had fought the vines once. But he had never entered the wreck, so of course, the dashing griffin rider couldn't have known that the creature itself did not share the weaknesses of its sprawling thorned limbs.
'Damn! Now what?!'
The vines were already upon him…
Before they could ensnare Sunny, though, two ruby eyes ignited in his shadow, and a graceful figure of the demonic knight lunged forward out of it. The blade of her stonelike sword flashed through the air, easily severing several vines, and then her shield crashed into the slithering vernicose wall, pushing it away and making the whole cargo hold shudder.
Now that Saint was Ascended, and augmented by one of his shadows, her strength was truly frightening. The taciturn demon spun in the mass of vines, cutting them down like a demented gardener. For a moment, none of them could reach her.
Sunny wrapped the second shadow around himself and retrieve the Cruel Sight, thinking feverishly.
'What the hell… how do I kill this thing?!'
He could try to place the Broken Oath near it and retreat… but no, that wouldn't work. Unlike the Mordant Mimic, who had been paralyzed by the Crushing, the being trapped in the cargo hold of the ancient ship could simply move the charm away with one of its vines, or crush it.
And if Sunny tried to prevent it from doing so, he would succumb to the soul damage first. Even with the help of the Mantle of the Underworld, he would still be just an Awakened… a Corrupted Monster's soul was much, much more vast and resilient.
Leaving Saint to fend for herself was also not an option, since even with her newfound might, she had no chance of surviving in a battle against this powerful creature alone. Not all Corrupted Monsters were created equal, and the two fo them had the misfortune of stumbling on an especially dreadful one.
So… what else was there?!
Sunny couldn't damage the abhorrent abomination itself… but he could damage the vines. That would buy him some time to come up with a solution, at least…
Jumping back, he sliced at the root of a thick vine growing out of the ancient human's forearm, severing it. As a side effect of this attack, the corpse seemed to retrieve some control of its hand, which slowly rose and stretched toward Sunny.
'Damn!'
Suddenly feeling a sickening, cold sensation in his heart, he hurried to create as much distance between himself and the corpse as he could.
However, the abomination didn't seem to be launching an attack. Its hand strained to rise, held down by the mass of vines growing from it. Struggling against this terrible burden, it twitched and moved slightly, then froze. One of its fingers trembled.
The creature… seemed to be pointing at something.
And for the first time, the expression in its empty eyes changed, betraying that there was still a hint of consciousness trapped in this mangled body.
Those terrible eyes were not burning with bloodlust, hunger, or wrath. Instead, they were full of harrowing agony and… pleading.
Chapter 520: Deliverance
Sunny almost stumbled because of the terrible realization.
Was the mutilated body inside the nest of moss… still alive?
'How could that be?'
Thousands of years must have passed since the flying ship crashed on this desolate island. How long had this poor soul suffered this harrowing torture? What sin had they committed, and who had doomed them for an eternity of ghastly suffering? How had the vines ended up growing from their flesh, and why?
But most importantly… how the hell was that mangled thing not dead?! Even divine flame was powerless to end its grisly, gruesome existence.
If Sunny could find the answer, maybe he would be able to kill the Corrupted Monster, after all.
Using the momentary lull in the onslaught of the vines that Saint's appearance had bought him, he faced away from the fight and tried to understand what the host of the abominable growth was pointing at.
He desperately hoped that the ancient human was, indeed, trying to point at something, and not just convulsing in terrible pain.
'Where is it… what is it…'
His gaze flew to a certain point on the wall of the cargo hold and lingered on it.
At first glance, there was nothing different about it. That section of the bulkhead was just like all the rest, ancient and overgrown with brown moss. But as he looked closer, he noticed a small gap in the layer of moss, as well as a strange bend to the vines growing on that particular wall.
It was as though they, too, wanted to avoid something lodged into the wooden boards.
That had to be it!
However, Sunny didn't see anything in the small circular gap, just a splinter of wood sticking out of it at a sharp angle. His heart was beating like a wild beast in a cage, consumed equally by hope and despair.
Throwing a glance at Saint, who was slowly drowning in the flood of slithering vines, he hesitated for a moment, and then rushed toward the wall instead of joining her in the fight.
'There has to be something… there has to be!'
He was certain that the ancient human pointed at that section of the wall for a reason. Or rather, he hoped that they had…
Jumping over an attacking vine and staggering sideways to avoid another one, Sunny slashed, hacked, and tore his way through the cargo hold, feeling more wounds appearing on his body and more poison flowing through his bloodstream.
At this point, even Blood Weave was having trouble resisting the deadly toxin. Well… it was miraculous enough that he could withstand it at all, considering that the poison came from a creature two whole Ranks above Sunny. Weaver's lineage was, indeed, a terrifying thing. Maybe there was a reason for why it was described as forbidden…
Finally, Sunny sliced through the last vine in his way, leaving it broken and singed, and crashed into the overgrown bulkhead near the small gap in the brown moss. Drawing in a hoarse breath, he stared at it with enough intensity to melt stones.
'Wait… is it?'
His eyes widened slightly.
The thing that he had thought to be a splinter turned out to be something else.
Out there on the wall of the cargo hold, thrust deeply into it by someone's hand, was a rather simple-looking knife. Its shape, however, was very familiar to Sunny.
It was exactly the same as the knife that lay on the white altar of the Sanctuary of Noctis, except for the fact that this one wasn't cut from a single piece of obsidian.
However, it also wasn't cut from ivory.
...Instead, it seemed to be made entirely of wood, as if a tree branch had somehow grown in the shape of a knife, and was then broken off to become one.
'What does it mean?'
Sunny allowed himself to remain confused and perplexed for a split second, and then decisively grabbed the handle of the knife.
'Act now, think later! Damn it all... please don't tell me that I need a thousand coins to lift this one, too!'
Luckily, this time, there was no need for an offering. Although it took some effort, a moment later, the wooden blade slid from where it was thrust into the wall, and Sunny found himself holding the Cruel Sight in one hand, and the strange wooden knife in the other.
Something else happened, though.
As soon as he laid his hands on the wooden handle, all the vines in the cargo hold surged in his direction with frenzied fury, utterly forgetting about Saint and her vicious sword.
Sunny paled.
'Crap!'
Before the mass of slithering vines could crush him, he abandoned all attempts to escape and thrust his hand forward instead.
…The wooden knife slipped from his grip, cut a sharp arc in the air, and was nimbly caught by Saint.
Without wasting the opportunity that the sudden shift in the Corrupted Monster's behavior gave her, the taciturn demon immediately dashed toward the pulsating mass of brown moss… and thrust the wooden knife right into one of the ancient human's empty eyes.
In the next moment, the whole wreck shuddered.
The mass of moss violently contracted, throwing Saint away. The vines suddenly lost any semblance of cohesion and thrashed violently, forcing Sunny to retreat as close to the wall as he could. Still, the sea of black thorns was mere centimeters away from his face, raging in a storm of chaotic movements.
Even the brown moss he was pressed against seemed to be convulsing, as if overwhelmed by unbearable pain.
Despite all that, the only thing Sunny saw was the one remaining eyes of the terribly malformed ancient human.
It stared at him for a few moments, the emptiness and darkness slowly giving way to something else. A feeling of relief so vast that it was almost beyond the concept of emotion.
Then, that look of deliverance was gone, too.
The terrible eye was empty once again, now truly and forever.
The head of the ancient human lifelessly rolled back.
And as soon as it did, the vines suddenly fell to the ground, too, dead and motionless.
Suddenly weak, Sunny powerlessly slid to the floor.
The voice of the Spell whispered into his ear:
[You have slain a Corrupted Monster, Wormvine.]
[You have slain a Transcendent human, Solvane.]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
Chapter 521: Undying Chain
Sitting on the floor of the cargo hold, with his back against the soft and spongy layer of rotting brown moss, Sunny bent down and spat a mouthful of blood. Breathing hoarsely, he stared at it for a moment, and then tiredly leaned back.
He did not feel too well.
[...Your shadow grows stronger.]
A bitter smile appeared on his face.
'What? Is that all?'
After all that had just happened, Sunny felt that he really deserved more.
This time, his hopes were not for naught.
The Spell remained silent for a bit, as though to torture him, and then added:
[You have received a Memory.]
'...Better.'
After that, he groaned and coughed some more blood.
All around Sunny, the brown moss was rotting, withering, and turning into dust. The same thing was happening to the vile mass of vines, albeit at a slower rate. Now that both the Corrupted Monster and its host were dead, the ancient wreck seemed to be cleansing itself.
He couldn't be bothered to pay attention to these changes, though, and was fully concentrated on his own miserable state.
Even though the whole battle took less than a minute, Sunny had sustained a lot of damage. His body was pierced and torn by the black thorns, and he had too much poison running through his veins. One of his ligaments seemed to be seriously torn, too, which brought him a lot of pain now that the adrenalin was starting to dissipate.
The Puppeteer's Shroud was a wonderful armor and accompanied him on his misadventures from almost the very start of it all, but Sunny had to reluctantly admit that with the caliber of enemies he was facing these days, its protective qualities left a lot to be desired. Sadly, even such a powerful Memory could not keep up with the progress of its master.
If there was one good thing about his condition, though, it was that the effects of the poison did not seem to be growing stronger. Blood Weave had the situation under control, and he was bound to feel better soon.
In any case, the battle was over. The plan worked, in the end, even if killing the Wormvine had turned out to be much more complicated than anyone would have thought. Still, somehow, Sunny had managed to achieve his goal.
The Fire Keepers… if they were still alive… were going to have to clean up the remaining Sailor Dolls should the beasts regain their courage after the Corrupted Monster's death, but he couldn't muster enough energy to care, at the moment.
Saint stared at the quickly disintegrating corpse of the person who had once been called Solvane for a bit, then walked over and stood above him silently, looking away in her usual indifferent manner.
Sunny rested for a while, not even summoning the runes to take a look at his new Memory. Slowly, his exhaustion diminished, and he could think clearly once again.
As that happened, numerous questions inevitably assaulted his mind.
What had happened in the cargo hold of the ancient ship was just too peculiar…
Who was Solvane, and how had they ended up as the host of the Wormvine? How had they survived for thousands of years? Why was Solvane immune to divine flame and couldn't be harmed by the Cruel Sight, but succumbed to one strike of the wooden knife?
Where had that knife come from, in the first place? And why was it so similar to the obsidian one that lay on the altar in the Sanctuary of Noctis?
As Sunny considered all these questions and found no answers, one thought gradually encompassed all the others:
'A Saint… I killed a Saint?'
The Spell had described Solvane as a Transcendent human, which was what Saints were really called. Sunny knew it to be true, but still couldn't quite believe it.
He was not someone to sell himself short, but not even in his wildest dreams had Sunny ever considered being able to kill a Saint… at least not at his current Rank. Saints were simply creatures of another plane, unrivaled demigods with enough power to level entire cities.
Technically, a Corrupted Monster was of the same Rank as a Saint, and even possessed one more soul core… but there was no comparison. Due to their Aspects and nature, Transcendent humans were much more of a force to be reckoned with than any beast or monster could ever hope to be. Only a devil of the same Rank, or maybe a powerful demon, could stand a chance in a battle against them.
And yet, Sunny had killed one.
He had also killed a Corrupted Monster, with the same strike.
Well, technically, it was Saint who had delivered the strike… but it didn't matter. The result was the same.
'Now that is definitely something that no one is going to believe, huh?'
Sunny chuckled, then grimaced from pain, and finally summoned the runes.
The first thing he did was check his fragments. The number was just as he expected:
Shadow Fragments: [1958/2000].
He had managed to kill a few Nightmare Creatures on the way to the Shipwreck Island, and killing a human and a monster two Ranks above him gave twelve more fragments — four from the Saint, and eight from the Wormvine. Sunny sighed, lamenting the unfairness of his Aspect for the thousandth time, and looked at the list of his Memories.
New runes appeared at the end of the list. He held his breath and read:
Memory: [Undying Chain.]
Memory Rank: Transcendent.
His heart started to beat faster.
'At long last!'
This was the first Transcendent Memory he had acquired… which was a very pleasant milestone. Granted, an Awakened like him was not even supposed to have Ascended Memories, let alone something one whole Rank higher.
But then, an average Awakened rarely had to fight things above their Rank, too.
Pleased, Sunny continued to read:
Memory Tier: III.
'Huh?'
How was this possible? The Memory could have either come from the Wormvine, in which case it was supposed to be of the second tier, or from Solvane, in which case it was supposed to be of the first.
However, it seemed as though the Undying Chain had actually come from both of his kills, maybe because Solvane and the parasitic Wormvine were irrevocably connected. As such, it ended up being of the third tier!
Sunny had not even known that something like that was possible.
Even more pleased, he grinned in satisfaction and returned his attention to the runes:
Memory Type: Armor.
His eyes glistened.
"Now that... that's what I'm talking about!"
Chapter 522: lnvincible
Sunny was really beyond himself. A good armor was exactly what he needed… and what could be better than a Transcendent one? Most of the enemies he fought would not even be able to scratch it, let alone pierce it!
His smile turned a little bitter when he remembered receiving the Puppeteer's Shroud and imagining how he would be nearly invincible to all the dormant creatures trying to attack him come winter solstice.
Who knew that he would end up in a place where there was not even a single dormant bastard around? Not counting Sunny himself and all the other misfortunate Sleepers on the Forgotten Shore, of course.
Still, he would have died a hundred times if it hadn't been for the Puppeteer's Shroud. The Undying Chain was an undeniable improvement, so he had high hopes for it.
Moving his gaze lower, he read the armor's description:
Memory Description: [In a beautiful tower at the end of the world, desire was bound by seven brilliant shackles. She was meant to be chained there forever, and so her shackles were made eternal. Yet in the end, desire was unleashed upon the world. Her shackles were destroyed, and the will of the gods was broken.]
Sunny stared at the shimmering runes, wondering.
He knew that the Spell, for whatever reason, behaved strangely when speaking about daemons. In fact, he had never seen or heard it use that term, as though the word itself was somehow forbidden. Sunny only learned it from the writings left behind by the prisoner of the hidden cell beneath the ruined cathedral in the Dark City.
The closest the Spell had ever come to mentioning the word daemon was calling the Prince of the Underworld a prideful demon.
Yet, there was no doubt that the desire it spoke about here was a daemon… the Demon of Hope, who had been once chained in the Ivory Tower. Sunny had seen the place where she had been imprisoned himself, as well as the Seed of Nightmare growing from her broken shackles.
At first glance, the meaning of the description was rather obvious. Or at least it was to him, with how much he already knew.
But something told Sunny that it wasn't.
The thing that didn't seem to add up was the fact that he had received the Undying Chain for killing Solvane — or the Wormvine — both of whom had seemingly nothing to do with the description.
Unless he was thinking about it all wrong…
Wormvine was susceptible to fire, as well as other means of dealing damage powerful enough to wound the abomination's flesh. But Solvane… was not so simple. The Saint from whose flesh the terrible monster had been born seemed immune to any form of harm, including the immolating divine flame.
Almost as if Solvane was... immortal.
That would certainly explain how the poor Saint had survived thousands of years of harrowing torture after becoming Wormvine's host, and why the Memory Sunny received from their death had the epithet of Undying.
Was there a second, less literal meaning to the seven brilliant shackles mentioned in the description of the Undying Chain? Which, apparently, were made eternal…
Just like Solvane had been.
Sunny frowned.
'This is just too weird…'
Even if his tentative theory was technically not impossible, the existence of the wooden knife went against it. What was that knife, and why had it killed Solvane when nothing else seemed to have been able to?
The knives, perhaps, were an even greater mystery.
In any case, he didn't have enough information yet to try and glean the truth. With a sigh, Sunny returned to the runes. Learning what his new armor could do was much more interesting than trying to guess at the ancient mysteries with no clues, anyway.
Memory Enchantments: [Chains of Longing], [Brilliant Will], [Undying].
[Chains of Longing] Enchantments Description: "This armor provides the wearer with high protection against mind attacks."
Sunny blinked.
'What are the chances?'
Resistance to mind attacks was the second-rarest form of protection, right after resistance to soul damage. And yet, this was the third armor-type Memory he had received that boasted it. His luck was incredibly good!
…Or maybe his tendency to run into especially terrible monsters was incredibly bad.
In any case, this enchantment made sense. If this Memory was connected to the imprisonment of Hope, whose powers had been most likely tied to mind manipulation, then having protection against such attacks was logical.
The fact that the Undying Chain had only three enchantments, as opposed to five of the Mantle of the Underworld, was also to be expected. The tier of a Memory seemed to dictate how many enchantments it could accommodate, and the Mantle, despite being of a lower Rank, was higher by a few tiers.
The second enchantment of the Undying Chain was very interesting.
[Brilliant Will] Enchantments Description: "This armor becomes stronger when worn by those of divinity."
Sunny grinned.
Even without looking at the Undying Chain and its spellweave, he could tell how this enchantment worked. It was an overall enhancement based on how high the wearer's divine affinity was. Which meant that a random Awakened would not receive any augmentation to the resilience of their armor, while someone with the [Mark of Divinity] Attribute would receive a decent amount.
Sunny, though? With his [Ember of Divinity], the augmentation would be enhanced threefold. It was a very solid enchantment.
'This is great!'
When his eyes fell on the third enchantment, though, he forgot all about his previous joy, intense as it was. His eyes widened slightly.
The runes read:
[Undying] Enchantment Description: "The wearer can not die."
Sunny tilted his head.
'...What?'
Being unable to die surely sounded great… even if he had just seen what terrible fate had befallen Solvane.
However, Sunny quickly realized the limitations of this seemingly breathtaking enchantment. Unlike [Chains of Longing] and [Radiant Will], [Undying] was an active one. And he was willing to bet that sustaining it required an ocean of souls essence.
Considering that Sunny was just an Awakened, his reserves would probably only amount to one moment of immortality.
Still, one moment of immortality was more than fantastic!
'...If used wisely.'
Sunny could imagine a lot of situations where this enchantment could save his life… but even more where using it would only amount to postponing his death by a fraction of a second.
It was an amazing, but very dangerous tool.
Full of thought, but extremely satisfied, Sunny stood up.
Gunlaug, too, had possessed a Transcendent armor… however, his golden Echo now felt inferior to the [Undying Chain]. The Bright Lord seemed so invincible and terrifying once, but Sunny had long surpassed him. And now, his arsenal did, as well.
...It was a strange feeling.
With a sigh, Sunny dismissed the torn and bloodied Puppeteer's Shroud, then summoned the [Undying Chain].
Immediately, a slender metal armor weaved itself from nothingness around his body. It was forged out of lusterless, bleak steel… which looked very similar to the iron from which the heavenly chains themselves were made.
The armor covered his body almost entirely, and the few gaps left between the fitted plates of steel showed a layer of thin, but incredibly strong chain mail underneath. His face became hidden behind a helmet that looked like a featureless mask, with only several vertical lines cut into it to provide a decent level of visibility.
Shadow nested in the slits of the visor, creating a dark and ominous visage.
There was a piece of black cloth wrapped around his waist, held in place by a wide belt fashioned out of dark leather, as well as a hood that provided additional protection to his head and neck.
Surprisingly, the armor didn't seem very heavy, and neither did it restrict his mobility by much. The design was so intricate, and the steel plates fitted so perfectly to his body and to each other that it felt like a second layer of skin… if that skin was cast of impenetrable steel.
Of course, the Undying Chain wasn't as light as the Puppeteer's Shroud, but Sunny could move freely while wearing it, all the while not producing almost any sound.
In exchange, it provided a vastly larger amount of protection.
Standing in the cargo hold of the ancient ship, clad in his new Transcendent armor, Sunny couldn't help but feel invincible.
'...Disabuse yourself of that thought, fool.'
He smiled darkly, then looked at Saint.
"Well? What do you think?"
The taciturn demon didn't answer, of course.
However, Sunny could swear that the glow of her ruby eyes, which were hidden behind the visor of a similarly closed helmet, became a bit…
Approving.
His smile widened, but then slowly disappeared.
"A steel armor..."
Suddenly grim, Sunny dismissed his helmet and turned in the direction where the Fire Keepers were supposed to be.
After a few moments, he said quietly:
"I see..."
Chapter 523: Made Eternal
Blood Weave was slowly devouring the toxin, but Sunny still felt weak and feverish. Dismissing Saint, he walked around the cargo hold, getting used to the feel of the Undying Chain and looking around to see if there was something interesting laying around.
Like another chest full of Noctis coins, for example.
Sadly, he didn't find anything. Even if the cargo hold had once stored ancient curios and treasures, everything was destroyed by the vines and the brown moss over thousands of years.
However, he was pleasantly surprised to realize that the lusterless steel armor was not constricting his movements at all. It was really like a second layer of skin… perhaps if Sunny wasn't augmented by the shadow, the Undying Chain would have been cumbersome. But he was, and on top of that, there were almost two thousand shadow fragments stored in his two cores.
Even if an Awakened wasn't supposed to be able to wear the Transcendent armor effortlessly, Sunny had no such problem.
'Sweet…'
Finally, he limped over to the pile of dust that remained of Solvane and knelt beside it, then reached inside the ashes and retrieved the wooden knife.
Of course, Sunny had not forgotten about it.
To his disappointment, though, what he was holding in his hand was just the handle. The blade had splintered and broken off, and the wood seemed lifeless and dead.
It was already starting to rot, and even when Sunny looked beneath the surface of the strange knife, he didn't see anything… no spellweave, no brilliant radiance of a sea of soul essence, and no String of Fate folding endlessly on itself in a perfect circle.
The wooden knife was truly and utterly broken.
Almost as if it was created for a singular purpose, and had no reason to exist after fulfilling it.
Sunny looked at the knife with a thoughtful frown.
'Interesting…'
Was the wooden knife created specifically to bring death to the immortal Solvane? If so, were the obsidian knife in the Sanctuary of Noctis and the ivory knife in the Night Temple meant to end the lives of two other immortals?
Suddenly, he shivered.
A single String of Fate, folded on itself and creating a perfect circle…
If he had looked into the wooden knife before it was destroyed, would he have seen the same thing?
A tentative hint of understanding appeared in his mind.
Somehow, Sunny felt that he would. He also suspected that the String of Fate would not have been just a random one.
No… it would have been Solvane's fate.
A String that was somehow torn out of the tapestry of Fate and tied in an endless circle… would something like that make a person immortal?
"And so the shackles were made eternal…"
Who could have done such a terrifying thing?
Well, the answer was rather obvious. The Lord of Light, Sun God, who had destroyed Hope's kingdom and imprisoned her in the Ivory Tower, certainly could. After all, he was not only the deity of flame and light, but also of passion, creation, and destruction.
Looking at the remains of the wooden knife that were rotting and turning to dust in his hand, Sunny couldn't help but shudder.
If he was right, then he was holding a weapon created by a god.
…And he had used that weapon to kill an immortal created by a god.
For the first time since Sunny had learned about the divinities of the Dream Realm, he suddenly felt really glad that they were dead.
***
Some time later, he jumped through the breach created by the Wormvine and climbed onto the ancient ship's hull. Hissing from pain, Sunny staggered a little, then limped toward where the wreck ended.
Since the ship was laying on its side, the wooden surface beneath his feet was inclined down and uneven. Almost inevitably, he lost his balance and rolled the last stretch of the way, landing on the ground in a graceless heap.
"...Ouch."
Sunny remained motionless for a while, then sighed and picked himself off the ground. Standing up, he studied the desolate valley, and then headed to where he had seen the Fire Keepers last.
The landscape of the Shipwreck Island was changed. The ground was overturned and scarred by deep trenches, looking like a battlefield of an ancient war. Some of the trenches were empty, some were filled with massive stems of dead vines that protruded from the soil like rotting serpents. The air was filled with dust, ash, and smoke.
Using the Cruel Sight as a staff to support his weight, Sunny limped forward and soon found the ring of bonfires.
A pale smile appeared on his face.
'Well, what would you know… they actually survived.'
Indeed, the Fire Keepers seemed to be all there. Granted, they looked incredibly exhausted, battered, and injured all over.
All of them were covered in blood, dirt, and soot, their armor torn. Some were sitting with tired expressions on their faces, others lay on the ground, with only the movement of their chests betraying that they were alive. Only the steadfast young man who had wielded a short spear and a heavy shield in battle — the healer of the cohort — was up and about, tending to his companions.
Sunny walked between two of the bonfires and stopped, leaning on the Cruel Sight.
His eyes darted around, lingered on the delicate figure of a young woman with pale blond hair for a moment, and then turned away.
"...Sunny?"
He glanced at Shakti, the Artisan girl, who was resting on the ground a few steps away from him.
The young woman looked more or less like a corpse. Her armor was almost destroyed, revealing deep lacerations on her tanned skin, and her face was dirty and pale from blood loss. What's worse, her right arm was torn away, ending in a bloodied bandage near the elbow... such a wound was not permanent, since it was dealt to her spirit body and not the actual one, but still quite severe.
Nevertheless, there was a wide grin on the Artisan's face.
Looking him over, she whistled and said:
"New armor? Looking good!"
She tried to laugh, but then bent over in a fit of violent coughing. It seemed that all of them were still suffering from the effects of the Wormvine's poison, even if the healer had used his Aspect to make it less lethal.
The others looked in their direction, alerted to his arrival by Shakti's voice. Their eyes brightened.
"Thank the gods! Sunny, you're alive!"
"Good work out there!"
"Crazy bastard… you actually did it?"
Sunny couldn't help but smile.
"Obviously. Why wouldn't I? It was just a Corrupted Monster…"
His smile widened.
"...Actually, I also went and killed an immortal Saint that happened to be nearby. One strike for the both of them, to not waste any time. All it took was a minute."
The Fire Keepers stared at him for a bit, then rolled their eyes.
Shakti shook her head.
"Sure, Sunny. If you say so. But really… I just don't get you. Killing a Corrupted Monster is already an incredible thing, why do you even have to invent some ridiculous story…"
Sunny blinked a couple of times with an innocent look.
"What do you mean, invent a story? It's the truth! I am a very honest person. The most honest person in two worlds, really…"
Chapter 524: Forty-Two
Sunny slumped on the ground, summoned the Endless Spring, and greedily drank some water. Since his injuries were light... well, at least compared to those received by the Fire Keepers... it was some time before the healer got to them. But, eventually, it was his turn to receive treatment.
The healer — a young man named Shim — was pale and exhausted, his soul essence clearly almost entirely depleted. Still, he managed to repair the ligament Sunny had torn while dodging the vines to a large extent. It hurt like hell, though.
Of course, this healing Ability couldn't compare to Neph's purifying white flames. But then, it was hard for anyone to compare to Neph. Sunny knew it better than anyone.
With a dark expression, he summoned the runes and glanced at the painfully familiar string of them:
Shadow Fragments: [1958/2000].
He was only forty-two fragments away from evolving into a demon. This transformation was not only going to allow him to reinforce his body and reserves of shadow essence even further, but also reward Sunny with a third shadow. Having another invaluable helper would increase his power tremendously, making him capable of stacking three augmentations on top of each other, or spreading them over between his body, his Memories, and Saint.
He was almost to two thousand fragments.
To accumulate so many in only seven months… that was an achievement worth celebrating. Very few Awakened ever fully saturated their cores, and those who did usually spent long years slowly collecting soul shards of the Nightmare Creatures they killed. Decades, even... and that was for only one core. Sunny could be proud of himself.
And yet, he didn't feel happy.
Looking lower, he concentrated on another, much shorter cluster of runes.
Master: Changing Star.
As soon as he did, new runes ignited in the air.
…Rank: Dreamer.
Class: Devil.
Soul Cores: [4/7].
Soul Fragments: [399/4000].
Seven months ago, the gap between them had nearly reached five thousand fragments. Today, it was much smaller… but that was only thanks to the Noctis coins he had sacrificed to the altar. The truth of the matter was that Sunny had been slowly shortening the gap for a long time, but now, it had started growing once more.
Not too long ago, something had happened to Neph in the Dream Realm, and as the result, the speed with which she gained soul fragments began increasing with each day. Sunny didn't know what Changing Star was doing, why she had suddenly become so much stronger, and even how she was still alive… but he knew that he was being slowly left in the dust once again.
Dismissing the runes, he gritted his teeth and looked darkly at the desolate, hellish landscape of the Shipwreck Island.
'I have to get to that Seed… that is the only way…'
Compared to all other Awakened and their rate of growth, Sunny might have been a monster. But Neph… Neph was not even human. She was the devil himself. He didn't know what else to do to surpass her.
To become stronger.
…His heavy thoughts were interrupted by the light sound of approaching steps. Looking up, Sunny saw Cassie walking over to him.
'Great. Just what I need…'
She stopped a couple of steps away and lowered her head slightly.
"Are you alright?"
Sunny grimaced, then looked away.
'What do you care?'
"I'll live."
He scowled, and then added in a slightly acrid tone:
"Your information was wrong, by the way. That thing was not weak to fire."
She tilted her head slightly.
"How did you kill it then?"
Sunny smiled crookedly.
"...With a piece of wood."
Cassie remained silent for a while, prompting him to speak:
"So… now what?"
She sighed and turned toward the distant wreck:
"All of us are tired and wounded, and there is a Crushing approaching. We will return to the Sanctuary to rest and regroup, and then come back to establish two camps — one here, and another one on a neighboring island. Then, we will start repairing the ship."
He nodded.
"Good plan, I guess. Do you really think that you can make that thing fly again, though?"
The blind girl hesitated. Eventually, she said without too much emotion:
"We have to try, at least."
Sunny studied the silhouette of the ancient ship, its hull full of breaches, its bow shattered and broken, the tree growing around its mast dead and resembling a black, twisted skeleton. Then, he shook his head.
"How long do you think it will take you?"
Cassie hesitated.
"Two, maybe three months. We will be done before autumn is over, if that is what you want to know."
He chuckled.
"You remember our deal, then. Good."
She frowned.
"Of course, I remember."
Sunny looked at the ground, then asked her coldly:
"When are we leaving for the Night Temple, then?"
Cassie lingered for a few moments, a troubled expression suddenly finding its way onto her face. Finally, she said:
"When do you want to go?"
Sunny thought about it. There were several things he still needed to do…
After a while, he shrugged.
"End of September. Everything should be ready by then. The journey to the northern edge of the Chained Isles and back shouldn't take us longer than a month. We'll be back just in time to see your flying ship rise into the air. And use it to reach the Nightmare Seed."
He lingered for a second, and then asked:
"Why do you look so uneasy, though?"
Cassie slowly shook her head.
"It's nothing. Just, the Night Temple… it's a very strange place."
Sunny frowned.
'What is that supposed to mean?'
"How so?"
She shivered.
"I'll… explain it to you later. Right now, we need to move. This island is about to enter the ascent phase."
Which meant that the Crushing was not too far ahead, as well.
Sunny sighed, then stood up. He didn't have to limp anymore, at least.
As for why Cassie had said that the second human Citadel on the Chained Isles was a weird place… he could wait for the answer. He had no need for this information right now, anyway.
Sunny was a very patient man, at least when he needed to be. Besides, he had something else on his mind.
'Forty-two shadow fragments… it's not that much."
Looking south and slightly to the east, he gripped the shaft of the Cruel Sight and stared toward the horizon with a dark expression.
'...I'll be a demon before we're back to the Sanctuary.'