Sunny was abruptly awakened from his sleep by Saint, who nudged him using her shield.
He immediately rose from the ground and spared a glance towards Nephis, who was already waking up due to his sudden movements, before bolting out of the tent.
He looked around and immediately noticed Happy who was quite anxious and pointing towards a certain direction urgently.
Sunny's expression turned grim as he looked at Happy's frantic movement
He could have used his Shadow Senses to detect the danger Happy was pointing at. But he believed his shadow won't let something pass into his special sense range before noticing it with their sights.
He thought for a moment before sending Happy back, to observe whatever it saw through his shadow's "eyes" before making any decisions.
At the same time, Nephis, who didn't notice any immediate danger, took down the tent and wrapped the curtain around herself like a cloak to lower her detectability. She stood next to Sunny and summoned the Dream Blade beneath the covers of the Curtain-turned-cloak to hide the flashes from the sparks.
Meanwhile, Sunny was examining the world through Happy's senses until it finally reached the maximum distance before their connection was lost.
He looked around very closely but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. All he could see were: Sand, rocks, small hills and...was that hill moving?
He narrowed his eyes and closely examined the seemingly moving hill from the north. The more he did, the more his face grew paler and disgusted.
That moving hill was actually a Nightmare creature. It was a giant monstrosity made of red flesh with yellowish white fat streaks crossing its body, he couldn't identify a head or any legs, but it had two long arms which dragged its massive body slowly through the gray sand, leaving a huge trail behind...and it was heading towards their general direction.
He was snapped out of his stupor by a hand on his shoulder. He turned to look at Nephis who was looking at him questioningly.
'Right...'
Sunny managed to calm down a bit to describe the abomination heading towards them in a low voice.
She turned to look at the direction of the abomination before facing him and asking calmly:
"What do you think we should do?"
Sunny replied immediately.
"I think if we leave now we can avoid that thing. It may be huge but we are still faster than it."
Sunny wasn't only wary of the Flesh Abomination due to its size and appearance, it was also due to a simple fact; Something that huge and that slow shouldn't have been able to survive the Spire Terror's culling.
All the Nightmare creatures Sunny and Nephis met till this point can separated into two different groups:
The first group were the lucky ones that weren't exposed the Terror of the Spire annihilating attack in the first place for various reasons. They included most of the Dark city inhabitants and the dozen Carapace Scavengers they met after leaving the Dark city that were hiding under the ground at that time.
The second group and the more dangerous one, were the ones which were immune or at least were able to resist the Fallen Terror of the Spire, therefore they were resistant to one of their strongest weapons, Nephis' Nameless Sun memory.
Sunny believed the disgusting flesh hill must be part of the second group.
Of course, that thing could have been extremely lucky and was somehow shielded from the Terror. But Sunny wasn't willing to bet their life on that.
Not every fight should be taken. Some fights might bring more harm than benefits even if they win, and their journey was a long one, so they had to be smart about which fights to take and which should be avoided if they wanted to make it.
Nephis considered the situation for a moment before nodding and storing the wooden poles and stakes she used to set up the tent in her storage memory.
Sunny summoned Gloomy back from its patrol in the opposite direction and sent it to start scouting the area ahead, while Happy was following behind and keeping an eye on the abomination for any change.
After Nephis was finally done, they resumed their journey, away from the abomination, heading southeast towards the Hollow Mountains and the unknown region east.
------------------------------
Sunny could use many words to describe his life since his First Nightmare, but boring would definitely not be one of them.
But, that was exactly what he was feeling right now.
Boredom.
Sunny really wanted to punch himself in the face. What kind of lunatic would describe crossing a death zone to possibly another death zone while trying to walk along the side of another death zone as boring?
And as a mere Sleeper nonetheless!
Yet, as he was scouting ahead using his shadows and keeping his guard up for anything that managed to slip through his senses, he couldn't help but feel a sense of boredom.
It's been a few "days" since they found the ugly Flesh Abomination. They have managed to create enough distance where Sunny couldn't see it anymore.
Besides a fight with a half dozen of the Centipedes that were hiding beneath a thick layer of gray sand, they haven't met anything else.
He couldn't also try to train with Serpent while walking because it required all his attention to chase that elusive feeling, and between scouting and being battle ready, he couldn't spare enough.
With nothing better to do, his eyes wandered to his companions. Saint was as usual taking the lead, in case anything ambushed them from under the ground like the Centipedes or some Scavengers or any other creature for that matter. She was scanning the area with the same diligence she applied to everything.
Next to him Nephis was holding her Dream Blade, the Curtain wrapped around her body like a big cloak dragged behind and leaving a trail.
She must have somehow noticed him staring because she turned her head to look at him and asked.
"Is there something?"
Sunny was about to say no and go back to doing nothing, however he thought of something to pass time as they walked.
"No, nothing...say, you mentioned you were raised by your grandmother, right?"
She tilted her head and looked at him with raised eyebrows, these actions were almost unnoticeable to most people, but to Sunny it was very clear she was taken aback by his sudden question.
That question didn't come out of nowhere though. He remember when Nephis told him and the cohort for the first time about the fact that her mother wasn't simply dead but she became a Hollow when she was pregnant with Nephis, and the fact silver was Neph's natural hair color...he couldn't wrap his head around that fact till this day.
He also remembered questioning what else he didn't know about the person he once thought to knew the most in two worlds.
Curiosity was one of his most major traits after all, right behind greed and spite.
However, his mind was occupied by more pressing matters at that time so he couldn't satisfy his curiosity.
But now, it seem like a good time to ask while also passing time.
After a few seconds of silence Nephis finally spoke.
"Yes."
Sunny waited for her to continue but she simply stayed silent and faced forward as if nothing happened.
He resisted the urge to facepalm as he wondered if that was a very sensitive subject she didn't want to talk about or if it was simply because her still somewhat lacking social skills.
Thankfully, it seems she was only gathering her thoughts as she turned to look at him again and spoke with a hint of melancholy.
"She was the one who raised me even when my father was still alive...she was basically the only family I ever had."
Sunny listened to her intently. He was already very proficient in splitting his attention due to the nature of his aspect, so he had no trouble following Nephis' words without slacking on his scouting duty.
However, her next words threw him off completely.
"Even if she wasn't a carrier of the spell, she was one of the strongest people I have ever known."
"What? Your grandmother wasn't a carrier of the spell?!"
Sunny couldn't help but whisper in disbelief, he never expected there would be a mundane person in the core family of a great clan.
"You must have the impression that legacy clans must contain only Awakened individuals, however that's a common misconception. A legacy clan also contain hundreds of other people. Professionals to manage our properties, craftsmen, mundane soldiers, Awakened retainers, their dependents...but we lost almost all of that after my father...Broken Sword's death by the ghouls...and between the attempts on my life and the threats from the great clans many left willingly, others were forced to, some even died while trying to protect me, only the most loyal including my mentor, who was a Master, survived."
Her face hardened, and Sunny could hear anger seeping into her normally impassive voice.
"In the end he was gone too. We were forced to move from one manor to another, selling our assets to keep ourselves afloat...by the time I turned sixteen the clan only had a few mundane servants, a single manor, the hollow body of my mother and my sick grandma." Suddenly a bitter smile appeared on her face, "Isn't it funny?" She looked at him, "The clan that created the first Master, one of the first Saints and even supremes didn't have a single Awakened member."
Sunny didn't answer. He was so taken aback by all the things she was saying he didn't even notice the question until his flaw made itself known.
"No...no, it isn't." He answered with a grimace.
Surprise flickered through Nephis' eyes for a moment followed by realization. She paused for a second before adding hurriedly.
"I see...well, in any case, after my grandmother passed away I noticed the signs of the spell's call, I gave the remaining servants a generous sum of credit and sent my mother to a specialized Hollow care faculty...the last thing I did before surrendering myself to the police was sealing that manor shut, and well...you know the rest."
After that she didn't say anything, choosing to focus on the path ahead.
Sunny honestly didn't know what to say or even if he should say anything.
He tried to imagine what a life like that was for young Nephis, a life where you were always on the run, always worrying about the next attempt on your life.
A life where everything and everyone around you changed quickly before you could form any meaningful connection.
He and Nephis were not that different after all.
Both of them knew nothing about their world except for its brutality. They experienced and witnessed cruelties no child should ever have to endure.
They both had a goal...an unattainable and insane goal for someone like them, yet they held onto it tightly and made it the sole purpose and definition of their lives.
Because only with this single-minded fixation could they push through the harsh reality.
Because maybe with that heavy weight of their insane goal acting as anchor for themselves could a child like them survive what they experienced.
His lips twitched slightly into a small self-deprecating smile.
Of course, Sunny couldn't even dream of reaching Nephis-level of insanity, his goal of finding his sister couldn't possibly compare to her dream of destroying the spell.
Deep in thought, he also walked silently.
Saint walked ahead of them, silent and indifferent to the conversation happening behind her.
An hour or two later, Sunny was contemplating if they should stop here and make a camp when Gloomy spotted a movement.
"Stop."
Saint and Nephis immediately came to a halt, their weapons already drawn and ready for a fight.
He sent Gloomy closer to the source of the movement and saw a lone Centipede, its numerous legs carrying its long dark body in the darkness.
Sunny relayed his observation to Nephis and Saint. He was about to suggest killing such an easy target when he suddenly frowned. Centipedes usually moved in groups, but this one was moving alone as far as he could see.
He decided to let Gloomy follow the Centipede closely and keep observing for now.
After a while it stopped next to a body of a dead Nightmare creature and began devouring it.
Suddenly a head appeared from beneath the sand next to the body and closed its jaws on the Centipede's head. The black Centipede struggled and twitched, but before it could position its head to spew acid on the attacker, multiple creatures dug out from beneath the sand and started tearing the Centipede apart.
The creatures feeding on the Centipede had large gray tails and four legs with sharp claws. Their bodies were covered in short gray hair while some parts had bone plaques covering them like some form of primitive armor.
They reminded Sunny of the rats he saw and even lived among in the outskirts. Of course, these were much larger.
Sunny observed them for a few minutes before speaking to his companions in a low voice.
"Five beasts, three monsters and a single demon, all of them of the awakened rank. They used a dead body to lure a Centipede into a trap."
Nephis stepped closer to him, calculating the best course of action.
"It's dangerous to give our backs to creatures this intelligent or waste energy by taking a route around them, and we also need to replenish our food supplies too...we have the element of surprise so we should be able to eliminate them quickly."
Sunny nodded in agreement. His shadow fragment progress was so slow that he wouldn't say no to any opportunity to gain them. He just hoped they wouldn't waste too much time before the Flesh Abomination caught up to them, if it was even still chasing them.
"Do you have a plan?"
Nephis nodded, "Do you think you can get close enough to take at least one out?"
Sunny thought for a moment, "I can get quite close, but not enough to deliver a killing blow."
She slowly nodded in understanding and turned to Saint who was watching them silently, "What about her?"
His brows furrowed slightly, "I can sneak one of my shadows close enough and summon her through it. But that process takes a time and she's extremely vulnerable to any attack during it."
Even if their enemies were only of the awakened rank, and Saint was definitely one of the strongest awakened demons out there, she was not invincible and could still be killed if he acted stupidly.
"Okay then," Nephis said, now facing him "I will be the distraction and give you a chance to get close enough and summon Saint. It will confuse them and we can split them up and kill them."
Sunny hesitated for a moment before sighing, "Fine."
------------------------------
After studying the area of the battle and deciding their positions, Sunny separated himself from Nephis and started circling around the group of Nightmare creatures to get to his position.
As he moved slowly closer to his target, he couldn't help but feel annoyed. This tactic was very similar to the ones they used in their first few months on the Forgotten Shore, with Nephis as the bait and Sunny striking from the shadows.
It felt as if nothing had changed in the past year or year and a half, as if he was the same kid who didn't know how to hold a sword properly.
Of course that couldn't be further from the truth, very few sleepers and even Awakened could claim to be close to the level of sword skill as Sunny's.
He couldn't also deny how effective that tactic was, because of the nature of Neph's Aspect and her appearance, she was natural at catching other's attentions in battle. While Sunny's Aspect and unassuming appearance allowed him to sneak in the shadows and take his enemies off guard while Nephis was holding everyone's attention.
Considering everything, it was the perfect tactic for the two of them...but for some reason Sunny always hated it.
He pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind as he finally reached his position.
Up close he could notice more details about the group of the Nightmare creatures. Every carrier of the spell could determine the rank and class of Nightmare creatures using their senses and experience, but in some special cases they could use the external features of Nightmare creatures.
For example the awakened beasts here had multiple small horns between their eyes, while the monsters had a lot of sharp spikes covering their bodies
As for the demon, it was noticeably larger with longer front legs and bigger claws, it had a thick layer of irregular bone covering its entire body and limbs like a layer of wrinkled white skin, only its underside was exposed with small slits on the head for the eyes.
Sunny would have preferred to kill the demon first, but it was the reason Sunny needed a distraction in the first place to get close, because he had a feeling if he approached slightly more he would be sensed by it.
Sunny started noting the positions of every Nightmare creature, the demon was feasting on the guts of the abomination's corpse that was used as a trap while two monsters were fighting for the remains that demon allowed them to have, three beasts were devouring the last remains of the Centipede while the last two beasts were pushed away from the rest.
And finally the last monster was somewhat isolated from the rest of the group. It was pacing around, sniffing the air and looking around every now and then. Sunny couldn't help but feel the monster was feeling...anxious?
Anyway, that monster was Sunny's main target. He checked his arsenal as Gloomy detached itself and headed closer to the pack, he was carrying the Midnight Shard and wearing his trusted armor, Puppeteer's Shroud, with the Blood Blossom charm.
Feeling ready, he gave Nephis the signal to start.
Quite the distance away from him and in front of the pack of Nightmare creatures a shower of blue sparks suddenly appeared and from beneath it, a young woman with silver hair appeared out of the darkness.
While trying to agree on a signal, he realized Nephis couldn't see far in the darkness, so no matter what he did, she wouldn't be able to see him, and he couldn't leave one of his shadows with her because he would need its augmentation to be fast enough for the ambush. So Nephis gave him the Curtain and told him to recall it and reveal her whenever he was ready.
Nephis glanced around before immediately raising the Dream Blade and imbuing it with Nameless Sun and her flames, making the blade as bright as the sun, at the same time the light was reflected by the steel plates of the Star Legion armor giving her figure an ethereal glow.
She looked like the light goddess who came carrying the sun back to free this cursed land from its darkness.
All the Nightmare creatures turned to face her. They recognized the light that once meant the retreat of the dark sea and the beginning of their hunts.
They also remembered how it one day also meant death.
Before any Nightmare creature could react, many things happened in the next few seconds.
After Nephis successfully grabbed the attention of all the Nightmare creatures, Sunny dashed with all his might augmented by Happy towards the flank of the monster. By the time it finally tore its eyes off the light and noticed Sunny, it was already too late.
Sunny's blade was already raised high above his head. The monster tried to jump back, but the dark odachi had already descended and bitten into its neck.
The Midnight Shard, elevated into the Ascended rank by the Dawn Shard, sliced through the monster's tough neck with some resistance.
[You have slain an awakened monster, Bone Hunter.]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
At the same time, behind the two slightly separated beasts, a shadow of a young man became visible under the white light of Neph's flames, and from it rose the fearsome form of the Marble Saint.
The two beasts turned immediately to face the emerging Saint, only for one of them to be met with the sharp tip of Saint's sword going through one of its eyes, killing it immediately.
The other lunged at her exposed left side, but Saint, already predicting its attack, raised her shield in time. The beast crashed hard into the shield with a dull 'BANG' sound and fell to the ground with a nasty concussion and dizziness.
Before it could attempt to stand again, the rim of Saint's shield crashed violently against its thick skull, crushing it with unnerving ease. Blood splattered around, and its brain oozed through the cracks in its skull, dyeing the ground red and white.
[You have slain awakened beast, Bone Scavenger.]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
[You have slain awakened beast, Bone Scavenger.]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
After such a brutal display of strength, Saint pulled her sword from the head of the first beast and faced the remaining Nightmare creatures. She swung the blade in a wide arc. Blood and gore flew off, and landed directly in front of the demon, giving the blade its original black color.
It seems Saint's act of provocation finally snapped the Nightmare creatures out of their daze. Sounds like squeaks and screeches filled Sunny's ears. Gloomy returned and wrapped itself around him, increasing his strength and speed to threefold now.
At that moment, Nephis finally crossed the distance and stood next to Saint in a defensive stance as all the monsters and beasts rushed at them.
The demon, meanwhile, turned its full attention towards Sunny.
'Good, come at me you bastard.' Sunny smiled internally. If he managed to dispose of the demon quickly, the others won't stand a chance.
The demon lunged at him with its sharp claws. But Sunny jumped nimbly to the side causing the demon to miss and pass him.
It dug its claws into the ground to halt its momentum and turned to face Sunny before attacking him again.
Sunny kept dodging the demon's attack, a task made easier by the extra core in his soul sea and the two shadows augmenting him, while trying to decipher its attack pattern using shadow dance.
He couldn't use it to shadow the combat styles of Nightmare creatures, but that didn't mean it was useless now. In fact understanding your enemy's attack pattern could be the line between life and death.
Once Sunny felt familiar enough with the demon's fighting style, he switched from being passive to counter attacking.
Every time the demon attacked with its claws, Sunny responded with a swing from his sword.
The fight was almost over when the demon made an overly-aggressive diagonal swipe with its right frontal leg, leaving its right side exposed for a second.
Sunny immediately took this chance and sidestepped the demon's attack to reach the right defenseless side of the neck, he knew he wouldn't be able to cut through the demon's neck quickly enough with the thick layer of bones acting as armor, so instead he thrust his odachi with all his strength, hoping to apply a lot of pressure on a small point in the bone armor to break through.
Unfortunately for him, the tip of the blade hit the curved side of the demon's neck and glanced off harmlessly, leaving only a thin scratch behind.
Sunny's eyes widened and he jumped back without thinking twice. He felt for a moment something sharp press to his side, but the sensation disappeared just as fast as it appeared.
After making enough distance, Sunny stopped and observed the demon's condition. It was staring at him with hatred blazing in its eyes. Its neck was twisted at an unnatural angle that should have been impossible considering its hard non-elastic skin. Sunny realized that the sharp sensation he felt was the demon trying to stab him with one of the horns on its head, but it failed to penetrate Puppeteer's Shroud.
Sunny readied himself for a barrage of attacks, but the demon seemed content with only growling at him.
'What in the heck are you planning...' Sunny couldn't help but feel bewildered by the demon's sudden change in behavior.
During the brief break, he noticed, by using shadow sense, Saint and Nephis were separated and surrounded but they were still holding their ground.
At that moment, the demon let out something akin to a roar and charged at a speed the normal eye couldn't hope to keep up with.
Sunny managed to raise the Midnight Shard just in time to block the demon's charge, before he even could gather his thoughts, It rained countless attacks on him, forcing Sunny to take a step back and return to his passive style. He tried to think of any way to bypass the bone armor, but besides chipping at the same area repeatedly or attacking its underside, Sunny couldn't think of anything else.
He also couldn't help but feel something was wrong with the demon's attacks now. It was as if...as if it was leading him somewhere.
By the time he discovered the trap, it was already too late.
A sense of dread filled Sunny's chest as he watched the demon's tail rise high in the air, before slamming into the ground, causing a small shockwave.
And then, Sunny was falling.
------------------------------
From beneath a pile of ashes and rocks, a hand holding a black blade shot out and pulled up the figure of a short young man with black hair filled with grey sand. He looked around while rubbing the back of his head until his eyes drifted up.
'...How in the hell did that thing do that?!'
Up above him, there was a hole in the ground. It wasn't quite big but still no matter how abnormally that demon was strong and durable for its rank, it shouldn't have been able to leave something like that in the ground.
Sunny jumped down from the pile and started rubbing his hair and armor roughly.
'Damnation, there's sand everywhere!' Sunny couldn't help but curse
While trying to clean himself, he checked his surroundings and finally understood how that awakened demon managed to do it.
It was because the ground was hollow, more accurately, there was a system of tunnels underneath it.
Sunny wasn't in one of the tunnels however. He was in a spacious room shaped as a dome with tunnels openings on its walls, it looked like the convergence point of all the tunnels.
'But why does some of tunnels looks bigger than the other?...did these tunnels originally belong to Nightmare creatures beside those rats?'
He shook his head, now wasn't the time to ask these questions, the demon was most likely with him here, waiting for the best chance.
He extended his shadow senses to cover the whole room he was in, and he was right: the shadow of the demon was behind him and approaching slowly. It moved in absolute silence, and every time Sunny shifted, it moved to stay outside of his vision range.
It was a great display of hunting skills, but unfortunately, it was for naught; Sunny's shadow senses had long since exposed it.
But he didn't react, as if he was ignorant of the Nightmare creature creeping closer.
Once the demon was less than a dozen meters away from its prey, it halted and lowered its body, tail curling and every muscle on its back and legs visibly tensed until it released and the demon shot out like an arrow.
However, Sunny was ready for it. And the moment the demon passed the point of no return, the point where its body was only being carried by the momentum without any means to stop it, he moved out of the way and twisted his body around with a downward slash.
This time Sunny learned from his mistake and didn't target the heavily protected neck, instead he targeted the significantly less armored front legs.
The Midnight Shard cut cleanly through one of the demon's frontal legs and left a deep cut in the other.
'Finally got you, you bastard!'
And that's when things went downhill really quickly.
The demon was still in the air due to its momentum. But before it could fly past him, it swung its tail like a whip which landed squarely on Sunny's chest with a loud crack sound.
Sunny wasn't the only one that learned from his mistake. It seemed the demon had a plan in case its prey managed to dodge it like the first time by using its long powerful tail to retaliate instead of its horn.
Sunny felt a searing pain in his chest as multiple of his ribs broke. He was sent flying towards one of the big tunnels where he collided hard with its dead end before falling face first and losing consciousness for a moment.
"Argh...damn it." Sunny groaned as his eyes fluttered open only a second later. He tried to stand up, but his body protested, pain shot through his chest at the slightest movement, his vision was blurry and his ears were ringing.
At least he was able to push his head up a little to see the demon limping towards him. After losing one leg, it struggled to maintain its balance especially with the other being severely injured. But it was only a matter of time before it reached him.
After realizing the danger he was in, Sunny struggled even harder now.
'C'mon... move!'
While he was desperately trying to push his body up, he thought he might have heard a cry of pain, but he didn't pay any attention to it, solely focusing on getting on his feet again.
Once he was on his knees he spared the demon a glance, and what he saw made him smile in spiteful glee.
The demon had already reached the tunnel and was only a few meters away from Sunny, but it was on the ground and trying hard to also get up while letting out pained screeches, Sunny saw for a brief moment that the previously injured leg was now broken off and hanging from the demon's body with a thin strip of flesh, most likely because it couldn't handle the heavy weight of the demon.
Sunny felt the Blood Blossom charm react slightly to the blood dripping from the demon, and empower him enough to finally stand up.
Sunny couldn't hold back the urge to taunt the creature, but the moment he opened his mouth he started coughing blood , one of his broken ribs, or even multiple, must have impaled his lung. The only reason he wasn't in a much worse state was definitely because of Blood Weave.
He checked around quickly for the Midnight Shard but he couldn't spot it, he was forced to dismiss the memory and summon it again, leaving him weaponless for a few seconds
Unfortunately, the demon wasn't kind enough to wait.
It used what remained of its frontal limbs to push its heavy body slightly up, the demon's eyes were now staring at Sunny with intense hatred and madness, its muscles tensed in preparation for one last attack.
Sunny's thoughts were racing, there was no way he would be able to summon Midnight Shard before the demon attacked, the Moonlight Shard would be summoned instantly, but due to its short reach, Sunny would be torn to shreds by the demon before he could land any attack. And even though the tunnel was big enough for Sunny to stand in it, there wasn't enough space for him to dodge.
He couldn't summon Saint because that would also take time and put Nephis in danger as well.
This didn't mean he was out of options, after all, Saint wasn't his only Shadow.
The demon put all of the strength it could muster in its remaining legs to launch itself at Sunny, it opened its mouth to reveal sharp and blunt teeth made specifically to tear flesh and crush bones respectively.
The tattoo of a black serpent flowed from beneath the sleeve of Puppeteer's Shroud followed by one of Sunny's shadows and transformed into a fearsome black odachi similar to Midnight Shard. He didn't have to worry about the demon's claws anymore, so he adjusted his pose and raised Serpent towards the unprotected underside of the demon.
Both of them fell down as Serpent, augmented by one of Sunny's shadows, managed to go through the demon's skin using its own weight to go deeper inside. It became the only obstacle keeping Sunny away from the demon's jaws.
The demon snapped its jaws repeatedly, trying to reach Sunny, but all it did was push Serpent deeper inside its body.
Sunny's face was covered with saliva and blood, breathing became a tedious task and his arms were burning from exertion, especially after losing one of his shadows augmentation. But it didn't matter, all he needed was to get the demon to bleed more for the Blood Blossom charm.
The sound of tissues being cut was accompanied by blood gushing out of the growing wound on the demon's belly.
After numerous failed attempts at biting Sunny's head off and the searing pain in its abdomen, the demon tried to back away, but Sunny didn't let it, he twisted Serpent inside the demon's guts to act as a hook and recalled the shadow wrapped around Serpent to augment his body again, after that he removed one hand from around Serpent's hilt and extended it to his side, blue sparks began to weave something in his empty outstretched hand.
The demon thrashed around violently, it couldn't pull itself away due to its missing legs or roll because of the narrow space of the tunnel. So, after noticing the weakened grip around the blade in its underside, it redoubled its effort to reach Sunny, but the combination of the two shadows wrapped around his body and the Blood Blossom enhancing his overall strength allowed him to hold on even with one arm for a while.
Finally, the Midnight Shard formed itself in Sunny's other hand, he flipped the blade so its sharp tip could face the demon and thrust it with all his strength towards the demon's skull, more specifically the narrow slit above its eye.
Sunny's aim was slightly off to the side because of the demon's frantic and unpredictable movements, but it was still able to pierce the thick layer of the bone armor and go through one of its eyes.
The demon howled in pain but it was still alive.
Sunny groaned in frustration as he let go of Serpent, and used both hands to try and push the blade deeper to get the annoying rodent to finally die.
"Just drop dead already, damn it!"
After what felt like ages, Sunny heard a faint cracking sound as the Midnight Shard moved deeper inside the demon's skull, the demon froze immediately before collapsing on top of Sunny, finally dead.
[You have slain awakened demon, Bone Hoarder.]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
[You have received a Memory.]
Sunny let out a scream of pain as most of the demon's weight fell on his already ruined chest.
"Damn..you...you heavy.. bastard!" Sunny was barely able to push the demon's body slightly up and crawl out from beneath it.
He stood up with the help of Midnight Shard and walked around the demon's corpse before bending down with a grunt to retrieve Serpent from the body.
He watched in fascination as the blade dissolved in his hand and retreated under his sleeve, leaving a tingling sensation on his arms and chest.
"You...you did well, buddy." Sunny's hoarse voice was followed by wheezing coming from his lungs that echoed through the tunnel. He turned around and began walking slowly out of the tunnel with Midnight Shard's help.
With every step he took, he felt pain wrack through his body. So to distract himself, he decided to summon his runes.
Name: Sunless.
True Name: Lost from Light.
Rank: Dreamer.
Class: Monster.
Shadow cores:[2/7].
Shadow Fragments: [456/2000].
'456 fragments...only 1544 to go.' Sunny thought dryly
He moved quickly to the memories runes.
Memories: [Silver Bell], [Puppeteer's Shroud], [Midnight Shard], [Ordinary Rock], [Prowling Thorn], [Endless Spring], [Blood Blossom], [Dark Wing], [Moonlight Shard], [M… Un…old], [Weaver's Mask], [Broken Oath], [Flame Keeper], [Sacrificial Blade].
The Flame Keeper was a memory he received in the Dark city, it had one simple enchantment which kept its user warm.
The last one, however, was new.
Memory: [Sacrificial Blade]
Memory Rank: Awakened.
Memory Tier: III.
Memory Type: Charm.
Memory Description: [Nothing in this world can be gained without sacrificing something in return, this blade will reward you the more you offer. However, Greed will be your doom.]
Memory Enchantments: [Oath of Silence], [Blood Pact], [Offering].
[Oath of Silence] Attribute Description: "This charm can provide a small area of absolute silence around its carrier."
[Blood Pact] Attribute Description: "This charm will continuously absorb the Carrier's blood to enhance their overall strength or continuously absorb their enemy's blood to weaken them."
[Offering] Attribute Description: "This charm intensifies the hostility of nearby creatures toward you."
'Another charm, huh...' not that he was complaining, Sunny would take anything after the outright useless memories he got in the Dark city, but he hoped he would finally get a new weapon for him or Saint.
Still, this charm might prove to be extremely useful.
Its first enchantment could be used in maintaining privacy like that one memory Caster owned, it wasn't exactly useful considering Sunny was only surrounded by a whole lot of creatures who just wanted to kill him and the two least talkative individuals he had ever known. Not that it mattered anyway since it was an active enchantment.
The third enchantment was slightly more useful. It would allow Sunny to play the bait role more effectively, even though Nephis seemed to excel in that role especially with Nameless Sun's Light, which all the remaining Nightmare creatures on the Forgotten Shore hated for obvious reasons.
It was the second enchantment that piqued Sunny's interest. It was somehow similar to Blood Blossom, but instead of relying on making others bleed, Sunny could simply use his own blood, and even better it could be used to weaken his opponent. The only problem Sunny could see was that the charm would continuously absorb his blood until he dies, but he could simply dismiss it before that.
He was about to summon the memory to inspect its weave when he heard a rock fall from the hole he and the demon fell from.
His steps halted and his body grew tense, but it relaxed immediately when he saw Nephis carrying the glowing Dream Blade jump down.
Sunny opened his mouth to say something, but instead he started coughing violently, once his coughing fit stopped he noticed Nephis was already by his side. She examined him only for a second before white flames engulfed him, and his pain was no more.
------------------------------
Nephis hates fighting.
More accurately, she hated fighting in the Forgotten Shore after it was swallowed by darkness.
Not only because of the almost crippling blindness, but also due to the gray sand covering the entire ground which slowed down her movement and sometimes messed up her footwork. She was suffering from this problem more than Sunny simply due to her heavier armor and weapon.
But, this didn't mean she wasn't able to fight effectively anymore.
Nephis took a step forward and swung the Dream Blade in a wide horizontal arc, the Blade coated by the Nameless Sun's light cut through the darkness towards the monster she was facing.
But as soon as she took a step forward, the monster immediately retreated a step back, causing Nephis' eyes to narrow in frustration.
This has been going on for more than she liked.
After the Marble Saint and Sunny's surprise attack, all the remaining monsters and beasts rushed towards her and Saint. Nephis was prepared to fight side by side with Saint, but to her surprise the creatures only attacked to push them away from each other until they were isolated.
Nephis wasn't actually worried even when she was outnumbered, she and Sunny's echo were stronger and more importantly smarter than these Nightmare creatures.
She was simply shocked that these monsters and beasts were capable of showing this level of coordination without a tyrant presence. Nephis theorized they were simply following the demon's order just like how the Carapace demon was somehow commanding the Carapace Centurion.
Anyway, Nephis was forced to face one monster and a beast, while Saint was facing two beasts and a monster.
Currently, she was now only facing the monster, the beast's body was somewhere behind her. Only a few shallow cuts were present on its frontal legs, but these cuts were enough for the Nameless Sun to destroy the awakened beast's soul.
After the beast's death, the monster seemed to be extremely wary of her blade and refused to approach within her range. The sand slowing her down and the fact she had to move carefully to avoid falling into a trap like Sunny did weren't helping her.
But Nephis wasn't considered an exceptionally talented fighter for nothing, she was going to use the environment that hindered her to her advantage.
She dug her foot deep into the ground and kicked hard towards the monster, throwing sand into its face.
She noticed a while ago, unlike the beast, the monster was mainly tracking her movement using its eyes; meaning it relied heavily on its vision. So when she flung sand and dirt at its eyes, it blocked the monster's vision for a moment, giving Nephis the chance to close the distance, and finally sink the Dream Blade into the monster's side.
It let out a shriek of pain before its soul collapsed in only a few seconds.
Nephis ignored the voice of the spell announcing the kill and pulled her greatsword out of the monster's corpse. She turned around and found Saint already disposing of the last Nightmare creature on her side.
She extinguished the flames augmenting her body, allowing her mind to relax from the agonizing pain.
Nephis gave herself a moment to study Sunny's ech—, no Shadow.
She possessed a level of awareness that should be impossible for any echo, she felt more like an independent person than something made from the spell.
'How was she made in the first place?' Nephis wondered to herself, she would ask Sunny about it one day...maybe.
Anyway, what actually caught Nephis' interest was Saint's sword skills, she only had brief moments to observe Saint in action, but what she saw always left her in amazement.
Her swordsmanship was grounded and balanced leaning slightly towards defense, she moved her sword and shield with such precision it felt unreal, her movement and footwork were calculated and polished. It spoke of years of experience and victories.
Nephis was always a fan of swordsmanship, it was one of the very few hobbies she had. And like any other person, she wanted to hone her skills to the max.
And what's a better way to do it than challenging someone who possessed a lot of experience and skill?
To put it simply, Nephis wanted to spar with the Marble Saint.
There was just one problem: how was she supposed to ask for a duel?
The most obvious answer was to ask Sunny, however he had never treated Saint as a subordinate and she had shown enough awareness to choose for herself, so was she supposed to ask her? But then again, just because Sunny can somehow communicate with his Shadow doesn't mean Nephis will be able to.
Also, she sometimes had the feeling that the Shadow was wary of her...
So, because of a combination of her social awkwardness and not finding 'the right moment', she hadn't asked the Marble Saint for a duel yet.
Nephis shook her head slightly, she had more pressing matters to attend to now.
She walked cautiously towards where she last heard Sunny and the demon fight before they fell, she used the light from the Nameless Sun to navigate herself and avoid falling into another hole.
She finally found the hole Sunny fell into and approached slowly.
It wasn't that big or deep, but it was still deep enough you would struggle to get out, especially with the slopped edges of the ground around it.
Nephis thought for a moment before summoning the golden rope memory, she was about to search around to find a suitable place to tie the rope into when she heard footsteps behind her.
She turned around and came face to face with Saint, both stared at each other in silence before Nephis cleared her throat. This was probably the first time they were interacting without Sunny around, but she had to act now, the silence from Sunny was starting to worry her.
"Can you hold this rope?" Nephis extended one end of the rope towards her, testing if the Shadow was able to understand her words.
It seems like she could, Nephis thought as she watched Saint grab one end of the rope in one hand and the rest of it in the other, Nephis turned around and accidentally sent a stone tumbling down to the cavity in the ground, she was about to jump when she realized the meaning of her words might sound vague to the Shadow.
"After I find Sunny and come back, you will drop this rope for us to climb back here, okay?" Nephis spoke every word slowly and clearly to avoid any misunderstandings.
The next few seconds would prove to be the most uncomfortable and awkward seconds in her life, as she had to endure Saint's blank and almost judging stare.
Heat crept up her neck and her forehead was covered in sweat—a result of the physical exertion from the fight, she told herself.
Finally, Saint moved her head in the tiniest nod Nephis had ever seen.
Nephis let out a silent sigh of relief, and without a word she jumped down rather quickly. As she landed, she couldn't help but think if this is how others felt when talking to her.
Nephis raised her sword to illuminate the surroundings, revealing a spacious area with tunnels in its walls.
She was looking around for any signs of battle to guide her when she heard coughing behind her, she turned around sharply and saw Sunny doubling over in a coughing fit.
She was immediately by his side to check on him, she noticed one of his hands was on his chest and the blood around his mouth.
Once he calmed down she didn't hesitate to put a hand on his shoulder to allow her healing flames to engulf him, pain assaulted her mind immediately, and she fought hard to not expose it to Sunny's keen eyes.
She felt his body relax under her grip and his breathing ease. But before she could fully heal his injuries, he stepped away from her quickly as if her flames had burned him. Without any physical contact Nephis' healing flames died off, the relief she felt was mixed with confusion and a tinge of frustration.
Before she could question his odd behavior, he cleared his throat and spoke before her.
"I am fine now...uh I forgot to get the shards from the demon, I will go and get them now."
He spoke rapidly, and before she could say anything, he had already walked into the darkness of a quite big tunnel. Nephis was unsure what to do, She knew his ribs weren't fully healed, they wouldn't cause any more complications, but they probably still hurt a lot.
This wasn't the first time he had done something like that too, he would always hide his injuries from her and say it was nothing.
It drove her mad, especially because she had no idea why he did that...well, she believed it had something to do with the bond but she wasn't sure.
With a deep sigh, she turned around and climbed out using the rope Saint had already dropped. She collected the shards and some meat from the Nightmare creatures for their journey.
Once Sunny was back with three shards, they started moving quickly in case their battle attracted an unwanted guest.
Slowly, their figures dissolved in the darkness.
-----------------------------
Hours or maybe a day later, a hand made out of flesh, fat and vessels dug itself in the ground and pulled its disgusting body towards the corpses of the bone rats.
It was the Flesh Abomination, except now it was much smaller and more importantly, way faster.
It crawled rapidly until one of the corpses was fully covered by its body, slowly the Flesh Abomination's body began squirming and growing slowly. After a while it moved towards the next body while the corpse that was underneath it simply disappeared.
It moved from one corpse to another, slowly absorbing every piece of it, causing its body to swell.
It did all of this while still facing the same direction, the direction where it could taste Divinity in the air.