Chapter 245 Theatre of Giantsƒгeewёbnovel.com
Armed with the understanding of just how dangerous the beautiful mountains towering above them were, the cohort set out deeper into the foothills. Because they didn't know much about the area and what type of creatures populated it, they decided to stay together.
While it would have been much easier to send Kai to take a look around from above, no one wanted to take this risk. As the result, the six humans moved in a tight group, much like they had on the narrow streets of the Dark City and in the Labyrinth.
…However, the landscape around them was vastly different. There were no growths of crimson coral covering the ground, just grass and outcroppings of grey rock. It almost felt like they were back on Earth.
Strangely, that made Sunny feel uncomfortable. Looking around, he could see far in every direction, with no walls of coral or ancient, ruined buildings obscuring his view. That made it harder for the Nightmare Creatures to ambush the cohort, but also impossible for the cohort to hide from anything that could have been watching.
'That is true, but… where are all the monsters?'
Indeed, no matter how hard Sunny looked, he couldn't see any movement whatsoever. It was as if the entire area was completely dead. They were surrounded by complete silence, which was broken only when a member of the cohort made a sound.
The picturesque scenery could have been peaceful, but felt eerie instead. Even Sunny's shadow seemed uncharacteristically listless.
Full of unease, they continued to move forward.
The plan was very simple. Because of Cassie's vision, they knew that the First Lord and his companions had traveled to the mountains the same way that they did, or at least followed the same route. That meant that both cohorts entered the foothills at approximately the same spot.
The other thing Cassie had told them was that they were searching for a vast pit in the stone. It was hard to miss something like that, so all they had to do was to move deeper into the foothills and look around.
The ground beneath their feet gently sloped upward. As time passed, it grew more and more rocky, and the incline became rather steep. Soon, they were surrounded by tall boulders and had to walk on bare stone.
At some point, Sunny looked back and was surprised to realize how high above the labyrinth they had climbed. By now, it was far away and below them, looking like a vast crimson sea.
A strange sensation settled in his heart. With a bit of introspection, Sunny realized that it was something he had lost a long time ago.
The feeling of being connected to the rest of humanity.frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
Even though all of them understood that crossing the Hollow Mountains was an impossible task, simply knowing where they were in relation to the rest of the Awakened made all the difference.
They might have been just as stranded as they had been before… but at least they weren't lost anymore.
'What a nice, but useless thought.'
With a sigh, he turned around and hurried to catch up with the rest of the cohort.
The sun was still high in the sky when they found the pit Cassie had described. It was situated in a valley just at the point where the foothills turned into proper mountains, and turned out to be something different from what everyone had imagined.
Disturbingly, throughout the whole day, they had not met a single living thing. In any other circumstances, Sunny would have been glad because of this strange lack of Nightmare Creatures, but now it was just making him nervous.
Standing at the edge of it, he looked down with a feeling of awe.
Cut into the flesh of the mountains, a vast quarry lay below them. Despite its incredible scale, it was clearly made by humans. A road clinging to the slope of the circular pit led to the bottom of it, wide enough for ten carriages to ride side by side.
At the far end of the quarry, the grey slope of the mountain was cut and hollowed, creating something that resembled either colossal steps or seats of an amphitheater built for giants. Here and there, massive blocks of stone stood, as though ready to be transported back to the ancient city.
Sunny studied the monolithic blocks of grey stone, then the size of the deep quarry. Something connected in his mind.
'So… so this is where the materials for the mighty wall of the Dark City had come from.'
He was certain of it. To think that the ancient inhabitants of the Forgotten Shore had transported all that stone from this far away… the thought of it was nothing short of humbling.
Effie, meanwhile, was staring at something with a tense look on her face. Suddenly. she pointed to the center of the deep quarry and said:
"Over there, look."
Following her gaze, Sunny strained his eyes. For a couple of moments, he couldn't understand what the huntress was talking about, but then his heart skipped a bit.
At the bottom of the quarry, there was a giant Nightmare Creature.
The abomination was enormous, easily twice the size of the Carapace Demon… who had already been as tall as a house. It looked like a strange insect, somewhat resembling a weird mix of a rhinoceros beetle and a praying mantis, with a smooth carapace, massive horn, and deadly blades attached to the joints of its limbs.
The whole creature seemed to be made out of stone and was the same color as the floor of the quarry. In fact, if not for Effie's warning, Sunny might have not even noticed it.
…That flesh, however, was broken and shattered, lying in piles on the ground.
The giant stone demon was dead.
And from the looks of it, it died by a human hand.
Sunny turned to Nephis and hesitated for a moment.
"What do you think? Those are sword cuts, aren't they?"
Changing Star was silent for a bit, and then said in a dark tone:
"It's hard to tell. We'll need to get closer to take a proper look."
Chapter 246 lrrefutable Proof
Ready for the worst, the cohort summoned their weapons and slowly moved down the wide road that lead to the bottom of the quarry. From reaching the foothills of the Hollow Mountains till now, they had not met a single Nightmare Creature... but that was not a reason to lower their guard.
Walking on the ancient path, all of them couldn't help but steal glances at the corpse of the giant stone demon, as though expecting it to come back to life and attack them at any moment.
If living on the Forgotten Shore had taught him anything, it was to always expect the worst.
Some time later, Effie spoke:
"See those deep fractures on the floor of the quarry? I think that this thing had burrowed from below. So watch your step."fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
Remembering his encounter with the Rolling Stone, Sunny looked down with a sour expression. That clumsy creature was more funny than dangerous, but only because its teeth were vastly outclassed by the Puppeteer's Shroud. If something with more bite were to ambush them from below, who knew what was going to happen?
With a simple thought, Sunny summoned the Stone Saint and ordered her to keep close. The taciturn monster stared at the tall peaks of the Hollow Mountains for a few moments, as though subtly affected by the sight of them. Then, she lowered her head and silently followed his command.
After tense and exhausting half an hour of descending into the deep pit, the cohort finally got close to the remains of the giant stone insect. Cautiously stopping a few dozen meters away from it, they hesitated, not sure how to proceed.
Finally, Nephis sighed and walked forward, approaching the shattered body of the dead demon. If that was what it had been… or was.
As their leader came close enough to the carcass to touch it with her hand, all of them held their breaths.
A few seconds went by, then a few more. Nothing jumped at Changing Star from below the stones. The giant creature had not moved, nor had it shown any signs of coming back to life. The demon just lay there, its body shattered and broken, terrifying even in death.
And it indeed was truly, really dead.
Glancing at the indifferent Saint, Sunny let out a sigh of relief.
Even though he was prepared for a tough battle, he hoped that this time, they would be able to avoid it. The members of the cohort had yet to fully recover from the harrowing journey atop the walking colossus, so they weren't in the best of shapes.
Well, at least Sunny was not, partially because he had refused Neph's offer to vanquish his wounds with her purifying flame. They were healing fast thanks to the Blood Weave and the five hundred shadow fragment… almost… that he had accumulated, but his body was yet to fully recover.
Turning her head, Nephis looked at them and said:
"Come closer."
Encouraged by her words, the members of the cohort finally put their caution to rest and walked over to the dead creature.
Of course, they were still prepared to instantly react in case something unexpected happened.
The six of them spent a few minutes studying the remains to determine whether the terrible creature was killed by a human or something of its own kind.
Sunny glanced at the tall mountains and spent a few seconds watching as the white mist rolled down from their peaks, flowing down the jagged slopes like a waterfall made of clouds.
'...How beautiful.'
With a sigh, he turned away from the wall of mist that was still some distance away from the valley where the quarry was situated and concentrated on the corpse of the stone demon.
Whatever had killed it was not something Sunny would wish to meet in a battle. The flesh of the creature was, indeed, made of stone. That had not stopped the fearsome attackers, however. The carapace of the giant granite abomination was shattered in many places, and melted in others.
…But mostly, it was cut and pierced.
Apart from a few enormous wounds, there were numerous smaller ones, many of them looking as though they could have come from a sword, an axe, or a spear. And yet, he wasn't sure. Sunny was not really an expert in such things.
However, he was an expert in all things having to do with greed and avarice.freeweɓnovel.cѳm
Instead of focusing on the nature of the damage done to the giant abomination, Sunny walked around and found its abdomen, which was damaged especially severely. With a reluctant sigh, he climbed atop the stone corpse… and then inside of it.
The other members of the cohort stared at him with expressions ranging from surprise to revulsion.
A couple of minutes later, Sunny climbed out of the dead demon and shook off stone dust from his armor and hair. Then, he glanced at his companions and frowned.
"What?"
Kai stared at him with a complicated expression, and then asked:
"Sunny? Ah, do you want to tell us something?"
Sunny gave him a nod and grinned.
"I do, actually. This thing was indeed killed by a human."
The charming archer raised an eyebrow and asked in a dubious tone:
"Really? How do you know?"
Sunny jumped down and shrugged.
"The Soul Shards are missing."
A few moments later, an expression of understanding appeared on Kai's face.
Indeed, most Nightmare Creatures had no use for the soul shards. Just like humans, who directly absorbed soul essence after killing one of their own kind, they fed from the kill itself as opposed to the act of retrieving and crushing the remnants of broken soul cores.
…If they weren't bizarre terrors like the Soul Devourer, of course. But the chances of encountering another one of those here were rather low.
It was reasonable to assume that the soul shards were removed by humans.
His discovery was solid enough proof of the fact that it was indeed the First Lord's cohort that had battled and slain the terrifying creature.
They had really found the signs of the lost expedition.
But there was another proof for this conclusion, this one irrefutable.
Nephis, who had wandered away from the remains of the demon at some point, suddenly called them over.
The members of the cohort glanced at each other, then slowly approached her, trying to understand what was it that she had found.
Changing Star was standing near one of the piles of rocks that were littering the ground around the body of the dead creature, looking at it with a solemn expression. Most of them came from its shattered carapace, while some were created because the floor of the quarry was broken apart and churned during the ferocious battle.
Why was Nephis so interested in that one in particular?
Looking closer, Sunny suddenly realized that this pile of rocks was different from all others. It was lower, roughly oval in shape, its contour too perfect to be the result of a pure coincidence.
It seemed as though each rock was painstakingly placed here by a human hand, perhaps in hopes to make the pile as orderly and sturdy as possible.
Suddenly, a cold shiver ran down Sunny's spine. He finally realized what he was looking at.
This was not really a pile of rocks.
It was a grave.