Chapter 263 The Beginning of the End
Three months later, a group of six battered humans appeared from the sea of crimson coral and approached a magnificent white arch. Moving with the precision of experienced predators, they swiftly slaughtered a few transient creatures that hid in the deep shadow cast by the ancient structure, stripped them down for meat, and swiftly climbed up.
Against all odds, the cohort had survived the journey back to the Dark City.
…If only barely.
Looking north from the top of the marble arch, Sunny saw the distant grey wall. His gaze lingered on it, full of exhaustion, triumph, and dark apprehension.
Finally, they had returned.
The past three months had been an endless bloody nightmare, with countless horrors and battles leaving their marks on him. And yet, they had also been an anvil against which he was tested, tempered, and made stronger as the result.
Sunny didn't have a mirror, but was sure that his appearance changed a lot. He could tell just by looking at other members of the cohort.
Changing Star's white armor was now covered by numerous scratches and tears that even the restorative effect of the Soul Sea couldn't heal. Her silver hair was longer, reaching to the middle of her back. The ivory face of their leader had grown thin, with dark circles visible under her striking, burning grey eyes.
Caster changed even more. The neat and dignified young scion was nowhere to be seen: instead, a man with disheveled hair and a short scruffy beard stood in his place, his face dark and grim. Sometimes, Sunny thought that he could even see a grey hair or two in his luscious mane.
Kai was still beautiful and elegant, but most of his charm was hidden under layers and layers of dirt, dust, and dried blood. The stylish armor he had worn was now long gone, destroyed in one of the vicious battles they had fought, and replaced by a rather unflattering garment that seemed to be woven out of bluish seaweed.
The archer also wielded a new bow, this one long a powerful, fashioned out of two curved horns that had belonged to a creature that Sunny would rather not think about. Suffice it to say, this Memory was of the fifth tier and truly deadly.
Effie was much the same, except for the fact that she had become even leaner, her robust musculature not covered even by a gram of fat. The huntress wielded two Shard Memories, both responsible for sending dozens upon dozens of Nightmare Creature to their deaths. Her archaic bronze armor was dented all over, but somehow still held together
Cassie was the youngest of them, so the changes that had happened to her were perhaps the most pronounced. By now, she had lost most of her childish softness and had turned into a beautiful young woman that looked to be on the cusp of adulthood. She had three Echoes tied to her core now, one given to her by Nephis, the other one by Kai.
With the help of her Echoes and the Dark Wing, Cassie was now able to move and participate in battles almost as if she was not blind.
…Almost.
And then there was Sunny himself. He was perhaps even more beaten and battered than the rest of them, the Puppeteer's Shroud almost coming apart at the seams. His hair was long, messy, and in desperate need of a good wash.
Sadly, his skin was still as pale as that of a corpse. He was also unable to grow even a bit of scruff, let alone a real beard.
But, oh well… why care about the little things?frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
Summoning the runes, Sunny found a particular cluster and glanced at it.
The runes shimmered in the twilight of the approaching night.
Shadow Fragments: [938/1000].
A dark smile appeared on his lips.
'Almost.'
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In the past three months, Sunny had participated in countless battles. His main responsibility was that of a scout, and as such, he was not a part of the cohort's main strike force. But even then, he had faced and slain more than a hundred Nightmare Creatures.
Closer to two hundred, in fact.
Among them were beasts, monsters, as well as a few demons and even a devil or two. Sunny absorbed the remnants of their shadows and used his share of the soul shards to trade for Memories with other members of the cohort, which he then fed to the Stone Saint.
And now, he was so close to reaching full saturation of his Shadow Core.
His prowess and physique were considerably enhanced, too. Somewhere along the way, Sunny had crossed the line of humanly possible and was now firmly in the realm of inhuman ability. He was faster, stronger, and more enduring than any mundane human could ever hope to be.
His shadow had grown much more potent, too, since its enhancement increased proportionally to his own power.
…Or was it the other way around?
In any case, Sunny felt that when the shadow was wrapped around his body, he was now almost at the level of an actual Awakened. Very few Sleepers on the Forgotten Shore could challenge him in terms of raw power.
Of course, all of them had deadly Aspect Abilities of their own.
…And several of the most deadly Sleepers among them were all right here, with him, setting up camp and getting ready to cook him food.
Sunny wasn't sure, but guessed that Effie and Caster had already fully saturated their Soul Cores, beating him to it — the huntress because of the years she had spent hunting monsters on the streets of the Dark City, and the Legacy because of the soul shards his clan must have provided him before his first journey into the Dream Realm.
Nephis… Sunny wasn't sure. Logic dictated that she should have reached the point of saturation before Sunny did, but he still saw her absorbing shards after each battle. So either she did not, or her Aspect had other uses for the excess soul essence.
Or she was just putting on an expensive show.
Kai and Cassie were behind him in terms of the amount of accumulated essence, but not by much. Each of them was now a powerhouse, just like the rest of the cohort.
Looking at the people busying themselves with mundane tasks of setting up the camp, Sunny inhaled deeply and smiled.
"Ah. Aren't we a sight to behold?"
Chapter 264 First Things First
They truly were.
When leaving the Dark City behind, Sunny had known how powerful the members of the cohort were. However, he had not quite realized just how well-rounded and perfectly suited to face various challenges presented by the Labyrinth their group was.
With Nephis, Effie and Caster leading the charge, most Nightmare Creatures populating the forest of crimson coral had little chance to survive, not with the Crown of Dawn pouring raw power into the armor and weapons of the cohort, at least. Each of the three was a deadly and versatile fighter, with their own unique approach to combat and strengths that complemented each other.
With the three slayers holding off the opponents while being supported by Kai from above, very few things could stand in their way.ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
Night himself had turned out to be an astonishingly deadly presence on the battlefield, as well. With the Blood Arrow providing him with a conditionally endless supply of arrows, he could just stay in the air, out of reach of the abominations that had no way to attack at range — which was most of them — and pick them out with well-aimed shots.
With the addition of the formidable horn bow, the distance at which he could hit the target had increased tremendously, allowing him to eliminate some of the enemies long before they had gotten close enough to the cohort for an effective attack. His opening salvo had made a lot of battles much less problematic.
Of course, Kai couldn't fly above the Labyrinth with impunity. The grey sky was full of danger, too, and by separating himself from his companions, he risked being attacked and torn apart by the abominations that populated it. He had to maintain a fragile balance.
But the flying Nightmare Creatures were a threat to the cohort regardless of whether or not the charming archer rose into the air or not. Actually, this was the type of enemy they were equipped to fight the least. That's why Kai's ability to fly had turned out to be priceless.
Especially because he was usually able to fly faster or at least maneuver better than most of the creatures that dwelled in the sky. More than once, they had survived only because the archer was able to draw the fury of the aerial abominations and dodge their attack long enough to either fell them with a perfectly aimed arrow or give his companions a chance to join the fight.
Sunny and Cassie usually protected the rear of the cohort to prevent anything from attacking their companions from the back — which happened more often than one would hope. With the help of the Stone Saint and the Quiet Dancer, and later the other two Echoes belonging to the blind girls, they were able to hold off anything until the main force was done with their share of the opponents and joined the fray.
That was not to say that their role in the cohort was less important.freewebnσvel.cøm
If anything, Sunny was convinced that what they did was more vital to the survival of each member of the cohort than what the fighters were doing.
It was true that, with the help of the Dawn Shard, the cohort was well equipped to handle most monsters of the Labyrinth. What they truly had to fear were the creatures that defied all logic, the perils that the human mind could not even comprehend, and the Labyrinth itself — as well as the dark waters of the cursed sea and the ancient horrors that dwelled beneath them.
That was what Sunny and Cassie had to protect the group from. Free Web Novel . Com
As Sunny absorbed more and more shadow fragments, the range at which he could control his shadow grew exponentially. By now, the shadow could move almost as far as a whole kilometer ahead of the cohort, scouting for any potential threat and giving them plenty of time to decide if they wanted to fight or change course and avoid the danger entirely.
If anything, it had become a little feral and now preferred to wander around aimlessly and far away, returning to Sunny only when specifically commanded to do so.
But regardless of that, the value of being able to see and identify their enemies in advance was impossible to overestimate. It was just too valuable. In battle, the tiniest advantage could decide the difference between life and death, and the advantages of knowledge and the first strike were possibly the most important.
However, there were things on the Forgotten Shore that even Sunny could not see, predict, or escape from.
That was where Cassie's affinity to revelations and miraculous intuition came into play. She was responsible for preventing the cohort from stumbling into anything that would destroy their very souls before anyone could even understand what was happening, or something that simply could not be defeated.
If not for Cassie, a sudden storm or a creature aking to the Soul Devourer — or something even more terrifying — would have ended their lives long before they returned back to the Dark City.
But even with all that, every day in the Labyrinth brought them to the very verge of death. No matter how strong, well-rounded, and well-equipped the cohort was, the nightmares of the Forgotten Shore were always more powerful, unpredictable, and bizarre, making any and all preparations useless.
In the end, the only reason that none of them had died from grievous wounds, sickness, or infection was because of Changing Star's healing flames.
In the three months that they had spent traveling through the Labyrinth, Sunny fully understood why healers were so sought after among the Awakened. He knew it before, in theory, but only after being subjected to the daily terror of their journey had he realized how life-changing — literary — the presence of a healer in the cohort truly was.
And so, just like that, they had done the unthinkable and managed to travel all the way from the edges of the Forgotten Shore back to its center — thanks to their power and resolve, their foresight, their strength, and their ability to rely on and help each other.
As well as, in large part, pure dumb luck.
And now that they were about to return to the cursed haven of the Dark City, their luck was about to be tested as it had never been tested before.
…But that was for later.
First, the members of the cohort had to fulfill their obligation to Sunny.
He had joined this expedition on a certain condition, after all.
Glancing once again at the distant grey wall, Sunny clenched his fists. The corner of his mouth curled up in a vicious grin.
'...Wait a bit more, bastard. Your day of reckoning is coming.'
In two days, they were going to kill the Black Knight.