Shadow Slave

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.

ground beneath their feet gently sloped upward. As time passed, it grew more and more rocky, and the incline

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

settled in his heart. With a bit of introspection, Sunny realized that it was something he

of being connected to

an impossible task, simply knowing where they were in relation to the rest of

as they had been before… but

a nice, but useless

turned around and hurried to catch up with the

just at the point where the foothills turned

not met a single living thing. In any other circumstances, Sunny would have been glad because of this strange lack of

it, he looked down with a

incredible scale, it was clearly made by humans. A road clinging to the

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

monolithic blocks of grey stone, then the size

the materials for the mighty wall of the Dark City

that the ancient inhabitants of the Forgotten Shore had transported all that stone from this far away… the thought

with a tense look on her face. Suddenly. she pointed to the center of the deep

"Over there, look."

moments, he couldn't understand what the huntress was talking about, but then