On the last day they would spend in the Dark City, Nephis led a small group of her most powerful warriors on one last hunt.
The members of her cohort were all following behind her. Sunny, who stubbornly refused to accept his status as one of them, walked apart from the group, idly looking around and observing the ruins.
Gemma and Seishan were also with them, as well as ten or so of the most experienced hunters — some of them formerly from the Host, some formerly from the outer settlement. There was no difference between the two anymore.
All of them were simply Changing Star's people now.
As they were walking, Gemma approached Sunny and glanced at him with curiosity.
After Tessai had fallen to Neph's blade, the tall man seemed to have found some measure of peace. Somewhere deep in his eyes, however, there always was a hint of sorrow.
Sunny stared at him and raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
The hunter smiled slightly and asked in a friendly tone:
"You're Sunless, right?"
Sunny shrugged.
"Yeah, that's me."
Gemma silently measured him and then asked with interest:
"I've heard that you lived for months alone in the city. Is that true?"
'Ah, makes sense.'
The tall man was perhaps the most experienced hunter on the Forgotten Shore. He had survived countless battles on the streets of the cursed city. It was natural for him to be curious about this matter…
Sunny gave him a nod.
"Sure. A little over three months, I guess."
Gemma rubbed his chin, then asked bluntly:
"How did you survive?"
Sunny grinned.
How had he managed that, indeed?
A modicum of
for
right, I
at Changing Star and asked
we are going
looked at
"She didn't tell you?"
hesitated, then shook his
not
smiled and
lost her
few moments of silence,
can
'Poor guy…'
at him, lingered for a
guess is correct, you know more
just like that, their conversation
the middle of the day, they reached the eastern edges of the city and climbed the imposing monolith of the great wall. Standing on top of it, they saw the
a vast underground chamber beneath that
going to hunt
***
lay in the mud. Thousands of years ago, it had broken off and fell, crashing through the dome of the underground chamber. Now, there was a chasm in the ground that led into the lair of
the catacombs. Now, they were going
of the catacombs waited for them below. Sunny wasn't really surprised that Nephis had chosen to return to this place. After all, the mountainous
how exactly she was planning to
the hole in the mud, Changing Star glanced at
shadow take a look at the burial
slid on the mud and entered the dark hole, then hid in the palm of the
still there, in the
looked very different from how
vines were growing from the mass of bones, some of them comparatively thin, others as thick as a human body. They weren't growing just between the ancient remains: the vines were bursting through
As though it was
to look closer, and finally noticed the thing that
The exact same box Nephis had mysteriously entrusted to Caster
pillow with a small note. That note had been written by Changing Star's spy — Seishan. And the contents of the box had been created for
Her Aspect Ability allowed
turned out, was her last creation
then spoke, his words causing
infected by Kido's vine. It seems
and remained silent for a few
with the help of the Dawn Shard, we should be able to survive the onslaught.
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