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 madness, and a
at him for a bit,
about right,
at Changing Star and asked in a
we
at him
"She didn't tell you?"
hesitated,
just not
smiled and looked
she had lost her mind. What
a few moments of silence, Gemma
can we
'Poor guy…'
him, lingered for
you know more about it than
like that, their
of the city and climbed the imposing monolith of the great wall. Standing on top of it, they saw the colossal crater
hiding in a vast
hunt the
***
statue, the second arm of the Priestess 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 Lord of the
the rest had used that breach to escape from the
surprised that Nephis had chosen to return to this place. After all, the mountainous abomination was most likely guarding the last of the seven
curious about how exactly she was planning
everyone gathered around the hole in the mud,
your shadow take a look
It slid on the mud and entered
mountain of human bones was still there, in the middle of the vast circular
different from how
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 the
weaker. More brittle. As though it was sick, sapped of its strength
his shadow to look closer, and finally noticed the thing that he had expected to
the underground chamber, open and empty. The exact same box Nephis had mysteriously entrusted to Caster as soon as they
box had appeared on his pillow with a small note. That note had been written by Changing Star's spy
been the leader of the Artisans. Her Aspect Ability allowed her to control and alter
vine, as it turned out, was her last creation
Nephis, Sunny hesitated for a moment and then spoke, his
infected by Kido's vine. It seems to be
remained silent for a few moments. Then,
the chamber, the Lord of the Dead will attack us. Now that its power is reduced, and with the help of the Dawn Shard, we should be able to survive the onslaught. We should also
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