Shadow Slave

Sunny stared at the blind girl with surprise clearly written on his face. Allowing this surprise to seep into his voice, he asked:

"The vine creature? You want to kill that thing?"

Why would she want to attempt to do something that dangerous?

Cassie nodded.

"Yes."

He shook his head.

"That bastard sprawls through the entire island, its vines buried underground. It is Corrupted, which means that our weapons will barely be able to cut it. And, if that was not bad enough, the vines produce clouds of deadly poison. Are you sure that you want to attack it?"

The blind girl lingered for a few moments, then answered calmly:

"It is a Corrupted Monster, indeed. It is terrifying and lethal, yes. But I am sure that we can destroy it, with enough preparation. Everyone has weaknesses, after all. That creature is susceptible to fire, for example. There must be other things we might be able to exploit, too."

Sunny thought for a while, then shrugged.

"Fine. I will help your cohort fight the monstrosity on the Shipwreck Island. I will not promise that we will succeed, though."

Cassie sighed.

"Then we have a deal. My cohort and I will remain in the Desecrated Growth until our business here is done. I expect it to take a month, at least. Maybe more. After, we will return to the Sanctuary, recuperate, and proceed to the Shipwreck Island."

She paused for a moment, and then added:

"And then, I will help you challenge the Second Nightmare."

Sunny smiled.

die before that, you

turned back to the roots

we don't die before

***

Sanctuary,

feel all sorts of complicated emotions. The manner of their

his resentment for the sake of mutual benefit. After all, Sunny could

the island. Sunny knew very well how dangerous that thing was, so he had a lot of preparations to do if he wanted to come

Cruel Sight, however, was going

to think about that. However, Sunny was not going to let this vision affect

to act as if nothing had changed. At least he thought that this was

back from the Desecrated Grove, Sunny approached the Sanctuary of Noctis in the middle

the familiar sound of water

about it, for now.

the sky, which meant that

source of the miraculous coins the dead Chain Worm had brought with it to the Iron Hand Island

was waiting for him up

Sunny walked through the empty garden and approached the clear pond in its center. Stopping for a couple of moments to make sure that no one was watching him, he then crossed the stone

altar stood in the shade of an ancient

'The moment of truth…'

summoned the Covetous Coffer, took out one of the gold coins

reflecting the

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

big smile appeared

runes,

Shadow Fragments: [224/2000].

'It works!'

so on the altar each time he had to return to the real world — to minimize the chances of being noticed and

reward was in his