Shadow Slave

There could not have been a tunnel that stretched under the Antarctic Center for hundreds of kilometers. Not only would a structure like that be a miraculous feat of engineering, but far too many people - especially the army strategist and someone as knowledgeable as Professor Obel - would be aware of its existence.

However, no one had been.

Sunny remained silent for a while, then looked at the old man. Professor Obel simply shook his head.

"I am afraid I can't explain. Which... is not too surprising. After the Nightmare Spell descended, there are many things in the world that science - or rather, our limited scientific understanding - fails to explain."

Sunny sighed.

'Great.'

What was he supposed to do now?

It was clear that the laws of nature were either broken or worked differently inside the tunnel. Space was not behaving as it was supposed to behave... or maybe they had simply traveled to some. strange pocket dimension that was filled with nothing but true darkness.

Maybe they were all under the influence of another mind hex. Maybe they had all been devoured by the swarm of Brood beasts, and were now condemned to an eternal purgatory.

Who could tell?

Sunny cursed silently, then wrapped all four shadows around the Undying Chain to ramp up its mental protection. Nothing changed. The oppressive darkness did not disappear... if anything, it seemed even more foreboding now.

He closed his eyes for a moment.

"Alright. Let's not panic yet."

startling bang rolled through the tunnel, echoing in the darkness. In the place where his steel gauntlet had landed, a small impression appeared, with a net of

into

move forward. However, this time, Sunny made it stop after ten minutes and left the

around his body, be activated the [Light Eater] enchantment of the Cruel Sight to illuminate the path and ran back into the darkness. Moving much faster than the vehicles had, he soon

in reverse - the tunnel was not wide enough for the Rhino and

a while, he gave the order to

'...This is bad.'

course, had

already knew that it was possible to go back to a previously visited spot inside the tunnel - Belle, Dorn, and himself had

Indeed, he had been able to return to the

test if something would change with more

long seen the imprint of his fist and the net of cracks around it, but there was none.

from the tunnel.

Sunny felt a cold shiver run down

would they have been separated from the convoy forever? Would they be doomed

come close to disaster without even knowing

'I was lucky.'

was more than capable of fighting against enemies that he could strike down, even if their strength seemed overwhelming. However, he was as powerless as the rest against circumstances like the one

Simply by existing.

someone like Cassie. Sadly, she was far away, probably preparing for the war between Valor and Song with the rest of the Fire

'...Damnation!'

battered vehicles of the convoy. There were almost four hundred people in them that he had promised

have always been a

took a deep