As everyone noticed the storm approaching, all of the members of the cohort found themselves back on the platform, which was the severed neck of the giant statue.
Averting his gaze, Ray looked around, checking on his comrades. He noticed quickly, how nearly everyone seemed in a rather bad situation. Nothing too critical, but still injured. It seemed that he was too concentrated on the swarm, to even notice this, before just now.
In the distance, the enormous wall of darkness continued approaching the cohort, giving them less and less time.
While still having the time for it, Nephis went around, using her dormant ability to heal the members who were hit the hardest. She first went to Effie, who had apparently nearly been skewered by one of the locusts, which arrived on the platform.
Everyone that wasn't really injured, namely Caster, Kai, and Ray, were thinking about possible approaches for the nearing storm, though, all of them did so in the depths of their minds.
'Nothing I have would be of any real help here… but, is leaving it all to chance really the only thing I can do?' Ray thought as hard as he could, but could not come up with any real solution to their problem.
Sure, he had [Oblivion's Thread], which could take on any shape, when he first summoned it, but call it missing imagination, or simply an incomplete arsenal, but there was nothing he could completely come up with.
At least, nothing that would guarantee their safety, in any meaningful way.
Nevertheless, they needed something, therefore he voiced one of the 'faulty' options that he thought of, "Do we have the time to cut us a space big enough for us, into the colossus?"
"Unlikely." Kai, who was close enough, answered, holding his chin in thought, "Maybe if we had more memories that could cut the stone…"
"Thought so…"
There was also the possibility to make the memory take the shape of a dome, if that size was even feasible for the memory, which would cover them all, but just like the other one, it wasn't actually something they could successfully pull off.
"Any ideas from your sides?" Ray asked the other two, who had remained mostly silent.
"…" Nothing from Caster.
"Climbing lower, maybe. The lightning will most likely be drawn to this place."
It was Sunny that entered their conversation from the side, "We can't. The sea is going to rise, so even more of the statue will be underwater. Most likely. What we should actually be wary of, are the things that may be attracted, by the commotion."
For some reason, when Sunny said this, a cold shiver ran through Ray's body, as if it was instinctively trying to warn him of something. Something he really did not want to find out what it was.
By then, Nephis had been done with healing Effie to an acceptable level again, and went over to Sunny next, who declined, for some reason.
Watching from the side, Ray couldn't help but think that they had some kind of moment. If it was in a romantic way, friendly, or maybe even rival-like, who knew.
After the moment passed, she went over to Cassie, who had also sustained a hit from a straggler of the swarm.
The storm was nearly upon them, by now.
It was then that Ray finally had a feasible and more or less useful idea. Noticing the missing time, he went to it immediately.
"Eff! How many iron spears do we have left?!"
The huntress seemed caught off guard for an instant, before she answered, more by reflex than understanding, "Eh, I'm not sure. Like… three, maybe. Why?"
Ray seemed to hesitate for a second, before shaking his head, to remove any extra thoughts from his mind. "Good, make some holes on the outer perimeter of the platform. A couple meters away from us."
"Why?"
"That way, at least the lightning won't only have us as targets to hit."
Hearing the reason, the huntress quickly went to work. She used her bronze spear, and rammed it straight into the ground, a couple meters, as instructed, away from them.
Quickly, two holes were made, and she thrusted both iron poles she had on her into them, while Ray, himself, took care of the third, and last one.
And then, came the alarm.
"Get ready! Hold on!"
It was Nephis, who once again took command, and had already summoned her sword, and embedded it deep into the stone. She, herself, was now kneeling next to it, leaving her faith into it.
Caster, as well as Ray, followed her example. Ray used [Oblivion's Thread], again as a Claymore, to hold onto it, while Caster used his eerily glowing Jian.
Effie simply chose to grab onto a crack in the ancient stone, while hugging Cassie with the other arm closely.
The rest, namely, Sunny and Kai, went with an a bit more unorthodox method.
At some point these past few moments, Sunny had summoned his stone saint, and now, both of them were holding onto a thigh of the taciturn echo, each.
Not even, a full minute later, the storm was upon them.
---
All of them were constantly assaulted by the heavy winds, brought by the storm, the myriad of drops, of both the rain and the dark sea, which had began growing restless, the second the storm had descended upon them.
The waves were hitting the stone colossus from every direction imaginable, hitting higher and higher, each time.
Just in the first few minutes, there had already been multiple close calls for some of them. Unexpectedly, Sunny and Kai were possibly the most secure, in their position.
The stone saint was fully withstanding the winds, and apparently, even the infinite expanse of water that was crashing into them.
But, two people that were holding on for their lives, quickly realized that the Storm was the least of their problems.
Sunny was basically just waiting for the dwellers of the deep to jump out of the water, and try to get onto the colossus, and possibly devour them all.
Ray, meanwhile, was feeling a Déjà-vu. There was the same feeling he had felt a while back, during the time where he had hunted close to the walls of the dark city. The feeling of being followed.
'That bastard is back…'
Yes, the same feeling he had gotten, whenever his 'stalker' had been around was back. And it was stronger than ever before.
Unfortunately, right now, Ray, along with the others, was basically ripe for the taking, if the feeling he got from the creature was anything to go by.
'I guess I really bring bad luck…'
In the same instant, the previously chaotic water, exploded into the sky, becoming even more wild.
Fortunately for most of them, they were unable to see what was actually happening.
Sunny, though, Sunny wasn't as lucky.
He had clearly seen how an enormous black tentacle had shot through the dark, turbulent surface of the dark sea, and wrapped itself around the giant neck of the stone colossus, appearing to try to pull it down into the depths.
But, before the tentacle could actually pull the still moving giant anywhere, the colossus raised one of its hands, and… simply ripped the monster's appendage in two afore dropping it into the dark sea, once more.
This, marked the start of the clash between two monstrous titans that weren't actually titans.
---
Though, Sunny remained the only one seeing the clash, all of them felt it.
Each movement, by the stone giant. Each attack from the monstrosity that had come from the deepest parts of the dark sea, seemed to vibrate through the entirety of the stone, shaking even the seven sleepers that had the misfortune of being too close to these monsters.
In the midst of the darkness of the night, only the sounds and sensations of the confrontation, were audible. That was, until someone's voice broke through the chaotic world, "Hold fast!"
No one knew who it was, but all that heard the shout, simply ignored this thought, and followed it, holding onto whatever was giving them the chance to live.
Everyone was clutching their lifelines, with all the power they could muster, while the titans continued their brawl.
There was simply no place for the sleepers to intervene in any meaningful – or any – way, at all.
No one spoke. Every sound that could be heard, came from either the storm, still raging around them, or the clash of giants.
At one point, Ray could've sworn he had heard the crackling of lightning, followed by his thunderous companion.
The only other sensation came, when they felt the statue beginning to tilt. Instinctively, everyone understood the situation in a matter of seconds.
They were going underwater. Again.
Barely having the time to take one deep breath, the entire cohort was, once again, feeling the powerful currents crashing into them. Threatening to throw them off their only chance to make it out of there.
The time underwater felt like an eternity. Not one member, had been able to take a sufficiently deep breath, and therefore, all of them soon felt themselves grow weaker. But, what could they do, besides pray to the dead gods.
Mere seconds, before Kai could've, once more, fallen unconscious, due to the lack of oxygen, the giant stone finally raised his body above the waves again, giving them all their much-awaited air to breathe.
All of them felt weak, the toll on their bodies was accumulating, and they all knew; they wouldn't be able to hold on for much longer.
Seconds later, a deep, and unnatural coldness spread among the members of the cohort.
'Something must've happened…' Ray thought, while still clutching onto the sword, embedded deeply into the ancient stone.
Following this thought, Sunny's voice echoed, once more, "Neph! Light!"
Changing Star did not let the young man down, and immediately called onto her incandescent, white fire, which illuminated the surroundings, giving each of them the chance to glance upon what they were dealing with.
They all saw a cracked eerie, three-eyed skull, still somewhat hanging onto the hammer of the colossus, while a wave of pure darkness receded further and further, apparently getting fought back by the white radiance.
The creature, and the tentacles began sinking again, appearing to have lost all of its strength.
But, before it could fully slip down into the dark sea, disappearing forever, one of the limbs seemed to regain just a sliver of its strength, before it shot forwards.
Its direction?
An unsuspecting young man, with gray-black hair.
Ray tried activating his dormant ability, but either it didn't activate fast enough, or was too weak to work, the tentacle managed to grab him, and pulled him down, along with it.
'Really…?'
That was the last thought Ray could muster, before the dark sea embraced him again.
---
They should arrive at the hollow mountains in the next, or the one after that. Pls, hold on, just like all of them did ;)