"Wake up, Sunless! Your Nightmare is over…"
"Wake up, Sunless! Your Nightmare is over…"
Sunny got up, his forehead slightly burning.
"Ouch! What the hell!"
He turned to his right—Solaire was standing there, looking royally pissed.
[Turn your stupid rock off! And get up, we need to go hunt.]
Sunny slowly got up. He wanted to go back to sleep, but it was too late—he was fully awake.
"I keep telling you, just stay here. It's the safest place out there. I mean, we even have a fallen devil guarding the house for us."
Rolling his eyes, Solaire replied,
[Oh yeah? From what I remember, last time the same fallen devil had almost killed your ass.]
After washing his face in the basin, Sunny smirked.
"Of course. And I'm going to kill him for it."
[Yo, you need to learn how to smile. God, that smile gives me the creeps.]
Sunny looked hurt.
"Wha—what do you mean? My smile is divine. Literally. Don't you agree?" he asked, turning towards his shadow. It didn't seem to respond and just stared at him.
"Bah! Whatever, let's go now."
"Wake up, Sunless! Your nightmare is over."
Irritated, he summoned the memory back into his soul sea.
"I swear I'll break this parrot rock to dust one day!"
The both of them sat down, having some strips of monster meat. Sunny would've had a hard time hunting, if not for the fact that Solaire was there with him. He still remembered the first time he saw Solaire hunt. He was strong, not because of his skill—Nephis and Caster were both better than him when it came to combat skills. What made Solaire so different was his Aspect.
"Invincibility while dodging… what a bullshit skill," Sunny muttered under his breath.
"Not to mention that memory of his. I would have died for sure that day if not for that." Sunny shuddered, thinking back to the time he was slashed by the Black Knight.
Solaire got up, breaking Sunny from his trance.
[Let's go. Time to take on those Blood Fiends today.]
The both of them had learned a lot from each other over the past four months. Solaire taught him the swordsmanship he'd learned from Rock, while Sunny taught him how to hunt in the dark.
They made their way to the roof of the cathedral, climbing up the rope hanging from the ceiling. Today, their goal was to kill a pack of Blood Fiends.
[Same plan. Me and my echo will be bait, and you can use that opportunity to take them out from behind.]
Sunny nodded. Blood Fiends were among the weakest dwellers in the Cursed City. Even though they were Awakened monsters, they posed less of a threat compared to the Carapace Centurions Sunny had faced.
Solaire jumped. Summoning his echo, he threw a rock at one of them. The pack of four immediately turned towards them, growling menacingly. The four surrounded Solaire and jumped at him. He had nowhere to dodge—so he rolled directly towards the fiend in front of him, passing right through it. He turned back, summoned the Darksword, and threw it, piercing two of the fiends.
[Now, Sunny!]
Right on time, Sunny slashed at the heads of the other two fiends with his Midnight Shard.
Sunny looked at the air.
"Come on, say it!"
[You have slain an Awakened monster: Blood Fiend.]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
Grinning, Sunny summoned his runes. Looking down, he read:
Shadow fragments: [520/1000]
Solaire looked at his counter as well.
Humanities: [286/1000]
He was satisfied. Over the last four months, he was able to gather a lot more humanity than he had been able to do alone.
Just as they were about to leave, they heard footsteps in the distance. Sunny looked at Solaire before sending his shadow to investigate.
Solaire got down, cutting into the Blood Fiend's flesh. It was tough, but he was able to cut through it pretty easily. Just as Solaire finished, he heard Sunny:
"My, oh my. They really are people. What are Gunlaug's goons doing outside the castle in the middle of the night?"
[I don't know? Maybe burying a body?]
The footsteps were quickly approaching them. They both hid inside one of the broken buildings.
"Make sure no one finds that guy. We need him to give us all of his memories."
Solaire tried shifting slightly but sent a small pile of rubble tumbling down. The leader of the six Sleepers called out,
"Monster! Be careful!"
They all pointed their weapons toward the rubble. Walking out slowly, Sunny replied,
"Please don't kill us! We are humans!"
The six Sleepers were really surprised to see other humans this far away from the walls of the castle—especially at night. Using their momentary confusion, both of them cautiously moved even further away.
"Don't move!"
Gunlaug's people moved closer, and the leader asked,
"Who are you both? What are you doing here?!"
Sunny gulped before answering,
"I am Sunless, and this is Solaire. We live here."
"What… live here? Do you think I'm a fool, boy?! No one can survive in the city!"
The other Sleepers were of the same opinion—except for one, who looked at Sunny with doubt. Frowning, he took a step forward and said in an uncertain tone:
"Wait, chief. He might be telling the truth. I heard that there's a crazy kid who lives in the ruins alone."
The taller man scowled.
"How is that possible?"
His subordinate glanced at Sunny and shrugged.
"From what I heard, his Aspect allows the boy to hide in the shadows really well. I guess he crawls around like a rat and picks up the leftovers after the monsters are done eating. I don't really know, but someone was talking about him back in the castle. I thought they were just telling tales."
The helpful man continued,
"He came here with that bitch, Changing Star."
Solaire thought to himself,
"Oh oh… they are so dead."
Sunny tilted his head and said in a low voice,
"You shouldn't have said that."
The leader stepped forward and, in a low voice, grumbled,
"What are you mumbling, rat?"
With a sigh, Sunny turned to the man and said,
"I said, you shouldn't have said that. You guys have offended my dearest friend, Nephis of the Immortal Flame Clan. She and I are very, very close. So I'll give you one chance to apologize for calling her a… well, you know. If you don't, say goodbye to your lives."
The man laughed.
"Ha ha! Look at this, guys—this weasel is going to give us a chance!"
With a contemptuous scoff, he continued,
"I heard that Saint Nephis carried two useless sacks of shit on her back all the way to the castle. The bitch is fond of taking care of weaklings, right? That delicious little friend of hers is blind, for God's sake! I'm sure that this one is no better."
Before he could continue, a kunai hit the front of his head, killing him instantly. Before the other goons could ready themselves, Solaire and his echo tore through them.
In a matter of minutes, the six Sleepers were dead.