Inside the giant nest of spiderwebs, a desiccated corpse of the colossal Matriarch lay shriveled on the floor, its iron carapace shattered by some devastating blow. The creature was long dead, but the sight of it was still terrifying.
The vast abdomen of the brood mother, however, appeared to have been severed much later than her fatal battle against the Lord of the Bright Castle. It almost looked as if it was… torn apart from within. Inside the terrifying wound, there were shattered remnants of five giant, metallic eggs.
Lua examined the eggs 'Must be the Fallen Beasts from the city.' Lua thought before turning to the humongous corpse of the Iron Spider Matriarch, 'it's bigger than the one Wolf fought. It's almost a Fallen rank.' The corpse resting in front of her was over double this size of the matriarch Wolf fought a week ago, meaning it was likely close to being classed as either a fallen tyrant or a terror.
"We're lucky." Lua spoke, drawing the group's attention to her. "It almost ranked up to a Fallen Tyrant." She watched as the rest of the cohort shuddered at the thought.
Although they had killed a fallen Tyrant before, the archer from which Lua received Eventide. They heavily used the geography of the cramped cave they found it in to trap it. It wasn't a fair fight even with imagination. Not to mention Effie almost got killed by the damned thing.
But fighting a Fallen tyrant in the labyrinth would be a nightmare, not to mention one as large and armoured as this. Lua stopped examining the desecrated corpse and looked around.
There were numerous cocoons of spiderwebs attached to the walls of the nest all around the dead Matriarch. Inside them, withered carcasses of Nightmare Creatures of all shapes and sizes were preserved in a strangely good condition.
The Nightmare Creatures appeared as though they were kept alive inside the cocoons for a long, long time before finally succumbing to death and turning into mummified corpses.
Lua shuddered in utter horror and disgust, even her usual free loving personality mellowed out and was rendered sober which only made worse when she saw what Sunny was examining.
A few cocoons that had been broken open and what was inside of them. The iron spiders used them as incubators not for food.
The creatures in the broken cocoons had been devoured from within. A few of them still had hundreds of small, moist eggs embedded into their flesh, with embryonic spiderlings moving weakly behind the slightly transparent shells.
Lua's resolve broke as she vomited. The utter disgust of the situation completely overtook her. Nephis walked over to her, resting a hand on her back as she channeled her divine flames into her back, easing the pain.
"Thank you."
They continued to explore the nest for a while, eventually Sunny called out to his companions. Then, he led them deeper into the nest, where, attached to the wall, hung a cocoon that was different from all the others. Because this one hid a rough silhouette of a human body.
The seven of them stood somberly around the cocoon, each consumed by their own dark thoughts. Finally, Nephis turned her head to Caster and said. "Can your sword cut it open?"
With a short nod, Caster summoned the enchanted jian and took a step forward. Approaching the cocoon, he stopped and hesitated for a few moments. "Be careful."
The tip of the jian cut through the metal wires of the cocoon, splitting it open. A shriveled human body fell to the floor, making Caster jump back.
Nephis, Caster, Lua and Sunny stared at it, their faces pale and full of ghastly resentment. Then, Sunny bent over and emptied the contents of his stomach. Lua probably would have done the same if she hadn't already done so mere minutes ago.
The young man whose corpse they found in this harrowing place did not die an easy death. In fact, being eaten alive from the inside by a hundred of tiny Nightmare Creatures was probably the worst fate imaginable. His face was strangely intact, with an expression of horrifying agony frozen on it forever.
Looking at their condition, Effie frowned. "Did you guys know him?"
After a few moments of silence, Caster slowly nodded. "Yes. His name is… his name was Stephen. He was the youngest heir of the Pandavar clan.
Lua shuddered. "It's horrible." she half whimpered whilst looking at the corpse, all happiness about the amount of fragments she received gone.
Some time later, Nephis gritted her teeth and turned away. Then, she said, her voice suppressed and hollow. "We need to leave. The sun is setting."
Her words broke the silence and brought everyone back from their grim reveries. Caster lingered for a few minutes, then spoke in a hesitant tone. "Aren't we… aren't we going to bury him?"
Nephis shook her head. "There's not enough time. I also don't want anyone touching the bodies infected with these eggs. It's too dangerous."
The members of the cohort looked at each other. No one had a reasonable objection, but it felt wrong to just leave their fellow human here. Finally, Nephis sighed. A complicated expression appeared on her face, and then she said, "...Alright. Go. I'll catch up with you guys later."
One after another, the six of them glanced at Nephis and left, leaving her alone with the dead young man and numerous cocoons, each hiding a slain Nightmare Creature.
As soon as the last member of the cohort climbed out of the nest, a beam of pure radiance suddenly shot from the dark hole of its entrance, followed by a wave of scorching heat. The purifying fire unleashed by Nephis engulfed the remains of their fellow student and then spread to the numerous cocoons, the Nightmare Creatures inside of them, and even the corpse of the Spider Matriarch herself.
The insides of the nest turned into an incandescent, incinerating furnace. Everything inside of it was doomed to be annihilated and turned to ashes. A few minutes later, the whole structure was consumed by furious white flames.
Nephis had escaped the burning nest shortly after the rest of her cohort, her face pale and tired. Leaving the grandiose funeral pyre behind, they began ascending the statue of the ancient warrior. The night was approaching.
Lua watched the cave burn, her face blank from the horror of what was inside. She had seen many things during her almost 3 years in the Forgotten Shore but this by far was the worst. Creatures imprisoned and used as incubators, a fate even a sleeper had been subjected to.
She raised her hand, clutching Sky's Gift, the crimson spear the only thing left linking her to her family. By now she'd pretty much figured that they were on the north side of the hollow mountain range. And since even saints would avoid it, she was sure there were only two ways out.
The group quickly climbed up the statute as night approached. They had two days till their ride arrived so they had a while to wait. As soon as they climbed to the top, Lua pretty much immediately laid down, and rested.
***
Two days later, seven dormant humans were standing at the edge of the vast canyon as the twilight of dusk drowned the world in shadows. Far below them, the black waters of the cursed sea were raging, rising from the depths in a terrifying, obliterating wave.
In a few minutes, all light was going to be completely gone. And then, the flood of darkness would wash over the world, destroying anyone left standing in its path.
Suddenly, a blinding burst of white light pierced the darkness. Holding the incandescent sword in her hand, Nephis closed her shining eyes for a second and then raised the sword high above her head, as if calling the monsters of the depths to come take her.
The embrace of impenetrable darkness was broken by the furious white light of Nephis' incandescent sword. Illuminated by it, seven people were standing on the shore of a raging river. Their faces were pale and grim.
The canyon had disappeared, consumed by the rising surge of the black water. Now, the cursed sea was flowing over its edges, ready to swell and flood the narrow passages of the great Labyrinth in an unstoppable wave.
Among the seven of them, only three had truly experienced the perils of this dark abyss. They knew that the real dread came not from the sea itself, but from the terrors that hid in its cursed depths.
Lua stood steadfast as the water slowly rose, waiting for Sunny's signal. Winter's Warmth billowed in the wind as the sea crept up their bodies.
"...It's here."
Out there in the distance, a massive shape was moving through the waves, attracted by the light of Changing Star's incandescent blade. The sea seethed and swirled around it, the black mass of water easily pushed away by the approaching creature.
Nephis gritted her teeth and somehow made her flames burn even brighter, forcing the darkness to retreat another dozen steps. "Get ready!"
A few moments later, the furious sounds of a massive body moving through the dark water reached their ears. The creature was a true giant, easily towering above the waves even though it was walking on the bottom of the canyon.
Soon, she could discern the general shape of it.
Two hills that rose above water were its shoulders. And right between them, where the head should have been…There was nothing but emptiness.
There were seven headless statues on the Forgotten Shore, but only six marks on the map created by Nephis. Not because she had failed to learn of the seventh one…But because the seventh statue never stayed in one place for too long.
And now, that stone colossus was walking through the flooded canyon, his shoulder scraping against one of its walls. The wide chest of the headless giant pushed the water away, creating whirlpools in his wake.
Raising one colossal arm, the statue easily destroyed the protruding remnants of the ancient bridge that got in its way. The debris rained into the black waves, disappearing into them without a trace.
'Bigger than I thought.' Lua half saw the statue approaching, barely able to see it. This… this was their fast and safe — comparatively — method of traveling to the edges of the Forgotten Shore.
"He's coming!" Sunny yelled.
The black water was already to their knees. The members of the cohort tensed and prepared themselves for what was about to come.They only had one chance to do this. Failure meant death.
A few moments later, the massive shape of the stone colossus entered the circle of light created by Nephis. Its shoulders rose above the waves, close enough to the now invisible shore of the flooded canyon for them to see every tiny crack on the surface of the weathered stone.
Now wasting any time, Changing Star ran forward and jumped. A moment later, the blade of her sword hit the surface of the statue and slid deep into it, as if melting the ancient stone. Using the sword as a purchase, Nephis started to climb to the giant's shoulder.
The other members of the cohort were following closely behind her. Kai was carrying Cassie in his arms, flying to the top of the colossus with no problem at all. Caster seemed to simply disappear and appear a moment later on the giant's shoulder, standing side by side with Changing Star.
Lua waited till last, given her ability to fly for small periods of time, she wanted to make sure everyone else made it on. Only Sunny was having trouble. With him not being very tall and the water level rising with each second, he found it hard to gain enough momentum for a proper jump.
However, before he could come up with a solution, Effie simply grabbed him by the collar… and tossed Sunny into the air.
"You didn't have to…" Lua frowned as she and Effie jumped onto the giant, quickly finding purchase. The stone colossus moved, making everyone stumble and fall. Leaving the ruins of the bridge behind, he turned around and indifferently began walking away from it.
He was walking south.