Nephis stirred awake as she slowly opened her eyes. She looked around, feeling a bit warm
'Where am I?' slowly her memories came back to her
Then, someone moved and groaned next to her. Nephis looked at him before blushing
Sunny awoke and rubbed his eyes tiredly
'How long did we sleep?' Sunny gave Saint a mental command to come to him
Sunny turned left and saw Nephis covering her face with her hands
"You ok?"
Nephis nodded
------ 3 days later
"I have never thought that I would miss being wet" Sunny wiped a drop of sweat off his face
They had entered the strange desert a day ago. Right now, both of them are traversing through the desert carefully
They wandered for 30 minutes before Sunny noticed a movement in the sand
"Back!" Sunny and Nephis jumped back. Right in time to dodge a attack from underground
Sunny gritted his teeth and commanded Soul Serpent to turn into a odachi and wrapped Gloomy around him, while telling the rest to come back
A Scorpion that the size of a Carapace Centurions dug out of the sand. Two massive pincers with a titanic metasoma stared at them, in fact, there was two. Its back was littered with spikes, as if it was meant to be a porcupine instead of a scorpion that could eat a PTV. Four mandibles that was half the size of Sunny which isn't much but still pretty big
'At least its the Awakened one' Sunny thought before clearing his mind of distractions
They had fought-and won-against one of these abominations before, but they quickly found out that these were at the lowest part of the food chain
They stared at each other for awhile before a arrow suddenly struck its side as it let out a screech
Saint was drawing her bow again-it came from a harrowing human like abomination that Sunny gladly killed-and she let go of the string to let out another arrow-the arrow came from the same scorpion abomination as the one they're fighting right now
Sadly, the scorpion still tried to attack Nephis and Sunny. Luckily they were far enough that they could dodge its swipes at them
'Damnation, the plan didn't work' the whole plan was to make Saint grab its attention so that Sunny and Nephis could attack its weak spots
Sadly, [Fated] was a damn bitch. So they improvised without even saying anything
Now the whole new plan its to distract it long enough to make Saint shoot it till death
"Hey!" Sunny yelled so that he could grab its attention
The scorpion turned and ran towards Sunny, while Nephis quietly and quickly followed it from behind
The scorpion lunged with it's pincers towards Sunny. Sunny nimbly dodged to the left, only grazing his waist
'Curses!' Sunny slid on the sand while holding where he was grazed
Sunny summoned [Mantle of The Underworld] and spent his essence to use [Feather of Truth] enchantment, turning it as light as a feather. And his shadows finally wrapped itself around him
And the second it was done forming, the pincer grabbed him and started to crush him
Sunny gritted his teeth and tried to use Soul Serpent to pry the pincer open. The armor may be a Acended Memory of the sixth-tier, but Sunny was still as fragile as a sleeper, a very powerful one, but still
The thing let out a screech before trying to eat Sunny alive
'Damnation!' Sunny switched from trying to pry the pincers open to trying to stab its mouth-one of its few weak spots that Sunny could discern
Sunny held its hilt tightly before aiming straight for its mouth to kill it instantly. Sadly, Fate had other plans
It shrieked again, this time it incapacitated Sunny, if Sunny could bleed, his ears would have started bleeding
A pieces of saliva was on his face now as the mandibles gripped his upper body
'Oh no you don't!' Sunny gripped Soul Serpent and raised it to stab it through the mouth
At the same time, Saint was waiting for the right moment to pierce the exoskeleton of the scorpion
Behind the scorpion, Nephis quietly approached one of its legs and ran her sword through it
Sunny head is almost in the things mouth, Sunny kept trying to stab it with Soul Serpent but the mandibles got in the way
Then suddenly its entire body tipped sideways
'Saint!' Sunny grinned and took advantage of the abomination lose of focus
Sunny's hand shot through the air like a bullet as it pierced right through its right eye. And when he did, a arrow pierced the other
'Die!' Sunny pushed the odachi further until it reached its tsuba
The body fell limp and the blood spilling through its eye sockets kept flowing
[You have slain an Awakened Monster, Witness of the Defilement]
[Your Shadow grows stronger!]
[You have received a new Memory] (acquired or received?)
'Aha!' Sunny instantly forgot about the near death experience by the news of a new Memory
Sunny summoned the runes about the new Memory
[Witnesses Venom
Rank: Awakened
Tier: 2
Type: Charm
Memory description:
This witness was a witness and a survivor of the fall and rise of an era
Memory enchantment: [Survivor's Guilt], [Bitterness of War]
Enchantment [Survivor's Guilt] description:
You have resistance to most venom's and poisen's alike. However, the more you want to die, the more resistance you'll have
Enchantment [Bitterness of War] description:
Your sword will be coated with a potent venom that could melt through steel. However, the more bitterness you have-to the enemy or not-the venom will be more potent
Sunny stared at the runes before groaning in frustration
"Again?! Another Memory that I have no use for!" Sunny screamed in outrage
Nephis noticed his anger and approached him after fishing out the Soul Shards
"What's wrong?" Nephis frowned, awaiting his answer
Sunny rubbed his face before dismissing [Mantle of The Underworld] and summoning [Witness Venom] and [Endless Spring]
A small necklace made out of hard exoskeleton wrapped itself around Sunny. And a small version of the abomination tail was on the necklace
"Nothing. This the new Memory I gotten" Sunny pointed at the necklace
Nephis raised an eyebrow before asking in a confused tone
"Isn't that a good thing?"
Sunny nodded before drinking a bit of [Endless Spring] and saying with a irritated tone
"Yes it is, it's useless to me, again" Sunny sighed, he reached out his hand to transfer the Memory
Nephis waited and then read the runes of the Memory. She nodded before taking [Endless Spring] from his hand and drank it greedily
She gave it back before wiping her mouth
"We should find shelter, it's about to turn night" Nephis looked around the area
"Alright" Sunny nodded and sent his shadows to scout the area
An hour or two, they found a small cave
They quickly entered and set a small camp. Sunny dismissed the upper half of [Puppeteer Shroud] to check on his wounds
His entire torso was purple, it was bruised extremely badly, luckily no bones were broken
Nephis frowned at the sight of Sunny's state and she shuffled closer so she could heal him. Nephis was about to place her hand on Sunny's bare chest but Sunny gently held her wrist
"It's fine, it'll heal tomorrow" Sunny smiled softly before summoning the upper half of [Puppeteer Shroud] back
Nephis secretly wanted to look at Sunny's bare body a bit more but didn't let it show on her face as she let out a small sigh
"Fine" she retracted her hand and swiped the hair on her forehead back
They made a small fire and put some food on it. They sat side by side as Nephis hugged her knees
Saint was near the exit just in case
The sounds of steel cashing against steel could be heard in the darkness of night
Nephis stared at the fire before asking
"Do you have any feelings for the people in our cohort?"
Sunny raised an eyebrow before shaking his head
"I don't think so" Sunny shrugged
"Have you?" Sunny stared at Nephis
Nephis shook her head
"My goals comes first"
Sunny chuckled and patted Nephis head-he's getting more bold because he likes to see Nephis fumble over her words
"It's always goals first, if it wasn't, I would have assumed you're a skin walker" Sunny grinned
Sunny grabbed the meat on the fire and shoved one of them inside of Nephis mouth
Nephis took the meat out of her mouth with a small pout before eating in silence. Sunny laughed before also eating in silence