Soon, the group left the ruin and ventured into the desert once again.
Their speed was much greater than the day before — not only because the weaker mber of the group had received an opportunity to rest, but also because their wounds were healed by Nephis.
Nephis… did not look well. Physically, she was perfectly healthy, and anyone who did not know her as deeply as Sunny did would have assud that everything was fine. But he could feel how drained and hurt she really was. Neph had not recovered from using her Aspect to destroy the vessels of the Gate Guardian yet…
He was worried that, perhaps, she never would.
Nevertheless, Nephis had insisted on treating everyone's injuries. Even Seishan's — only Beastmaster, whose wound had been delivered by Whispering Blade's sword, had turned out to be beyond her ability to nd flesh. The ugly cut on the diabolically beautiful face of the enchantress still continued to weep blood.
There was so logic to providing aid to the enemies of Clan Valor. As long as they were in the desert, they were on the sa side — no one knew when the Gate Guardian would attack again, or what kind of monstrous abominations awaited them in the scorching expanse of the Nightmare Desert. So, the higher the strength of the group was, the higher Neph's chances to survive would be.
That was also the reason why Sunny did not stop her from treating his wounds. Usually, he was deeply reluctant to let Nephis torture herself on his behalf… but now, both of them were in dire danger. He had to be in the best state possible to ensure that they made it out of the Dream Realm alive.
The group walked across the white sands of the cursed desert like lost souls wandering the vast expanse of a scorching hell.
The Nightmare Desert was full of dangers that even two Saints would find difficult, or outright impossible, to survive. More than that, their chances of finding a spot where the pull of the Seeds was weak enough to escape were slim, at least in a short amount of ti.
…Or it would have been, if not for the unique advantage the group possessed.
That advantage, of course, was Cassie. The blind oracle had long proved how irreplaceable she was in the Dream Realm. Now that she was a Master, her supernatural intuition had only grown stronger.
Guided by Cassie, they managed to avoid the most dreadful dangers and go deeper and deeper into the desert without losing a single mber of the group to its horrors. Of course, the cursed sea of dunes was too dire of a land to make their journey easy.
There were still hazards, pitfalls, and abominable creatures of all kinds that they had to avoid, overco, and fight. But with Sumr Knight and Beastmaster protecting the Ascended, none of it managed to harvest their lives.
And, by the ti the sun started to roll toward the horizon, they finally stumbled on what they had been hoping to find… so of them had been, at least.
The ruin in front of them was not very large, and looked like a spent candle. It was low and misshapen, as if furious flas had once lted the black stones into a searing liquid, which then cooled down and solidified in a chaotic pattern.
A vast expanse of sand around the ruin had been turned into a sea of uneven black glass.
That was not important, though. What was important was that the misshapen structure was distant enough from the surrounding Seeds to allow the Saints to leave the Dream Realm from inside it.
The group made its way into the ruin, stepping across obsidian glass. Inside, the floor was just the sa — everything told the story of furious flas that had raged within the structure once, turning it into a scorched husk.
Stepping on the cracked black glass, Beastmaster breathed in deeply, and then looked at the rest of them.
"Well. There's no point in dragging this out… Seishan and I will be leaving. It was nice knowing you all! Granted, I can take one more person with — those of you who have fought against the great clan Song, I hope you won't be offended if I don't extend the invitation. Oh, except for you, little brother. You, Raised by Wolves, and Nightingale. I can help one of you escape this botherso predicant."
She smiled brightly, giving them a asured look.
The underlying ssage of her offer was clear — you would owe .
Or maybe even… I would own you.
A tense silence settled in the chamber of black glass.
Eventually, it was Effie who broke it:
"I'm sorry. My mom told not to follow strange won."
The words were just like what one would expect from the rambunctious huntress, but her tone was uncharacteristically somber. Effie seed to be struggling with the decision, and yet, there was no room for compromise left after what she had said.
Kai and Sunny silently shook their heads, expressing their solidarity.
Beastmaster laughed.
"Suit yourselves. Seishan, co closer."
She took her hand, and soon, without much fanfare, they disappeared without a trace.
The two beautiful monsters were gone.
'Just like that…'
Sunny looked at the spot where they had been standing a few seconds ago with a complicated expression.
That had been his chance to save himself… and he let it slip from his fingers.
He felt so regret, but at the sa ti, Sunny knew that he could not have made a different decision. There was no way in hell that he would leave Kai, Effie, Jet, Cassie, and Nephis to die to save himself.
He had been forced to do sothing similar twice, and those were so of the most vile monts of his life.
…This ti, at least, no one insisted that he did.
At that mont, a heavy sigh escaped from Sumr Knight's lips.
He threw a long look at Nephis, then walked over to her and gently took her hand.
"Lady Changing Star… please accept these mories. There is not much I can do to help you today, but these are so of the best weapons and tools I've been able to earn, receive, and collect. You must survive. I know you can, because you have already done it once."
A pale smile appeared on Neph's face.
It was so bitterly ironic, for her to be thrown back into the Nightmare Desert after suffering so much to escape it.
She retracted her hand and looked away.
Even though Sir Gilead seed to have expected an answer, Nephis remained silent.
He lowered his hand, then took a step away and looked at Morgan.
"Lady Morgan… if you will. I am ready to take us back to the siege capital."
Morgan smiled.
'Here they go. Now, we will have to...'
…And shook her head.
Sunny blinked.
"No, not yet."
Noticing confusion in Sir Gilead's eyes, Morgan shrugged.
"You can take away later, but for now… for now, we still have a chance to reach the pyramid. We can still complete our mission. Yes, our situation is far from perfect, but on the bright side, Clan Song is entirely out of the picture. The competition is gone. It would be foolish not to make an attempt."
She looked at the rest of them.
"Plus, if we do conquer the Tomb of Ariel, everyone would be able to escape through its Gateway. Why, wouldn't that be wonderful?"
Sumr Knight's face hardened.
"Lady Morgan… I'm afraid I will have to insist. If we do not leave imdiately, there might not be a siege capital to return to when we try again next ti. The whole continent might be lost."
She shrugged dismissively.
"Don't worry about that. We have four more days, at least…"
Their conversation was extrely interesting. Morgan's confidence that East Antarctica would hold for four more days at the minimum was also fascinating.
However…
Sunny found himself distracted.
That was because he suddenly felt a gaze. Soone was watching him, and from a direction where no one was supposed to be…
He did not turn his head, but instead looked around through his shadows.
In a distant corner of the glass chamber, a figure was reflecting on the fractured wall.
However, there was no one there to cast the reflection.
'That bastard...'
Noticing Sunny's attention, the reflection smiled and waved a hand.
…Or rather, a bloody stump.
One of its hands seed to be missing.
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