Chapter 11: Escape

Third POV:

A few moments later, the short respite they had gotten was over.

With a sound that reminded him of rushing water, a terrifying wave of undead monsters crashed into their formation, threatening to break it apart. Sunny braced for the impact and withstood the furious onslaught, somehow managing to split the wave in two.

From one side, Changing Star dove into the torrent of skeletal wraiths, her incandescent sword cutting through them like a ray of pure sunlight piercing the darkness. From the other, Caster's enchanted blade was doing the same. The scion of the Han Li clan moved with astonishing speed, turning into a blurry whirlwind of ghostly green steel.

Everything that touched it turned to dust.

Sunny glanced at Kai and said in a hoarse voice:

"Prepare yourself."

In the next moment, the wave of monsters was upon them.

Dashing forward against the wave of monsters, he clashed with the skeletons in front of him. His sword flashed through the air with lightning speed, and a few headless corpses instantly fell to his feet, blindly clawing at the stones in front of it.

Sunny's eyes sharpened, His perception expanded, and his senses rose to their peak. Hardened by Years and lifetimes of experience Sunny took on the wave. absorbing every detail and aspect of what was happening in the dark tunnel. His thinking accelerated, turning the mayhem that surrounded them into a stark and streamlined pattern of cause and effect.

Connected to the underlying law of it all, Sunny was able to react to the actions of his enemies faster and predict them better thanks to his accumulated experience in Shadow dance.

Sunny was still trying to get used to the Midnight Shard, having wielded the Jade Jian for too long he almost missed the nostalgic feeling of wielding the Midnight Shard.

He had almost missed the hateful wraith. Sunny would've lost the Sin of Solace in his desperate struggle against Asterion if it wasn't for Weaver's Needle. He wasn't fast enough to dismiss the memory before Asterion broke it in half. So, Using Weaver's Needle as a last desperate attempt, Sunny managed to reattach the essence string that connected the Sin of Solace to his Soul merely seconds before the string was completely severed due to the destruction of the memory and dismissing it back to his soul sea. Thus saving it.

And now the half-broken Jian was resting in his Soul Sea restoring itself.

Sunny never had thought that there would be a time when he would desperately try to save the hateful wraith from disappearing.

Maybe he really had gone mad.

With a hissing sound, the Midnight Shard cut the air and slashed the next monster across the chest, splitting the skeleton diagonally in two. Without paying the defeated creature any attention, Sunny instantly lunged at the next one.

His movements were lightning-fast, fluid, and unpredictable, but also grounded and firm. Every strike and every step was calculated and efficient, focused on delivering the maximum amount of damage while preserving as much of his strength as possible. It was a perfect combination of the two seemingly contradictory battle styles.

Just like that, Sunny danced between the countless undead monsters, his sword cutting one after another down. The Midnight Shard wasn't unimaginably sharp like Caster's jian, nor filled with annihilating white flame like Neph's radiant longsword. However, it refused to give in and remained unbroken. No matter how many tough bones the tachi cut, not a single dent appeared on its blade.

At some point, he heard a furious roar from somewhere behind and briefly looked back, noticing that Effie had dismissed her battered round shield and finally held the beautiful bronze spear with both of her hands. With it, the huntress became even more deadly. Multiple skeletons burst into a shower of broken bones, cut apart by a wide arc of the ancient weapon.

After several more minutes of furious fighting, the tunnel they were moving through suddenly opened into a large cavern. A few meters in front of them, the floor of the catacombs was broken, collapsing into a vast, familiar, seemingly bottomless chasm. That terrifying abyss was filled with darkness that even Sunny's sight couldn't pierce.

The chasm was no less than forty meters across and stretched far into the distance to both left and right, like a dark border separating the world of the living from the world of the dead. A rickety rope bridge was drawn across it, connecting to a similar-looking tunnel at the other end of the abyssal chasm.

The rope bridge looked like a derelict of ancient times. It was flimsy, slippery, and rotten through and through.

"Switch!"

Sunny yelled. Now that they had a few minutes to catch their breath thanks to Sunny relieving the pressure from them, The cohort quickly moved to their previous positions with Sunny taking on the rear again.

Taking the front, Effie and Caster quickly threw the few undead creatures remaining in front of them over the edge of the chasm. Finally safe from their constant attacks, most of the cohort took a chance to quickly catch their breaths and take a look at the harrowing chasm.

Caster looked at Effie.

"To where now?"

"To where do you think? We are crossing the bridge of course!"

Caster looked at her in disbelief.

Only Nephis and Sunny were still fighting. In fact, the overwhelming pressure of the pursuing horde had grown so heavy that Nephis was barely holding on.

Two figures — one shrouded in shadows, the other bathed in pure white light — were slowly buckling under the furious onslaught of the army of the dead.

Soon Effie tried to Join Sunny and Nephis to defend against the horde, but was blocked by Sunny. With a grim expression on his face, Sunny glanced at Effie and said:

"Go."

Leaning on her spear, the huntress weakly shook her head.

"Someone will have to hold them off long enough for everyone to get to the other side. You should…"

Sunny interrupted her.

"I'll be the last one to cross. Don't worry… I have a way to get across."

Giving him a long look, Effie hesitated for a few seconds, then nodded.

"Alright. Stay alive, Sunny."

He quietly chuckled.

"Aww. I didn't know you cared."

She stared at his back for a bit, and then calmly said:

"No, it's just that if you die, pretty soon I'll have to fight your corpse. So… don't do that. Okay?"

With that, Effie beckoned others to follow her and stepped on the rickety bridge.

Sunny blinked a couple of times, watched her go, then turned his back to the chasm and sighed.

'Right. What else did I expect?'

In any case, there was no way back now.

Dispatching a couple of skeletons, Sunny briefly turned to Nephis and said:

"Retreat to the bridge. I will hold them off."

Her eyes shone with white flames through the visor of the Starlight Legion Armor's helmet. A moment later, he heard a hoarse voice:

"Are you sure?"

He dodged the claws of an especially menacing monster, bashed it away with the pommel of the tachi, and yelled:

"Yes! But…"

Another undead creature fell to the Midnight Shard.

"…when you get to the other side, you need to destroy the supports of the bridge. Do you understand?"

Changing Star hesitated, almost missing the timing of her attack. Then, she asked:

"What about you?"

Sunny laughed.

"Don't worry about it. You heard me. I have a way to get across!"

Neph didn't answer for a while. Finally, she simply said:

"Alright."

Not one to waste words, Changing Star didn't say anything else. When the opportunity presented itself, she silently retreated, letting Sunny face the horde alone.

Sunny quickly attached one of his Shadows to her Shadow and wrapped himself in Four giving, him the boost he needed to hold the horde by himself and allow his Cohort to get across and cut down the bridge.

Sunny thought about making Kai stay behind to use his ability to get him across but he quickly dismissed the thought for being too risky. Soon he doubled the intensity of his attacks. There was no need to hold anything back and preserve his strength anymore. He just had to last for a bit more..a dozen seconds, at most…

Soon enough a loud rattle followed by a thunderous boom informed him that the bridge had been brought down.

Now, nothing was connecting the two sides of the terrifying chasm. Sunny was left alone against the horde of immortal monsters, with no way to retreat.

'Finally.'

Not Turning his back to the undead creatures, Sunny peered into the darkness with his shadow's eyes. Seeing the cohort waiting for him on the other side of the dark abyss, he lingered for a moment, sighed, and dissolved into the shadows.

Sunny was already thinking of a way to explain his Shadow Step to the cohort.

With no obstacles to slow the horde down anymore, the flood of skeletons lunged forward. They were just a meter or two away from Sunny, stretching their deadly claws to tear him apart they were met with nothingness.

dozens of skeletons plummeted into each other and into the chasm, with more being pushed down with each second.

On the other side, five pale faces hovered above the edge of the cliff. On them were written expressions of horror, shock, and despair.

Slowly, four of the five faces turned to look slightly down following the skeletal waterfall.

To Sunny, Their expressions were rather comical.

Cassie simply tilted her head.

…But her expression was priceless as well.

To them, it appeared as if Sunny was Swallowed by the horde of the undying skeletons and fell with it into the darkness below. It was as though he had chosen to sacrifice his life to give the others a chance to escape. Like some sort of a stupid hero would.

While he was in fact standing a few metres right behind the cohort.

Grinning, Sunny stealthily moved and positioned himself behind Effie. Standing on his toes, the giant Huntress was still tall for Sunny to reach her head even after standing on his toes. So he lightly jumped and blew a soft breeze into her ear.

"KYAAGH!"

Effie shrieked as she turned around.

In a lightning-fast motion Almost before Sunny could even react, her spear shot in his direction with astonishing speed. Cursing, he barely dodged the flying spear reflexively out of pure instinct. It hit the weathered and decrepit wall behind him, pierced the eroded layer of the wall, and struck the bedrock beneath.

The impact was so severe that it produced an explosive shockwave. A moment later, pieces of rock, dirt, and moss rained on him like hail.

Sunny felt a deep sense of deja vu.

'Why does she always try to kill me?!'

With that, she almost Stumbled backward falling into the chasm behind, but was aided by Caster and regained her balance. While Nephis was Aiming her Sword at him. but she immediately withdrew it and exhaled a sigh of relief recognizing him.

The rest of the cohort just stared at him in confusion and disbelief.

"…What? You guys thought I would die?"

Effie was the first to speak, still startled by his sudden appearance:

"Uh… glad you're alive, Sunny. But also… what the hell? What was that?"

Sunny Shrugged. Inwardly letting out a sigh of relief at her choice of words.

"A simple trick of mine."

With that, the others left him alone. They were all hurt and dead tired, too. Everyone needed to rest and patch up their wounds.

Soon Nephis made her way toward him, her hands reaching out to him in an attempt to heal him, but she soon was stopped by Sunny. Holding both of her hands by the wrist Sunny Shook his head.

"You don't need to. I'm perfectly fine as you can see."

Nephis hesitated for a moment her eyes scanning him from head to toe. Soon her eyes landed on their hands, it lingered there for a moment longer before her eyes darted back to his face.

Noticing that Sunny quickly let go of her hands.

"But you were the only one who wasn't wearing an armor…."

Her words trailed off as her eyes turned back to Sunny's figure, scanning him even closer. From her perspective, Sunny was just wearing a simple black Tunic. So Sunny explained to her in a low tone due to their close proximity:

"This Tunic is a quite powerful memory that I received from killing a very powerful abomination. It might appear simple, but most weapons won't even pierce through it. It sure doesn't provide much protection to the exposed skin but My skin itself is as sturdy as an armor due to one of my attributes. Here, check for yourself."

Sunny offered her his arm but Neph's hand was already reaching for his face. Sunny was startled and flustered as Neph's index finger started poking his cheeks.

Every time Nephis applied pressure on his cheeks, Sunny's Skin hardened. Nephis's face was wearing a confused expression with her eyebrows narrowed slightly.

When Sunny felt like he couldn't hold the blood from rushing up to his cheeks, he closed his eyes. And in a slightly awkward and flustered voice, Sunny grabbed both of her hands and said:

"Okay, enough of this…"

Suddenly aware of their close proximity and her own actions, Nephis's face hardened as she slightly stepped back. Turning around toward the cohort, she moved in a stiff motion, obviously feeling embarrassed.

The tips of her ears turned slightly a deeper shade of pink.

Nephis made a move to try and heal them but was stopped by Effie who was retrieving her spear from the wall. The huntress darkly shook her head.

"Not yet. There's one last hurdle to overcome. We'll need you to be at the top of your game. You too Doofus."

She said turning to Sunny. Changing Star glanced at her, lingered for a few moments, but then sat back down. Out here, the word of the pathfinder was the law. If Effie said that Nephis needed to save her strength, then she had to obey.

Sunny decided to take a seat slightly apart from the other members trying to cool himself down.

Sometime later, he heard a shuffling sound and looked up to see Kai sitting down near him. The charming archer looked way too pretty and put together for a person who had just lived through the same mayhem as them, but Sunny knew that this infuriating trait was just something he would have to come to terms with.

Maybe Kai had some weird Attribute that made him look good no matter the circumstance.

Sunny was getting more and more sure that the Spell was one of Kai's Fangirls.

It was a comical thought.

Looking at the beautiful young man, Sunny sighed and said:

"Hey, Kai. How are you doing?"

Kai scratched the back of his head and answered:

"Ah… alright, I guess. That was intense back there, huh?"

Sunny nodded.

"Yeah. So… what's up?"

The charming archer hesitated for a bit.

"Nothing, really. I just wanted to say three things to you."

"Oh? Alright, go on."

Kai looked at him thoughtfully and said:

"Well, first of all, I now fully understand what you meant when you said that you are crazy. Because no one sane enough would face a whole immortal horde of monsters without at least wearing an armor… that was really crazy!"

Sunny chuckled.

"I guess so. I'm alive, though, aren't I?"

The archer gave him a nod and smiled.

"Another thing I wanted to say is that I also understood how you managed to survive all those months in the ruins. Your swordsmanship… I've never seen anything like it. Hell! I even think that very few people in the world would survive a clash against you. So, everything makes more sense now."

He shrugged.

"Thanks, I guess. What is the third thing?"

Kai was silent for a long time, as though trying to find the right words. Finally, he shook his head and cautiously said:

"Right. I don't really know how you appeared out of nowhere but… you do remember that I can fly, right? So I could have carried you over the chasm, no problem. So, why didn't you ask me to? uh… and why did you do it?"

"Why would I bother you if I can simply step on the other side in the blink of an eye?"

Sunny shrugged.

"It was also pretty risky. Calling you to stay behind and stuff."

Sunny smiled at the charming archer who was concerned about his well-being.

Kai eventually nodded in understanding. Sunny finally managed to take a look around, The familiar tunnel they were currently in was somewhat different from those they had traversed while fighting the horde of undead monsters. It looked more weathered and decrepit, with its walls and floor smoothed and uneven, as though eroded by something over the course of countless years.

What's worse, it was wet. Sunny knew that they were surrounded by puddles of black water.

Since The smell of sea salt permeated the air.

Sunny had developed a deep sense of Thalassophobia because of the spell. He would feel a deep sense of discomfort Whenever he was surrounded by water.

Looking up, he found the tall figure of the boisterous huntress staring at him with obvious resentment. But she eventually sighed and lightly chuckled. Soon Kai asked her in a nervous voice, seemingly concluding that they were somewhere outside the City Wall.

"Where are we?"

Effie glanced at him and gestured up.

"A hundred meters or so below the surface, pretty much exactly under the city wall."

Kai stared at her blankly, slowly comprehending the meaning of these words. The huntress gave him a nod.

"Yeah, you guessed correctly. Come night, this place is going to be full of seawater. That chasm behind us is what prevents the catacombs from being flooded by the dark sea."

She sighed tiredly.

"So, unless we want to drown or be eaten by some depth dweller, we need to get out of here as soon as possible."

Luckily, the day was still young.

Effie's words served as a signal. A few moments later, Nephis rose to her feet and glanced at the members of the cohort. Her pale face was now calm and composed.

"Time to go. Gather your strength."

With sighs and groans of pain, everyone stood up. Sunny was the last one to follow suit.

*******

After a struggle that felt like eternity The Cohort finally managed to escape the Catacombs.

Climbing out of the mud, they fell to their knees, and then tiredly lowered themselves to the ground. The breath was escaping from their lungs with laborious, raspy sounds.

All of them felt weak and tired.

All except Sunny at least…

But it was so good to see the sun again…

The wounds they had received in the catacombs had finally caught up with them. With adrenaline gone, they were now in a sea of pain. A quiet groan could be heard from each one of them.

Looking around They realized that they had done it.

They had successfully escaped the Dark City.

Who knew being an Awakened would make it this easy?

Or maybe that was what only Sunny had thought of.