Chapter 26

They were going west.

After telling this to Nephis, there was pretty much nothing else for Sunny to do. So he had decided to simply rest.

Some time later, Sunny was lying on his back, staring at the grey sky. Cassie was sitting beside him, lost in her thoughts. Nephis was mediating in a corner. As for Levi he was doing exercises since he was bored. 

After a while, Cassie turned to Sunny.

"Sunny?"

He tilted his head to look at her.

"Yeah?"

The blind girl hesitated.

"Do you ... do you think we'll be able to return home?"

Sunny glanced at her and furrowed his brow. A few seconds later, he turned away and looked at the sky again.

As they had started talking , Levi sat down on the edge , staring off into the distance. But also listening to their conversation.

"Sure."

Cassie smiled:

"You really think so? Why?"

"Because of them , duh..."

"I'm also not someone to die easily. In fact, I'm willing to bet that you couldn't have found a better Trio of Sleepers to escort you across the Dream Realm. If anyone can survive this, it's us. So, yeah. I think that our chances of making it back are pretty high."

Cassie suddenly giggled.

"Aren't you a little too full of yourself? You were in the second to last place!"

Sunny shrugged.

"That's only because someone smart told me to keep a low profile. Otherwise, I would have ranked higher."

Then, with a grin, he added:

"Much higher! Third to last, at least!"

The blind girl couldn't help but laugh. The melodic sound of her laughter made Levi's heart ache. He had been quiet restless these days.. his mind was functioning every second of the day , he was having trouble trying to keep his mind calm. 

After this sudden outburst, Cassia's expression slowly turned wistful. A few seconds later, she asked:

"What do you miss the most about home?"

Sunny thought for a while , and then he answered.

"I don't particularly miss anything."

'Same..'

Cassie was very surprised.

"Really? Don't you miss your family?"

Sunny smiled.

"I don't have a family. Well ... I guess I have a sister somewhere. But we haven't seen each other in many years."

"Oh."

The blind girl fell silent. Several seconds later, she said quietly:

"I miss my family the most."

There was longing and sadness in her voice. Sunny didn't know what to say, so he stayed silent.

"Mom and dad must be really worried about me right now. No ... no, actually, they wouldn't be worried. They would be heartbroken. They must think that I'm as well as dead already."

Sunny glanced at her and sighed.

"You seem to care about them a lot."

Cassie turned to him in confusion.

"Of course. Isn't it normal?"

Sunny stared at the grey sky. The wind smelled of rain.

"I wouldn't know."

***

In the evening, Nephis made Sunny perform the thousand strikes again. After that, they ate the last strips of dried scavenger meat and took turns sleeping, so that one of them could always keep an eye on Cassie.

Of course.. Levi wasn't able to sleep due to not being tired. And he couldn't really shut his mind off. But he didn't say anything about it to the others.. he didn't want to reveal it.

Thankfully, nothing happened during the night.

When the morning came and the dark sea retreated, they prepared to leave the giant statue. Nephis was the first one to climb down. Before that, she had a few words to say:

"Today will be different from before. There will be much more scavengers roaming in the labyrinth. We might not be able to create an ambush or avoid fighting several of them at once."

She looked at Levi , then at Sunny:

"If anything happens, your job is to bring Cassie away , Sunny. We can retreat by using passages that are too narrow for the scavengers. If we get separated, proceed to the high point by yourselves. Don't wait for us. Do you understand?"

With a somber expression, he gave her a nod. Nephis returned it. Levi also nodded to himself.

"Good. Time is of the essence, so let's go."

Soon, they reached the ground.

Entering the labyrinth, the trio moved forward with haste. The shadow was ahead of them, scouting for monsters and optimal paths. Despite that, their progress was slow and chaotic. They had to constantly change direction to avoid groups of scavengers, often ending up in dead ends or moving further away from their destination. Levi was carrying Cassie on his back , but that job would be Sunny's once they are in danger.

At some point, however, they inevitably ended up in a situation where a fight was unavoidable.

There was a large group of scavengers at their heels, and a pair of them blocking the path ahead. Neither of the two groups had noticed the Sleepers yet; however, since there were no other passages to turn into, it was only a matter of time.

Nephis considered their options for a few seconds. There was a scowl on her face. Finally, she said:

"If there's only two, we can take them."

Sunny looked at her with uncertainty in his eyes.

"But there's no time to set up an ambush."

Changing Star shrugged.

"Sunny and I will take on one Scavenger , and Levi will deal with the other one."

She looked at Levi.

"Try to stall it until we kill the Scavenger. Or maybe kill it.. it is up to you."

Levi nodded at Changing Star. It seemed that Nephis had rather a high opinion of Levi even if he had not displayed any battle skills since they had met. Or.. maybe she was trying to get him killed. He doubted she would want him killed , because in this region man-power was definitely needed.

"Alright." Sunny replied.

After a short moment , they all summoned their memories. Levi himself imbued [Pale Thorn] with his right arm , and activated [Corrosion] ability on his body. His veins taking a black color and pulsing wildly. He was going to use the same strategy as the first time he had battled a Scavenger..