Chapter 49

Soon after Nephis had finally come back to her senses, they prepared to leave the shelter of the giant stone hand. The morning had just begun, so there was plenty of time to cross the remaining distance and climb out of the deep and vast crater. If all was going to go well, they would meet the next sunset on top of the tall wall of the mysterious city.

Well.. many things could happen by then , however there was no reason to be pessimistic when they were this close.

Just like before , everyone took turns while climbing down the statue. Sunny and Nephis went first and after that Levi followed. However this time Levi wasn't carrying Cassie , instead Shashi was tied to his back with the golden rope. She had unfortunately suffered a head injury when they were attacked by the sea monster...

After Levi finally landed , he helped Shashi sit down. The poor woman couldn't really perform much and was refusing any kind of healing. She insisted that she would be able to heal it herself.

In the meanwhile Nephis and Sunny were using the rope to lower Cassie down too . He could see that everyone had gotten stronger , before he could remember how they were getting really tired after just one climb. Now he felt like they could do it three times in a row , and much faster than before.

These two months that they had spent in the perilous hell of the crimson labyrinth, constantly fighting for their lives and slaying monsters that no Sleeper should ever face one after another, had made all three of them much more powerful.

Turning his gaze towards Shashi , he gave her a smile as he kneeled in front of her. She looked dazed , it hurt him that his friend was in a state like this , however it wasn't enough to make him not want to mess with her.

Noticing Levi's gaze , she tilted her head.

"What?"

"Nothing." He said , as he still continued staring at her with a cheeky smile on his face.

Seeing this Shashi frowned:

"You know , it is not very polite to stare at an injured lady like that. I feel like you are making fun of me." She said as she rubbed her temples.

"Oh , stop being dramatic."

Levi rolled his eyes , then continued , his gaze turning a bit softer.

"Are you going to be fine?"

Without any hesitation , Shashi dismissively waved her hand at him and did not bother to talk. Levi frowned deeply at her gesture. He got up to his feet , and gave her a nasty side eye as he turned to look at the others.

They had finally managed to lower Cassie down. As the 3 of them approached the two , Nephis glanced at Levi and spoke up:

"Stay vigilant."

Levi nodded. She didn't have to remind him. Levi knew that the last stretch was often the most dangerous - mostly because it was natural for people to allow themselves to relax in these moments, falsely believing that the worst was already behind them. Numerous Awakened perished tragically with their goal already in sight.

And he was not willing to become one of them.. No , he wouldn't allow any of them to become one of them when they had come this far. A small smile crept up to Levi's lips. 

He had been with these people for only 2 months. However he was already feeling a connection with them. After all they had backed each other up in deadly moments of their lives.

However their attention was diverted to the grey walls of the castle. Levi helped Shashi stand up , he put her arm around his shoulders so she would have support while walking. All of them exchanged tense looks , and then slowly walked forward.

With each step they took , the distant grey wall was growing closer. 

At some point, Sunny gestured for them to stop and turned around, curious to take a look at the statue whose hand had saved them from drowning in the dark depths of the cursed sea.

Out there on the slope of the colossal crater, slightly tilted to the side, a giant statue of a slender woman dressed in a light flowing robe towered over the black mud. She was lovely and graceful, with a slim waist and delicate arms outstretched to the skies, as though trying to embrace them.

At least that was how she had looked once, a long time ago. Now, one of the arms was broken off, with only its shoulder remaining in place. Luckily, the other one was still there, and had served as a safe haven for the five Sleepers in their moment of desperate need.

Interestingly enough.. there were 7 stars carved into the stone surface of her robe.. Just like Changing Star's armor. However what piqued his interest the most was the fact that the woman seemed to be missing her head..

'Seven missing heads.. Seven stars..'

Everything was associated with the number seven it seems.. he wondered what kind of meaning this seven had..

After carefully nodding at the statue who saved their lives in gratitude , they headed west..

... As they approached the section of the slope that was almost vertical, something dangerous finally happened. Just as Sunny was about to step on a wide stone buried in the mud, the stone suddenly shifted and rolled to the side.

A terrible roar resounded across the vast emptiness of the colossal crater, making him shiver in fright.

Fearing that something was crawling from under the soil, Levi immediately lifted Shashi into a bridal carry as she gasped and jumped backwards. The others did the same , summoning their weapons in the process.

... However, there was nothing moving in the mud. No giant beast rose from it to feast on their flesh, no horrifying abomination had extended its limbs to pull them underground into its maw.

Then ... what made that terrible roar?

Just as Levi was trying to understand the situation.. he heard chomping sounds from the side , looking at his side.. he saw...

A stone chomping on Sunny's chin..?

The stone, which turned out to be a bizarre Nightmare Creature, revealed a mouth full of long, sharp teeth on its surface. It awkwardly rolled a couple of times to reach Sunny and then tried to dig its fangs into his soft flesh.

It might have bitten Sunny's leg clean off, but, luckily, the leather boot of the Puppeteer's Shroud turned out to be too tough for the stone's jaws. So it was just munching on the leather in powerless resentment.

The situation looked painful, but not at all dangerous. An amused smile crept up to Levi's face.

Sunny glanced at them , Nephis had an awkward face expression , however since all of them knew each other well , they could tell she was amused.. 

When Sunny looked at Levi and Shashi, he raised a brow and smirked.. 

Immediately after realizing what he was smirking at , Levi's smile faded as he let Shashi go. In the meantime , Sunny had summoned his new weapon and went for a thrust against the rock.

The tachi was met with some resistance, but managed to pierce and shatter the monster's stone body in the end.

The bizarre creature died while still trying to take a bite out of Sunny, defiant till the very end.

Seeing a strange expression on Sunny's face, Nephis asked:

"What's wrong?"

He looked at her and blinked a couple of times.

"Uh ... I just received a Memory."

Changing Star raised her eyebrow and said in an uplifted tone:

"That is great. What type of Memory?"

Sunny scratched his head, hesitated, and then answered:

"Uh. It's a ... rock? An ordinary rock..."

Levi couldn't help but chuckle quietly.

"An ordinary rock huh..?"

***

Soon, they were standing beneath the impregnable stone walls of the mysterious city. Behind them, the great chasm of the vast crater stretched to the horizon.

Somewhere ahead, the lone human citadel in this loathsome region of the Dream Realm awaited. It promised to deliver them from this dark place and bring them home.

They were finally going to be free of this nightmare. 

The city wall was built from massive slabs of grey granite. Still wet from the cold touch of the cursed sea, the ancient weathered stones looked almost black. Despite the thousands of years that passed since the mysterious builders of the wall had disappeared into the fog of time, it still looked monumental and unassailable.

The joints between the granite slabs were barely wide enough to insert a narrow blade.

The walls were approximately sixty meters.. twice as tall as the gates of their School. 

'They must have worked hard to build it..'

After a short rest, they decided that it would be easier to climb the wall instead of circling it in search of an entrance. Even if they were to find a gate, there was no guarantee that it would be open.

Climbing the wet granite was not an easy task, but they somehow managed.

Enhanced by the consumed soul shards and shadow fragments, as well as the ruthless training regimen of the never-ending battle for survival, their bodies were full of strength and endurance. All of them were at the peak of human physical ability. Pretty soon, they had reached be top of the massive wall and climbed over its edge.

Without even needing to catch his breath, Sunny hungrily crawled forward, jumped to his feet, and gazed down. Levi stared at him..

'He really wants to go home huh..'

Well he couldn't blame him. He did not want to be here either , no sleeper would..

The blind girl grasped Sunny's shoulder and asked, her voice bright and full of hope:

"Sunny? What do you see?"

Levi looked ahead..

Beneath them, an expansive city lay in ruins. The beautiful stone buildings were broken and shattered, many of them turned into mere piles of rubble. There were no people walking along the wide streets, no clamor of voices to drive away the silence. Under the cold grey sky, the ruined city looked dead and mournful.

It was impossible to say what terrible disaster had happened here, but it was clear that it was not natural. Many of the collapsed houses were blackened by fire, with claw marks cut into the still-standing fragments of walls. Here and there, monstrous bones of ancient horrors protruded from the ground, telling tales of desperate battles that must have had taken place on these streets once, a long time ago.

The ruined city was teeming with Nightmare Creatures.

"There is ... a vast, ruined city built of weathered stone. And there are numerous monsters wandering its streets. Just like you said there would be."

The tall city wall they were standing on was as wide as a road. It stretched endlessly in both directions, enclosing the vast ruins into a strangely perfect circle. Every so often, there were towers built into its impenetrable granite body, serving as bastions against potential enemies.

Who would have thought that one day this great barrier would serve not to repel the horrible monsters, but to keep the true horrors imprisoned inside?

However , currently none of them were interested in those.. they were all gazing at the hill.. Sunny spoke up to Cassie:

"There is a magnificent castle standing on a hill in the middle of the ruins. It looks like ... like something out of a legend. Its walls are built from radiant white stone, with tall towers and majestic spires piercing the sky. It stands above the city like a ... a symbol of hope, the only thing in this hell that seems to be untouched by the darkness and ... and ... "

A wide smile appeared on Cassie's face.

"Yes! This is the castle I saw!"

Levi looked at Sunny , he didn't seem to be listening to Cassie anymore as if he had sensed something. He had a wary face expression as he gazed at what was behind the castle..

The Crimson Spire.

The dark silhouette of a cyclopean tower that loomed above the world like an unholy spear made out of solidified blood. As soon as Levi saw it, his heart was gripped by an unexplainable fear. It emanated high amounts of killing intent and malice as Levi was able to sense it through his dormant ability..

He looked away from the Spire , never wishing to gaze upon it once again.

By his side, Nephis was staring at it too, her thoughts a mystery. There was a tense, dark expression on her face. After a few seconds had passed, Changing Star was finally able to compose herself and turned away.

Looking in the direction of the castle, she frowned and said:

"The final stretch of the way to the citadel might be extremely dangerous. We must not hurry. Let's find a way down first ... "