Kane's mind reeled at Cassie's chilling prophecy. "How can you be so sure?" he pressed, his voice betraying a hint of desperation.
Cassie's blind gaze seemed to pierce through him. "I didn't see you in any of my visions. There's no involvement from you."
Kane fell silent for a moment, the weight of her words settling upon him. "That's too bad," he murmured, a cold dread creeping into his thoughts. 'Crap! What should I do now? Even prophecy…'
"Can I propose a solution?" Cassie's voice, though soft, held a newfound firmness.
"Tell me, what is it?" Kane replied, his curiosity piqued despite his internal turmoil.
"Stick with Nephis and assist her."
"What?" Kane exclaimed, disbelief coloring his tone. "How is this exactly a solution?"
"I can't say about it," Cassie admitted, "but that is the solution I can think of."
'What should I do?' Kane wrestled with the implications. 'Do I need to align myself with her, but is it really an option?' He pondered it deeply for a while before finally speaking. "I need time to think. Anyway, thanks for the heads-up."
He lay down, the unsettling revelation replaying in his mind.
As evening descended, Sunny and Kane continued their sword practice under Nephis's watchful eye. Sunny and Nephis engaged in a lively discussion about swords, their advantages, and how, ultimately, the wielder himself was the true weapon. Kane, having already performed his thousand strikes, pushed himself, continuing to practice until exhaustion finally claimed him.
"You're above the count already," Nephis noted, her gaze steady.
"That's not enough," Kane replied, wiping sweat from his brow. "Not if we're going to fight monsters like that in the future."
Nephis stared at him, a flicker of something unreadable in her eyes. "That is good," she simply said. Kane looked at her, unsure what she was truly thinking.
The three of them watched the sun dip below the horizon in comfortable silence. As night approached, the sea returned, flooding the crimson labyrinth like a rush of darkness. Far below them, scavengers scurried to find hiding places. A few clawed their way up the cliffs, hoping to spend the night on their small island. Sunny's shadow and Kane remained vigilant, keeping a close watch.
"We're going to have guests soon," Sunny announced, disheartened at the thought that their short respite was about to end.
Nephis sighed. "That's alright. With the higher ground advantage, dealing with them won't be too hard."
Kane nodded, his eyes fixed on the disappearing sun. Suddenly, Sunny hesitated. "Do you think we'll be able to reach that castle?"
Nephis glanced at him, her expression unreadable. "Yes."
Sunny turned to her, forcing a smile. "Why are you so sure?"
In the blood-red blaze of the sunset, Changing Star's calm eyes seemed to burn with a heavenly fire. Looking west, she summoned her sword and answered, "If that is our will, who dares to stop us?"
Kane sighed. "The Dream Realm does," he interjected dryly.
Nephis and Sunny both looked at him. "And why is that?" Sunny asked.
"Because will is breakable," Kane explained. "Surroundings do that."
"No, it won't," Nephis countered, her voice firm.
Kane looked at her, shaking his head. "Yeah, it will. I don't know what you believe, but what I believe is everything can be broken to recreate, to become better or to make it worse."
Nephis simply gazed at him, a flicker of curiosity in her eyes.
Dealing with the climbing scavengers, indeed, proved to be comparatively easy. Sunny, Kane, and Nephis simply ambushed the bulky creatures, pushing them off the cliff before they could gain stable purchase. Kane received four rebirth fragments practically for free, increasing the overall number to thirty-two. Sadly, the soul shards couldn't be retrieved from the splattered remains.
They spent another day on the cliffs, resting and training. Kane continued his sword practice and kept a keen eye on their surroundings. With Sunny's Echo still recovering, their group wasn't in optimal condition. That's why there was no point in hastily abandoning their current camp. However, very soon they would resume their journey west, moving from one elevated point to another in hopes of reaching the mysterious human citadel.
This time, they weren't going to travel without sufficient preparations. Knowing that a sudden storm could materialize at any moment, plunging the world into darkness and summoning the sea back before sunset, the three Sleepers decided to thoroughly scout a route before committing to moving their camp to the next landmark.
Nephis and Kane spent the day meditating. Kane's eyes were closed, calming his mind amidst the rampaging ravings of his flaw. He believed his flaw was like the sea's tide—sometimes high, sometimes low. He needed to brace himself when it surged.
Cassie behaved as she usually did, cheerful and friendly. It was as though their strange conversation had never happened. However, Kane could feel that something about her was different. He couldn't quite pinpoint what had changed about the blind girl, but she seemed to possess more resolve. It wasn't a bad thing.
They spent some time chatting and reminiscing about their time in the Academy. Sunny and Kane told her about his lessons with Teacher Julius and various strange things he had learned from the old man. Her reaction to the idea of studying dead languages of the Dream Realm was exactly the same as Sunny and Kane's initial protest and bewilderment.
'Same reaction,' Kane thought, a hint of a smile touching his lips. 'I hope he is happy,what he thinks about this area?Will he be curious or frightened.'
Nephis looked at him. "Kane… Let me take the watch. You have been on watch from the moment we met."
"Nah, I can watch," Kane replied, ever vigilant.
Cassie turned her head. "She is right, Kane. You have been on guard."
Sunny also chimed in, "Yeah, we will take turns on it."
Kane looked at all three of them. "No, I am fine. I am quite a watcher," he insisted. 'Even though Nephis seems to be good, I can't afford to be careless.'
As Kane prepared to rise and go for watch, Cassie gently took his hand and pulled him down. The sudden movement made him stumble. "What is it, Cas?" he asked.
With a mix of determination, anger, and care, Cassie stated, "You are sleeping, period."
'Scary!' Kane thought, surprised by her resolve. He pondered for a moment. "Okay, today alone, you take watch."
Nephis's lips curled up, and she nodded.
As Kane lay down, Cassie's hand settled gently on his chest, and she lay down near him. "What exactly are you doing, Cas?" Kane asked, genuinely bewildered.
"I am making sure you don't get up and resume," she explained, a mischievous glint in her eyes despite her blindness. "But you know, don't get any naughty thoughts."
"Like hell I would," Kane scoffed. When he looked at Cassie's face nearby, he couldn't help but think, 'Yup, she is quite a beauty.'
Kane lay there, but sleep eluded him due to the incessant ravings of his flaw. So, he simply lay still, calming his breathing, while Nephis and Sunny rotated watch until sunrise.
In the morning, they ate the last of the centurion's meat and prepared to climb down into the labyrinth. It was time to continue their journey.
Days blurred into weeks. Kane watched the dead scavenger, while Sunny and Nephis efficiently collected resources. Glancing back, he surveyed the scene of carnage. The path between two crimson walls was littered with corpses. Initially, they had simply planned to lure the carapace centurion that had been tracking them for days into this narrow passage, using its size against it. However, things quickly escalated. Attracted by the noise of the battle, both scavengers and the strange centipede creatures—who were already at war with the carapace legion in this part of the labyrinth—showed up to join the fight. In the ensuing mayhem, Sunny, Kane, and Nephis skillfully leveraged the animosity between the two monster tribes, emerging as the sole victors.
Not far from him, Sunny's Echo was mutilating the centurion's corpse. Its lost arm had long since regenerated. Now, the scavenger Echo was tearing pieces of monster meat with its new pincer and devouring them vindictively. Technically, an Echo wasn't supposed to experience hunger. This one, however, had seemingly acquired a hatred for carapace centurions after their encounter with the massive scythe slayer on that fateful stormy night.
During this battle, Kane observed that Echoes possessed an empty soul core and no mind thread. This meant an Echo was essentially a snapshot of the original body, and thus, Kane's soul attacks could harm them.
It had already been two weeks since they left the cliffs. In that time, many things had changed, while many remained the same. Moving from one high point to another, they steadily traveled west. With Cassie riding atop the Echo, the group's speed was dramatically enhanced. Still, they took care to explore paths to their next stop before committing to a day-long journey. This way, the risk of being caught in another storm was minimized, as they could always either reach the next landmark in time or return to the previous one.
Their approach to traversing the labyrinth had also shifted. In the past, Kane, Nephis, and Sunny tried to avoid scavengers, resorting to fighting them only if there was no other choice. However, the battle with the centurion had opened their eyes to the urgent need to become stronger, and quickly. That's why they began to actively hunt carapace beasts, taking out any creatures that were either completely isolated or moving in groups of no more than three. The idea of two Sleepers consciously seeking out Nightmare Creatures of the Awakened rank was pretty ridiculous, but somehow, they made it work. Just as Nephis had said, all three of them were abnormal.
Clad in the Starlight Legion Armor, Changing Star, who had always been an extremely formidable fighter, was now able to showcase the full extent of her combat ability. Simply put, she was a menace. It seemed as though her silver sword had a mind of its own. Whenever the tall figure in white armor appeared, rivers of azure blood were sure to flow. Kane also noticed that the soul shards she absorbed had an added effect in increasing her strength. Sunny, meanwhile, had reached quite a potential with his shadow usage and had grown stronger.
Kane, too, had become considerably stronger and had become an X-factor, changing the game in their favor due to his aspect. With rebirth fragments, he grew even more powerful. Kane's battle sense had improved significantly, and his practice had begun to bear fruit in combat. Since Kane was a frontline fighter alongside Nephis, his experience skyrocketed. He slowly began to understand his group, and his initial wariness of Nephis started to lessen, though he still remained cautious.
But even that wasn't the biggest contributor to the dramatic increase in the group's overall might. The main culprit was, to his endless surprise, teamwork. After fighting side by side for so long, Kane, Sunny, and Nephis had developed a tacit, intuitive understanding. Without the need for words or signals, they were able to act in unison, perfectly coordinating their attacks and actions to better control the battlefield and destroy their opponents. The importance of this unity was hard to overestimate. With proper cooperation, it was as though their numbers doubled. The effect was immediate and overwhelming—at least as long as they chose their battles carefully. It was nothing short of jolly.
With all this added up, their group had transformed from lost kids into a cohort of well-equipped, experienced, and battle-hardened survivors. Even Cassie was becoming stronger. Apart from the boost she had received from absorbing the soul shards, the blind girl was also slowly learning to live and function with her disability. After all, it had been less than two months since she lost her sight. Cassie was still adapting to her condition, and she was doing an incredible job, considering the circumstances. She was still unable to help them fight against the monsters, but the burden of taking care of her was becoming less and less heavy. Kane watched her self-belief grow and found it encouraging. The goal of reaching the human castle no longer seemed as impossible as it had before. And now, he felt as though they were getting closer and closer.
As Kane collected the soul shards, he called out, "Cass, it's all clear. You can come out."
Cassie emerged from her hiding place. "Did those centipedes show up?" she asked.
"Yeah, six of them," Sunny confirmed. "And a few scavengers, too. We let them fight each other and then finished off the survivors."
During their journey through the labyrinth, they had discovered that scavengers were not the only creatures populating it. Different types of monsters lived in the crimson forest, hiding inside the reefs during the night and coming out to hunt once the sun was up. There were sentient colonies of carnivorous worms that attacked from beneath the black mud, flesh-eating flowers that strangled their prey with bloodsucking vines, and weird transparent tentacles that they had once seen dragging a desperately resisting scavenger into a dark, cavernous crevice. They still didn't know what type of creature had been hiding in that crevice. Kane hoped they would never find out.
In short, the labyrinth was home to all kinds of horrors, every one of them at least of the Awakened rank. They were all carrion eaters, living off the remains left behind by the monsters of the dark sea. Given the opportunity, they were also more than willing to devour each other—not to mention the four juicy humans. Luckily, the carapace legion turned out to be extremely territorial and seemed to have the upper hand in this region of the crimson reef. While their armor, size, and physical strength made the scavengers formidable opponents, dealing mostly with one type of creature was infinitely better than constantly facing unknown danger.
The centipede monsters were the latest enemy of the carapace legion they had met. Some of these critters were more than three meters long, with glistening red chitin and hundreds of tiny, scurrying legs. What I encountered the other day seems to be a young one, lucky me, Kane thought. They were abhorrently fast and agile, able to move through mud, climb the coral walls, and even drop on unsuspecting victims from above with incredible speed. What's worse, their bodies were able to secrete a corrosive black oil that melted through the strongest armor in seconds. The only redeeming quality of the centipede monsters was that their chitin shells weren't very tough and could be easily pierced by a sword.
"Are you guys hurt?" Cassie asked, her voice laced with concern.
"Nah, we are good," Kane replied.
"How many soul shards did we get?" Cassie inquired.
"Eleven," Sunny announced.
Cassie smiled. "It is our biggest haul so far!"
'No, Memory so far,' Kane mused silently.
One of the games Kane, Sunny, and Cassie liked to play during camp was to discuss what they would buy after returning to the real world and becoming rich. 'If this drought continues, we won't be rich', Kane thought, watching Sunny's Echo feast on the hunt, with Sunny cursing it for being "defective."
"Don't badmouth my steed," Cassie declared, playfully admonishing Sunny. "He is a great Echo! I like him very much."
"Quite a lively one, isn't he?" Kane chuckled.
"Yeah, Mr. Caretaker," Cassie responded.
Kane laughed. Sunny, meanwhile, went to harvest the corrosive oils into a sack, trying to carry them with his Echo. Nephis arrived, her saddlebag full of soul shards.
Sunny looked at the sky, trying to determine the time. The sun was directly above them, high in the gray sky. There was still plenty of daylight left. "What do you think?" Sunny asked. "We're right in between the Flat Hill and the Bone Ridge. Should we return or try to reach the Ridge today?"
The ground level of the labyrinth was not uniform. Some parts of it were situated higher than others. Currently, they were in one such area. The dark sea was much shallower here, which meant that there were more natural features that remained above water during the night. That made for shorter distances between their stops.
Nephis thought for a bit, then said, "Let's push to the Bone Ridge." They had already scouted most of the way there yesterday, so there wasn't much danger of getting lost in the labyrinth and not making it in time. With the carapace centurion dead, the unpredictable element that had been making their lives harder for these past few days was also gone. Considering this, Kane thought, 'So far, she seems to make reasonable decisions.'
Sunny nodded, and Kane simply said, "Okay." With that, Sunny sent his shadow forward.
As soon as the cohort arrived at Bone Ridge, Sunny expressed a feeling of alarm and discomfort. Kane wondered, 'I didn't catch it. What exactly is he feeling? 'Then Cassie offered some advice related to shadows, and Sunny observed that during sunset, when he told everyone about the immense shadow, she nodded, as though it explained everything.
Then, Cassie said, "That is the shadow of the Crimson Spire."
'What an ominous name', Kane thought, a shiver running down his spine.
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Kindly give some reviews.And look into it.So,How far Kane Progression?kindly give it a thought