A storm.
That was what he had smelled. That was the warning he had ignored.
And because of that, they had only made it back with minutes to spare.
He had fucked up.
Lying on the ground, Sunny let the rain pelt his face. From time to time, lightning carved jagged scars of white across the sky, turning the world blindingly bright for a heartbeat before plunging it back into near-total darkness. If not for his Attribute, he wouldn't have been able to make out the resting forms of Nephis and Cassie nearby.
For a while, he simply lay there, exhausted beyond words.
Then, something changed.
A creeping unease slithered into his thoughts, subtle at first but growing stronger with each second. His body tensed as instinct whispered that something was off. Scowling, Sunny forced himself to focus, trying to pinpoint the source of his unease.
And then—
His shadow.
It was restless. Insistent. Pulling at him, trying to drag his attention somewhere.
Please, not now…
Every muscle in his body screamed for rest. His mind was just as spent. But his shadow wouldn't stop. It remained adamant.
With a groan, Sunny rolled onto his stomach and sluggishly pushed himself to his feet.
Nephis, already half-alert, turned her head toward him.
"What is it?"
He grimaced.
"I don't know yet. Something feels wrong."
Cassie shivered and instinctively moved closer to Nephis.
Frowning, Sunny swept his gaze over the landscape, searching for any hint of danger.
The upper cliffs where they had taken shelter rose well above the raging sea, forming a small, isolated plateau. Its uneven surface was littered with jagged ridges, boulders, and piles of dirt, some clustered close, others spread apart. There was a wide-open space between their position and the nearest ridge—an empty gap dotted with dark, irregular shapes.
Nephis got to her feet, summoning her sword with a quiet hum of steel.
"Do you see anything?"
Sunny narrowed his eyes.
"Not really…"
A bolt of lightning split the sky.
For an instant, the world turned stark and bright.
And in that instant, Sunny saw it.
The towering shapes scattered across the plateau—he had mistaken them for boulders. Heavy. Motionless. Black as the night.
But they weren't boulders.
Scavengers.
Dozens of them, lying silently in the mud.
His breath caught. A cold, paralyzing terror clawed up his spine.
One. Two. Three. He tried to count, but panic turned the numbers into a blur. Seven… no, eight.
He froze.
They weren't alone.
These creatures—these monsters—had the same idea as them. They, too, had sought shelter from the storm.
And now, they were everywhere.
Noticing his expression, Nephis tensed.
"Sunny?"
Slowly, carefully, he turned to her and whispered:
"Don't speak. Don't move. Just… stay where you are."
To her credit, she obeyed without hesitation. Cassie, though trembling, did the same.
Sunny closed his eyes, inhaling deeply, forcing himself to push through the fear. Clarity. That was what Nephis had called it, wasn't it?
The scavengers hadn't moved yet. Maybe they were asleep. Maybe they were simply waiting out the storm, lying still to avoid attracting something worse.
And maybe… maybe they hadn't noticed the humans yet.
How well could they even see?
Sunny opened his eyes again, this time looking at their surroundings with a different perspective. He saw what was truly there—the deep, concealing darkness, the storm that drowned out most sounds, the wide gaps between the scattered scavengers.
This was his domain.
Here, he was king.
He didn't need strength. He didn't need brute force. All he had to do was move through the shadows, position himself correctly, and strike at their weaknesses.
And even if he failed—
There were others to fall back on.
Nephis. His Echo.
It would be enough. It had to be.
Sunny exhaled, long and slow, then turned to Changing Star and Cassie.
"I'll take care of this."
Before either could respond, he melted into the shadows.
---
Fuck up after fuck up.
That was all Sunny had to show for this day.
He should have been more careful. Should have paid more attention. Should have noticed something was wrong sooner.
Now, he had to make up for it.
A considerable distance away from Nephis and Cassie, he moved with the quiet precision of a shadow. His thoughts, however, were anything but calm.
Something was off.
The air was thick with the scent of blood. The storm raged on, hammering the cliffs with sheets of rain. Yet, beneath it all—
Silence.
No chittering, no clicking of mandibles, no rustling of legs scraping against stone.
A hunting pack of this size should not be silent.
His pulse quickened.
The scavengers were dead.
That single realization sent a cold wave of dread crashing over him.
"What the fuck killed them?"
He forced his breathing to slow, every muscle coiled with tension.
He needed to find out.
Staying low, he moved toward the nearest corpse. Not too fast. Not too slow. Every step precise, every motion controlled.
If something was still here, he couldn't alert it.
Not before he knew what he was dealing with.
His eyes swept over the scene, taking in details like a predator analyzing its prey. The position of the body. The way the limbs had collapsed. The wound.
The gaping wound.
His stomach twisted.
A long, vicious slash ran from the top of the scavenger's torso down to its segmented legs. The carapace had been peeled apart, exposing torn muscle and mangled organs beneath. Azure blood still oozed from the gash, though much of it had already been washed away by the relentless storm.
This hadn't been blunt force. No crushing impact, no brute-force brawl.
A blade. A sharp one.
His mind raced.
Scavengers are tough. Their shells can withstand direct blows from heavy weapons. But this... this was cut like paper.
Not claws. Not teeth.
Something razor-sharp, slicing through hardened chitin like it was nothing.
A weapon? No. That would mean another person.
This was a creature.
One stronger and faster than the scavengers.
Sunny exhaled, a long, slow breath through his nose.
He needed more.
Moving carefully, he made his way to the next carcass. From a distance, he could already tell.
Dead.
But was it the same attacker? Or something else entirely?
He crept closer, eyes sharp, taking in every detail.
Yes. The wound was similar.
No—worse.
This one had been nearly severed in half. Its body had split open at the torso, wet innards spilling onto the stone in a grotesque pile.
The attack had been precise.
Effortless.
Not just strength. Not just speed. This thing knows how to kill.
Sunny swallowed hard, the cold weight of realization settling in.
This wasn't some mindless brute.
It was a predator.
And it was still here.
His fingers curled tighter around Twilight Bane. The darkness, once familiar and comforting, felt different now. It loomed around him, pressing in, suffocating.
For the first time in a long while—
Sunny shivered.
Time to make a choice.
He could go back to Nephis and Cassie.
Warn them. Regroup. Make a plan.
…But no.
That was a mistake.
He had already fucked up once today. He wouldn't do it again.
If he left now, he'd lose the only advantage he had—the element of surprise.
And with his Fated Attribute, he knew better than anyone: hesitation led to disaster.
That's why, despite the cold sweat running down his spine, Sunny gritted his teeth and kept moving.
The ridge ahead obscured the rest of the island from view.
Whatever was on the other side—
He had to see it first.
Climbing carefully, he pressed himself flat against the wet rock, inching upward. His heart pounded in his chest as he slowly lifted his head—
And froze.
Just a few meters below—
A dark shape loomed.
Larger than a scavenger.
Much larger.
It was crouched low, its jagged, armored body blending into the terrain. Crimson and black chitin, slick with rain, gleamed beneath the storm's fleeting flashes of lightning. A spine-covered back. Thick, segmented limbs.
And its arms.
Instead of pincers, two enormous scythe-like blades extended from its joints—curved, serrated, sharp enough to cut a scavenger in two with a single strike.
A slaughtering machine.
The killer.
Sunny went still.
Completely, utterly still.
He didn't even breathe.
The creature didn't move.
But it was alive. He could feel it.
An Awakened Nightmare Creature.
Something that could tear apart any Sleeper in seconds.
If it saw him—if it even noticed him—he wouldn't get a chance to run.
But it wasn't invincible.
Twilight Bane was Third Tier—one level above this monster. His Stubborn Legacy would weaken it.
If he played this right, he could kill it.
But not alone.
He didn't know its weak points. He didn't know how fast it could react. And if his first strike wasn't enough—
He would die.
He needed a distraction.
No.
He needed bait.
His mind immediately jumped to Nephis.
Would she charge in without hesitation?
He smirked despite himself.
Of course she would.
'*'
"An awakened monster."
Sunny licked his lips.
"Yeah."
Nephis thought for a while, leaning on her sword. Then, she looked at him and said:
"Kill it."
"Duh we don't have another choice. But it's not going to be easy!"Sunny said.
"We are going to need a plan, but we don't have anything to go of."he grumbled.
Neph remained silent, as always when she didn't know what to say.
"We may not have much to go of but we're smarter than that thing, if we put our minds on something we will achieve it." Came the uncertainty confident voice of Cassie.
'*'
Eyes, joints, underbelly those were the universal weak points of Nightmare Creatures. Not due to some arcane weakness, but simple mechanics. Anything that had to be flexible or complex couldn't be sturdy.
That truth was the foundation of their plan.
And now, it was time to execute it.
Sunny, despite his preferences, had to play the role of bait.
The moment the monster's gaze landed on him,he moved.
No hesitation.
Dashing from the ridge, he threw himself down without a second thought. The drop wasn't massive, but it was still brutal. He hit the jagged stone hard, rolled to break the impact, and pushed himself back up in one fluid motion.
Then, he ran.
Behind him, the world exploded.
The monster didn't leap,it didn't climb,it crashed through the ridge, its massive body obliterating rock and earth like they were nothing. A thunderclap followed, loud enough to shake his bones, drowning out the deafening crack of crumbling stone.
Then came the attack.
A blur of motion in the corner of his eye.
The creature lunged, one of its towering scythes slicing down at him, fast enough to split him in two. Jagged shards of rock tumbled from its spiked carapace, raining down like shrapnel.
But Sunny was already too far.
He lowered his body, moving with practiced ease,[Twins Bane] already in motion.
Slash.
The air itself split,and so did the monster's eye.
A sickening qualsh filled the storm-choked air as azure blood and gelatinous vitreous humor burst from the ruined socket, running down the creature's grotesque face in thick, glistening strands.
And that wasn't even the worst part.
The wound gave [A Stubborn Legacy], all ready enhanced by gloomy,a path inside.
The fungi spread immediately, threading its way through shredded nerves, burrowing into the delicate tissues of the creature's brain.
The effect wasn't instant, but it was fast.
The monster shuddered, its steps faltering as its head twitched erratically, its massive form jerking in unnatural spasms
But it kept chasing.
Straight into their trap.
The golden rope,hidden in darkness, masked by rain,waited.
The monster, frenzied, blind in one eye, mind already under attack from the fungi, didn't see it.
Its legs caught.
A normal rope would have snapped.
This one did not.
The boulders it was tied to, however, did.
Stone shattered. But the damage was already done.
Momentum betrayed the crustacean . Its front legs jerked backward, and its massive frame pitched forward,It hit the ground like a collapsing tower.
A wet, brutal crash.
Rain and blood mixed as the monster skidded, plowing through stone, leaving behind a deep, jagged trench.
Sunny moved.
The instant the Monster fell, he struck again.
[Twins Bane] sliced through the storm.And the second eye burst with another sickening qualsh.
More blood. More infection.
The creature convulsed, its limbs flailing wildly, movements growing less controlled. One scythe slammed into the ground, stabbing deep into the stone.
And then it locked in place. The fungus was spreading.
Twisting, burrowing deeper into its nervous system.
Its movements were becoming erratic muscles firing at random, limbs shuddering, a grotesque tremor overtaking its hulking frame. The monstrous exoskeleton twitched, chitinous plating shifting as if something inside was writhing, breaking it down from within.
But it wasn't dead yet.
Even as its body betrayed it, the monster fought to rise.
Its remaining strength surged in an act of sheer defiance.
And that was the final mistake.
Because Sunny's Echo was waiting.
For all this time, it had remained still—blending into the carnage, pretending to be one of the dead scavengers.
But now?
It lunged forward.
A blur of dark chitin, it slammed onto the monster's back, locking its pincers around the creature's arms, just below the base of its deadly scythe-blades.
The Echo took damage for it.
Spikes punctured its own flesh, fresh wounds spilling black ichor.
But it held.
And it only needed to hold for a few seconds.
Because one second was enough.
Out of the darkness,Nephis appeared.
A streak of silver in the storm, she darted forward, weaving between the creature's flailing limbs.
Then,She struck.
A perfect thrust.
Her sword, gleaming with rain and lightning, drove deep into the narrow gap between the monster's chitinous plates.
Straight into its back.
They didn't know if this species shared the same weak point as the lesser scavengers.
But they gambled on the odds.
And the odds were right.
The blade plunged in hilt-deep.
For a single, fleeting second, Sunny felt triumph.
Then,The monster twisted.
Not dead.
Not even close.
Its body convulsed violently, twitching in a grotesque seizure, its limbs jerking out of sync, its head snapping to the side with a sickening crack.
The infection had reached its brainstem.
Its movements were no longer its own.
Still, it fought to rise.
But failed.
Its own body was betraying it.
One of its massive scythes stabbed downward, intending to brace against the stone.
Instead, it spasmed and locked.
Completely rigid.
The fungus had spread too far.
It was inside the nervous system now, threading through muscle and sinew, hijacking the creature's body like a puppet on broken strings.
For Sunny, his mind deep in the throes of clarity, he knew the end was nigh.
Before it could struggle again, before it could even attempt to fight back, his Echo struck once more,slamming into the monster's back, keeping it down.
Pinned.
A death sentence.
Because Nephis wasn't done.
Her sword flashed!
And buried itself straight into the creature's skull.
A final, grotesque shudder rippled through the beast.
Then,
It stopped.
Still.
Silent.
The Spell's voice rang out.
[You have slain an Awakened Monster: Carapace Centurion.]
[You have received a Memory: Starlight Legion Armor.]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
'What?' Sunless wondered, blinking.
Nephis twisted her sword deeper into the monster's corpse.
Sunny frowned. 'Wait… why did I get the kill?'
He turned to see Nephis hacking at the head with her usual, unsettling efficiency. Mushrooms were already sprouting from the empty eye sockets of the decapitated head, creeping outward like they were claiming their prize.
'Oh… it must be because of [A Stubborn Legacy],'Sunny realized. 'Makes sense. It's technically always hitting its host.'
Meanwhile, Nephis had moved on from the head and was now cutting the body like it owed her money.
"Uh… hey, Neph? It's dead. You can stop," Sunny called out with a chuckle.
Nephis didn't even pause. "The Spell hasn't spoken."
She continued stabbing.
Sunny stared. "No, I just got it."
Nephis froze mid-stab, her sword hovering above what remained of the creature's torso.
Then, slowly, she turned her head toward him.
Her face was completely blank.
Sunny suddenly had the distinct feeling that he should not laugh.