Surprisingly, Sunny survived.
A couple of minutes of beating later, the duo had to stop. Beating someone was one thing, killing them another entirely. Especially, if the only crime he had committed was having a good taste in women.
Some of the others threw a curious look at Ray, due to him actively participating in the beatdown, but he didn't grace them with any explanation whatsoever.
When Sunny, was healed up a bit, and capable on moving by himself again, the cohort eventually moved out. Leaving the arch, and once again entering the crimson labyrinth to head in the direction of their destination.
It had been a short while, after they left the white arch, when Nephis finally told him about where they were heading, and how they were supposed to do that, in the amount of time they had at hands.
As she did, he first looked at her, as if she had completely lost her mind, before releasing another heavy sigh. He didn't know how many he had released since this expedition began, but it began to repeat itself, more and more.
At that moment, he really had thought about returning, for just a second, before he remembered what would await them in the dark city, and the settlement around the bright castle.
Especially a small conversation he had echoed in his mind, which caused him to simply continue. It wasn't as if he didn't believe in them, or that he was scared. All of it was simply an extreme drag for him.
Though, he also knew that this whole expedition would greatly bolster their powers. One had to add, he was probably the one who was most sure that, at least most of them would make it back, and even escape to the waking world again.
Nevertheless, the route had already been made, which showed the next part of their journey as a week's worth of time, nearly directly south.
He was optimistic for this part though, as there were two very good reason why the cohort was perfectly prepared for a long journey, in such a treacherous region anyway.
Those reasons were; first of all their blind seer, who would be able to feel certain dangers, and help the group evade those parts, the second being the fantastic scouting capabilities that they had, with both Sunny and Kai's abilities combined.
There was very little that could make it more difficult for the cohort. Well, besides a sudden extreme storm, like they supposedly happened in the storm sea, the claimed region of the house of Night, of course.
But that was unlikely. Very unlikely, as far as he was concerned.
Besides that, there were of course the usual horrors and perils of the crimson labyrinth itself. More specifically the spider nightmare creatures, they had been fighting the day before yesterday.
The farther south they went, the worse it got.
It seemed the spiders they had previously encountered, were merely the weakest links of the whole colony. Those who were relegated to the outermost parts of their territory. That at least seemed reasonable, as the creatures they began to encounter were getting stronger each day.
The spiders themselves not only appeared to get stronger, but there were also the numbers that seemed to grow exponentially, as well as the whole canvas of the spiderwebs all around.
Not only did the thread grow more and more sharp, and therefore deadly, but they were also getting a lot thinner. So much so that even the cohort did not notice them at all times, resulting in quite a few wounds, caused solely by the thread alone.
And that was besides the point that the spiders were beginning to act smarter, and more carefully too. They began only ambushing the cohort, when one person was completely trapped in those thread, creating a few truly harrowing close calls for the group.
Those things were sadly, not the only nightmare creatures around, though, on the positive side, thanks to the spiderwebs, they had managed to study some of the other horrors of this region preemptively, which helped them to survive and kill them, in turn.
It wasn't everything bad though, their leader was still a very capable healer on top of her already existing strength. Another very positive thing was Kai, or rather a memory he had apparently traded from Sunny.
That 'Blood Arrow' as his friend had called it, helped them deal with quite a few nightmare creatures while traveling.
Even ray had to admit, he didn't want to be on the receiving end of this particular memory. What it did to other nightmare creatures was probably worse than what those webs could do to them.
...the cohort continued like this, for the few days they had, to reach the next step on the journey. Every day, the group seemed too grow stronger and stronger. Ray alone had managed to gain nearly two hundred fragments in those action filled seven days.
As for where they arrived?
Right now, they stood a certain distance away from the edge of the giant crater that marked the forgotten shore's landscape. On the end of it were indications of a bridge that must have stood there in long gone times.
Not far from that was also another of those giant, headless stone statues. This time it looked like a warrior, or at least how one would expect a warrior to look like.
This particular statue, though, was covered full of the, by now, familiar web of the spiders. Only this time there were so much of them that it nearly paled the labyrinth's own webs in comparison.
From the side, he noticed how Effie was talking about the apparently previous inhabitant of this place. An awakened tyrant, and therefore the previous leader of all of these spiders they had encountered.
The only positive thing about it, it was already long dead. She recalled how it had happened during the time of the second lord, and how he and his cohort had killed the disgusting creature.
She ended her retelling by explaining that her spear was actually the memory that had been 'dropped' by the tyrant, and how her mentor, the same one that had taken her in, was the one who dealt the finishing blow to it, receiving the memory, and later giving it to Effie.
While she was talking about this part of the story, there was a melancholic tone that accompanied it all.
Even just listening from the side, not even entering the conversation, Ray could feel the sadness from his close friend. Their interactions had lessened over the last few weeks, but she was still someone important to him.
As became apparent on the arch, where he got 'angry' on her behalf too, after Sunny had openly scanned her body, and talked nonsense. He was sure that it wasn't love, which he felt for her, though. That was something he had already found out, after thinking it over thoroughly.
By the end of the conversation, after Effie had retold everything about it, Sunny steered the conversation to the shard memories, something most of them were somewhat aware of, but knew not nearly enough, to fully understand Nephis' reason for searching for them so specifically.
Ray also noticed how Cassie shifted around a bit, 'What did I expect? Of course, she is involved in it too… Whatever, as long as it doesn't kill us.'
He also saw how Sunny's expression turned from gloomy, to dark real quick. The previous expression probably because of something he figured out, the latter because of what he said next, while looking at Nephis.
"There's a nest ahead. We will have to destroy it to access the statue. Lots of spiders… those bigger ones too."
She gave him a nod, and turned to the rest of the group, "We need to clear the nest and climb the statue before sunset. Prepare for battle…"
Ray looked at the place up ahead with a somewhat tired gaze, before turning it towards the sky. The sun was already starting to slowly begin its descend for the day, meaning they did not have too much time for coming up with a strategy or the like.
Another heavy sigh later, Ray also made his last preparations, once again summoning [Oblivion's Thread] as a shield. He had begun to get used to wielding his [Stormpiercer] with just one hand.
In the beginning it felt awkward and the strength he could wield it with was way less than before, but after the last couple of days, it had progressively improved by leaps and bounds, until it eventually became something applicable in combat.
The only thing that could've made it even easier, was if it the Halberd was just a little bit shorter. That would allow him to more effectively use its center of gravity to his advantage.
Regardless, all those things were not too important right now. They had a nest of those nasty, and disgusting spiders to clear.
--x--
I know very little conversations, but honestly it wasn't really needed here. There was also nothing too important to say here, besides maybe the stuff about the shard memories. But, like i said, it was nothing truly necessary.