Lucien walked in silence, all of his attention had diverted to sensing any and every living creature around them. Behind him, he heard Sunny and Kai talking about something, but he chose to ignore it.
Because at that moment, he felt something. At the edge of his storm sense a singular, untainted soul made its presence known. He frowned. It was a human.
It seemed Gunlaug had already sent someone after them.
"Someones following us."
Being in the middle of the group meant that everyone heard him. Effie tensed up and glanced back at him.
"Did you sense someone?"
Lucien nodded, a grim look on his face. "It's a human, a single human."
They all knew what that meant. Gunlaug had sent a lieutenant after them. But who?
Looking back, Lucien said, "Sunny-"
"Already on it." He interrupted. His shadow was already on its way back. He intended to send it behind them and find out who was following them.
That was the biggest difference between the two abilities. While Lucien could sense creatures in a wide radius, and even tell them apart from nightmare creatures. He could not give a more accurate description. Sunny's shadow, on the other hand, covered a smaller area, but he could see through it. This was why the two abilities worked so harmoniously. Lucien could find out the exact location of their target, and Sunny could see what exactly it was.
A few moments later, Sunny shivered and said in a raspy voice.
"It's that… that damn hunchback. He's following us."
A sudden tension permeated the air. Lucien cursed under his breath. Gunlaug had sent his executioner.
Nephis frowned.
"Is he alone?"
Sunny nodded.
"Yeah."
Caster silently scoffed.
"What is Gunlaug thinking, sending one man against six of us?"
"That should tell you all you need to know about him." Lucien said, glaring at the legacy, "If Gunlaug sent one man to take us all down, that means he's confident he'll succeed."
Caster went silent after that.
Turning to her left, Nephis glanced at Effie. There was a grim expression on her face.
"What do you think?"
The huntress hesitated for a few moments. Then, looking down from her considerable height, she simply said:
"I think we need to run."
Caster scowled.
"Run? Why? Surely, no matter how strong Harus is, we can take him down. None of us are weak, either. Even if we can't defeat him one on one…"
"Did you not hear what I said?" Lucien spat out. "Harus is who Gunlaug sends when he wants someone dead. And he has not failed a single time."
Effie gritted her teeth and nodded.
"He is a monster in human flesh, Caster. He is insanely powerful. But that's not even the problem. The problem is that no one knows his Aspect. All we know is that once Harus comes for you, you die."
She sighed.
"I've seen many people try to resist once they caught wind that Gunlaug is going to send Harus to get rid of them. Strong people, weak people. Some tried to fight him alone, others recruited fearsome allies. Come the next morning, all of them were dead. No matter how powerful they were or how many of them gathered to give him a fight, no one ever survived. All that was left was blood and corpses..."
As somber silence settled among the cohort, Effie grimaced.
"The weirdest part is, no one has even seen him come and go. Every time Harus was sent into the outer settlement, we only learned that people were dead in the morning. Doors, locks, and barricades can't seem to stop him, either. Once Harus is ordered to kill you, you just die. It is as though fate itself abandons you."
Caster frowned.
"So are you telling us that we stand no chance?"
The huntress shook her head.
"I'm saying that fighting him right now would be stupid. Not unless we learn how he is able to seemingly turn his victims… no matter how many of them there are… completely powerless."
With that, she glanced at Nephis, who lingered for a moment and then shook her head.
"Our friend in the castle doesn't know either."
Effie grinned.
"Ah, so that mysterious friend of yours is not omniscient after all. Well, in that case, my advice stands. We should run."
At that moment, Sunny finally spoke up:
"But, Effie… can we even run away from him?"
"I could distract him," Lucien said, silently cursing himself in the process. "You guys run as far as you can, I can catch up."
That was true; he was the fastest one there by a huge margin.
"Absolutely not." Effie glared at him, "You know how dangerous he is. What if you can't escape from him?"
Lucien grimaced. Effie wasn't wrong. But what other choice did they have?
Taking her eyes off him, her glare died down. Suddenly grim, she hesitated for a while and then said:
"I know of a way. But… it's going to be dangerous. Very dangerous. However, I don't know how else to shake him off our trail. So you decide, princess."
Neph was silent for a bit, and then simply nodded.
"We will face Harus some other day. Right now, reaching the resting place of the first cohort is the priority."
The unruly huntress exhaled, almost as if relieved. Then, she said:
"Then follow me. And prepare yourself…"
After that disturbing discussion, Effie changed their course slightly. Instead of moving straight south, they were now traversing the ancient city heading for its eastern border.
Lucien silently stared at Effie's back. He knew this path. This was the way to the catacombs under the city. For Effie to take them there.
'I guess our situation really is that dire.'
Gripping the shaft of his spear nervously, Lucien sensed as a nightmare creature pounced on Harus and was immediately extinguished.
If the worst came to pass, could he really hold the lieutenant back? He had three storm cores now; he had grown much stronger. But he still wasn't sure. They knew nothing about his aspect, and Harus had already instilled a deep sense of fear into the inhabitants of the outer settlements.
He had already won the mental battle. An opponent ruled by fear would inevitably lose. That was just the way of things.
No, it couldn't do. He needed to kill his fear if he was to fight Harus.
'You're stronger than him. What are you so afraid of?'
In raw power, Lucien beat Harus by a mile. And yet, he could not chase away that feeling of dread.
Soon, they were nearing the tall expanse of the city wall. Not too far away, the remnant of a giant tower lay broken on its side, stretching far away into the distance. The buildings that the tower had fallen on thousands of years ago were shattered and turned into dust.
The ancient lighthouse might have been proud and magnificent once. Perhaps it had even served as a symbol of the defiant will of the people of the ancient city, burning as a shining beacon in the eternal darkness of the cursed night. But it had fallen a long time ago… just like the people that built it.
At least its ruin remained. The ancient inhabitants of the Dark City had just vanished, not even leaving bones behind.
Sunny sighed.
"Where to now?"
Effie gestured at the massive ruin.
"Inside."
They were currently hiding in a collapsed building near the collapsed tower. This area was populated by an especially vile tribe of monsters, and attracting their attention would spell trouble for the entire cohort.
"Call your shadow back and keep it close. When we enter the lighthouse, we will have to act quickly."
'So we're really doing this, huh?' Lucien sighed. Hopefully, all of them will come out alive.
Staying low to the ground, the seven of them dashed from their hiding spot to the broken lighthouse. Without wasting any time, they found a breach in its wall and climbed inside.
Effie summoned her radiant Memory, bathing the interior of the ruined tower in light. Due to the fact that it was currently lying on its side, they found themselves in a massive, echoing tunnel.
Looking around, Effie found her bearings and led them deeper into the tunnel, extreme tension apparent in her every move. While walking, she began to speak:
"Listen to me very carefully and do as I say. Once we're inside, don't separate from the group. Stay together and keep your weapons at hand. The place we're going to is full of Nightmare Creatures. They're not too strong, but they're… special."
Lucien scoffed. Special was one way to describe those unkillable abominations.
She bit her lip.
"Don't even try to kill them. Just defend yourself and keep moving. If you stop, you'll most probably die. Same thing if you slow down and get yourself surrounded. But if we can preserve our formation… we might survive. I hope."
Sharing a glance with Lucien, she nodded. The message was clear: 'Keep them alive.'
Soon, they reached their destination.
Right in front of them, the floor of the tunnel was broken, forming a narrow crevice. It was filled with darkness, leading deep down into the ground… and then deeper still.
With a resigned sigh, Lucien jumped into the crevice, disappearing into the darkness below. A soft purple glow emanated from his body as he fell through the darkness.
A few seconds later, he landed and rolled. With a shower of sparks, he summoned his armour. For what was coming next, his fists would have to be enough.
For a moment, he considered summoning his echo, but in the narrow tunnel, it would have trouble walking, much less fighting.
Nephis dropped down soon after and summoned her sword. Caster joined them after that. Then Kai and Cassie. And lastly, Sunny.
Effie had summoned her large, round shield, but chose to leave the ancient bronze spear in the Soul Sea. While she was skilled enough to make use of it even in this narrow space, the shield would be much more formidable, especially considering her herculean strength.
Kai looked rather gloomy. Casting a mournful look over his shoulder, on the fletching of his heavy arrows, he sighed and outstretched his hand. Instead of a bow, an elegant falcata appeared in it. The beautiful curve of its blade glinted, reflecting the light.
Then Cassie drew her rapier echo from the scabbard and let it float. Then it rotated slightly and hovered in front of her… with its tip pointing straight at Sunny.
"Uh… what?"
Cassie smiled and turned her head to him.
"Ah, please forgive Quiet Dancer. She is shy around strangers."
Sunny scratched the back of his head. Sensing his confusion, Cassie explained:
"Dancer is an Echo and a partner of mine. We work well together."
As if answering her words, the rapier suddenly circled around the blind girl and returned to her previous position. Though it was still pointing at Sunny.
"Huh… alright."
Interrupting their conversation, Effie called out to him:
"Hey, Sunny. Now would be the perfect time to invite your girlfriend to join us."
Lucien blinked in confusion and turned to stare at them.
Sunny gritted his teeth.
"How many times do I have to tell you, she's not my girlfriend!"
"Do you mean your stone child echo?" Lucien voiced.
"Yes!" Sunny exclaimed and promptly summoned her.
A moment later, the Stone Saint stepped into the tunnel out of his shadow. Her ruby eyes were burning with crimson flames from behind the visor of the helmet. The taciturn monster briefly glanced at the people gathered around it, and then indifferently turned away to peer into the darkness
…Suddenly, a distant noise made everyone freeze for a moment. With a dark expression, Effie looked in the direction it came from and sighed.
"Right. We've wasted enough time already. Follow me… and be ready."
With that, she took a step forward and headed deeper into the tunnel. Lucien fell back and came side to side with Sunny, just as Stone Saint took his previous position.
Glancing at him, Sunny asked:
"What is this place?"
"The catacombs." He simply replied.
He frowned.
"Since when are there catacombs beneath the Dark City? Why have I never heard anyone mention them?"
Lucien looked at him from the corner of his eyes and said:
"They've always been there. The whole city was connected by this underground network in the distant past. This is one of the few paths that remain. No one talks about them because no one is crazy enough to explore them. Many consider this place a death sentence."
A vicious smile lit up his face, "I hope Harus follows us in. Unlike us, he does not know his way around, and without anyone to fall back on, he will die.
"Can we get back to that thing you said about how people consider this a death sentence? Why is that?"
Lucien smirked, "You'll see soon enough."
"What's that suppo-"
However, before Sunny was done speaking, something appeared out of the darkness and barred their way.
Right there in front of them, a skeleton was standing on the edge between light and darkness, staring at the six humans with the black chasms of its empty eye sockets.
"And so it begins," Lucien whispered, and the skeleton lunged forward, baring its teeth in a hungry grin.