The next morning, Uriel let Shade take control of the body while he took a backseat to simply relax without doing anything at all.
After breakfast, everyone left the marble arch and continued their journey deeper into the labyrinth.
"So, Uriel," Sunny began, "how exactly will we reach our destination in just a few days?" he asked.
Shade gave his characteristic amused and mocking smile.
"We'll take some pretty interesting transportation."
"That doesn't answer the question," said the dark-haired boy.
"We'll ride a statue," Cassie said.
Shade looked at the blind girl with a slightly annoyed expression for ruining the surprise and the perfect moment to see everyone's reactions.
"A statue?" Effie asked.
Cassie nodded, glancing at Effie out of the corner of her eye despite her eyes being covered by a blue blindfold.
"Yes, it's a special one that has wandered the Forgotten Shore for thousands of years. It'll take us to our destination. Though the journey will be difficult."
"Hey, Cassie, don't ruin the surprises," Shade said.
"Oops. I thought it was the right moment," the girl said with the same smile as Shade's, making him blink in slight confusion.
'Sue her, Shade! That smile is trademarked!' Uriel yelled.
'I will! No one steals my cool smile! What are you doing now?'
'Oh, nothing really important. Just looking at some stuff on the computer. What's this folder named "Calculator"?'
Shade stopped abruptly, making the group look at him. They saw he had turned a bit pale. A moment later, his eyes changed to a dark hue.
"Is a monster coming?" Caster asked.
"...Huh? No, I just remembered something, but I don't think it's important," Kai was about to say it was a lie, but a look from Uriel shut him up immediately.
"Well, let's continue," Shade said, recomposing himself, his eyes changing back to an intense red like two rubies.
The journey of the seven-member team continued, fighting in continuous small skirmishes against Nightmare Creatures, which they eliminated quickly. Thanks to Uriel's map, they could find reference points and the direction they needed to go.
At night, while everyone rested, Uriel would dive into the Dark Sea for several hours, killing Awakened and Fallen beasts, continuing to saturate his Devil core to become a Tyrant. The memories he obtained after checking them and feeding them to the Abandoned Knight, he would return three hours before dawn.
Thanks to Kai and Sunny acting as scouts, the strength of Changing Star, Caster, and Uriel, along with Cassie's guidance, they remained relatively safe, prepared for any unexpected situations.
…
As they delved deeper into the labyrinth, the Iron Spiders, which were few and weak as Dormant beasts, became larger and stronger.
However, besides spiders, there were more insidious creatures that also ambushed them. These creatures were slippery with unknown abilities, causing the group to suffer a few injuries—even Uriel.
Yet the situation was manageable due to several factors.
First were Nephis's healing flames, which cured those with more serious injuries, despite the pain she endured using them.
Then there were the two Echoes: the Stone Saint, a Shadow creature, and the Abandoned Knight, a Darkness creature.
Though according to what Sunny had told him, the Stone Saint had consumed two hundred memories and become an Ascended monster, as powerful as a Master.
Thanks to the creature, they could eliminate monsters much faster, relieving enough pressure to avoid being surrounded.
Another factor was, of course, Uriel's Aspect, which he used to massacre large numbers of monsters and destroy obstacles, always leaving an escape route for the cohort.
Another factor was the spiders themselves. Their hunting method made them effective against monsters trapped in their webs. As they advanced, the sight of large cocoons became natural.
Finally, after several days of this routine, Uriel checked his runes.
…
Name: Uriel
True Name: Lord of Darkness.
Soul Core: Devil
Fragment of Darkness: [772/4000]
Aspect: Dark Lord
Aspect Rank: Divine
Aspect Ability: [Shaper]
Aspect Rank: Divine
Innate Ability: Dark Body.
Echoes: [Abandoned Knight]
Attributes: [Darkness] [Dark Flame] [Extra Carapace] [Dream Spawn]
Memories: [Night Mantle] [Eclipse Claw] [Dark Vault] [Blue Lance] [Sword of the Night] [Blood Flower] [Hunter's Bow] [Comfortable Chair] [Black Rope] [Aqua Pearl] [Moonlight Fragment] [Lament of the Depths] [Broken Fragment] [Poisonous Mantle] [Captain's Sword]
Flaw: [Dual Mind]
…
His new memories were two Ascended rank and three Awakened rank, obtained from his battles in the Cursed Sea.
On the dusk of the sixth day, they reached the goal of the first stage of their journey. The ground had cracked, forming a tyrannical fracture and an unnatural canyon. The canyon was incredibly deep—Uriel easily estimated it was nearly a kilometer deep.
Uriel observed the other statue—the warrior with a spear that greeted them, whose head had been torn off with violent force.
After resting and forming a plan to deal with the spiders, Effie, the Stone Saint, and the Abandoned Knight would focus on the front line.
Kai would support from the air. Caster, Nephis, and Cassie would attack from the sides. Finally, Uriel would be in charge of delivering the decisive blow.
Everyone would gather the monsters in one spot, and using his innate ability, he would pierce them all with a new application he discovered while training.
The plan was executed without incident at first.
Everyone followed the plan, causing the spiders to group together in one spot.
Uriel, who had been hiding, saw this and jumped, immediately transforming into a mass of pure darkness that impacted the ground, spreading like a black liquid that covered the entire battlefield. A second later, countless thick spears made of darkness impaled the Awakened beasts, ignoring the humans.
Sunny looked on with envy.
He was genuinely jealous of Uriel's Aspect. The difference between his Divine Aspect and Uriel's Divine Aspect was very evident.
The darkness retreated, converging back into Uriel's human form. He staggered slightly and fell to the ground on his back.
"There are still a few alive, so I'd appreciate it if you'd finish the job."
"Are you okay, Little?" Effie asked.
"Yeah, just... using that makes my mind scatter, and I lose control for a moment," he explained.
As just a sleeper, he could only perform that feat once a day.
After everyone finished off the remaining spiders, they had cleared the entire nest of hundreds of spiders.
Once Uriel recovered, he helped the others retrieve the soul fragments from the spiders, storing them in his Dark Vault.
After doing so, Uriel gave fragments to Nephis and Cassie. Since Effie, Kai, and Caster had saturated their cores from the hunt of the Lord of the Undead and the dozens of expeditions made daily and nightly in the Dark City.
Uriel crushed quite a few fragments, bringing his counter to a thousand fragments of darkness. Since he didn't obtain new memories, he couldn't strengthen his Dark Echo.
"Hey, Uriel, coming to explore?" Sunny asked.
Uriel looked at Sunny with red eyes, making Sunny feel a bit of fear from those eyes.
"No. I'll stay at the statue, so go and have fun," Uriel said.
"Alright. Do what you want," Sunny said.
Uriel watched as the group moved away, entering the caves. Uriel climbed the statue and sat on its neck, watching the twilight light creating long shadows.
A cold wind gently brushed against his body, making his Dark Mantle ripple slightly in the breeze.
After a few minutes, Shade sighed and closed his eyes, beginning to meditate, focusing on sensing his essence and attempting to Awaken naturally.
One way or another, he needed to become Awakened to enter a second nightmare and have better chances of surviving and overcoming them.
Both he and Uriel had discussed the timeline. Since they were accelerating events, it would only take half the original time for an army of powerful sleepers with extensive battle experience to land in the waking world.
Since they would stay on the Forgotten Shore, they would have about a year to a year and a half to achieve natural Awakening and become Masters before the Antarctica campaign, and then take on the third nightmare in the Tomb of Ariel.
If they couldn't do that, they would seek another seed, which they would challenge alone or with other sleepers.
With that plan in mind, they had no time to waste.
Shade opened his eyes, seeing that everyone had returned and night had fallen. He realized some time had passed since their return.
"What are you doing now?" Kai asked curiously, having never seen Uriel meditate for three hours straight without moving, as if he were an unperturbed statue untouched by the world.
Uriel's eyes focused on Kai as he shrugged and replied, "I'm meditating. It helps me clarify some ideas."
"You're not arguing with that voice in your head again, are you?" Caster asked.
"No. We both reached a temporary agreement after I won a lawsuit against him," Shade explained.
Effie, Caster, and Kai shook their heads in denial at the odd statement, except for Sunny, who already knew about Uriel's Flaw; Cassie, who had an idea of what Uriel's Flaw was; and Nephis, who had her suspicions about his Flaw due to the subtle and constant changes in his voice, posture, and especially the change in his eyes.
"Well, I'll continue meditating," he said, assuming the position. This time, his body was enveloped in darkness completely for about ten minutes before returning to normal, and after another ten, he returned to his dark form.
…
After two days, at dusk on the second day, the seven humans stood at the edge of the vast canyon as twilight covered the world in shadows. Far below, the Dark Sea began to rise slowly.
As time passed, Uriel looked at Cassie, who answered the unspoken question.
"Be ready," the girl said.
When the rays of light disappeared, the Dark Sea began to rise at great speed. Nephis, using her Aspect, summoned a sea of light, attracting the abominations to seek her out.
After almost a minute, and as the Dark Sea's water reached their shins, the stone colossus appeared. When it came close enough, everyone quickly climbed onto the platform at its neck.