Once everyone was safe, Sunny gave the signal to prepare for the descent. Uriel summoned the Aqua Pearl as the statue descended deeper into the Cursed Sea, submerging them.
Uriel used his innate ability to create vines that kept all members of the cohort secure and prevented them from falling off.
Since no one could see through the darkness, Uriel observed the place calmly. Thanks to his constant dives into the Cursed Sea, the view felt familiar. He watched as Nightmare Creatures avoided the statue like the plague—even Awakened Tyrant monsters moved away from it at high speed.
After about five long minutes, during which Uriel watched everyone struggle to hold their breath, the statue reached the edge of the canyon and, with a powerful push, emerged from the Dark Sea.
Returning to normal, Uriel dismissed the vines. Everyone took deep breaths, gasping for air.
Uriel discarded the Aqua Pearl, breathing in the salty sea air.
Uriel stood up, summoning the black sword. His body darkened once more.
"What's happening?" Nephis asked.
"We have an uninvited guest. Probably a Fallen or Corrupted creature," Uriel said, making everyone tense.
Uriel summoned the Aqua Pearl. Since he was the only one whose Aspect was useful in this situation, it was his duty to eliminate the unwanted passenger.
Without a word, Uriel jumped. Translucent tentacles emerged from the Nightmare Creature and pierced through Uriel without harming him.
Extending his hand, he created black tendrils that grabbed the abomination right at its center. With a powerful pull, he yanked it upward, aiming the black sword at its weak point—the tentacles it used to cling.
The Ascended sword sliced through the creature's gelatinous flesh. After cutting the two tentacles, the creature slipped and fell back into the Dark Sea. Uriel extended his hand, grabbing the edge of the statue's shoulder, and retracted his arm, pulling himself up until he reached the top. Then he climbed back to the platform and sat down.
"It's done," he reported calmly.
"Did you kill it?" Nephis asked.
"No. It was a Corrupted beast, so killing it was impossible. I just sent it back into the sea after cutting a few tentacles."
...
After that, Uriel left Sunny to watch over the rest of the night until the next morning.
When Sunny woke them up, the exhausted young man lay down to sleep.
With no time to waste, they began building barricades using the spider corpses Uriel had stored.
Using his Black Rope memory, they created a railing and improvised spears in case of aerial attacks.
After several hours, they had finished building everything they needed and were resting on the colossus's neck as it advanced through the Crimson Labyrinth.
Upon Cassie's warning that a storm was approaching, Uriel switched with Shade, who had been filling out a crossword puzzle out of boredom.
Upon taking control, Shade saw a large locust lying dead with a black arrow embedded in it, absorbing its blood.
Shade summoned his Hunter's Bow and his quiver of arrows, which had two enchantments.
The first was to create arrows of an attribute using the user's energy. The second was to continuously create arrows of the same attribute.
Both the bow and the quiver were Ascended memories of the first level.
Shade drew the bowstring. An arrow with faint blue sparks appeared at its tip, and he released it, eliminating two Awakened beasts.
"We have more problems," Cassie said after using her memory, which could create a strong wind to fuel Nephis's flames.
"What's the issue?" Shade asked, firing three arrows and eliminating three locusts.
"I can sense a horde of monsters starting to climb the statue's legs," she revealed, slicing through another locust.
Shade clicked his tongue.
"Sunny, Nephis," he called, making both look at him.
"We'll deal with the monsters. We can't let them reach us here," he said, dismissing the bow and quiver before summoning the black sword.
Sunny took the right side, Nephis the left, while Shade took the rear, where the largest number of beasts were climbing.
Of course, monsters were climbing from all three sides, not to mention the swarm of locusts overhead.
Shade frowned and dismissed the black sword. He still had space to eliminate them with the bow without using his ace up the sleeve.
After summoning the bow and quiver, he began firing arrow after arrow, killing the Awakened monsters controlled by the Blood Flower.
Shade kept firing arrow after arrow, eliminating the monsters without giving them time to close the distance.
To ensure multiple kills, he shot at their footholds, forcing them to let go and take others with them. This way, he had more space to attack.
Shade wondered how Nephis and Sunny were faring but assumed they were fine. He could hear the constant battles happening to his right, left, and above.
After about five minutes and killing several dozen abominations, Uriel saw the locust army and the monsters clash, starting a fight. He took the opportunity to return to the top.
Upon arriving, he saw that everyone was still fighting intensely, so without time to rest, he joined the battle with his bow and arrows.
After a few moments, the locust swarm froze and then flew away at full speed, fleeing from something.
Shade looked ahead, his eyes widening slightly. The storm clouds had begun to manifest, and with them came darkness and the Dark Sea.