Chapter 1211 Until Dawn

Chapter 1211 Until Dawn

The harrowing battle was still raging all around them, and Sunny struggled to suppress the feeling of primordial terror that threatened to overwhelm his reason. Thinking back to their mad dash across the dark battlefield, he felt his hands tremble.

How the hell did they survive?

He winced, and pushed the fear to the side. There was no time to be afraid.

Glancing at Jet and Seishan, Sunny nodded silently, and took a step toward the ruin.

No matter what awaited them inside, they couldn't remain in the open.

The ancient structure was in a sorry state. It had withstood thousands of years of heat and wind, but was nearly destroyed by whatever it was that had transpired here minutes ago.

The spherical dome was raptured, and stone shards lay on the white sand, some covered in dancing flames. It was as though a powerful explosion had wrecked it from within, spreading fire and debris all around. A few chunks of broken stone were large and heavy enough to crush an armored vehicle.

Sunny extended his shadow sense as far as he could, but the black walls of the ruined structure were somehow blocking it.

Followed by Jet and Seishan, he carefully approached the hole in the dome's wrecked wall, lingered for a moment, and jumped inside.

The first thing that met them was the stench of burned flesh.

The ruin was much smaller than the one they had sheltered in before, and from the looks of it, there was no path to the underground portion of the structure. There was only this one spherical chamber, with its floor partially buried under the sand.

A blackened corpse lay in the middle of the round hall. It seemed human, but it was impossible to tell who that human had been — the corpse was burned too badly, and all its features were destroyed by the flame.

There was someone else in the chamber, too.

Sunny cursed and dashed forward, appearing near the motionless figure a split second later. Nephis was laying on the black stones, her armor almost destroyed, with her eyes closed. Wisps of white fire were escaping from the terrible wounds covering her body, and in the bleak light, her face looked pale and vulnerable.

'No, no, no...'

A moment later, a relieved sigh escaped from his lips.

She was alive, just unconscious. The wounds were already healing, too — just in these few short seconds, their edges had already grown closer.

Jet and Seishan slowly approached. Soul Reaper kneeled, studying the charred corpse.

After a while, Sunny forced himself to turn away from Neph and asked:

"Who is it? Can you tell?" Folloow current novÊls on nov/3lb((in).(co/m)

Jet hesitated, then shook her head.

"No... the body is too damaged. However, it gives me the creeps."

The three of them remained silent for a few moments, wondering what had happened here.

Nephis flinched, then sat up and grabbed the Endless Spring. She drank from it greedily, and then looked at Sunny.

White sparks danced in her eyes, as if agitated.

"How... how are you here?"

He shrugged.

"I told you that I would see you on the other side."

Sunny lingered for a few moments and scoffed.

"What? Don't look at me like that. To be honest, we saw the light of your flames from afar, and rushed here, hoping to find shelter. If not for that, we'd be dead for sure."

Nephis glanced at Jet and Seishan. A small frown appeared on her face.

Then, she suddenly shuddered and turned around, staring at the spot where the charred corpse had been before.

Seishan finally spoke:

"We got rid of it. We... have encountered a creature that can possess corpses. So, keeping a dead body with us did not seem safe."

Nephis shivered.

"Yes... I... I have encountered such a creature, too."

Sunny remained silent for a while, wondering how was it that she had managed to kill the damn thing. Did it have something to do with her Ascended Ability, [Longing]? Or the nature of her Aspect in general?

The dead of the Nightmare Desert seemed unwilling to approach the white flames, too.

More importantly...

Was there more than one creature like the one they had fought? Or was it a creature capable of inhabiting multiple vessels at the same time?

His expression was grim.

"...Do you know what that thing was?"

Nephis hesitated for a few moments, then nodded.

"I'm not sure... but I think I do."

She grimaced, looked at her ruined armor, and raised one trembling hand.

"There were three Nightmare Gates, but only two Gate Guardians entered the waking world. The third... I think that it stayed behind in the Dream Realm."

Nephis grew quiet for a bit, and then added:

"To hunt us."