24: Advancing to the west

The night had passed without problems, changing guard every three hours to avoid any danger.

When Sasha woke up the next morning, she found her friend lying on the coral, gazing at the sky. Today they planned their next moves, so she approached him.

"Good morning, Jony. Have you thought about what we should do from here?"

"Oh, good morning, Sasha. Yes, I've considered a few things. Sit down," Jonathan said, pointing to a spot in front of him.

Sitting face to face, Jonathan began to speak.

"I thought we could head west. I'll ask you to guide me to the high rock you mentioned earlier," he said, seriousness on his face.

"But heading west would take us to the origin of the Black Sea. Don't you think it's dangerous to head there?" Sasha expressed her concern with a hint of hesitation in her voice.

"I can't reveal the reason, but we must go there. I hope you can trust me and follow, but I won't force you," said Jonathan, showing confidence in his words, which reassured Sasha.

"You're mean, Jony. You know I won't leave you alone. You didn't need to say more. I was just curious, but if you can't say it, I'll trust you and lead you there," Sasha replied with a playful smile.

"Thank you. I really appreciate your trust in me," said Jonathan, with a sincere smile.

"You're welcome. By the way, if we're going to head towards the rock I mentioned, we should leave now. Hopefully, we'll get there two or three hours before dark."

"Agreed, let's leave now. I'll have the scavenger carry some meat. It should be ready to fight as well, so we'll travel quickly without having to avoid conflicts."

Ten minutes after venturing into the maze, they encountered a group of five scavengers, to which Sasha and Jonathan seemed ready to face.

"I can handle two, Sasha, you take one. My scavenger will deal with the other two. With your enhancements, we should be able to finish them easily."

With a frown of annoyance, Sasha looked at her friend and protested.

"I feel like you're underestimating me. I'm stronger and faster than you. Don't you think leaving me alone with one is a bit rude?"

Jonathan's expression changed from confusion at Sasha's protest to apology before speaking.

"Oh, sorry, I guess I didn't express it correctly. It's not that I underestimate you, I saw how good you are. It's just more efficient this way and..."

Sasha smirked teasingly as her friend abruptly stopped his explanation.

"Calm down, it was a joke. Now, let's move before they find us," Sasha said, in a teasing tone.

Not entirely sure how to react, Jonathan followed the plan and lunged at two scavengers while sending his scavenger to fight the other two.

Before the fifth scavenger could strike Jonathan, Sasha appeared and covered him with her shield.

Her ability was activated, enhancing her allies. Jonathan felt much stronger and was able to keep up.

The crab had some trouble but managed to withstand the attack of the other two scavengers.

Sasha, with a sword made from her friend's armor, fought against the scavenger.

Sasha blocked a claw with the shield and immediately cut it with the sword.

The beast lost one claw and struck with the other while letting out a beastly roar.

Jonathan dodged two claws falling from above and slid under another coming from his right.

He jumped and stabbed the joint of the scavenger's right claw and cut it off.

He propelled himself with the beast's body and dodged another claw coming behind him, which hit the beast's shell and cracked it.

With the momentum from the jump, he managed to land a blow on the beast's arm, which connected, leaving both beasts with one less arm.

Falling to the muddy ground and spinning to dodge a claw from the scavenger on the left, he jumped and cut off its other claw.

"Alright, just one hit left for this one and a few for the other," he thought confidently.

He spun again to avoid the scavenger's sharp legs and moved to the side instead of attacking, as a claw fell from above.

Dodging the other scavenger, he slid under its strike and cut off its only remaining claw.

"They're dead, bastards," he said aloud with a playful expression on his face.

He said before advancing and stabbing his dagger into one, then using its torso and giving a powerful jump toward the other scavenger, which he beheaded, avoiding the claws in its mouth.

Sasha blocked the remaining claw's strike of the scavenger and advanced with all her might to stab her sword into the beast's shell.

The sword easily penetrated through its Quintina and sank into the shell. Sasha moved and cut a large part of the shell. The beast fell dead after such a wound.

Both went to help their scavenger, who had already killed one of its opponents but was struggling with the other.

Both had wounds on their shells but theirs had much fewer thanks to Sasha's ability.

They quickly killed the other scavenger among the three.

"Well done. We managed to kill them without hurting ourselves too much. My scavenger is also quite well so we'll still take it with us. Are you injured anywhere?"

"No, the shield is sturdy and so is my body. Plus, this sword you gave me is very powerful. I envy that armor of yours."

Jonathan put on a smug smile and replied.

"It's the least after killing a sleeping tyrant and an ascended, don't you think? Oh, did I mention I also secretly commanded hundreds of soldiers against a tide of beasts?"

Sasha couldn't help but twist her expression at the mention of his exploits in his nightmare, still incredulous about it, she replied.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, now give me a minute, I need to catch my breath." Sasha said as she lay back on the mud. After a minute of lying down and enduring her friend's confused expression, she got up and they continued.

Both arrived after a couple of hours of tough walking and some fights with scavengers.

In each fight, Sasha would make her friend wait a minute or a dozen seconds before continuing.

On the way, Jonathan killed three more scavengers and Sasha four with the help of her friend's awakened beast.

"This rock is impressive, but my coral was taller."

"Your habit of comparing everything makes me want to punch you," Sasha threatened her friend with a somewhat irritated yet amused face.

"Sorry, but they are truths, not comparisons," her friend said, with a smug face and an arrogant tone.

Sasha looked at him with a serious expression.

"What you just said makes no sense, does it?"

"Whatever, we're safe (as much as you can be in this hell). So let's eat, there's still at least two hours until the water comes. I'll prepare today's meal."

"And what do we have on the menu?" Sasha asked, with a playful voice.

"Today's special: luxurious nightmare crab meat with absolutely no extra ingredients, the house specialty," replied her good friend with a sarcastic tone and a forced smile.

"I'll look forward to it, then."

So another hour passed as they ate and talked until Jonathan felt 'them' nearby.

"You know, it's really incredible that you don't need the soul cores of the monsters we kill. All those cores have made me much stronger."

When she saw a serious expression on her normally calm friend's face, Sasha became serious and spoke again.

"Jony? What's wrong? You have a strange look on your face. Are there enemies nearby? I haven't felt anything."

"Yes, I think they're close, about 150 meters away."

"Alright, then they're still far. Will you tell me later how you know that? For now, I'll get ready to fight."

"No, they're not scavengers."

"What? Not scavengers? Then are they another kind of monster?" Sasha asked, confused.

"Neither. It seems they're humans, they're sleepers too, I'm sure. But I feel something weird from one of them. Let's go down, I want to see them and if they're friendly, we'll bring them here."

"Alright, let's go then."

So, both sleepers headed to these mysterious visitors, unaware that their encounter would change the very destiny of this world.