Natural Element

For a few minutes, Sunny simply lay on the ground, letting the rain hit his face. From time to time, a bolt of lightning arced through the skies, drowning everything in blinding light. Other than that, it was almost completely dark. If not for his Attribute, he would have had trouble discerning the shapes of Nephis and Cassie, who were resting nearby.

After some time, however, a feeling of uneasiness entered his mind. Something was off. Sunny scowled, trying to understand where that feeling was coming from. Finally, he realized that it was his shadow. It was trying to draw his attention to something.

'Please, let me rest. I just want to rest.'

He was too tired to do anything. Both his body and mind were exhausted. However, the shadow was very persistent. It remained adamant.

In the end, Sunny moaned and rolled over on his stomach, then slowly stood up. Nephis turned her head and looked at him.

"What is it?"

He grimaced.

"I don't know yet. Something feels wrong."

Cassie shivered and got closer to Neph. Following his shadow's warning, Sunny looked around, trying to find any sign of danger in their surroundings.

Even with his vision, he couldn't see anything out of place. The upper part of the cliffs was well above the stormy sea, forming a small island. Its surface was rugged and uneven, with several protruding ridges breaking the line of sight. There was a large space between their group and the nearest ridge. That space was littered, seemingly at random, with piles of dirt and tall boulders.

Nephis got up and summoned her sword.

"Do you see anything?"

Sunny frowned.

"Not really…"

At that moment, another lightning flashed, briefly illuminating the small island. His eyes widened.

The tall boulders surrounding them were massive and irregularly shaped. They were black in color and motionless… that's why Sunny had not recognized them for what they were at first glance.

All around them, scavengers were silently lying on the ground.

Sunny froze, suddenly consumed by terror. The hairs on the back of his neck bristled and stood up on ends. One, two, three… he lost count because of panic and gritted his teeth. Seven… no, eight of them.

It seemed the three humans were not the only ones who thought of taking shelter from the dark sea on these cliffs. He trembled.

These cliffs were a death trap...

Noticing something on his face, Nephis tensed:

"Sunny?"

He slowly turned his head to her and whispered:

"Don't speak. Don't move. Just… stay where you are."

She followed his instructions without asking for the reason. However, a silent question appeared on her face.

Cassie did the same.

Sunny closed his eyes and breathed in, trying to calm his panicking mind down. There were no hopeless situations. Every problem had a solution. He just had to think of one…

The scavengers did not attack yet. Maybe they were asleep or patiently waiting out the storm, trying not to move in fear of attracting more terrifying monsters. Maybe they simply did not notice the humans. After all, it was unknown how well these creatures could see. Were they able to see in the dark? Probably not, or at least not as well as he could.

There was still hope.

Sunny opened his eyes and looked at the small island again. But this time, his perspective was different. He saw the deep darkness, the clamor of the storm that drowned out most of the sounds, the large distance between the scavengers.

This was his territory. It was perfectly suited for a murderous shadow. Didn't he dream of becoming a silent assassin? Well, here was his chance. He just had to execute each step perfectly… crawl through the darkness, strike without alerting the enemy, kill each of them with one precise blow.

Rinse and repeat. He already knew their strengths and weaknesses — all that was left was to put that knowledge to practice. And even if he makes a mistake, there were other means to fall back onto. Echo and Nephis could do their part if he were to land himself in danger.

Yes, that could work. It had to.

Sunny looked at Changing Star and Cassie.

"I'll take care of this."

Before they could react, he seemed to dissolve into the shadows.

Under the cover of darkness, Sunny sneaked forward. His steps were soft and measured, his breathing controlled. He quickly determined the optimal order of attack to minimize the chance of being discovered and proceeded to the first target — a hulking scavenger that was the furthest away from the pack.

Hidden in the shadows, Sunny suddenly felt calm and focused. He felt as though he was finally in his natural element.

As the looming silhouette of the scavenger approached, he slowed down and circled around his target. The monster did not move, oblivious to the lurking threat that was drawing closer with each second. Sunny held his breath and prepared to attack.

He only had one chance.

'Do it right!'

With that thought, he silently lunged forward.

One step, two. Sunny jumped and easily landed on the monster's carapace. The Azure Blade was already in his hand, its steel dark. A moment later, it plunged into the weak point on the scavenger's back, piercing the chitin and destroying its brain. The quiet crack of the breaking carapace was quickly washed away by the rain.

It was done.

Sunny felt a sense of triumph appear in his heart and quickly suppressed it. This wasn't the right time to celebrate — seven targets were still waiting for him in the darkness.

He retrieved his sword and jumped down from the scavenger's corpse.

Then, Sunny frowned.

Why was the Spell silent?

It didn't announce his kill, nor the absorption of the shadow fragments.

Feeling his skin crawl, Sunny turned around and looked at the scavenger. At first, he was afraid that the beast was still alive… but that wasn't the case.

It was as dead as could be.

However, on closer inspection, Sunny noticed something that he had missed before.

And when he did, his face paled.