Above and Below

Sunny lay still for a while, then summoned the runes and looked at the dreadful number:

Shadow Fragments: [197/2000].

He sighed.

The task of pursuing power had turned out to be much more difficult than he had anticipated, and for one simple reason: after becoming an Awakened, he now received fewer fragments from killing Nightmare Creatures.

If before he could get two by slaying an Awakened Monster, now it was one. If before he could receive four by slaying a Fallen Monster, now it was two. What's worse, his hopes of growing strong by hunting down scores of Dormant creatures had been mercilessly crushed, because he didn't receive any fragments from killing those weaker than him at all.

Which was a real disappointment. Who didn't love punching down? Sunny was at the very bottom of the power structure for most of his life, so he had been really looking forward to having an opportunity to bully something weaker than him, for a change. Alas, it had turned out to be a waste of his time.

Of course, Sunny had also become tremendously more powerful. He could handle himself in a fight with Fallen Beasts, and even Monsters… especially with the help of Saint. That was the only reason why he had not fallen off behind Nephis, who was still alive somewhere in the Dream Realm, and growing more powerful with each day.

He had not managed to diminish the gap between them by a lot, but at least he was not worse off than at the start of this.

Thinking of Changing Star, Sunny looked into the distance. A somber expression appeared on his face.

'...Think about something else.'

There was only one bright side to all of this.

While Dormant creatures did not bring him any shadow fragments, they did bring him Memories. And those Memories could be fed to Saint.

Her own counter now showed:

Shadow Fragments: [157/200].

'Not bad…'

A low, eerie sound of giant iron links scraping against each other interrupted his thoughts. The island Sunny was currently on seemed to have entered the ascending phase, so his time here was running short.

Standing up with a sigh, Sunny summoned the Moonlight Shard and walked over to the corpse of the Dread Wolf. He had to retrieve the soul shards before it was too late.

The Chained Isles… the Chained Isles were a strange place.

Situated at the very north of the territories claimed by humans, they bordered the Hollow Mountains. That was one of the reasons why Sunny had chosen that region as his hunting grounds.

But it wasn't the only one…

The whole region consisted of numerous islands that somehow floated in the air, connected to each other by gargantuan iron chains. It was mostly unexplored, and the Awakened population here was not very large. Notably, there were not a lot of Masters and Saints here, especially those associated with the Legacy clans... be it great or lesser.

What the Chained Island had in abundance, instead, were the Nightmare Creatures of all kinds, from Dormant ones, to Awakened, Fallen, and terrifying Corrupted abominations. Each island had its own menagerie of horrors, and the level of threat differed from one to another. Most were utterly deadly, though. Much more deadly than an average Awakened was supposed to be able to handle.

But Sunny was not an average Awakened. To him, this was a perfect hunting ground, a place where he could sharpen his blade without being seen by those who served the Sovereigns. Or at least he had thought that way, at the start… right now, he was starting to suspect that it was more of a place where he could die terribly without being seen by anyone who would have been able to help.

Just like Master Jet said, the Chained Islands were a hellish land.

And not only because of the Nightmare Creatures. The place itself was capable of killing a person… or, rather, its sky could.

High above the floating island, there was the usual sky with the sun, the moon, and beautiful stars that shined brightly at night.

However, there was another sky in this strange land, the one that was below the islands. It was always dark, and the ethereal lights burning at an unimaginable distance in its vast expanse only looked like the stars. No one really knew what they were.

The only thing that humans knew was that the Sky Below was seemingly endless. On his first day on the Isles, Sunny had asked what was down there. The answer he received was simple:

"Nothing."

Descending into the Below was not immediately dangerous, but there was nothing there. Some crazy daredevil had once fought his way through the hunting grounds of Nightmare Creatures that dwelled beneath the islands and spent a whole week flying straight down. He had to turn back, eventually, because out there in the boundless darkness, his mind began to show signs of breaking apart. Even the winged Echo he used to descend into the Below had almost gone insane.

But other than being absolutely empty, the Sky Below did not seem to pose a threat.

…Flying above the Chained Isles, however, was rather deadly. The higher one went, the more crushing their weight would become, until they would either fall down, or their body would simply implode.

That was why every human on the Chained Isles knew to pay attention to the sound of rattling chains. Every island in the region went through cycles of ascending and descending, and as they rose too high, the pressure on their surface grew tremendously, to the point where it was impossible to move... or breathe.

Ideally, Sunny had to get off the ascending island before that happened.

He should not have been lingering to retrieve the soul shards from the corpses of the monstrous wolves he and Saint had killed, really. But…

His eyes glistened with avarice.

Soul shards meant money, and if there was one thing Sunny really enjoyed, it was making money. No amount was ever enough.

An independent Awakened like him had a lot of expenses…

'Fine. It's fine. I'll be off this thing in no time…'

He quickly cut the dead beasts apart and fished out the soul shards from inside their bodies. Hiding the beautiful crystals in his pack, Sunny hesitated for a little, then sent his essence flowing and tossed the first corpse off the edge of the island.

He was planning to come back here soon, and leaving so much meat lying around could make the future visit rather problematic.

...Sunny only had one more carcass to dispose of when he suddenly noticed a swift silhouette descending from the skies.

Commanding Saint to hide herself in the shadows, he summoned the Midnight Shard and looked up tensely.

'...What the hell?'

Surrounded by a halo of sunlight, a majestic griffin was quickly approaching the island. At first, Sunny assumed that it was a Nightmare Creature, but then noticed a human figure on the monster's back.

A human rider meant that the magnificent griffin was an Echo.

Sunny's face grew dim.

Very few people could have such an Echo on the Chained Isles. And out of those...

He was pretty sure that he knew the identity of the unwelcomed visitor.