Risk and Reward

Nephis and Kai dove away, and the massive pillar of bone shot past them. Before the thunderous sound of it crashing against the wall of the chamber even reached Sunny's ears, the pillar was already moving, whipping sideways with tremendous force.

Luckily, he and Cassie were behind it… but Effie and Caster were not. Both of them reacted with admirable speed and fell to the ground, allowing the terrifying limb of the gargantuan creature to fly above their heads.

Rising from the stone floor, the huntress screamed:

"It's just thrashing in its sleep! Move! We need to get out of here before the bastard wakes up!"

Cursing, Sunny dismissed the Midnight Shard and faced the mountain of bones, trying to predict its next move. He was beginning to understand how Effie's original hunting party had perished in the catacombs.

A sword wouldn't be of any use in this situation.

The Lord of the Dead was slowly coming to its senses. The bones constituting its repulsive body moved and rippled, unfurling from within the white mass like giant, twisting limbs. It seemed to be slowly turning from a shapeless hill into some semblance of a creature.

What shape that creature would assume once it fully awoke, Sunny didn't want to know.

Another twisting pillar… limb?... suddenly shot from the mass of bones, blindly striking at the empty space behind the giant abomination. Sunny gritted his teeth, his ears ringing from the thunderclap of its impact against the wall. What followed was a deafening noise of thousands of ancient bones scraping against weathered stone.

The massive pillar whipped left and right, then fell to the ground and slowly retreated back inside the body of the Lord of the Dead.

Meanwhile, Nephis was back at her feet. Dashing toward Kai, she pushed one end of the golden rope into his hands and pointed to the breach in the dome of the chamber. In the next moment, the archer soared into the air, flying to his destination with incredible speed.

With a terrifying scraping sound, the whole white mountain rippled once again, and several devastating pillars of bone shot to intercept him.

However, Sunny had no time to check on Kai.

Because the Lord of the Dead had extended two more limbs in his direction.

Diving under the first one, Sunny felt a wave of fetid air rush past him. Knowing that he only had a second left to live, he then strained his muscles and jumped with all his shadow-augmented might. Sunny's body flew several meters into the air, avoiding the rushing bone tentacle only by a few centimeters.

Landing in a roll, Sunny cursed and got back to his feet.

'What kind of an infernal jumping rope game is this?!'

The Lord of the Dead was slowly coming to its sense. More bone tentacles appeared from the mass of corpses, each moving with growing precision.

But Kai was already standing on the palm of the giant stone hand, the golden rope looped around one of its fingers.

Cassie was the first one to climb up. With the flying rapier loyally hovering over her shoulder, the blind girl effortlessly moved up the rope, reaching the distant ceiling of the underground chamber less than ten seconds later. It was easy to forget that she had absorbed as much soul essence as the rest of them. Her delicate arms hid much more power than one would assume.

…However, back on the ground, those seconds were a real hell. The mountainous creature was waking up, making it hard for the rest of them to stay away from its blindly thrashing limbs.

They needed to get out of here fast.

Effie was the next one to take the rope. The huntress practically flew up, pushing herself with agility and herculean strength worthy of an ancient hero.

Then, it was Caster's turn. Effortlessly dodging a pillar of bone with his incredible speed, the Legacy grabbed the rope… and turned into a barely visible blur. A second later, he was already landing on the giant stone palm.

Nephis and Sunny were the only ones left in the reach of the Fallen Tyrant. Glancing at Sunny, Changing Star yelled:

"Your turn!"

…However, Sunny did not respond.

His eyes were fixed on the base of the gargantuan abomination, where, amidst the ancient bones…

A weak golden glow emanated from a small, partially concealed object.

Sunny lingered for a moment, his thoughts moving with incredible speed. He knew that he was a greedy person by nature, and one cursed with insatiable curiosity, too. However, first a foremost, he was someone who put a tremendous amount of value on his own survival.

That's why, right now, his reasoning was cold a sober.

It was a question of risk and reward, as well as his ability.

Would he be able to reach the object shining with the light of divinity and come back alive, or not?

A second later, he looked at Nephis and answered:

"You go. I'll be just behind you."

...It would be a shame to go through all of this and not receive anything in return. He had to try.

With that, Sunny turned around and dashed toward the Lord of the Dead.

The decision was made, and now all that was left was to execute it.

Summoning the Prowling Thorn, he threw it at the mountain of bones. Of course, Sunny didn't hope to wound the tyrant. He just wanted to lodge the kunai in its body.

Just as the throwing dagger pierced the mass of bones, a white limb suddenly shot in his direction, obstructing everything with its repulsive expanse. Commanding the invisible string to contract, Sunny jumped high into the air and flew forward as though launched from a cannon.

Landing on the other side of the pillar, just a few steps away from the unencompassable mass of bones, he gritted his teeth…

And then thrust his hand inside the Fallen Tyrant's body.

A moment later, his fist closed around the concealed object, and with some effort, Sunny pulled it out in the clatter of breaking bones. A sharp pain pierced his forearm.

Opening his fist, he saw… a small, intricate iron key. It looked almost ordinary, if not for the ethereal golden glow emanating from within it.

In the next moment, Sunny suddenly staggered, feeling a wave of weakness washed over his body.

Rotating his forearm, he stared blankly at it for a split second, trying to comprehend what he was seeing.

And when he did, his eyes widened in terror.