With Cassie riding comfortably atop the scavenger, their overall speed dramatically increased.
For the first time since coming to this place, Sunny felt somewhat calm.
Of course, that calmness didn't last long.
After some time, Reinhard, who was leading the group, suddenly stopped.
"What is it?" Sunny asked curiously.
The path his shadow was scouting seemed completely fine, and yet Reinhard had stopped for no reason.
Suddenly, Sunny tensed.
Was there a large group of carapace scavengers nearby?
Before he could voice his doubts, Reinhard, who was staring at the sky, suddenly turned around and spoke.
"A big storm is approaching. We have to run."
What?
Before Sunny could fully process what was happening, Reinhard took off.
The unusually soft breeze Sunny had been enjoying until now didn't seem calming anymore.
Seeing Nephis break into a sprint as well, he simply followed and commanded his Echo to do the same.
As they ran, the wind started to pick up while dark storm clouds gathered with unnatural speed overhead.
"Will we make it in time!?" Nephis asked.
"If we take the direct route!"
Going directly was the shortest path, but it would undoubtedly be filled with scavengers.
"There will be a lot of scavengers!" Sunny shouted.
"They won't have time to deal with us!"
Narrower and less crowded paths passed by them as they directly made their way towards the cliff.
Sunny was ready to fight through a series of bloody skirmishes along the way, but, to his surprise, most of the inhabitants of the labyrinth didn't give them much trouble.
The scavengers seemed just as panicked as they were.
The bulky creatures were busy hiding inside the coral mounds or burrowing underground.
On the rare occasions when one of them showed aggression, a quick slash of a sword or the threatening clack of a pincer was enough to make the monster back off.
By now, heavy drops of rain were starting to fall. Strong winds howled between the coral blades, sending bits of mud and seaweed flying everywhere. As storm clouds gathered overhead, the sunlight dimmed, and a cold twilight descended upon the labyrinth.
In the middle of that, a carapace scavenger dangerously close to them suddenly saw their charge as a threat.
With a loud screech, it clicked its pincers together and prepared to charge.
"Keep running!" Sunny barely heard Reinhard shout.
A moment later, he saw Reinhard suddenly shift left and dash toward the scavenger.
But following his command, and seeing Nephis do the same, Sunny kept running.
A few seconds later, he glanced back just in time to see Reinhard rejoining them after injuring the scavenger badly enough to stop it from attacking.
However, no matter how fast they moved, the storm was faster.
The rain quickly turned into a torrential downpour. The winds grew stronger, slamming against their bodies hard enough to make them stumble. The light dimmed even further, reducing visibility to almost nothing.
Finally, a blinding bolt of lightning tore through the darkness, followed almost immediately by a deafening thunderclap.
In the next moment, the ground beneath Sunny's feet trembled violently, causing him to lose balance and fall. He rolled through the mud and tried to stand, only to slip again.
Reinhard grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back up.
By the time Sunny regained his footing, dark, salty water had already risen to his shins.
He gritted his teeth.
The sea was coming back.
He couldn't tell where the water was coming from, but with each passing minute, it rose higher. Soon it reached his knees, then his waist, making running almost impossible. The group's speed slowed considerably.
Then, during a sudden flash of lightning, they saw a dark mass of stone ahead.
They had reached the cliffs.
Almost at the same time, a terrible rumbling echoed from deep within the labyrinth.
Turning back, Sunny saw a colossal torrent of black water rushing through the crimson forest. Some distance away, a scavenger that had failed to escape was caught by the wave and thrown against the coral walls.
The unbreakable carapace of the mighty creature cracked apart like a rotten egg.
Fuck!
Sunny turned toward Nephis.
"Start climbing!'
She grabbed him by the arm.
"Dismiss your Echo!"
Sunny looked toward the Echo; Reinhard was helping Cassie climb down from its back. Whether the scavenger could climb the cliff or not didn't matter anymore. Cassie wouldn't have been able to hold on either way.
After that, Reinhard lowered himself so Cassie could climb onto his back before tying them together with the golden rope.
Without wasting time, the three of them started climbing.
Even while carrying Cassie, Reinhard climbed unnaturally fast.
Was that bastard a professional climber now, too?
Nephis was already ahead of Sunny as well. In his haste to catch up, he almost slipped.
Fuck my life!
In the next moment, a wall of dark water slammed into the rocks just meters beneath his feet.
As Sunny held on for dear life, the entire cliff shuddered violently. Several boulders fell from somewhere high above, barely missing his head.
Somehow, all four of them were still alive.
They kept climbing, but the dark sea kept rising too.
When the water reached Sunny's waist, the current started pulling him away from the cliff.
No matter how fast he climbed or how much force he used to keep himself pressed against the rock, the sea pushed him away like a weightless toy.
No!
As the dark sea almost reached his head, a golden rope suddenly dropped into the water beside him.
Sunny grabbed onto it with all his strength.
The rope tightened and pulled him upward until his feet touched the cliff wall once again.
Without wasting a second, he resumed climbing with the rope's help.
Finally, a strong hand grabbed him from above and dragged him over the edge of the cliff.
Sunny collapsed onto the ground, struggling to breathe.
After some time, he looked toward Nephis, who was lying nearby in a similar state, equally exhausted. Reinhard sat behind them with slightly hurried breaths, while Cassie rested beside him.
Sunny wanted to laugh, but he didn't have the strength for it.
They survived.
***
Not much changed, so I barely had any problem writing these two chapters, to be honest.
But the main part starts from here; we all know what's going to happen now.
Anyways, see you next time. (Hopefully soon.)