The monstrous killer whale cut through the crimson darkness, descending upon the ethereal blossom of flowing white cloth. His mouth opened, revealing a palisade of terrifying fangs. His blue eyes had turned deep red, glowing like spotlights and full of murderous intent.
As the great predator approached, the pallid flower exploded with movement. The shorter petals swirled, creating a barrier of white cloth around the small, unclear shape hidden in their center. The longer ones, which had been drifting gracefully on the currents, suddenly contracted and shot forward like tentacles.
Bloodwave roared.
Powerful currents surrounding his body churned, surging forward to meet the petals. He dodged nimbly, continuing to move forward as his jaw closed on one of the white tentacles.
There was no blood, no torn flesh, and no crushed bone. It was as though the petal was indeed nothing but white silk, and damaging it was like cutting a piece of lifeless cloth.
Sunny did not see much of what happened after, because he had his own problems to worry about.
There were just too many thralls around him, all powerful enough to pose a serious threat. Even with most of them assaulting the port fortress somewhere far away and above, the Terror's drowned guard was enough to kill him and Naeve ten times over, if they were not careful enough.
'Damn it…'
Propelling himself forward through the dark water, Sunny collided with a hideous creature made of iron and bone. The Sin of Solace passed through the abomination's body, cleaving it apart. However, the next thrall was already upon him.
Two human hands wrapped around his throat, trying to rip it open with dreadful strength. Sunny's skin turned hard as stone and resisted the pale fingers, but he still found himself being strangled. Using shadow sense to perceive the shape of the enemy, Sunny slashed back with the jade sword, severing both of the arms.
Tearing the cold hands off, he twisted and kicked back, pushing himself and the thrall away from each other. His adversary was hindered and maimed, but not eliminated.
And more were already closing in.
'...This is not going to work.'
He was doing well, for now, but death was only one mistake away. Sunny relied on his superior speed and maneuverability to slay the thralls, which meant that the moment he was immobilized or stalled, the tables would be turned. He was not a stranger to fighting with everything on the line, but not in an environment as strange and unfamiliar as the depths of the ocean.
It was far easier to make a fatal mistake in a place the rules of which he did not know.
Sunny willed himself to swim forward, then hesitantly turned onto his back and looked in the direction where Naeve was battling a throng of abominations. The Nightwalker moved with ease and graceful precision, navigating the dark waters like a creature born in and for the depths.
He certainly knew the rules.
An idea slowly formed in Sunny's mind. He adjusted his battle strategy in order to always keep Naeve in his sight, earning a few shallow scrapes as a result.
Sunny was a talented fighter, possessing combat intelligence on par with the best of the best. He had plenty of insight into the underlying laws of conflict, and much better than that, his mastery of Shadow Dance allowed him to read most of his opponents like an open book.
And that was exactly what he had been doing throughout this battle, like most of the battles of the Antarctica campaign. There were too many thralls around to truly grasp all of their patterns, but their rudimentary battle styles were also crude and unsophisticated. Sensing the movements of their shadows for a few moments was enough to gain a shallow, but sufficient level of understanding.
However… that approach might have been the wrong one, today.
So, instead of trying to shadow his enemies, Sunny concentrated his will on trying to shadow his ally. Naeve's battle style was much more complex, profound, and refined — in terms of scope and sophistication, it was up there with the most intricately designed combat arts Sunny had witnessed. As expected of a scion of a great clan.
That style was not something that he could learn in mere seconds, or even several minutes.
But even the few minor insights Sunny did gain were already enough to qualitatively change his performance.
'Huh… so that's how you do it…'
The lessons he learned from using Shadow Dance to study how the Nightwalker moved were not anything grand, but they were extremely valuable. What better teacher could there be than a man supposedly carrying the lineage of Storm God, the god of the depths?
It was all about how his body related to the water, and how the water related to his body. How to position himself to cut through it unimpeded, and how to use the mass of water for his advantage.
Shadow Dance, and the harsh training Sunny had put himself through to master its first steps, made both his mind and body extremely malleable and adaptable. That was why he was able to quickly put what he had just learned into practice.
Changing minute details of how he moved, which muscles he strained, and the timing of sending targeted impulses of essence to reinforce them, Sunny was suddenly able to navigate the dark abyss much more freely. He felt more… in control of his environment, now.
Working with it instead of against it to achieve his goals.
A massive Nightmare Creature lunged at him, its claws missing the target by a few centimeters — just as Sunny had planned. He cut into the abomination and at the same time circled around it, using the carcass to hide from the next enemy. A moment later, the second thrall was dead, too.
'Good...'
But then, there was even more Sunny could do by fusing his unique abilities with what he had learned from Naeve. Using the [Feather of Truth] to make himself lighter or heavier, he could float up or plummet deeper like a stone. Using Shadow Step, he could jump between the large abominations. He could even turn incorporeal and cling to their bodies as a shadow.
If he used all of this smartly… the ocean would not be as inhospitable.
In fact, it was even a little liberating. Being able to freely move in three dimensions instead of just two opened up all kinds of neat tricks he could pull… the only limit was his intellect, cunning, and imagination.
'Get ready, bastards…'
Brandishing the Sin of Solace, Sunny cut through the dark water to meet the attacking thralls. A pale smile appeared on his face.