As they ventured deeper into the southern reaches of the crimson Labyrinth, the situation slowly turned worse and worse.
The iron spiders that had been not too threatening to the cohort of powerful, experienced Dark City hunters at the start of it all were growing more and more deadly with each step of the way. Their numbers grew exponentially, becoming a real danger pretty soon. More and more often bigger and stronger monsters appeared at the head of the attacking beasts, bringing with them all sorts of problems.
What's worse, the spiderweb they used to trap their prey was changing, too. The metal wires from which it was weaved became so thin that it was at times almost impossible to notice it, and sharp enough to cut through armor and bone — while maintaining the resilience of superb steel.
The whole Labyrinth was covered in it, turning from crimson to dull grey.
The cohort bled much more because of the invisible webs than they did because of the spiders themselves. Of course, the iron spiders were cunning creatures, too. More often than not, they only attacked once one of the humans was caught in their nets, leading to a few really harrowing experiences for the members of Changing Star's party.
And there was a wide variety of other terrifying creatures waiting to ambush them in the twisting pathways of the crimson coral, too. What made them so dangerous was that the cohort didn't know anything about their anatomy and abilities. Every fight was a gamble, often resulting in one or several of them sustaining serious wounds.
There were three things that made the situation somewhat bearable.
The first one was Nephis and her healing flames. Although using the Aspect Ability took a toll on their leader, it was often worth it, especially if one of the members of the cohort received wounds that limited their mobility.
One thing was far more dangerous than any Nightmare Creature that lived in the Labyrinth, and it was not reaching safety before the torrent of black water flooded the Forgotten Shore, bringing inconceivable horrors with it. Thanks to Neph, they didn't have to worry about anyone slowing the cohort down.
The second reason, unexpectedly, was the iron spiders themselves. Because of the peculiar way they hunted, a lot of creatures found their deaths in the cutting embrace of the wire spiderwebs. Finding these eviscerated corpses or cocoons containing old carcasses became a common occurrence once the party invaded the depths of the spider territory.
Thanks to that, six humans were able to study and anticipate many of the monsters they had to face in this region of the Labyrinth. A lot of potentially deadly surprises had been avoided due to the cohort stumbling onto a corpse of a similar creature prior to fighting against a living one and spending some time to learn about its strengths and weaknesses.
The third reason was the Blood Arrow. In the hands of an experienced archer, it was almost as deadly as it would have been in the hands of an inexperienced one… the difference being that the latter would mostly be a danger to themselves, quickly turning into a bloodless husk.
The first time Kai had used it, Sunny experienced a disturbing feeling of shock. That time, they were facing a large group of iron spiders led by a much larger arachnid — the awakened monster of their tribe, similar in status to a carapace centurion.
These creatures were much heavier and more powerful, with thick plates of iron armor covering their bodies almost completely. Even Caster's enchanted sword had trouble cutting through their defenses. What's worse, due to the speed with which the wretched abominations moved, it was especially hard to catch them in a gap between the armor plates.
Sunny was facing two smaller iron spiders at once while the Stone Saint was butchering the third one. With his shadow observing what was happening behind his back, he didn't miss the moment when the cunning awakened monster suddenly disengaged from Nephis and dashed into his direction, its mandibles moving in anticipation of tasting human flesh.
Calmly preparing to dodge, Sunny tensed his muscles… and narrowed his eyes.
Whistling over his shoulder, a menacing black arrow suddenly streaked through the air. Its shaft was made out of dark polished wood, with black feathers for fletching and a vicious white arrowhead that seemed to be cut from pale white bone, like a sharp fang of some terrible creature.
The arrow easily pierced the thick iron plate protecting the spider and tore deep into his body. Even though Kai messed up his shot a bit and hit the monster in its abdomen instead of the head, the results were nothing short of harrowing.
In the next moment, the awakened monster suddenly slowed down and staggered. Then, it tried to lunge forward once again, but ended up losing its balance and weakly falling to the ground. Its limbs moved slightly, quickly losing any form of cohesion.
Their movements grew slower and slower and then stopped. Beneath the iron plates, the spider's body grew taut and shriveled, like that of a mummy. Soon, it seemed completely… drained.
Sunny blinked, shaken by this disturbing image, and couldn't help but glance briefly at his forearm.
…If not for the Blood Weave, he might have ended up as a shriveled corpse, too.
He would have gone through with cutting off his arm and survived, most likely. But if he had been a couple of seconds too late…
'Better not to think about.'
Anyway, he was glad that the Blood Arrow was on their side now.
Not too far away from him, gliding through the air, Kai suddenly made a strange gasping sound. Sunny didn't know what it felt like to have your blood magically drained and then suddenly returned to your body, but he doubted that it was pleasant.
Also, there was this question… if Kai's blood was used to create the arrow and then returned to him — if he had hit his mark, of course — then… where did the blood drained from the prey go?
He wasn't sure that he wanted to know.
In any case, with Nightingale in possession of the morbid Ascended Memory, their battles with iron spiders and other inhabitants of the Labyrinth became a bit less perilous. The Blood Arrow did not have any enchantments that needed to be activated by manipulating soul essence, so the charming archer could use it to its full potential.
Although Sunny was still a bit bitter about having to give such a menacing weapon away, he was now more confident than ever that his decision was the right one.
…Just like that, six more days passed by. During this time, he didn't gain any new Memories, but managed to accumulate eighteen more shadow fragments, bringing his total to three hundred and forty. He was still not as strong physically as he had been before creating the Shadow Saint, but getting closer and closer.
In the evening of the sixth day, bloodied and exhausted, the cohort had finally approached the goal of the first leg of their expedition.
Looking at it, Sunny couldn't help but stop in his tracks.
His eyes slightly widened.
'Of course…'