Six people vanished. There were still no traces. It seemed that the killer — whoever or whatever the killer was — did not care if the person was alone or in a group. The mutual responsibility system was not working. Everyone was scared.
The next day, seven people vanished. Four of them were experienced Awakened, some of the best soldiers Verne had. The other three were scientists. On the same day, two more mundanes succumbed to the Spell. One of them died and was eliminated, the other was still struggling somewhere out there, in the First Nightmare. Perhaps that person would become a Sleeper soon.
A day after that, twelve people vanished. No clues were found, and fear continued to spread through the facility like a plague. It had yet to transform into panic, but the residents of LO49 were starting to grow restless, trapped in the suffocating atmosphere of dread, exhaustion, and doubt.
Sunny really wanted to sleep.
Then, the day that the Ariadne could have arrived came. People were uplifted a little by the excitement, but Sunny did not share in their enthusiasm. He expected the rescue to reach them no sooner than after another week. A lot of things could happen in a week.
...The Ariadne did not arrive, but a horde of Nightmare Creatures appeared instead, descending from the mountains. It seemed that things were not going well up north, considering that such a large swarm of abominations had been allowed to assemble and travel freely. What was the army even doing?
Isolated at the edge of the world, they had no way of knowing.
The battle was long and fierce, but ended in a decisive victory. The tired soldiers retreated back into the fortress without even bothering to burn the corpses. They would be covered by the snow soon, anyway.
Everyone felt the growing fatigue.
The mundane person who had been making their way through the First Nightmare woke up as a Sleeper.
…The next day, that Sleeper disappeared, along with fourteen more people.
The Scavenger Gate released a new wave of abominations. There were just a handful of them, so Sunny slaughtered the Nightmare Creatures himself before anyone else had time to arrive.
On his way back, he noticed that many of the carcasses laying under a thin veil of fresh snow seemed to be missing large chunks of flesh.
Sunny was too tired to care.
'I should sleep. There's nothing preventing me from sleeping. In fact, it is detrimental to remain awake. I'll think better if I rest.'
But that was not true. Despite his exhaustion, Sunny's mind seemed to only become sharper. He had lost a bit of situational awareness and reaction speed, but was now able to enter a state of being laser focused on something in exchange. He was also extremely calm, almost as if lacking the energy to feel anxious or agitated.
His mind was… clear.
That evening, Sunny was standing on the southern wall of the fortress, looking at the undulating black ocean. The cold waves rustled as they washed over the stone expanse of the beach, carrying pieces of ice. The wind was howling, and the full moon shone in the dark sky, surrounded by an ethereal scarlet aurora.
The Ariadne was somewhere out there, illuminated by the same moon.
After some time, a lumbering figure climbed the wall and approached him. Dorn looked as tired as the rest of them. However, the giant man seemed to be holding up comparatively well.
Sunny turned and looked at him.
"Captain… I have an idea. Can I share it?"
He nodded silently. Dorn hesitated for a few moments, and then said:
"Well, it's about the bodies. By now, we have explored every millimeter of this facility. We have searched the coastal plain extensively, too. You probably swept it all countless times. And yet, we did not find even a single drop of blood."
The large man leaned on the lip of the wall.
"It seems that we have searched everywhere, but actually, there is one place where we did not look. Since the bodies are not anywhere else, they had to be in that place... in the water. That is the only logical conclusion."
The black waves continued to sway, indifferent to his words. The unfathomable ocean remained the unchanged.
Sunny was silent for a while, and then nodded.
"...Yeah. That is my thinking, too. So, I'll be keeping a close eye on the beach."
Somewhere in the base, one of his shadows was on its usual patrol. Gliding past a personnel lounge, it noticed Luster, who was sitting on a couch with a glassy look in his eyes. The young man seemed to be on the verge of dozing off.
The shadow momentarily turned tangible and looked at him with disdainful reproach. Then, it slapped him across the face and disappeared.
Luster jumped to his feet and looked around in shock.
"What?! Who?! What… ouch, it hurts!"
Back on the wall, a pale smile appeared on Sunny's face.
"Dorn… that mutual responsibility protocol. You guys start following it, too. Make pairs and watch each other."
Dorn nodded, lingered for a few moments, and then left.
Sunny continued staring at the ocean.
'This doesn't make sense. Even if the killer disposes of the bodies by throwing them into the water, someone would have noticed something. Dozens of people vanished already. All of it is very strange…'
While he was thinking, two more people ascended the wall. One of them was an Awakened soldier, and the other one was a scientist.
Sunny turned around and looked at them with a confused look on his face. Since he was standing close to the ladder, the newcomers had no choice but to bump into him. Sunny remained motionless for a few seconds, then took a step back to make way.
The Awakened and the scientist calmly approached the lip of the wall, climbed over it, and jumped down. One of them landed well, but the other hit the rocks and silently fell. A disturbing sound of breaking bones could be heard, carried by the wind.
Sunny rubbed his face and continued to study the ocean.
The Awakened walked toward the waves, while the scientist crawled. Because of that, the soldier reached the water first. He stepped into it without a hint of hesitation. Soon, the freezing water reached his knees, then his waist. Then, his chest.
Finally, the Awakened disappeared beneath the undulating black surface, and drowned.
At that time, the scientist had crawled far enough to reach the edge of the water. His figure silently vanished into the cold waves, as well.
Nothing remained of the two.
Standing atop the wall, Sunny calmly looked at the ocean.
'...huh? What was I thinking about? Ah, yes… it is strange that no one had seen anything. How do the bodies get dumped into the ocean without anyone noticing?'
He did not know. Maybe his theory was wrong, and the killer had not been using the water to hide the corpses.
The water… it surely looked inviting. Suddenly, Sunny felt a strange urge to go for a swim.
A moment later, he shivered.
'A swim? What am I, crazy? Who swims in the freezing water, during the winter, in Antarctica of all places?'
Shaking his head, Sunny continued to stand watch above the beach. He had not seen anything suspicious yet… but if he remained vigilant, he would surely discover something soon…