Chapter 246 lrrefutable Proof
Ready for the worst, the cohort summoned their weapons and slowly moved down the wide road that lead to the bottom of the quarry. From reaching the foothills of the Hollow Mountains till now, they had not t a single Nightmare Creature... but that was not a reason to lower their guard.
Walking on the ancient path, all of them couldn't help but steal glances at the corpse of the giant stone demon, as though expecting it to co back to life and attack them at any mont.
If living on the Forgotten Shore had taught him anything, it was to always expect the worst.
So ti later, Effie spoke:
"See those deep fractures on the floor of the quarry? I think that this thing had burrowed from below. So watch your step."
Rembering his encounter with the Rolling Stone, Sunny looked down with a sour expression. That clumsy creature was more funny than dangerous, but only because its teeth were vastly outclassed by the Puppeteer's Shroud. If sothing with more bite were to ambush them from below, who knew what was going to happen?
With a simple thought, Sunny summoned the Stone Saint and ordered her to keep close. The taciturn monster stared at the tall peaks of the Hollow Mountains for a few monts, as though subtly affected by the sight of them. Then, she lowered her head and silently followed his command.
After tense and exhausting half an hour of descending into the deep pit, the cohort finally got close to the remains of the giant stone insect. Cautiously stopping a few dozen ters away from it, they hesitated, not sure how to proceed.
Finally, Nephis sighed and walked forward, approaching the shattered body of the dead demon. If that was what it had been… or was.
As their leader ca close enough to the carcass to touch it with her hand, all of them held their breaths.
A few seconds went by, then a few more. Nothing jumped at Changing Star from below the stones. The giant creature had not moved, nor had it shown any signs of coming back to life. The demon just lay there, its body shattered and broken, terrifying even in death.
And it indeed was truly, really dead.
Glancing at the indifferent Saint, Sunny let out a sigh of relief.
Even though he was prepared for a tough battle, he hoped that this ti, they would be able to avoid it. The mbers of the cohort had yet to fully recover from the harrowing journey atop the walking colossus, so they weren't in the best of shapes.
Well, at least Sunny was not, partially because he had refused Neph's offer to vanquish his wounds with her purifying fla. They were healing fast thanks to the Blood Weave and the five hundred shadow fragnt… almost… that he had accumulated, but his body was yet to fully recover.
Turning her head, Nephis looked at them and said:
"Co closer."
Encouraged by her words, the mbers of the cohort finally put their caution to rest and walked over to the dead creature.
Of course, they were still prepared to instantly react in case sothing unexpected happened.
The six of them spent a few minutes studying the remains to determine whether the terrible creature was killed by a human or sothing of its own kind.
Sunny glanced at the tall mountains and spent a few seconds watching as the white mist rolled down from their peaks, flowing down the jagged slopes like a waterfall made of clouds.
'...How beautiful.'
With a sigh, he turned away from the wall of mist that was still so distance away from the valley where the quarry was situated and concentrated on the corpse of the stone demon.
Whatever had killed it was not sothing Sunny would wish to et in a battle. The flesh of the creature was, indeed, made of stone. That had not stopped the fearso attackers, however. The carapace of the giant granite abomination was shattered in many places, and lted in others.
…But mostly, it was cut and pierced.
Apart from a few enormous wounds, there were nurous smaller ones, many of them looking as though they could have co from a sword, an axe, or a spear. And yet, he wasn't sure. Sunny was not really an expert in such things.
However, he was an expert in all things having to do with greed and avarice.
Instead of focusing on the nature of the damage done to the giant abomination, Sunny walked around and found its abdon, which was damaged especially severely. With a reluctant sigh, he climbed atop the stone corpse… and then inside of it.
The other mbers of the cohort stared at him with expressions ranging from surprise to revulsion.
A couple of minutes later, Sunny climbed out of the dead demon and shook off stone dust from his armor and hair. Then, he glanced at his companions and frowned.
"What?"
Kai stared at him with a complicated expression, and then asked:
"Sunny? Ah, do you want to tell us sothing?"
Sunny gave him a nod and grinned.
"I do, actually. This thing was indeed killed by a human."
The charming archer raised an eyebrow and asked in a dubious tone:
"Really? How do you know?"
Sunny jumped down and shrugged.
"The Soul Shards are missing."
A few monts later, an expression of understanding appeared on Kai's face.
Indeed, most Nightmare Creatures had no use for the soul shards. Just like humans, who directly absorbed soul essence after killing one of their own kind, they fed from the kill itself as opposed to the act of retrieving and crushing the remnants of broken soul cores.
…If they weren't bizarre terrors like the Soul Devourer, of course. But the chances of encountering another one of those here were rather low.
It was reasonable to assu that the soul shards were removed by humans.
His discovery was solid enough proof of the fact that it was indeed the First Lord's cohort that had battled and slain the terrifying creature.
They had really found the signs of the lost expedition.
But there was another proof for this conclusion, this one irrefutable.
Nephis, who had wandered away from the remains of the demon at so point, suddenly called them over.
The mbers of the cohort glanced at each other, then slowly approached her, trying to understand what was it that she had found.
Changing Star was standing near one of the piles of rocks that were littering the ground around the body of the dead creature, looking at it with a solemn expression. Most of them ca from its shattered carapace, while so were created because the floor of the quarry was broken apart and churned during the ferocious battle.
Why was Nephis so interested in that one in particular?
Looking closer, Sunny suddenly realized that this pile of rocks was different from all others. It was lower, roughly oval in shape, its contour too perfect to be the result of a pure coincidence.
It seed as though each rock was painstakingly placed here by a human hand, perhaps in hopes to make the pile as orderly and sturdy as possible.
Suddenly, a cold shiver ran down Sunny's spine. He finally realized what he was looking at.
This was not really a pile of rocks.
It was a grave.
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