Chapter 1503 Approaching Twilight

Chapter 1503 Approaching Twilight

Sunny and his companions had come to Twilight expecting a battle — and now, that battle was swiftly approaching. The identity of the enemy was far more fearsome than they had expected, as well. In fact... it was far too fearsome, while the scope of the battle was far too great. The situation had changed too fast, leaving Sunny shaken. 'It's strange.'

He had spent... how long? Around eight months in this Nightmare. It was already longer than his stay in the Kingdom of Hope had been, and that was without even considering the long stretches of time that passed without being experienced by him. But still, Sunny had not expected the culmination of the Nightmare to happen so suddenly.

And that was what the battle in Twilight promised to be — the most dreadful and deadly confrontation they would experience in the Tomb of Ariel. The threat Verge posed paled in comparison to it. If they were to win here, in this lost and forsaken city, the rest of the Nightmare would be simply an epilogue. Of course, that was only so because of Nephis and her [Longing]. Still...

Sunny was struggling to adjust to the shifting landscape of the Nightmare. Nevertheless, he was ready. Now, there were six challengers working together to pass the dreadful trial of the Spell. Well... five-and-a-half, considering that Mordret's physical body was frozen beyond the walls of Twilight. Three of them possessed Divine Aspects, two were among the most deadly Masters in the world. There was Cassie, as well, whom Sunny could not even place into any kind of power hierarchy. Together, they tried to come up with a plan to kill the Dread Lord and liberate Twilight. Or rather, an approach — there was too little information and too many unknown factors to formulate a specific plan. The best they could do was learn everything there was to learn and come up with various strategies, then switch between them according to the situation.

Finally, there was nothing left to discuss. Standing in the mirror version of the floating fortress once again, the six of them looked beyond its walls, into the twilight haze of dawn. Mordret was strangely withdrawn. Eventually, he smiled. "There is no point in wasting time. Remember... stay close to me at all times. I will try to hide us from Soul Stealer's gaze as best I can."

He paused for a moment and then added nonchalantly:

"Of course, we can still stumble upon that monster directly. If that happens... well. At least it will be painless."

Unlike Weave and Fallen Grace, which were built by connecting a scattering of island-ships, Twilight had been built on a single, vast landmass. Or rather... perhaps, landmass was not the right word to describe it. Instead, a carapace of an unfathomably immense Nightmare Creature served as its foundation.

Sunny felt petrified when he realized just how enormous that abomination must have been, once. It was far greater than anything he had even seen, incomparable to even the gargantuan Black Turtle. And yet, it was dead now, its colossal bones supporting a sprawling city.

'Makes... sense.'

Unlike Twilight, the other settlements on the Great River had not been ruled by a Sovereign. Daeron had been capable of slaying a colossal horror like this, but not the sybils. Therefore, their cities had to be composed of individual island-ships, while his did not.

There was one thing that became painfully obvious when Sunny witnessed Twilight...

The bestial Serpent King he had fought was a pale shadow of his former self. If they had clashed when Daeron was at his peak... Sunny would have been obliterated before even knowing what happened. 'And yet, he lost this battle.'

Sunny shivered. Were they all mad, to think that they had a chance to prevail where a Supreme demigod had failed?