Shadow Slave

Sunny sttod at the edge of the water for a while, looking at the ocean with a wary expression on his face.

'Funny...'

Back when he had first developed the habit of climbing the southern wall of the fortress, he stared at the ocean in hopes of witnessing the fearsome silhouette of the mighty battleship appearing from the darkness. But now that the Ariadne was about to arrive, his thoughts were far away.

Eventually, Sunny sighed and finally dismissed his chair, planning to return into the warmth of the settlement.

...However, just before he turned away from the dark water, something attracted his attention. A subtle gleam a few steps further down the shore, revealed from beneath the retreating waves. As though bleak starlight was reflecting from a small piece of glass.

Sunny hesitated for a few moments, then walked a meter or two forward, stopping at the spot where he had spotted the gleaming object. A new wave rushed in, licking his armored boots. He had to wait for it to crawl back before kneeling and taking a closer look at the wet rocks.

There, between them, something glistened, buried under several shards of ice. Sunny brushed the ice away and picked the object up, then stood up before the next wave came.

His frown deepened.

In his hand was a simple brass button, similar to those that could be found on the countless winter coats issued to soldiers of the First Evacuation Army as part of their kit.

By itself, the button was nothing special.

However...

"Huh?"

However, Verne and the soldiers under his command were not part of the First Evacuation Army. They were locals of Antarctica, and had served at LO49 long before the Chain of Nightmares. As such, their uniforms were slightly different. In fact, they were of a far better quality, considering that the First Army had been assembled and outfitted in a tremendous hurry.

Their kits were far better suited for cold weather, and included well-designed parkas that could keep a person warm in most dire of circumstances instead of cheap mass-produced coats.

So how did this button end up here?

Sunny stared at the round piece of brass for a few minutes, and then slowly looked up, facing the darkness of the ocean. There was a strangely resigned expression on his pale face.

With a sigh, he closed his eyes and extended his shadow sense forward, as far as it could go.

'Alright. Fine. Come on... show yourself, bastard. I know you didn't leave.'

His senses spread forward, diving deep under the black surface of the cold water. Everywhere light reached, there were shadows, after all. And even where light never entered, there was its absence.

However, Sunny did not sense the Terror no matter how hard he tried. He did find something, though.

Twenty or thirty meters away from him, deep underwater, there was a large shape. It rested on the seabed, moving slightly from time to time as the currents pulled it back and forth.

The shape was irregular and mostly flat, with a very slight curve. Its edges were sharp and jagged.

That was all Sunny could say from sensing its shadow... that and the fact that the shape was not that of a living thing, considering that the shadow lacked the quality of being cast by something possessing a soul.

He had no idea what it was.

The ocean contained all kinds of junk, so why would he care?

But for some reason, he did.

Opening his eyes, Sunny looked at the undulating waves for a bit. Then, he slowly took a step forward, and then another. And then, another.

The cold, freezing water reached his shins first, then his knees. Then, his waist. He shivered, gasped for breath, but continued walking forward.

'I... I am not mesmerized, am I?'

No, he couldn't be... he had broken the hex... his mind was his own...

When the water reached his chest, Sunny took a deep breath and dove down into the black depths. Swimming in a suit of steel armor was not an easy task, even one as thin and light as the Undying Chain. However, he possessed strength and endurance that far surpassed a mundane human, so Sunny persisted, plunging deeper and deeper into the ocean.

Despite the Memory of Ice hanging from a string on his neck, a cold like he had never experienced enveloped his body, making it hard for him to breathe, think, and move his limbs.

Gritting his teeth, Sunny ignored it and swam toward the distant shape.

After what felt like an eternity, he finally reached the seabed and pushed himself along its uneven surface, getting closer and closer to his target. Far away on the shore, Saint emerged from the shadow of the wall and approached the edge of the waves, raising her bow. If anything happened, she would be able to send an arrow flying instantly.

That made Sunny feel a little better, even though he did not know how powerful the arrow would remain after piercing tens of meters of water. Considering the strength of Morgan's Warbow, it should still be deadly, but...

The efficacy of the arrow, of course, would depend on the power of the potential enemy.

'Don't think about that yet..."

Concentrating on his task, Sunny moved forward, reached the strange shape and opened his eyes. He observed it through the mass of murky water.

The shape...... was a piece of torn alloy. It was around ten meters in length and slightly less in width. The tough material was viciously bent and broken, with jagged edges and deep cracks crawling through its surface. It seemed to have been torn away from a larger whole by something large and incredibly powerful.

However. there was no rust on the damaged metal, suggesting that it had not spent a lot of time in the water.

Sunny got closer, feeling as if he recognized the composition and characteristics of the alloy. His mind raced, trying to confirm that familiarity......

He placed one hand on the cold metal, remembering.

Then. his eyes narrowed, and a few bubbles of air escaped from his mouth.

...Of course, he knew where this strong and thick alloy was used. The same type of metal comprised the inner layers of a naval vessel's reinforced armor.

The deformed mass of twisted alloy..

It was a broken piece of a battleship's hull.