"Now summon the wind."
In the next moment, a strong gale rose around them, blasting fallen leaves and ashen sand into the air. Instantly, a large portion of the island's surface was stripped bare.
More sand was revealed beneath.
Meanwhile, the shadow was racing against the Carapace Demon. The massive creature was already halfway up the hill, moving with the speed of a rushing train. The nimble shadow, however, was even faster. It had already overtaken the behemoth and was now flying forward, hurrying to return to its master.
"Good, now go!"
Sunny helped Cassie put her foot into the loop and stepped back, watching as Nephis pulled the rope up. She was going as fast as she could — which was really fast by human standards.
But was it fast enough?
Sweating, he counted seconds and waited. His life now depended on whether or not the rope would return before the demon arrives.
Every moment felt like an eternity.
He could already hear the distant, but quickly approaching sound of the Carapace Demon's eight towering legs stomping furiously through the sand.
Finally, Cassie was at the level of the giant tree's lower branches. Nephis helped her step out of the loop and settle on the wide surface of the branch, then threw the rope down again.
The demon was approaching the tree, still hidden from sight by its massive trunk.
The shadow slipped beneath Sunny's feet and wrapped itself around his body.
Catching the rope, Sunny practically flew up, climbing with incredible, adrenaline-fuelled speed. Landing on the branch beside the girls, he quickly turned around and tried to pull the rope up. The monster could not notice the golden shine of it… otherwise, it all would have been for nothing.
But there was less than a second left…
'Oh no!' Sunny thought, his heart skipping a beat.
But then Nephis simply dismissed the Memory, making the golden rope disappear into thin air.
The three of them crouched, hiding from sight, and held their breaths.
… A moment later, the furious mass of spikes and polished metal appeared beneath them. The Carapace Demon abruptly stopped, gazing around with his burning scarlet eyes. His pincers clicked, as if thirsty to tear flesh apart. The terrifying scythes were raised into the air, ready to slash and sever.
But there was nothing to kill underneath the great tree.
The demon lingered, looking right and left. Then he raised his head and looked up. Thankfully, the branch the three Sleepers were hiding on was very wide, more than enough to hide them from his sight. They remained motionless and silent, afraid to produce even the smallest of sounds.
After a while, the behemoth finally lowered his gaze and carefully observed the ground, looking for the traces of possible intruders.
However, the ground was clean and bare, all signs of their passage erased by Sunny with the help of Cassie's staff in advance. Not finding anything, the Carapace Demon had no choice but to walk away, moving on to explore other parts of the island.
Sunny was finally able to exhale.
Some distance away, the demon reached the edges of the area affected by the magical gale. There, he finally found two sets of footprints — one left behind by Nephis, the other one by Sunny.
With an angry roar that sounded like the clamor of tearing metal, the giant creature rushed down the slope of the Ashen Barrow, following the footprints to the wasteland beneath.
However, the grey desert was desolate and empty, with no living creature in sight. It was colored crimson by the setting sun.
At that moment, the ground shook slightly, and a thunderous rumble resounded throughout the labyrinth, bringing with it chilling wind and the smell of salt.
The dark sea was returning.
Throwing one last hateful gaze toward the wasteland, the Carapace Demon turned around a slowly headed back to the top of his barrow.