In the evening, Nephis made Sunny perform the thousand strikes again. After that, they ate the last strips of dried scavenger meat and took turns sleeping, so that one of them could always keep an eye on Cassie.
Thankfully, nothing happened during the night.
When the morning came and the dark sea retreated, they prepared to leave the giant statue. Nephis was the first one to climb down. Before that, she had a few words to say:
"Today will be different from before. There will be much more scavengers roaming in the labyrinth. We might not be able to create an ambush or avoid fighting several of them at once."
She looked at Sunny:
"If anything happens, your job is to bring Cassie away. We can retreat by using passages that are too narrow for the scavengers. If we get separated, proceed to the high point by yourselves. Don't wait for me. Do you understand?"
With a somber expression, he gave her a nod. Nephis returned it.
"Good. Time is of the essence, so let's go."
With that, she began the descent. After Nephis reached a point twenty or so meters below them, she found purchase and waited. Using the golden rope, Sunny lowered Cassie down. Just like while climbing up, they took turns helping the blind girl. Luckily, climbing down the statue was much easier.
Soon, they reached the ground.
Entering the labyrinth, the trio moved forward with haste. The shadow was ahead of them, scouting for monsters and optimal paths. Despite that, their progress was slow and chaotic. They had to constantly change direction to avoid groups of scavengers, often ending up in dead ends or moving further away from their destination.
Sunny, who played the role of the scout and navigator, felt his brains slowly starting to boil.
At some point, however, they inevitably ended up in a situation where a fight was unavoidable.
There was a large group of scavengers at their heels, and a pair of them blocking the path ahead. Neither of the two groups had noticed the Sleepers yet; however, since there were no other passages to turn into, it was only a matter of time.
Nephis considered their options for a few seconds. There was a scowl on her face. Finally, she said:
"If there's only two, we can take them."
Sunny looked at her with uncertainty in his eyes.
"But there's no time to set up an ambush."
He wasn't quite sure how they could fight two scavengers at once. Despite how good of a teacher Nephis was, he only practiced with the sword for a day. Facing against a scavenger alone was risky.
Changing Star shrugged.
"It's almost the same. I'll attack first. You follow behind in the shadows and finish one off once they turn. Then, we kill the second one together."
The whole plan was based on the assumption that Nephis could survive under the onslaught of two scavengers, both attacking her simultaneously. Sunny was very impressed by her prowess, but he wasn't sure that it was possible. There was a large probability that Nephis would die.
He still remembered that she wasn't present in Cassie's first vision.
But what else could they do?
A bit rattled, Sunny gritted his teeth.
"Alright."
After a short pause, Nephis summoned her sword.
Then, she stepped forward.