"It's not completely dark yet. Although barely, I can still see. Once the night comes, this won't be the case. So we will have to attack it first, and do it soon."
Sunny shook his head.
"This still doesn't explain how we are going to kill it. That thing just dispatched eight scavengers like it was nothing. We are not its opponents. We don't even know its weaknesses!"
Nephis frowned. After a short pause, she said:
"It's just an awakened monster."
Sunny couldn't help but stare at her in disbelief.
"What do you mean, "just" an awakened monster? Have you forgotten that all three of us are only Sleepers?! Dormant humans are not supposed to be able to deal with awakened beasts, let alone monsters. The fact that we can reliably kill scavengers is already abnormal!"
She looked back at him, undisturbed, and simply answered:
"But we are abnormal."
Sunny stood there with his mouth open, not knowing what to say.
Nephis sighed.
"You and I both are not exactly ordinary Sleepers. Aren't we? Don't try and deny it. Someone ordinary simply would not have survived in this place."
He frowned, not happy about her line of thought. Meanwhile, Changing Star continued:
"You, me, plus the awakened beast you have as an Echo, plus the advantage of a surprise attack. I'm not saying that it will be easy. We might die. But there's a good chance that we won't."
She looked down, at the silvery blade of her sword, and added after a couple of seconds:
"In any case. As I have already said, we don't have a choice."
Sunny gritted his teeth, trying to find a logical retort. However, her reasoning seemed unassailable. He just had a really bad feeling about fighting that monster.
In the ensued silence, Cassie, who had been quiet all this time, suddenly spoke:
"You are forgetting about the main advantage we have over that thing."
Both of them looked at her, surprised.
The blind girl turned to face them and slightly lifted her head.
"We are intelligent, and the monster is not."
Her words echoed in the darkness. Sunny sighed.
It seemed that a fight with the bone scythe monster was inevitable.
***
Some time later, he was standing in the darkness, looking at the terrifying creature in front of him. His expression was grim and somber. Tightly gripping the Azure Blade, Sunny slowly inhaled.
The ominous feeling he had before was still there, now stronger than ever.
'I don't like this.'
With this thought, he exhaled and raised his hand.