Soon morning came, announcing the start of a new day. We all woke and stood at the bottom of the stairs leading to the temple.
"Okay, just to be sure — Klaus, you have a shard that enhances your body, while Luke can merge with the surrounding environment. Is that right?"
They both nodded at my words. Their shards were simple but useful if they knew how to use them.
"Then let's begin."
I announced as I headed toward one of the sidewalks. There was a sewer grate which I lifted and looked down — the sewer water had been gone a long time, leaving empty tunnels.
'It's strange that there are sewers. The people here must be a little primitive. Maybe Adam taught them this; after all, he traveled between worlds — he must have seen advanced worlds like ours.'
I thought while looking at the dark tunnels. Working in them wouldn't be a problem for me, but it would be hard for others to see.
"Elena, can you light the place?"
Elena smiled, raised her hand, and summoned glowing orbs of light, giving everyone a ball — well, everyone except me.
"I can keep them for hours, so use them to see the place. But don't go too far; I can't control them from a distance."
Elena explained to the others; they seemed happy with the new light source.
"Thank you, Miss Elena. This will help us a lot."
Klaus thanked her with a wide smile.
"Stop wasting time and come."
I scolded them and went down the tunnel before they did. They felt embarrassed and decided to follow me.
"Okay, we'll dig in all directions but leave some areas like supports. Let's put two meters between each support and leave the area under the temple because the temple's weight is huge. If there's a chance of collapse, add more supports, but don't overdo it — we need to destroy them later."
I explained the plan while pointing to the maps I had brought.
"But Nox, how are we going to bring the city down? Won't that be difficult?"
Ronan was curious about the knockout blow.
"It's easy. From the start, the supports will carry the city's weight, not thousands of monsters. Also, Elena can strike the temple with her sun; if the temple collapses, the surrounding areas will be completely destroyed — it's like falling dominoes."
"Oh, I forgot Elena can cause massive destruction."
Ronan scratched his cheek, embarrassed by his stupidity.
"Then what are you waiting for? Start digging now."
As soon as I ordered them, they began to move. Ronan used a wind excavator, Klaus used his massive sword to dig, Luke was the slowest, digging only with his physical strength, while Elena summoned a beam of light that precisely cut the place.
'They're doing it well. Let's start too.'
I thought and turned toward one of the walls. I contacted my shard and summoned darkness. The darkness took the form of a medium-sized pointed spear, then began to spin rapidly.
Dig! Dig!
As soon as it approached the wall, the digging sped up. Dirt piled to the sides, but cleaning comes later. We'll throw the dirt to the far side we'll escape toward; we'll build it into a wall that gives us the upper ground to monitor the situation.
Digging took a long time. We had to rest often because of exhaustion, especially Luke, who collapsed to the ground from fatigue.
The ground almost collapsed several times, but we managed to control it. Over time we gained more experience and digging became easier.
In fact, the others often stopped because Elena's endurance ran out. Keeping the light source was tiring even if it was small, so I ordered them to get rid of the accumulated dirt during their rest period.
"Ahh, Nox, what if we stop for today? Everyone is tired and night has already fallen long ago."
Elena sighed, feeling exhausted. She looked ready to sleep at any moment.
"Okay, let's return."
I didn't refuse. I'm not obsessed with work and I was tired too.
We all returned to the temple and ate quietly.
"We won't have enough food for tomorrow, so I'll go out now and bring back some monsters for Ilena to purify."
I said as I checked our food bag.
"You'll go out now?? Aren't you tired? It's dangerous to go out. Didn't you tell us the Flower will take advantage to find our location?"
Klaus spoke anxiously, but I shook my head at him.
"I'll attack from the side of the gate. It's easy to hide at night for me, so no need to worry."
"But..."
Klaus tried to change my mind, but I had already left the temple and headed toward the city walls.
I stood on the walls and looked at the crowd of monsters on the horizon.
"Okay, I'll devour the humanoid monsters to regain my energy while I take the animal-type monsters for the others."
I said calmly and jumped down, walking toward the corruption creatures. I had to hit them from the flank so they couldn't surround me; I'll target small groups.
'This sounds fun — like a darkness assassin.'
That night I slaughtered more monsters than I'd planned. I was confident I could kill them all alone, but I didn't want the others to suspect my ability. I returned at midnight carrying two carcasses of cow-like monsters. I removed the vines and flowers from them so I wouldn't risk revealing our location.
I entered the temple and found Elena sitting, waiting for me. She smiled happily, stood quickly, and came to my side.
"Welcome back. The others have fallen asleep."
She said as she threw herself into my arms.
"Why didn't you sleep?"
I pinched her cheek to scold her.
"Eeeh, how can I sleep while you fight the monsters? It's better to purify the monsters as quickly as possible."
She puffed her cheek as usual, then sighed as she looked at the monsters I brought.
"Oh, seems like good prey. Well done."
Elena went to the monsters and hurried to purify them. After she finished the purification, she turned to me.
"Nox, let's cut the meat, eeh~"
Before she could finish her sentence I tapped her on the forehead.
"I'll cut the meat myself. Go to sleep; you're tired."
"Umm, okay, but promise you'll come sleep with me."
'This girl — she's insistent on that.'
I sighed in annoyance but gave in like always.
"Understood. Now go to sleep."
She smiled at my words, then ran happily to her room.
I shook my head in mockery and began cutting the meat. But a sudden realization made me stop.
"How did I not notice this earlier?"
I said nervously as I turned toward the corridor Elena had entered.
"This is impossible. How could the meat not spoil? True, she can purify corruption, but that doesn't mean meat doesn't go bad. Still, the meat was almost like new. It's suspicious. Elena insisted on carrying the food herself—could it be because she can preserve its condition?"
It might seem trivial, but it raised many questions. Why does Elena keep showing abilities she shouldn't have as a light shard?
'What the hell is Elena hiding? She said she waited for me, but maybe the real reason was she wanted to hurry to preserve the meat's condition.'
I decided to stop thinking and start cutting the meat. True, she kept many secrets, but I do too, so I have no right to judge her as long as she doesn't try to harm me — and that's something Ilena would never do.
"Maybe she does."
The words came out quietly as I narrowed my eyes coldly at the thought of that possibility.
"Then I'll have to eliminate the threat."
Strange emotions trembled inside me. It had been a long time since I felt them. She had remained calm all this time.
I finished cutting the meat, then headed to the room. Elena was already asleep. I removed the armor layer because it was annoying; the Awakened can summon or dismiss specific parts of armor and weapons.
I lay down beside Ilena quietly, careful not to wake her, and looked at her face. She was sleeping deeply; she looked beautiful as always.
'I wonder if there's a demon under this angel's face.'
I thought as I closed my eyes and gradually fell into the darkness of sleep.