<h4>Chapter 1457 Hunting Stronger Beasts</h4>


    In the end, Sunny had once again drawn the map of Aletheia''s Ind on the ground. Only, this time, it was much more detailed. He also knew where most of the truly dangerous Nightmare Creatures would be at any given point... his time map wasplete.


    The members of the cohort studied it for a while, listening to his exnations. Sunny described the prisoners of the nightmarish ind in as much detail as he could, sometimes relying on Cassie to provide the most crucial pieces of information. As the two of them spoke in turns, the faces of theirpanions grew more and more somber.


    Eventually, Sunny looked at the map with a dark expression and fell silent for a few moments. When he spoke again, his voice was even:


    "Destroying the loop will not be easy. However... it is whates after we destroy it that is truly dangerous."


    He pointed to the map.


    "We will still be trapped on the ind after the loop is broken. And... the rest of its prisoners will be, as well. These terrible Nightmare Creatures, as well as Undying ughter and Devouring Beast. But this time, none of us will be revived by the loop, should we die."


    Sunny looked at hispanions.


    "Which means that we will have only one attempt to escape this hell alive."


    Despite his solemn tone, Effie suddenly chuckled. He threw her an annoyed nce at her, then asked:


    "What''s so funny?"


    She shook her head.


    "No, nothing. Sorry... but that''s how it usually goes, isn''t it? If you die, you die. Cassie and you might have been living by a different set of rules recently, but for the rest of us, everything is pretty much how it has always been."


    He sighed.


    ''Well... she''s not wrong.''


    No matter how much he tried to avoid it, the loop had messed with his perception of life and death. But for Effie, Jet, and Nephis... what he had warned them about was already perfectly natural.


    Sunny shrugged.


    "Well, good. Keep that attitude. In any case, what I meant is that there can''t be any mistakes. We will have one day to destroy the loop. On that day, three things need to happen."


    As he spoke, the tip of the Sin of Sce traced a few marks on the map:


    "The shrine, theke, and the tower. We must retrieve the enchantment key from the shrine and find something on the bottom of theke before entering the tower. Once inside, we will be able to achieve our goal. If we do it before the day ends..."


    His voice grew somber:


    "We will still be stuck in the middle of the ind. And we won''t know where the Nightmare Creatures are anymore - once the loop is broken, most of the knowledge Cassie and I have so painstakingly gathered will be worthless. Returning to the Chain Breaker will be just as dangerous as our first exploration of Aletheia''s Ind."


    Sunny grimaced.


    "...Just for your information, we all died during that first exploration. Well, at least I think we did - I wouldn''t know, actually, because I died first."


    The rest of them studied the map somberly. Eventually, Nephis spoke:


    "But we don''t need to go to the Chain Breaker straight away, do we?"


    A subtle smile appeared on his face.


    "Neph gets it. Good job, Neph!"


    Pointing to the tower with his sword, he said:


    "Aletheia''s Tower is more or less the safest ce on the ind. Once the loop is broken, the Nightmare Creatures will continue killing each other... or, at least, Undying ughter and Devouring Beast will continue killing to satiate their ws. So, the smartest thing we can do is lock ourselves in the tower and wait for them to massacre all the abominations that would have swallowed us on the way back to the beach otherwise."


    Finally, Sunny grinned.


    "And then, just before the dust settles, we can slip away, board the Chain Breaker, and escape."


    Nephis looked at him with aplicated expression.


    After a few moments of silence, she said:


    "Or... we don''t escape."


    For a moment, there was dead silence.


    Sunny looked at her impassively.


    "What do you mean?"


    Of course, he knew exactly what she meant. He had considered this course of action himself, despite how risky it was. It was just that... Sunny was not sure if he should mention anything.


    Nephis shrugged.


    "Two of the Six gues are right here, on the ind. Why don''t we kill them before we leave?"


    Jet smiled darkly.


    "I would love nothing more than to get rid of Undying ughter. But, Nephis... you haven''t seen that thing. You haven''t fought her. Do you know how lethal she is? How are we supposed to kill older, scarier, more powerful versions of ourselves?"


    Unexpectedly, it was Effie, not Neph, who answered. Looking up from where she sat on the ground, the huntress said:


    "That''s the thing, though. They are us, so... we know their weaknesses. We can exploit those weaknesses - that is how you hunt a stronger beast."


    She smiled.


    "We know their ws, don''t we? I mean that we should wait for them to grow weak from hunger, then finish the wretches off to make sure that they don''t get a chance to escape."


    Listening to her, Nephis nodded.


    Effie looked away, her smile dimming. After a moment of silence, she added quietly:


    "I might not be the most useful member of the cohort currently, but I think we should try."


    Nephis seemed to share her opinion.


    "Undying ughter and Devouring Beast might die on this ind, anyway... but they might also escape the same way we are nning to escape, or through some other means. There won''t be a better opportunity for us to strike down two of the gues. So, I think we should try, as well."


    Cassie remained silent, while Sunny shrugged.


    "I don''t know. I think I''d rather just leave them behind and run the hell away."


    All attention concentrated on Jet. She did not speak for a while, then asked with a faint grin:


    "Aren''t you all forgetting something? Effie and I have the same ws as those two monsters. If they starve, we''ll starve, too."


    Sunny hesitated for a few moments, then let out a resentful sight.


    "That... can be solved. Not a problem."


    Soul Reaper nced at him briefly, then shrugged.


    "Well, then... I vote we kill ourselves, too."


    She blinked a couple of times.


    "I mean, kill our future selves. You guys get what I mean, right?"


    Sunny let out a stifled chuckle and nodded.


    "Yes... we get it. Let''s kill some gues, why don''t we?"


    They spent the rest of the revolution discussing the n in great detail.


    Once it was over...


    A new revolution started, just like it always did.


    But this one, hopefully, was going to be theirst.