Oscar, Midnight, and Luna had stopped their journey after the golden hour was over. They had covered most of the distance they needed to reach Lunus and with another run tomorrow morning, they would surely meet up with him before the golden hour ended.

And right after they stopped their pace, they searched around and found a flute tree to make themselves a sleeping place for tonight. Oscar didn’t forget to barricade the entrance to protect them from the cold breeze during the night. He extended his vines to the walls inside the tree trunk and produced moonlight berries along them to illuminate the dark room.

He leaned onto a wall and placed Luna on his laps. His hand groomed her fluffy white fur while making sure that she was still alright.

“Are you fine, Luna? Traveling inside the shadow roads didn’t make you feel sick, right?”

He gave her a handful of her favorite moonlight berries, but she didn’t seem to be hungry at the moment and just curled into a ball on his lap. Seeing that, Oscar made a troubled face as he didn’t know how to make her feel better.

“It will be alright, nyan. She just got a shadow sickness and it will be naturally cured in an hour or two, nyan,” said Midnight as she walked up from Oscar’s shadow and lied down while leaning onto his leg

It seemed like she didn’t want to compete with Luna over Oscar’s lap for tonight because she also worried about her sickness.

“Shadow sickness?”

“It’s like a motion sickness, nyan. If someone who has a bad affinity in darkness goes into a shadow, he will feel dizzy and nausea, nyan. Just leave her like this for now, and she will feel better, nyan.”

“I see… I’m sorry, Luna. It’s because I want to quickly meet up with Lunus that you become this unwell.”

*Kun…*

Luna raised her head and gave him a shaking sound. Through their [Mind link] she told him to not worry about her since she was the one who asked him to tag along.

But that still made Oscar feel uneasy for her sickness as he gently patted her to make her feel better. His fingers slowly combed her hairs when he noticed the glowing crystal on her forehead.

“...It seems to be bigger, isn’t it? Will this grow to be a horn?”

“There are monsters called horned rabbits, nyan. Maybe she will grow up to be one?”

“But the horn of a horned is made from bone, not a crystal… So she is something similar to a crystal rabbit? Still, I have no idea about a crystal rabbit that has a glowing horn.”

“Isn’t it because she had absorbed the moon element from the berries, nyan? Maybe she was a new species.”

“That should be the case, I think.”

A crystal rabbit is a subspecies of horned rabbits, its horn which should be made from bones are replaced by its crystalized mana. This crystalized horn also works as its mana reservation like a mana stone of every monster. And just like a mana stone, its crystal horn should be clear blue with no light inside, not a glowing warm yellow one like Luna’s.

“New kinds of monsters are born every day, nyan. It’s not strange if she is also similar.”

Oscar looked at Luna while patting her. Even though she had turned into a monster, she was still an adorable rabbit to him. All he could pray for her was that she wouldn’t turn into a mindless monster.

Sometimes, a monster can goes crazy after its monsterization process takes place. The cause of this symptom is the excessive mana that is too strong for the body of a living being to withstand and results in brain damage.

It’s not like all the monsters are frenzy since Midnight, a shadow cat, can also remain her consciousness. But, the frenzy monsters also exist and most of them usually attack whatever stands in front of them like a mad dog.

“... I think we should let her rest for now. Tomorrow we will depart as soon as Luna feels better. In the worst case, we will have to wait here a bit longer… But, that’s fine! We will catch up with Lunus either way if we can hop into the shadow roads just one more time.”

*Kun…*

Oscar gave Luna a heartwarming smile to make her feel less guilty in dragging them down. To Oscar, finding Lunus was an important goal. But right at this moment, Luna was more important since she was feeling unwell. He couldn’t just abandon her like this.

“Well, let’s sleep for now. Rest up and feel better, alright?”

*Kun…*

“Then I will also sleep early, nyan. Teaching master today makes me feel tired. *yawn*”

“That’s right, my arms and legs are hurt from running inside the shadows… Then, let’s sleep for tonight. Good night, you two.”

“Night, nyan.”

*Kyuuu…*

.

.

.

The next morning, they woke up early for the morning’s golden hour and found out that Luna was feeling a lot better than yesterday. She woke up with a rumbling stomach and ate all the moonlight berries that Oscar had prepared for her since last night.

“It’s good that you are better. Are you alright for another run inside the shadows?”

*Kun!*

Luna hopped onto his embrace as soon as he asked her. Since everyone was ready, it was a good time for the journey to continue.

“It’s good that Lunus’ position didn’t change much from the last night. But he seemed to have more friends than yesterday… I wonder if he used his new abilities to create them…,” Oscar said while checking the conditions of Lunus by contacting the trees around him.

“Is he… surrounded by a party of flying skulls with tentacles attached, nyan. Just thinking about it makes me shudder, nyan.”

“Rather than a party, it’s more like an army… Wait, what do you mean by flying skulls with tentacles!? They are vines, you know. And it seems their shapes are now close to a normal animal.”

“Fu~nya, it’s a joke, nya, a joke. Don’t look at me with those cold eyes, nyan. And we have to go, nyan, before this golden hour ends.”

“You are right, just another leap and we will meet them.”

They sank into shadows and ran along them toward where Lunus and his new friends were. They passed through mountains in only a few minutes and Lunus was now closer and closer every minute passed. But, unfortunately, the three must stop just before they could reach him. And the reason was...

“A fog!?”

“Nya…, we are very unfortunate, nyan.”

“We are so close and yet… Why must there be a fog here?”

Right after they crossed the last mountain, a sea of fog greeted them with its milky presence. The fog was so thick that they couldn’t see anything further than five steps. However, the poor vision wasn’t much of a threat since Oscar could feel the presence of things around him by using his [Mind link] on the fungal colonies.

Their true problem was the absence of the strong shadows that could be seen only during this golden hour. The thick fog had softened the strong light of the sun into a soft light. Under this soft light, no shadow could be found because the light reflected by the fog had scattered everywhere and erased the strong shadows that supposed to be there.

“It seems we have to use our own legs from now on…,” Oscar said while extending his vines to the tree branches.

Since Midnight couldn’t stay inside Oscar’s shadow in this state, she hopped onto his shoulder and tagged along while he slung his body from trees to trees toward where Lunus was.

However, while he was still in midair, a call from his friend had unexpectedly reached him.

“Eh, Lunus!?”

“Nya!? Did you see him?”

Luna was also surprised by Oscar’s sudden reaction as she looked around to find Lunus, but both her and Midnight could see nothing but a white fog.

“He’s not here, but he just contacted me back through our [Mind link]... Let me talk with him for a moment.”

Oscar decided that speaking with Lunus and confirming his conditions was a better choice than quickly rushing toward him. He slung himself onto a thick tree branch and sat there while talking with Lunus.

“I see… So that is what happened.”

“What is it, nyan?”

Following Midnight’s question, Luna also tilted her head in confusion.

“They had just subjugated a group of goblins… that they had called the green warts. It seems they took a minimal casualty and Lunus is still fine.”

“That’s good to hear, nyan. We should quickly go to see him, nyan, since they should be waiting for us.”

“Alright, let’s continue.”

They continued slinging toward Lunus at their greatest speed. The fog slowly dispersed as the sunlight grew stronger every moment passed. And a while later, they finally see Lunus’ group gathering in an opening of the forest.

“Neh, Lunus! I finally catch up with you!,” Oscar raised his hand while calling his friend.

But the moment that Lunus turned his meatless face toward his lord, his head flew away...