Ciel and Rein could defeat a Twisted Forsakened together, but without using Void element, it would be an agonizing task.
More importantly, the Starlight Lantern was definitely much stronger than the Twisted Wolf, and even worse, its level of threat was entirely unknown.
If they were careless against it, the duo would pay the price of their arrogance.
'At least we'll have Spirit Essence to spare since we aren't going to be using much in this fight.'
'The Starlight Lantern would also know that… is it really just a simple task? If it was truly malicious, it would tell us to use up all of our Spirit Essence and kill us while we're weakened.'
'Maybe it's just underestimating us. Or I'm just overthinking this and it isn't truly evil …' He thought
[ Think about whatever you're thinking about later! We're gonna die if you don't focus on the fight. ] Rein brought him back to reality
Since he was distracted, he wasn't paying much attention to the Twisted Wolf that was currently attacking him.
He was getting pushed back quite heavily.
[ Sorry. Let's kill this thing quickly then. ]
Ciel dodged the wolf's upcoming bite, and slashed at its leg.
Rein then exited his shadow, and shot an arrow towards the wolf's head.
Ciel had summoned the bow and arrows before they entered the underground ice chamber.
She could then take it with her when transforming into the shadow merge form, making it so that they didn't need to waste time passing the equipment with Soul Transfer.
The Twisted Wolf reacted just in time, dodging the arrow whilst twisting its own body.
The wolf tried moving towards Rein, but Ciel was able to stall and distract it, while being slightly overwhelmed by its strength.
He was much weaker in terms of overall physical strength compared to the Twisted Wolf.
The advantage Soul Sorcerers had against a Forsakened was their ability to use Spirit Essence and Abilities.
Without Spirit Essence, the gap between the two fighters would be too immense for a Soul Sorcerer to win.
Ciel and Rein were in that situation right now. They needed to preserve their Spirit Essence to deal with the Starlight Lantern's task.
Luckily, they weren't ordinary Awakened Sorcerers. They had a strong mind, and special Attributes that gave them a strong advantage.
Not all Soul Sorcerers would be equal.
The Twisted Wolf howled in outrage, charging towards Ciel with all its might. He couldn't dodge in time, feeling the brunt force of the impact.
He flew in the air towards Rein.
Before they collided, Ciel entered her shadow since their shadows were now in contact. He avoided dealing damage to Rein, but still felt the initial heavy damage.
The Twisted Wolf didn't expect that he would suddenly disappear, and looked slightly perplexed.
Rein used that split moment to shoot an arrow towards the wolf's neck.
It hit the target spot, piercing into the wolf's neck with a small splash of blood spilling out.
In a fit mixed with madness and confusion, the Twisted Wolf charged straight towards Rein without concern for its own safety.
There was no way for Rein to dodge properly in time, so she instead shot an arrow that pierced straight into its forehead, with even more blood spraying out of the new wound.
The Twisted Wolf didn't slow down at all, but before it could fully reach her, Ciel exited Rein's shadow with a thick pole made up of Eternal Stone.
He held the pole horizontally between him and the large wolf. The wolf's large snout bit down on the Eternal Stone, but it was durable enough to be completely undamaged.
The duo, however, flew back towards the ice wall by the force of the impact, with the Twisted Wolf still biting down on the pole in Ciel's grip, which continued to push them backwards.
Rein entered Ciel's shadow before the impact with the ice wall, making Ciel the only one to take the damage.
They were actively communicating with mental images for great efficiency in their teamwork.
Ciel was pressed against the ice wall, with only the pole of Eternal Stone in his hands separating him from the Twisted Wolf.
Rein exited his shadow and took his katana, before quickly piercing the throat of the ravaged Twisted Wolf.
The pressure on Ciel decreased, and he pushed the wolf back a few metres. He used some Spirit Essence to increase his strength, pushing the Twisted Wolf to the ground.
In the next second, before the wolf could react, two arrows pierced into its eyes, completely blinding it.
It was somehow not dead yet, showing them how great the vitality of a Twisted Forsakened could be.
It was a miracle the Void element arrow bomb they created could kill two Blood Forsakened.
In that situation however, the Forsakened had been fighting each other and were already severely damaged.
Ciel rushed forward, giving a deep cut into all of the legs of the Twisted Wolf. It was now completely disabled, with no way to escape.
'Without our tricks, we would have been dead meat. Spirit Essence isn't the only advantage a Soul Sorcerer has against a Forsakened.'
'We're not mindless beasts, we're just beasts that can use our mind.' Ciel thought to himself
Rein shot an arrow deep into the Twisted Wolf's head, putting it out of its misery.
"That wasn't that bad..." She said
"We don't really know if this night is over though… let's absorb the Forsaken Core before we meet the lantern again, and then rest while we still have time." Ciel said
It would take too much Spirit Essence to mark the corpse with Soul Transfer. Therefore, they would only take the most useful part to them, the Forsaken Core.
If the night wasn't over, bringing the corpse with them into the Soul World would only make them exceed the limit of Spirit Essence that they could use for the night.
They had used up around 8% of their total Spirit Essence in the fight.
Most of their Spirit Essence was used to increase Ciel's strength temporarily to push the wolf to the ground.
The damage they received wasn't too high, but still damage.
After absorbing the Forsaken Core and resting for a few minutes, the duo went back towards the middle of the large chamber, where the Starlight Lantern was previously located.
Once they reached, they looked around for the Starlight Lantern, but it was nowhere to be found, as if it didn't even exist.
[ Does this mean we cleared the night? It did say we would find it here during the second night. Maybe it can only appear at night, and since we cleared the night, it'll be here later. ]
It seemed like it wasn't lying about the deal they made. Unless it ran away, which was highly unlikely.
[ Let's check out what's going on above this underground area, on the surface. We'll probably figure out the answer there. ]
'If it's daytime outside, would that mean we cleared the night? How exactly are we meant to clear this Gate…' Ciel thought as they went up the staircase
After a while, they saw sunlight from the top of the stairs.
"We really did clear the night… how does time work here? We were only down there for an hour at most." Ciel said, not expecting an answer
"Luckily, we completed the task. If the lantern isn't lying, it will answer one of our questions tonight." Rein said while in thought
"What question do you think we should ask first?" Ciel asked
"There are many important questions. However, the most important one right now is quite simple… What exactly are the rules of this Special Gate?" Rein replied
Out of all the questions, this was probably the most important one. There would be no point learning how many nights there were if they didn't understand what a night was.
"I was thinking the same. It's freezing cold right now… we need to find shelter. "
"Let's go back down and take the corpse of the Twisted Wolf. Since it's daytime, we already completed the quest."
They went back down to the underground ice chamber, and collected the Twisted Wolf's corpse.
They needed meat after all. Who knew how many nights they would be stuck here?
After coming back to the surface, they checked to see if they could enter the ice structures again. Luckily, the doors opened this time, and they were slightly relieved from freezing outside cold.
"Well, we got nothing to do till night… If every day is gonna be like this, we gotta figure something out. I don't want to die from boredom." Rein said exasperatedly
"There's not much we can really do though… I guess you have time to practice swordsmanship."
"That's more like work though. Surely you can figure out a fun game?"
"Stop acting like a child… we're not exactly here for fun, are we?" Ciel said awkwardly
"Still, that's no reason to stay bored. Whatever, it's fine. Next time, just remember to find something fun and bring it to our Soul World as part of your preparations before we run away from civilization." Rein said with a sigh
'Next time huh. It's not like we're guaranteed to survive this 'frozen hellscape' as the Starlight Lantern called it, and then be in a situation similar to this on top of that.'
'That's the realistic view, but it's not absolutely improbable. I can just hope that this misfortune doesn't happen again.' He thought
Over the next 12 hours, Rein practiced her swordsmanship against Ciel. She was still an amateur, not being able to get even a hit on Ciel.
Yet, she didn't let it get to her mind. Even though they were the same age, their different circumstances brought them down different paths.
She was just a regular girl, while Ciel had been training his entire life.
They were now also fully healed, and in perfect condition to face the second night.
The only problem was the cold, which they had no real way of fully resolving.