Even though the archers managed to kill and wound a lot of Nightmare Creatures, there were still enough of them left to bury the Irregulars under a mass of chitinous bodies. Master Jet’s sudden advance divided their attention and lessened the pressure on the rest of the human force, but that was not her primary goal.
In this battle, Soul Reaper was tasked with the most important objective — eliminating the Corrupted abominations that threatened to wipe out the Awakened soldiers.
Awakened were supposed to fight Nightmare Creatures of their own Rank. Facing a Fallen abomination was usually a recipe for disaster, and only a small amount of human warriors could be confident in defeating an overbearing foe like that. Killing a creature of a higher Rank was a rare enough accomplishment that it could substantially change one’s reputation.
Still, it was not impossible. Sunny himself, as well as every other survivor of the Forgotten Shore, had slain plenty of beings that they had no business fighting. That was what made them so abnormal… in the terrible crucible of the Forgotten Shore, only the strongest of the strongest survived. Of course, there were plenty of equal talents among the rest of the Awakened, and the elites chosen to become Irregulars were among them.
But they stood no chance against the Corrupted. The power gap of two Ranks was just too insurmountable. In the rarest of circumstances, a victory could still be possible… but usually, Awakened would not even be able to leave a scratch on the bodies of these monsters. No conventional weapon could harm them, either.
That was why the Corrupted lieutenants of the stone hive had to die first. Considering that these revolting insects possessed immensely durable armor, Soul Reaper had been chosen to strike them down. Her dreadful Aspect, after all, allowed her to ignore all forms of physical protection.
That did not mean that the rest of the Irregulars were going to get it easy. Even without the strongest abominations, the rest of the hive was more than capable of tearing the few humans apart… unless humans destroyed them first.
This time, the terrain they had to fight on did not give the Irregulars any advantages. They could not create a layered formation where melee fighters held the enemies off in the front while the archers pelted them with arrows from the back. The small human force was destined to be instantly surrounded.
That was where Sunny came in.
Most of the Irregulars created a defensive line slightly higher up the slope, while the ranged specialists continued to shoot arrows and other projectiles over their heads. Their line bent like a crescent moon so that the abominations could not attack them from the sides. He alone stood behind the formation, holding the Cruel Sight and breathing deeply.
Sunny’s task was simple. To not let even a single Nightmare Creature attack the human force from the back.
‘Let’s go…’
The tide of stone hive soldiers broke against the single blade of Soul Reaper’s glaive, collided against the defensive line of Irregulars, and spilled over it. He saw a mass of abominations slide past him from the sides, slow down, then turn around and scurry back up the slope.
His fourth shadow had just returned and wrapped itself around the blade of the Cruel Sight, and at the same time, the Dying Wish called the enemies forth.
Sunny dashed forward with stunning speed. At the same time, the shadows around him seethed, and then exploded forward with four long and powerful tentacles.
Each tentacle pierced the carapace of a nightmarish insect and tore its body apart. A moment later, the Cruel Sight shone with furious white light and slid into a thin crack between the thorax and the head of a Fallen abomination, turning its soft innards and brain into ash.
Sunny twisted his spear, decapitating the appalling creature. To his surprise, even without its head, the insect continued forward, trying to skewer him with two of its long, segmented legs.
With a startled snarl, Sunny crashed into it with his shoulder and sent the heavy monster flying back like a cannonball. At the same time, his shadow tentacles twisted and shot forward, breaking the legs of several more abominations.
‘Bastards… do you really think you can touch me? Pathetic bugs like you… can never hope to kill a noble cockroach like me!’
Suddenly, a mad smile appeared on his face.
Grinning like a lunatic, Sunny spun in the growing tide of stone hive soldiers, killing them one after another. After the Red Colosseum, it was not hard for him to shadow Nightmare Creatures. Even though bestial abominations like these did not possess sentience, let alone refined battle techniques, they still had unique instincts, behavioral patterns, and character. As such, he could mirror and predict their attacks just as well as that of humans.
In fact, it was much easier.
…But also much, much harder. It was not difficult to peer into the essence of their ferocious combat instincts and adopt them, but doing so put him in terrible peril. It was hard to not lose himself. It was hard to remain human.
Luckily, there was an anchor that held that which made Sunny a person together… his true name.
‘Lost from Light…’
With its help, he could always return from the formless depths of Shadow Dance, no matter how far he dove into its strange embrace.
Stonelike chitin cracked and shattered. Blue lymph shot into the air. Broken mandibles and segmented limbs rolled away, severed by the ruthless blade of the Cruel Sight.
For now, Sunny managed to prevent any Nightmare Creatures from getting past him. Most fell into a murderous frenzy because of the Dying Wish and aimed to kill him and no one else, and the few that managed to shrug the effect off were dragged back and killed by the long and malleable shadow tentacles.
There were more and more abominations attacking him, though.
And among them, much more powerful creatures suddenly appeared.
An ominous feeling brushed against Sunny’s mind.
‘What the hell?’
He could have sworn that an especially large insect had been barreling toward him just a moment ago. Four tumorous growths of darkness within its body revealed that the giant abomination was a Fallen Devil.
But now, it was gone.
‘Where is it?’
Before Sunny could find and answer, the mountain slope beneath his feet suddenly split open.
…And from it, a hungry maw appeared, too close and swift for him to escape.
