Shadow Slave

Before, the future seemed grim for the expedition force of the Evacuation Army. Even though they numbered more than two thousand soldiers, with two hundred Awakened and four Masters ready to fight at the front, the enemy was just too domineering.

The Corrupted Tyrant itself was tremendously dangerous. The army of bone monstrosities was no less threatening. However, both Effie and Kai were incredible sources of strength, acting as force multipliers for the whole regiment. With their help, the power of the soldiers soared, almost balancing the scale.

Sunny's and Jet's efforts were no less important. Thanks to them, the two companies had been able to choose the battlefield and prepare an ambush. Terrain advantage was extremely valuable, and so was the foreknowledge of what the enemy was capable of.

That last part was, perhaps, the most precious. The two scouts had not only gathered intelligence about the location of the enemy and the number of minions under its rule. They had also provided the analysts and diviners of the army with an opportunity to study the Tyrant.

Thanks to that, the human force did not have to go into the battle blind. Even though they did not know every detail of what the Skull Centipede was capable of, they did know the most important parts.

For example, they knew that the confluence of the power that the giant abomination possessed was, surprisingly, hidden in the two dead skeletal trees that grew from its head, serving as the Tyrant's crown and horns.

In fact, Army Command had gone as far as to suggest that the true abomination was not the centipede itself, but the network of tree roots that permeated its monstrous skull, growing through the creature's brain matter.

As such, the small army's first goal was to destroy one, or better yet both of these trees. Without them, the Tyrant would most likely lose the ability to control its bone soldiers, as well as access to its most terrifying powers.

But... it was more easily said than done.

And Sunny currently had other things to worry about, because the centipede was going directly for him.

Ignoring the squall of bullets and the rain of arrow, it rose from the river like a mountain of skulls and lunged straight at him, the giant maw opening like an abyssal gate.

Sunny blinked.

'Are my flute skills really that atrocious? Listen... there's really no need to be that angry...'

A moment before the dreadful Tyrant crashed into the boulder he was sitting on, Sunny leaned back and dissipated into the shadows. The centipede plunged down, shattering the ancient stone and turning it to dust. Stone shards and a great deal of dirt flew into the air, rising like a cloud.

Sunny finished a backward roll much further up the slope, appearing behind the trenches and the mass of soldiers. He rose, flicked a few pieces of dust off his tunic, and glanced in the direction of the giant abomination.

The Skull Centipede turned its head in the direction of the firing soldiers, its jaw still hanging open. Then, its enormous body tensed, ready to shoot forward.

Before it could, however, something flashed through the air and impacted against the Tyrant's head... the mysterious projectile was none other than Effie, who had used her own body as a siege ram. After rushing through the battlefield like a hurricane, she jumped and made her body into a ball, hiding it behind the round shield.

When the Dusk Shard struck the Tyrant, numerous skulls were instantly pulverized into bone dust. However, even more were revealed, becoming visible through the crack in the morbid carapace.

The force of the impact was so tremendous that it not only slowed the centipede down, it actually threw the abomination back, pushing it back into the river.

Effie herself was tossed to the ground and landed in a roll, jumping back to her feet a moment later. Her sculpted steel body did not look damaged at all. If anything, the huntress looked as exuberant and robust as ever.

As her war cry resounded across the battlefield, the first wave of the hulking bone abominations clashed against the line of Awakened.

A ferocious melee exploded into a cacophony of ear-piercing noise. The tide of Nightmare Creatures seemed unstoppable, as if it would easily wash the human fighters away in a wave of desperation and blood... but it didn't.

The first reason for that was Jet, who threw herself into the flood of abominations a few moments before the clash and broke the enemy's momentum. Her naginata easily passed through the layers of bone, destroying the rotten souls of the Tyrant's minions.

Both the bone puppets and Soul Reaper herself could be considered living dead... however, even among the dead, she was an exalted existence.

The second reason was the Awakened themselves. Even though most of the ghastly abominations were Fallen, it barely looked as if there was a gap of power between them and the human fighters. Empowered by Raised by Wolves and emboldened by Nightingale, the soldiers fought with might and ferocity that was far beyond what they should have been capable of.

It was really quite astonishing to see.

Sunny shifted a little.

'Time for me to enter the fray as well, I guess.'

He had to act restrained in this battle... however, that did not mean that he couldn't do anything.

More and more bone fiends were crawling out of the river, and the Skull Centipede itself had already recovered from Effie's devastating blow. It was lunging forward once again, this time aiming for the ironclad huntress.

Sunny opened a leather satchel that hung on the silk cord tied around his waist, and took out a small, intricately engraved stone lantern. Then, he tossed it across the battlefield, aiming for the line where the shore met the cold water.

As soon as the Shadow Lantern landed, it was as though all light was devoured from the wide area around it. Many bone abominations entered the sphere of darkness... however, none of them emerged again, as if swallowed by the shadows.

Well, of course they didn't. After all, out there in the darkness, unseen, Saint was already waiting for them with the Sin of Solace in her hand.

After unleashing her on the battlefield, Sunny concentrated on using Shadow Manifestation to reduce pressure on the soldiers. He tried not to destroy any of the bone abominations himself, maiming and suppressing them instead.

Despite his efforts, however, a generous stream of shadow fragments poured into his soul, threatening to render him defenseless too soon.

Sunny frowned, then looked in the direction where Effie was trying to distract the Skull Centipede and prevent it from reaching the trenches. She was holding the Tyrant at bay, barely... for now...

A dark grimace appeared on his face.

'It's all up to Kai, then.'