Shadow Slave

This time, Sunny chose to dove into the melee from the very first moment of the battle. His bow was a fearsome tool to slay powerful targets from a distance, but now that the situation had come to a full-fledged frontal assault, restraining the horde of lesser Nightmare Creatures was more important.

After all, they were only less than when compared to utterly terrifying abominations. Each was still a deadly threat. Plus, using the [Death Dealer] enchantment again was out of question.

Not to mention that the value of the Dying Wish was vastly increased, considering that he was leading a good hundred of Awakened instead of a single cohort right now. Any ally who could see Sunny clash with the monsters would feel inspired to fight with renewed zeal and resolve.

…On the other hand, he was also facing an entire horde of Nightmare Creatures instead of a single swarm. That meant that the Dying Wish would make him the target of hundreds of frenzied abominations.

Its power had also increased due to the fact that he had already killed dozens of enemies affected by the [Death Wish] enchantment in the previous two battles.

'Oh well…'

He would just have to manage, somehow.

Sunny had already decided to go all out, but now, for the first time in a long time, he suddenly felt a dire lack of powerful tools at his disposal. He had always prided himself on how formidable and versatile his arsenal of Memories was… but it seemed to have fallen behind the kinds of threats Sunny was facing these days.

He didn't even have anything to arm Saint with! To his shame, her broken stone sword was deadlier than any melee weapon he possessed, except for the Cruel Sight. As a part of an Ascended Demon, the stone blade carried the power of an Ascended weapon, as well. Sadly, unlike taciturn Shadow herself, the sword had not shown any sign of being able to repair itself... yet.

Sunny was clad in the Undying Chain, wielded the Cruel Sight, and harnessed the power of the Dying Wish. He was also augmented by two of his shadows. Saint only had the Broken Oath, which she could not use recklessly while riding Nightmare. The black courser and his rider were empowered by one shadow each.

Other than that, there was not much Sunny could employ to change the odds in his favor.

'Damn it, I really need more Memories!'

What of the tools he did have, though?

"Kimmy, what do you see?"

His soldiers were his tools, too. Considering that the last powerful Memory Sunny had found went to Kim, he hoped to get some results.

There were just a dozen seconds left before they clashed with the enemy. The young woman lingered for a moment, and then said something that ignited a small flame in Sunny's heart.

"I… I see! These beasts are vulnerable to sonic attacks!"

'That!'

Sunny had formed a similar suspicion after facing the eyeless abominations for the first time, but unsubstantiated suspicions were not something a good strategy could be built upon. Now, however…

'I bet it's their perception. Has to be.'

He summoned the flute carved out of a strange emerald femur... the Bone Singer. This Ascended Memory of the third Tier, which he had gained in the Red Colosseum, possessed three enchantments — [Sonorous], [Silenced], and [Sepulcher Song].

The first one allowed the flute to sing at various volumes. This was the enchantment Sunny had copied to the Silver Bell and the Ordinary Rock. The second allowed the flute to create a dome of silence around itself. The third one… Sunny had not been able to use it yet.

It was supposed to raise the dead.

However, one had to know how to actually play the flute to activate it, which Sunny did not. Additionally, the risen corpses would be murderous, wicked, and uncontrolled. The only way to command them and prevent them from attacking the summoner was to soothe them with a correct melody… which he had no way of knowing, as well.

In any case, Sunny was only interested in the [Sonorous] enchantment right now.

Commanding the flute to sing as loud as it could, he saturated it with his essence and then threw the bone instrument to Luster.

"Play it!"

The young man caught the emerald flute and stared at it with a startled expression.

"But, Captain… I have no idea how to!"

Sunny was already turning back to the tide of abominations.

"Just blow into the hole, damn it!"

Luster hesitated for half a second, then obediently brought the Bone Singer to his lips.

A moment later, a deafening, discordant, ear-piercing whistle exploded from the flute, spreading far and wide.

And just a moment before the flood of eyeless abominations crashed against the Awakened… they suddenly stumbled and lost their momentum, as if severely disoriented.

Sunny grinned as the Cruel Sight reaped the life of his first victim.

The Bone Singer had not produced a sonic attack, per se. It was just terribly loud and hideously shrill. However, just like he had thought, that turned out to be enough. The beasts were blind, after all… they had to perceive the world through some other means, and their hearing had turned out to be the dominant one of those.

If Sunny had to guess, he would have said that the long spikes on their backs were meant to sense sound waves spreading through the air, which the abominations were then able to interpret into a coherent picture of their surroundings.

Subjecting them to the terrible song of the Bone Singer was akin to using a flashbang grenade.

Without ever slowing down, Sunny cut into the horde of Nightmare Creatures. Driven into a murderous frenzy by the Dying Wish, hundreds of them rushed forward to tear him apart… only to die by his blade.

Sunny had fully unleashed his powers.

Dancing between the abominations like a dark deity, he slaughtered them without stop. Now that Sunny did not have to control the shape of the battlefield, he used Shadow Manifestation to enhance his own might. Dark tentacles rose from the ground to ensnare and rip his enemies apart. From time to time, two additional limbs appeared on his body, piercing the abominations or slicing their bodies with adamantine claws.

The Cruel Sight shrieked like a banshee every time it cut the air… over the years, Sunny had been subjected to all kinds of attacks and tortures. The [Dark Mirror] enchantment of the somber spear had long accumulated a vast library of elemental damage types. He had just never had a reason to use any except for divine flame and soul attacks.

Things were different now.

…Soon, piles of corpses and rivers of blood surrounded him. The more abominations attacked him, the more he was able to kill.

The sight of the slaughter was both terrifying and eerily beautiful.

The Awakened detachment of the human division faced the onslaught of the Nightmare Creatures, shuddered, but managed to hold the horde off for a few precious minutes.

Then, the mundane soldiers of the First Evacuation Army joined the fray. Supported by the destructive might of their high-tech armaments, the Awakened changed their tactic and went on the offensive.

Sunny led one of the charges. With his cohorts serving as the tip of the spear, almost a hundred warriors cut deep into the horde and moved to where the Gate Guardian was hiding.

It was another Fallen Devil, similar to the one Sunny had killed a few hours before. This one, however, seemed slightly smaller, and yet more powerful.

It was a female.

"Stay back!"

As the distance to the dreadful abomination grew shorter, Sunny commanded his soldiers to keep away and dove through the shadows, appearing near the Gate Guardian.

Once again, the creature's eyelids trembled, as if about to open. Somehow, he knew that he would be in terrible danger if he ever looked into those eyes.

Trusting his intuition, Sunny closed his own and dashed forward while relying entirely on shadow sense. A small lantern hanging from his belt suddenly came to life, and a flood of darkness shrouded everything around.

In the embrace of shadows, Sunny suddenly felt a mortifying chill assault his senses…

The Defiled Witness was looking at him.

A moment later, a bright flash tore the darkness apart. Imbued with divine flame, the blade of the Cruel Sight drew a line across the abomination's neck, beheading it. As the decapitated corpse fell to its knees, the bestial head flew away, enveloped in white flames.

...Not long after that, the battle was finally over.