Shadow Slave

Chapter 864: Breaking the Balance

Stuck in the middle of a neverending massacre, barely holding on, and sensing a ruinous hint of exhaustion already seeping into his muscles, Sunny knew that the battle was entering its decisive stage.

For now, it seemed to remain in a fragile equilibrium. The jade beetle and Saint Tyris were clashing somewhere high above, neither of them capable of striking down the adversary yet. On the ground, Master Jet were fighting alone in the tide of Nightmare Creatures, seeking out the most powerful foes. She had already killed many, but her task was far from being accomplished.

The Irregulars held, pushing back against the rabid onslaught of the stone hive. They had managed to avoid being overwhelmed, but could not throw the enemy back and go on the offensive. Even with Winter and her sharpshooters taking out the most deadly Fallen abominations, the situation was extremely precarious.

And finally, Sunny was protecting the rear of the formation. He was containing his share of Nightmare Creatures, as well, but was not anywhere near prevailing against them. For every hive soldier he killed, two immediately took its place.

Neither side could wipe out the other. This balance, however, could be

destroyed at any moment.

Time was working against the Irregulars, for the most part, since their soul essence and endurance were not infinite. The soldiers were not going to be able to keep up with the ruthless tempo of the furious battle for much longer.

Their only hope was that Soul Reaper would finish off the last of the Corrupted abominations and join the fight against the mass of lesser soldiers soon. However, from a few glimpses that Sunny had caught, things weren't going too well for the commander of the First Irregular Company.

Master Jet had quickly dealt with the comparatively weak Corrupted, but now, only the most powerful of them remained. More than that, the stone hive seemed to have understood how much of a threat this single human represented. With each second, it was getting harder and harder for Soul Reaper to move and attack her targets.

She would probably be able to kill them all eventually, but was that going to be fast enough?

Currently, Sunny was not sure.

'I need to do something...'

the Cruel Sight to conserve essence, and was now fighting against the frenzied abominations with nothing but its somber silver steel. Mounds of

can I

to break the balance of the battle in favor of

own section of the battlefield... and failed. Preventing the

from the Dying Wish... however, they would

abomination or several. It would take him some time. Not to mention that to achieve

then...only one component of

fierce attack of a bloodthirsty bug, he used one of the shadow tentacles to suddenly pull himself away from the advancing enemies and pierced the body of a somewhat startled abomination a dozen meters further down

he briefly

shapes were entangled with each other high in the dark skies. Arcs of lightning danced between them, and rivers of caustic black ash were flowing through the air

His face turned grim.

kill it. Can't kill

did he

Sunny sighed and threw the Cruel Sight into the maw of a lunging abomination. Then, he closed his eyes and tried to forget about

surged forward and formed a

Sunny summoned

shook the shadow cage he had constructed around himself. Then, another, and another, and

could. Infused with his Ascended essence, it was much more resilient than the armored hull of the mighty battleship he had

appeared on its surface, and then a sharp chitin blade shot through one of them,

However, it was enough.

itself. Immediately, it lost solidity and substance... instead, long and sharp spikes shot forward from the

abominations were skewered by them, but most were only stalled for a moment as deep scratches

Sunny looked up and

[Soul Arrow].