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...'

had extinguished the divine flames burning within the blade of the Cruel Sight to conserve essence, and was now fighting against the frenzied abominations with nothing but its somber silver

can I

the balance of the battle in favor of the human

done his best to gain the upper hand in his own section of the battlefield... and failed. Preventing the soldiers of the stone hive

chose to join the Awakened fighters, they would gain a boost of inspiration from the Dying Wish... however, they would also be forced to split their focus and defend against attacks from two directions. Whatever benefit he could bring would be invalidated by

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

one component

used one of the shadow tentacles to suddenly pull himself away from the advancing

briefly

were entangled with each other high in the dark skies. Arcs of lightning danced between them, and rivers

His face turned grim.

I can't kill it. Can't

did he need

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

belt suddenly surged forward and formed a barrier around him. Even the tentacles that had been slaughtering hive

barrier, Sunny summoned Morgan's

scarlet sparks appeared in the air, a heavy blow shook the shadow cage he had constructed around himself. Then, another, and another, and another. Soon, countless strikes were raining

cage as durable as he could. Infused with his Ascended essence, it was much more resilient than the armored hull of

few breaths later, it was already crumbling. Wide cracks appeared on its surface, and then a sharp chitin blade shot through one of them, scraping against the onyx surface of the Mantle of the Underworld and

However, it was enough.

appeared in his hand, Sunny commanded the shadow cage to transform itself. Immediately, it lost solidity and substance... instead, long and sharp spikes

skewered by them, but most were only

them any attention, Sunny looked

[Soul Arrow].