Shadow Slave

Chapter 867: Tooth and Nail

The tide of the battle had turned.

The terrifying confrontation between the Tyrant of the Stone Hive and Sky Tide of the White Feather clan went on, but now, the eerily beautiful jade beetle was clearly losing.

On the battlefield itself, the force of abominations trying to attack the Irregulars from the rear had been decimated under the cover of unnatural darkness. The Corrupted lieutenants leading the main assault had been dealt with by Soul Reaper, Although human soldiers had been feeling hints of despair just a few minutes ago, now, a new strength filled their bodies.

"Fight! We can do this!"

"Crush the bugs!"

The Irregulars knew that the moments when hope finally shined from the distance were often the most dangerous, so they did not allow themselves to relax and fought with fierce determination.

Then, something strange happened. The veil of darkness enveloping the lower part of the slope suddenly flowed forward and drowned a large swath of Nightmare Creatures assaulting their defensive line from the flank.

Immediately, frenzied shrieks of the abominations resounded from it, only to stop abruptly in the cracking noise of splitting chitin.

At the same time, Soul Reaper Jet broke through the ranks of the hive and joined the crescent battle formation.

Suddenly reassured, the humans fought with doubled ferocity.

The effect was even more pronounced for the members of one of the cohorts, who could actually see through the unnatural darkness thanks to Kim's unique Aspect.

Luster, who had lost count of the number of repulsive bugs he had killed or wounded with his halberd, threw a quick glance to the flank of the defensive line and almost stumbled.

"W-what?"

Out there in the darkness, their captain was dancing between the abominations, slaying one after another with graceful strikes of a long and somber blade. His swordsmanship was elegant and exquisite. However, what stunned the young man was not the battle skill of their commanding officer, but the armor Captain Sunless was wearing, as well as the shape and color of his odachi.

'That's that's Monorel's armor and sword!'

Luster's eyes widened.

'Don't tell me...'

a lot of

enchantment that spread to those who witnessed Sunny fight, an intense fire ignited in Luster's heart. His eyes gleamed, and he threw himself into the battle with burning

need to kill

their captain's true identity, Luster was extremely inspired. He had given up on his goal not long after the clash with the stone hive started, but now, it did not

these abominable bugs! If I kill enough... I might

- although, of course, in a different manner - the other members of the cohort experienced the bolstering effect of the Dying Wish, as well. All of them fought like devils, earning themselves a fearsome reputation among the

man who had

currently cursing his

***

Crap! Curse

Nightmare Creatures, Sunny fought while feeling extremely aggrieved. Things were not going great for him... he was extremely tired, bruised and battered, and worst of all, his

what little he had left with frightening speed, but the worst offender was the Shadow Lantern. A Divine Memory was as gluttonous as one would think. On top of that, there were the Dying Wish and the Mantle

would be completely

dismiss the veil of shadows, since doing that would reveal his identity as Mongrel to a lot of strangers. The members of his own cohort had already seen enough, most likely, but he somewhat trusted them to keep his secret. Due to the

had to dismiss

go was the Dying Wish. Although it brought benefit to his soldiers and, to a lesser degree, to all Irregulars he simply could not allow the

was little he could do. Without sufficient essence to feed the [Living Stone], many cracks appeared on the stonelike onyx surface of the Mantle. Not only had it lost some of its

the effects of the [Feather of Truth]

made a mistake or two, a couple wounds

to keep the

the small amount of essence he received back by

barely avoided a stream of acid that one of the monstrous insects spat, and retaliated by neatly

this going to end,

and then dissipated into

it stop... let it stop... argh, damnation, this is such crap! What the hell?! What

a severed chitin blade of one

the veil of shadows created by the Shadow Lantern finally

no armor and only clad in a torn black bodysuit, Captain Sunless hammered a severed limb of an enemy into the carapace of a Fallen abomination. The white chitin split, and the creature let out a painful shriek.