Shadow Slave

From what Sunny had seen, each of the two groups of Nightmare Creatures was about as strong as the swarm of eyeless abominations his cohort had eradicated at the very start of the Antarctica campaign. The first swarm consisted of about two hunred creatures, most of the Awakened, with several dozen Fallen leading them.

The second was further away and much smaller, with no more than fifty creatures comprising it. However, all of them were Fallen, and there were four Corrupted among them.

Fighting each of the swarms separately would have been hard, but not impossible. But if they were allowed to join forces... Sunny did not know what would happen then.

There was a faint hope in his heart that Nightmare Creatures would obliterate each other, but he knew that it was too improbable, at that stage. Whatever animosity there was between these two tribes of abominations could not compare to their frenzied desire to devour humans, and with hundreds of defenseless civilians close by, that bloodlust was already starting to flow like fire through their veins.

A battle was inevitable.

The question was... how was he supposed to go about fighting that battle?

The best possible solution would have been to stop the onslaught of abominations near the convoy, on the narrow mountain road. There was no space here for the enemy to exploit their overwhelming numerical advantage, so the defenders could face them a few at a time.

However, Nightmare Creatures were not known for their reason and strong sense of self-preservation. They would madly press on, potentially burying Sunny and his cohort in an avalanche of bodies. It would not matter how many of them ended up being cut down or falling into the abyssal chasm of the mountain gorge, as long as some could sink their fangs into human flesh.

Additionally, he did not know what strange powers the abominations possessed, so he could not guarantee that the convoy would not sustain damage.

But most importantly...

The only chance of a swift and decisive victory he saw was to

advance and face the enemy on the wide, open battlefield of the valley ahead. They had to either destroy one swarm before the second arrived, or

'Curses...!'

suit. The APC's width blocked pretty much the whole road, so they couldn't move past it even if they wanted to.

too long, Gere's distorted voice came through the speakers of a

Is there

few moments, then responded in a measured

There's trouble ahead... deploy your soldiers and prepare to defend the convoy. My cohort will advance to engage the enemy, but if

do much. There was the lone Sleeper, and a small amount of charged ammunition that Samara had supplied to the soldiers before leaving the bunker - the charge

it. Without even the powered exoskeleton armor suits, mundane soldiers were no match for Nightmare Creatures above the Dormant

a few seconds

"...Understood."

do, what

the dire situation, one that would not spell disaster for the

was running on all cylinders, but failing to come

commanded the Irregulars to advance. They dashed forward, braving the snow in cold silence. It did not take long to reach the small valley. They managed to arrive at its edges before the first swarm of Nightmare Creatures had time to descend from the mountain,

was still some distance

space. It was covered with snow and almost perfectly flat... that was because most of the valley was taken by a mountain lake, which was frozen now that the long night had

of the snow would be painted by blood... hopefully, of Nightmare Creatures, but maybe that of

boulders and climbed on top of one. Then, he summoned Morgan's Warbow and closed his eyes