Shadow Slave

There were all kinds of Nightmare Creatures who had apparently decided to take a nap on the flat concrete surface of the coastal highway. Bestial maws opened in vicious snarls, sharp mandibles dripping with viscous saliva, jagged claws, curving bone scythes, and various implements of death that Sunny did not even know how to describe... all of it was flying toward the convoy, drawing closer and closer with each second.

The faster the vehicles moved, the faster the abominations converged on them.

'Damnation...'

Sunny was standing on the vibrating roof of the Rhino, drawing Morgan's Warbow time and time again. In a short span of time, he had let loose a veritable rain of arrows, slaughtering at least a dozen of the approaching Nightmare Creatures. His muscles were already protesting the unforgiving pace, but augmented with all four of his shadows, Sunny knew that he could keep the same rate of fire for much longer.

The battle was only starting, anyway. Although the menagerie of monsters rushing toward the convoy seemed ghastly and dangerous, these were only the dregs of the Chain of Nightmares. They were the lone stragglers or small packs of abominations that had broken away from larger swarms and hordes, and as such, did not pose a real threat.

For now, they were also only attacking the column from the front. Very soon, Sunny and his people would be surrounded and forced to resist attacks from all directions.

To postpone that, Samara finally opened fire. Most of the Nightmare Creatures on the highway were obscured from her by the other transports and the wide shape of the Rhino, but she had a clear shot of the mountains slopes and the abominations that were rushing down the treacherous surface of the icy stone to attack the convoy from the side.

A shining slug flashed through the air, and one of the distant silhouettes ruptured, mangled remains sliding down the steep slope. Even before the echo of the first thunderous shot dissipated into the cold air, the powerful rifle was already humming with electrical whine once again, charging to spit another devastating round.

am not fast enough to

Sunny was conserving his essence. He was only using one of the active enchantments of his mighty bow, [Soul Arrows], which did not demand a lot of it. The Dying Wish was also inactive, for now, since there was no need to draw the attention of abominations away

was going to be a marathon,

taking down these high-priority targets first. Abomination fearlessly dove into the mass of enemies, tearing them apart with ruthless determination. Since there were very few Fallen creatures among this first wave, most were much weaker than the massive

he was not careful. The smaller hound separated and dashed to the edge of the highway, concentrating on attacking the outliers of

'So far so good...'

seriously threaten the Rhino, but at that point, the APC was already only meters away from the swiftest of

smashed into the lunging abomination, practically pulverizing it into a cloud of crimson haze. The second creature crashed on

slow and allowed the column

the rest. It was not their goal, nor was it realistic, to slaughter every single Nightmare Creature across six hundred kilometers of the coastal highway

cut down those that managed to get close to the column, while the nameless Sleeper was sending one arrow flying after another. Belle was using a

seemed to hit much harder than they were supposed to, even with

the first wave of Nightmare Creatures, leaving broken bodies and bleeding corpses behind. Its defenders continued their barrage, finishing off those Nightmare Creatures that were

nocked another arrow on the string of his bow and froze for a moment. Peering

'Curse it...'