Shadow Slave

On a dark desolate highway, a black steed and its bleak rider emerged from the shadows. Adamantine hooves rang on concrete as they flew forward through the falling snow, soon catching up with a small column of battered vehicles.

Overtaking one transport after another, Sunny briefly evaluated their condition. The convoy was roughly halfway to its destination, and none of the vehicles had failed... yet. Each looked as if it had gone through a meat grinder, but whatever the technicians had done to the transports was still keeping them from breaking down on the road.

Hopefully, that would continue to be the case.

His soldiers were doing a good job of warding off the Nightmare Creatures, as well. Nothing had managed to attack the column in his absence. The refugees were all intact.

Glancing at the military vehicles, Sunny sent a short communication to Gere:

"How much ammo do you have left, Sergeant?"

The response came in a crackle of interference:

"Glad... you back, Captain... sufficient... or two... nearly spent..."

Sunny frowned. The worsening quality of the signal could mean only one thing. They seemed to be approaching a powerful Gate.

He concentrated for a moment to sense the Call, and felt that it was gradually growing louder.

'Goddammit...'

With a grimace, Sunny sent Nightmare forward and soon reached the head of the convoy, galloping alongside the Rhino. He caught a glimpse of Luster, who was concentrating on driving the APC, and then looked into the darkness ahead.

back Morgan's Warbow - Abomination and Blackie were enough to deal with them. However, in the distance, still a few kilometers away, Sunny saw a hint of wrongness hidden in the

small and inconsequential from distance, but had to be considerably wide and tall up close, blocking

A Nightmare Gate.

how long ago

could have long wandered away in search of prey, or were still lingering around.'There is only one way to

looking at the swiftly approaching Gate, trying to notice the shapes of Nightmare Creatures that could have been hiding on the

enemies in the water, and no enemies on the road. However, the mountain slopes made him feel tense, for some reason. Disturbed, Sunny studied the cliffs rising above the

the slope itself moved, unfurling long limbs and turning away from the mountain

uttered a

mountain, and its eight segmented legs resembled wide pillars. It looked like a giant spider with an enormous, bulbous beehive attached to its carapace, and there were hundreds of small crimson eyes burning in the dark holes of

Sunny's mouth turned dry.

'...A tyrant.'

minions within its body, no less. The towering abomination was a

no choice but

mind was in disarray, and the damned whispers of the cursed sword were not making it any easier for

the hell do I deal with that

would reach the Gate and its Guardian, so that was how long he had to come up

his most powerful weapon, the Sin of Solace, to either cripple, kill, or lead the creature away

the Rank of the giant spider, that could either

or outright killing the tyrant on the spot. The minions could be dealt with

not work, he would be