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.

to make him summon 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 darkness

ugly rift in the fabric of reality there, one that seemed small and inconsequential from distance, but had to be considerably wide and tall up close, blocking most

A Nightmare Gate.

how long ago had it

by it could have long wandered away

roof of the Rhino, Sunny remained in the saddle, wielding the Sin of Solace in one of his hands. He was tensely looking at the swiftly approaching Gate, trying to notice

However, the mountain slopes made him feel tense, for some reason. Disturbed, Sunny studied the cliffs rising above the highway to understand what he had

moved, unfurling long limbs and turning away from

a stifled

ten meters tall, the creature was gargantuan. Its rough and uneven hide was almost of the same texture as the stone slope of the 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

Sunny's mouth turned dry.

'...A tyrant.'

creature was, but it had to be a tyrant... one that carried an army of minions within its body, no less. The towering abomination was a dire threat itself, just from its sheer size alone, and there was no telling how

no choice but

damned whispers of the cursed sword were not making it any easier for him

the hell do I deal with that

they would reach the Gate and its Guardian, so that was how

forward and attack the tyrant with his most powerful weapon, the Sin of Solace, to either cripple, kill, or lead the creature away from

that could either be a very good or

delivering a severe wound or outright killing the

that did not work, he