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 deal with

fabric of reality there, one that seemed small and inconsequential from distance, but had to be considerably wide and tall up

A Nightmare Gate.

how long ago had

on the answer, the abominations brought into the waking world by it could have long wandered away in search of prey, or were still lingering around.'There is only one way to find out,

saddle, wielding the Sin of Solace in one of his hands. He was tensely looking at the swiftly approaching Gate, trying to notice the shapes of Nightmare Creatures that could have been hiding on the highway or the mountain slope nearby... even in the cold waters of

However, the mountain slopes made him feel tense, for some reason. Disturbed, Sunny studied the

the slope itself moved, unfurling long limbs and turning

a

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 of that

Sunny's mouth turned dry.

'...A tyrant.'

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,

no choice but to rush toward

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

I

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

send Nightmare charging forward and attack the tyrant with his most powerful weapon, the Sin of Solace, to either

that could either be a very good or an utterly

could summon his bow and finally use the wasteful, but devastating [Death Dealer] enchantment, potentially delivering a severe wound or outright killing the tyrant on the spot. The minions could be dealt with if he followed up

that did not work, he would be