Shadow Slave

Sunny's shadow swiftly glided through the darkness, climbing the steep slopes above the vast river of Nightmare Creatures. Sunny was trying to gauge the true size of the horde, but no matter how hard he looked, there was simply no end to it. All kinds of abominations were gathered in a tremendous mob which spilled over the cliffs, undulating and crawling over the landscape.

The horde was stretched into a long line, moving from east to west... toward the coast. The width of it was somewhat bearable, making the thought of trying to cut through the mass of Nightmare Creatures appear tentatively in his mind. However, the length of the horde was simply too oppressive.

The caravan was very large now, and even if Sunny managed to create a breach in the river of monsters, not all vehicles would be able to pass through before a tide of abominations ripped them apart.

...It was still an option, though. He had to think strategically.

To the east, the horde stretched for as fast as his shadow could see. To the west, there was still some space between the front ranks of the mob of Nightmare Creatures and the coastal highway. If the column of vehicles sped up while the abominations maintained their pace, there was a good chance that they would narrowly miss each other.

If not, the caravan would be caught between the horde and the ocean, potentially suffering even more casualties. That was not even considering that something could attack them from the water, as well.

Sunny sighed.

'...Crap.'

The first option all but guaranteed that people would die, but had a lower damage ceiling. The second promised a small chance that no one would be killed at all... but had the potential to turn really disastrous if things went wrong.

He hesitated for a few moments, then contacted Gere.

"Yes, Captain?"

Sunny gritted his teeth.

we will be taking a detour via the highway. Inform everyone to prepare for a

a chance of escaping unscathed. He was not ready to callously send people

Sunny would know that he

Luster sent the Rhino flying forward. Their MWP escorts strained to keep up, but eventually adjusted to the increased pace. The military vehicles

'Do not break.'

would go wrong. If a vehicle broke down in the middle of the charge, there would be no saving its passengers... a faulty transport could

the fewer number of Gates along the coast was one of the reasons he had chosen the second option, so if anything, leaving the mountains for a bit should only lessen the probability of a

the highway. As they approached it, Sunny tensely observed the horde and tried to calculate if they

there was

reached the highway, that

Sunny was sure that the Nightmare Creatures could not have sensed the caravan yet, so he did not know why their

faster now, any chance of passing by without a battle the column might have had were gone. They

'Curses!'

be assaulted from one side. Their left flank

hell spooked

see the first abominations spilling onto the highway

'...Oh.'

the corpse of a colossal abomination towered above the highway. It looked like a monstrous jellyfish of

strange, transparent flesh of the dead dweller of the depths was torn and scorched, with large chunks of it missing. Strange organs could be seen beneath it, and a lake of freezing slime covered a long stretch of the highway around it. Something had