Shadow Slave

Sunny and his soldiers held back the abominations while the long column of vehicles drove through the cleared corridor. The pressure the horde was exerting on them was dire, but not impossible to overcome thanks to the artillery support from the mangled battleship.

The Awakened and the mundane soldiers worked together, aided by the lumbering MWPs and assault vehicles. Soon, the whole mountain slope was torn apart and enveloped in flames. An angry red glow spread through the blizzard, making it seem as though the snow itself was aflame, and the sounds of firing armaments, detonating explosives, and bestial howls fused into an ugly, deafening litany.

The battleship grew quiet, and the rain of artillery shells stopped. Either the vessel had run out of ammunition, or the stress of sustaining the heavy barrage had turned out to be too much for its already failing hull, causing it to sustain even more damage.

In any case, by that point, most of the caravan had managed to pass the advancing horde. With artillery bombardment gone and no killing field between them and the highway anymore, a flood of Nightmare Creatures rushed forward, aiming to slam into the defensive line of humans and rip them apart.

That was when Sunny finally utilized Shadow Manifestation. He had not used it before in order to conserve essence for this exact moment, but now there was no point in holding back anything anymore.

Rows of dark spikes rose from the ground, obstructing the advance of the abominations and forcing some to impale themselves on their sharp tips. Pushed from behind by the frenzied mob, more were run through, perishing right there and then. Others were simply slowed down.

The spikes were soon destroyed, but their job was already done-the momentum of the horde was stalled, and the MWPs were able to create a wall of fire in its way.

A few moments later, burning monsters burst through the flames, lunging at the defensive line with rabid rage. They were met by sharp steel and a rain of bullets.

"Hold! We are not done yet!"

Following his command, the soldiers held. The Awakened were burning through their essence, while the mundane fighters were exhausting their ammunition, but they held. One minute, then two...

Finally, the last of the vehicles drove past and disappeared into the haze of the snowstorm.

was not over yet, but

"Infantry, retreat!"

not an

soldiers orderly retreated, loading into the personnel carriers. After the massive vehicles drove off,

fired clusters of remote-controlled landmines, leaving hundreds of them in the wake of the retreating human force. Once enough of the pushing Nightmare Creatures entered the blast

to abandon the battle. The Awakened jumped onto the roofs of waiting vehicles, which then sped away. The MWPs followed, turning their torsos one hundred and eighty degrees to continue firing back as

to face the wrath of

with fury and

approaching tide

"Come at us, bastards..."

around him, shooting

of shadows to funnel the Nightmare Creatures, killing and maiming as many as he could with his spear. Nightmare rampaged in their midst, too swift to be caught and brought down... at least

were not going to linger for long. All Sunny had to

his defenses were obliterated, and it seemed like he and his Shadow were going to be

was when both of them turned into incorporeal shadows-Nightmare Creatures

battle was

pleasant surprise to Sunny-was that while some abominations lunged in pursuit of the caravan, most remained, seemingly more interested in the carcass of the monstrous jellyfish and the corpses of their own