Shadow Slave

"Hold, you wretches!"

A mass of Nightmare Creatures was advancing through a city street, mere meters away from slamming into a makeshift barricade formed by the hulking frames of firing MWPs. The surface of the road was broken and melted, and the ruins of the surrounding buildings were enveloped in flames.

Leaping off a slowly collapsing roof, Sunny plummeted down and landed between the abominations. The emerald blade of the Sin of Solace moved, sending fountains of blood into the air. He dashed sideways, dodging a stream of bullets, and groaned.

It was already the second week of the siege, but the damage done to his body and soul by the Nightmare Gate was slow to heal. Sunny shrugged off the pain and called upon the shadows, erecting a black wall of them to block off the street.

"Flamethrowers!"

The pilots of the MWPs did not stop firing their mass drivers, but long streams of orange-red fire shot from their wrists over the wall. Sunny danced between the flames, circulating his energy to activate the Underworld Armament. The effect of the Memory of Fire was enhanced, elevating his elemental resistance even higher.

The Nightmare Creatures were not that lucky.

While he dealt with the head of the swarm, Belle and Dorn attacked its tail from the flanks. A sharp sword and a heavy sledgehammer made short work of the frenzied abominations, and at the same time, charged tungsten rounds flashed from a nearby dormitory tower, slaying the most dangerous targets without fail.

Caught between the hammer and the anvil, the swarm swiftly melted. The last one to die was a hideous creature with hardy scales covering its reptilian body. Sunny simply struck the abomination with the edge of his palm, turning it as heavy as a boulder and as hard as stone. The reptile's skull shattered, disintegrating into a disgusting rain of blood and bone.

Even before the heavy body touched the ground, the Spell was already whispering:

[You have slain an Awakened Monster, Scaled Prowler.)

have received

His eyes glinted.

'Another Memory!'

Luster and Kim appeared on a

was

Cloud, the pressure on the defenders of Falcon Scott had steadily increased. The fact that there was a giant breach in the wall did not help things one bit. Eventually, the defensive

the Nightmare Creatures from its height - but now, various sections of the great barrier were separated, almost turning into independent fortresses. A detachment of soldiers was tasked with defending the

Creatures from breaking through the barricades into the city, even if the rate of casualties among the ground crews

just dealt with one of

the fourth one today... not

painful hacking fit, feeling a sickening weakness permeate his body once again. After a while, the coughing subsided, and Sunny remained motionless for a few moments, breathed hoarsely and waiting for the weakness to

was gone, and all that remained

"Damnation..."

of the destroyed city street. Once they reached him - everyone except Samara, who was still in her sniper nest on top of the empty dormitory tower - Sunny glanced at

updates from

She nodded.

Master Dale pushed the enemy back, reclaiming control over Breach C. We are ordered to stand down and rest. Our

tiredly rubbed

real trouble tomorrow. Well... all the more reason to make sure that we're fresh and full of essence. Signal Sam to come down

for a moment, making sure that none of them was wounded. Without... without a healer in the cohort, recovering between battles had become somewhat

of the cohort were unscathed. He nodded, letting