Shadow Slave

1039 The Fall of Falcon Scott (57)

Bloodwave reached them just a moment later. The mighty Saint looked… spent. Sunny shivered when he noticed that his armor was torn, and there were ugly injuries covering his body. Out of the three Echoes, only the monstrous crab remained… the other two had either been destroyed or dismissed to save them from perishing.

'Even the Transcendent Echo is gone… gods. What could have destroyed one of those and severely injured a Saint? The Heart of Darkness… just what kind of creature was it?'

He felt a bit of dread, and a bit of curiosity. However, now was not the time to ask questions.

Their small party had to hurry and fight their way back through the boundless horde of Nightmare Creatures. Five Awakened, two Masters, one Saint… as well as two powerful Shadows and an Echo. They were an exceedingly formidable group.

Granted, all of them were wounded, tired, and low on essence. Still, cutting through the horde while keeping everyone alive would not pose a problem.

In theory.

Bloodwave studied the rest for a moment, then sent his Echo forward and growled, his voice husky, low, and domineering:

"Move!"

Saint spared the mighty Saint an indifferent glance, then mounted Nightmare and sent the dark destrier into a gallop, the spearhead of the Cruel Sight igniting with the incandescent white glow in her hand, a shield made of pure darkness weighing on the other. They moved ahead of the party, cutting into the horde as a fierce vanguard.

behind, accompanied by the members of Sunny's cohort. Bloodwave and his Echo flanked the Awakened, protecting

his tired body along and preventing the abominations from attacking the backs

dove into the mass of abominations. Blood, severed flesh, and fragments of

it, damn it,

the horde that Goliath had brought to the walls of Falcon Scott was simply too vast. Countless Nightmare Creatures were throwing themselves at the exhausted humans in a rabid frenzy, every moment, from every direction. Slowing down meant being buried under a mountain

to cut through the mass of abominations faster than the abominations could

was the most awkward, because he had to move backwards at considerable speed while slaughtering the mass of Nightmare Creatures pursuing the party. By now, they were deep inside the horde, and the

was hurting all over. Even though the Marble Shell had yet to succumb to an attack, the few blows he failed to dodge or deflect

only his skin that was as hard as stone, after all, not his entire body. A sufficiently powerful strike would send a concussive shock

the hell… it just never

have

the whole place into an inferno of immolating flame, both mundane and magical, did

capital drew closer. Bloodwave's Echo was almost destroyed, causing the Saint to dismiss it — Master Jet took its place with a resigned expression, her wounds starting to bleed again. The somber glaive was nowhere to be seen, but a slender naginata appeared in Soul Reaper's hands instead. Using it, she cleared the right flank of the formation with several

to support himself with Shadow Manifestation

cut through the horde unimpeded, the ground sleek with blood

years of slaughter, the party

Nightmare Creatures… what was left of it, at least. A grim expression settled on Sunny's face when

soldiers gave them a moment of respite, and gave the desperate