Shadow Slave

Some of his warriors were going to use flight Memories to follow, others would rappel down. But Amiran himself had no need for these measures - he simply plummeted through the breach, falling into the darkness like a meteor of steel.

Reaching the main production hall, he thrust his sword forward. Invisible force flowed off the blade, forming a brittle field below him - a series of them, actually, each as thin as a sheet of paper.

Breaking through these invisible panes of force allowed Amiran to slow his fall. He landed on the floor in a roll and jumped to his feet a split second later, ready to attack and carve out a path for his men to follow.

If everything went right, the enemy would have been surprised by the collapsing ceiling and the sudden arrival of a Valor Knight. Even if their shock did not last long, a few seconds would be enough...

But he was not given a few seconds. Nothing went right from the start.

As soon as Amiran and the first of his warriors landed, they were greeted by a devastating sonic boom. He felt a powerful shockwave travel through his body, almost strong enough to cause his organs to burst. Luckily, he was resilient enough to withstand it...

The same couldn't be said for the Awakened behind him. With pained screams, they dropped down, blood flowing from every orifice on their bodies.

Dead.

It was as though the enemy had been waiting in a battle formation, ready to defend themselves.

"How dare you!"

As more and more armored Awakened poured through the breach, Amiran roared and dashed forward. There was something strange, though... at the last moment before his lunge, it was as if a drop of blood fell on his helmet from somewhere above. He did not pay it any attention.

In front of him was a loose circle of Awakened protecting something that resembled a large alloy crate. There was some kind of abominable monster inside, no doubt - bringing a Nightmare Creature inside a human city was just what the witch, Beastmaster, would do.

...And allowing the crate to be smuggled into the city despite knowing about its contents was exactly what Valor would do, if it meant leaving the assassins no chance to escape.

Amiran's gaze quickly found the leader of the Song infiltration team - a striking woman whose beauty could neither be hidden by unassuming civilian clothes nor blemished by an ugly scar running across her face.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

'Morrow...'

Masters in the world, and even fewer served the great clans directly. Of course, Amiran knew her - the scarred woman was a powerful

as

his sword and his hammer, sending two horizontal waves of force flying

waves collided with a sonic shockwave in the middle of the hall, producing a roaring explosion.

that his mind registered a few incongruities in

of all, the entrance to the tunnel had already been revealed - however, the enemy did not appear to be in a hurry to enter it, as

state even before the explosion, seemingly ravaged

more than twenty. Four full cohorts of

was a gruesomely beheaded body on the

hell

was something else,

of force collided and a cloud of dust obscured the view, Amiran thought that he had noticed something. A vague silhouette that moved on top

'An archer?'

his head to protect the slit of his helmet's visor, he burst through the cloud of dust

what tricks the enemy had in store, he was going to cut them all down. Especially now that he

Morrow and the

Morrow silently cursed.

it was

walked into a trap. The servants of the King of Swords had turned out

been waiting in the tunnel all along, and

compromised? It had to be the thrall responsible for clearing the path to the inner city...

accelerate the plan. The invisible assassin had revealed their presence too early, and

why Morrow managed to slay several of Valor Awakened

a man wearing heavy armor and wielding both a

heart grew slightly