The swarm had lost its leader, the momentum of its charge had been crushed, the secret weapon of the eyeless abominations had been rendered useless, and most importantly of all, scores of them had already lost their lives.
But the Nightmare Creatures still presented a mortal danger to the cohort.
There were still enough of them to bury Sunny and his soldiers under a mountain of flesh, claws, and fangs. More than a dozen Fallen abominations remained, as well, rushing forward to devour the seven humans.
An ugly smile appeared on Sunny's face.
'Come get us, then…'
As the blade of the Cruel Sight shone with incandescent light, he sliced through the body of a lunging beast and issued a quick command:
"Vanguard, follow me!"
He put the shaft of the somber spear in the way of a snarling maw, shifted his weight to throw the enemy to the ground, and struck another abomination with the butt of his weapon.
"Kim, move forward to the crest of the hill. Samara, get closer and keep pressuring the Fallen!"
As he spun and unleashed a diagonal cut, beheading a disoriented monster, a new Memory was already weaving itself into existence.
A thin iron chain was soon wrapped around his neck. On it hung a small statuette in the form of a beautiful young woman that held a spear in one hand and a human heart in another. Blood was pouring from a gaping wound on her bared chest.
The Dying Wish seemed to come alive as his essence flowed into it.
[Death Wish] Enchantment Description: "Those who witness the wielder of this Memory are compelled; friends to be inspired, foes to seek the wielder out. The power of the Memory grows the more enemies they give the gift of death, and can be consumed to heal the wielder's wounds."
Death Charge: [0/1000]
Now that Sunny was at the front of the cohort's battle formation, both his soldiers and the Nightmare Creatures could see him clearly. Well… he wasn't sure if the eyeless abominations could see anything, but they definitely perceived him in some mysterious way.
The effect of the Transcendent charm could be felt instantly. Behind him, the four fighters of the melee vanguard were suddenly reinvigorated. Their movements grew faster, sharper, and more focused. The enemies, on the other hand, became even more frenzied. They lunged at Sunny like rabid beasts, consumed by blind hatred, hunger, and madness.
With all this fury mostly concentrated on him and him alone, Quentin, Belle, Dorn, and Luster gained some space to breathe.
Which was a good thing, but...
'Crap!'
This was the first time Sunny used this particular Memory, and he was already starting to regret it a little. The pressure of the mad onslaught that the affected Nightmare Creatures unleashed upon him was no joke!
Gritting his teeth, he spun and danced, slaughtering one abomination after another. Guided by him, the vanguard slowly pushed into the swarm, taking a few tentative steps forward. Sunny served as the tip of their formation, turning into a bloody hurricane of radiant silver and bleak steel.
Despite his superior strength and speed, another fighter would have been quickly overpowered by the sheer mass and ferocity of the countless Nightmare Creatures, then brought down to the ground and either crushed or torn apart. Luckily, Sunny was just too slippery and elusive to be surrounded and piled upon.
As three shadows wrapped themselves around his body, his agility and swiftness reached superhuman heights.
More importantly, when even that wasn't enough, he easily stepped through the shadows to avoid being swarmed by the onslaught of frenzied beasts. Empowered by his incredibly high divine affinity, the Undying Chain effortlessly withstood stray blows that managed to get past his defenses from time to time. The Cruel Sight sang, harvesting life after life like the scythe of the Grim Reaper.
Behind him, the melee vanguard fought with murderous resolve and swiftly improving cohesion. Not only were they able to provide Sunny with much-needed support and block the enemies from attacking him from the back, each also killed one abomination after another.
Belle's sword sliced through bodies as if not meeting any resistance, Dorn's sledgehammer crushed them like a devastating wrecking ball. Quentin's attacks were not as spectacular, but each abomination wounded by him soon stumbled, convulsed, or simply fell down and died.
Even Luster was doing his part, either thrusting his halberd forward like a spear or using its hook to throw the eyeless beasts off balance and make it easier for others to slay them.
Samara had abandoned her sniper nest and moved closer to the crest of the hill to dive into the dome of silence created by Sunny. Her new position was not as advantageous, but she still managed to land most of her shots. Although not all of them were able to hit the weak spot on the forehead of the Fallen abominations, even those that had not dealt the powerful creatures serious wounds.
A few eyeless beasts had managed to slip through the defensive line of the melee vanguard back when the swarm first unleashed its sonic attack. They were already hurtling in her direction with nothing slowing them down.
…As they did, a hail of bullets suddenly struck the abominations from the side, tearing into their bodies. Kim, who was running up the road, aimed her carbine without ever slowing down and unleashed a rain of charged rounds on the Nightmare Creatures barreling down on Samara.
Reaching the last one, she let go of the weapon and allowed it to hang freely from its sling. The young woman sidestepped the lunge of the rabid monstrosity, then delivered a powerful uppercut with her buckler. As its edge connected with the beast's jaw and jerked the eyeless head up, a slender rapier shot forward, piercing the abomination's neck.
A moment later, the beast was dead.
Not too long after that, Kim reached the crest, fell on one knee, and took up her carbine once again. Now that the melee vanguard advanced slightly down the road, she had a clear line of fire at the swarm. Firing it in short bursts, the young woman joined the mayhem.
Suffocating under the constant flood of frenzied monsters, Sunny grinned.
"Dorn, don't try to kill every abomination, just push them off the cliff when you can! The fall is unlikely to kill them, but we can easily clean up the stragglers later. Luster, disengage and help Samara regain some essence. The rest… continue doing what you're doing! Slaughter them all!"
The members of the cohort obliged, echoing his last command with battle cries of their own:
"Slaughter them!"
"Slaughter them all!"
"...Slaughter!"
And so they did.