The tide of the battle had turned.
The terrifying confrontation between the Tyrant of the Stone Hive and Sky Tide of the White Feather clan went on, but now, the eerily beautiful jade beetle was clearly losing.
On the battlefield itself, the force of abominations trying to attack the Irregulars from the rear had been decimated under the cover of unnatural darkness. The Corrupted lieutenants leading the main assault had been dealt with by Soul Reaper. Although the human soldiers had been feeling hints of despair just a few minutes ago, now, a new strength filled their bodies.
"Fight! We can do this!"
"Crush the bugs!"
The Irregulars knew that the moments when hope finally shined from the distance were often the most dangerous, so they did not allow themselves to relax and fought with fierce determination.
Then, something strange happened. The veil of darkness enveloping the lower part of the slope suddenly flowed forward and drowned a large swath of Nightmare Creatures assaulting their defensive line from the flank. Immediately, frenzied shrieks of the abominations resounded from it, only to stop abruptly in the cracking noise of splitting chitin.
At the same time, Soul Reaper Jet broke through the ranks of the hive and joined the crescent battle formation.
Suddenly reassured, the humans fought with doubled ferocity.
The effect was even more pronounced for the members of one of the cohorts, who could actually see through the unnatural darkness thanks to Kim's unique Aspect.
Luster, who had lost count of the number of repulsive bugs he had killed or wounded with his halberd, threw a quick glance to the flank of the defensive line and almost stumbled.
'W—what?'
Out there in the darkness, their captain was dancing between the abominations, slaying one after another with graceful strikes of a long and somber blade. His swordsmanship was elegant and exquisite. However, what stunned the young man was not the battle skill of their commanding officer, but the armor Captain Sunless was wearing, as well as the shape and color of his odachi.
'That's… that's Mongrel's armor and sword!'
Luster's eyes widened.
'Don't tell me…'
Suddenly, a lot of things made sense.
Influenced by the [Death Wish] enchantment that spread to those who witnessed Sunny fight, an intense fire ignited in Luster's heart. His eyes gleamed, and he threw himself into the battle with burning determination.
'More, more… I need to kill more!'
After learning their captain's true identity, Luster was extremely inspired. He had given up on his goal not long after the clash with the stone hive started, but now, it did not seem as impossible anymore.
'I must vanquish these abominable bugs! If I kill enough… I might get a hug from Master Winter! Oh, I can't wait!'
Similarly — although, of course, in a different manner — the other members of the cohort experienced the bolstering effect of the Dying Wish, as well. All of them fought like devils, earning themselves a fearsome reputation among the Irregulars.
And the man who had made it all possible…
Was currently cursing his fate.
***
'Damn! Crap! Curse it all!'
Surrounded by a swarm of Nightmare Creatures, Sunny fought while feeling extremely aggrieved. Things were not going great for him… he was extremely tired, bruised and battered, and worst of all, his essence was running dry.
Keeping the shadow sword tangible was eating through what little he had left with frightening speed, but the worst offender was the Shadow Lantern. A Divine Memory was as gluttonous as one would think. On top of that, there were the Dying Wish and the Mantle of the Underworld.
Pretty soon, he would be completely spent.
Sadly, he could not dismiss the veil of shadows, since doing that would reveal his identity as Mongrel to a lot of strangers. The members of his own cohort had already seen enough, most likely, but he somewhat trusted them to keep his secret.
Due to the fact that Sunny had kept them alive through several dire battles, the bonds of loyalty were already forming between the six soldiers and their captain.
He had to dismiss something, though…
The first thing to go was the Dying Wish. Although it brought benefit to his soldiers — and, to a lesser degree, to all Irregulars — he simply could not allow the expenditure of essence that both the [Death Wish] and the [Underworld Armament] required.
The next Memory to go… was the Mantle of the Underworld itself. Sunny was reluctant and more than a little scared to continue his fight without a suit of armor, but there was little he could do. Without sufficient essence to feed the [Living Stone], many cracks appeared on the stonelike onyx surface of the Mantle.
Not only had it lost some of its protective quality, but there was a risk that the ancient armor would receive too much damage and succumb entirely.
It was also growing heavy without the effects of the [Feather of Truth] enchantment.
He just had to fight carefully and concentrate on dodging the enemy attacks from now on. Even if he made a mistake or two, a couple wounds were not going to kill him. Thankfully, there were not as many enemies left around him as at the start of the battle.
Once the most damning evidence was gone, Sunny had no reason to keep the Shadow Lantern active, so he dismissed it as well.
With no enchantments to keep powered and the small amount of essence he received back by dismissing these Memories, he could maintain the shape of his sword for a bit longer.
Sunny killed a few more enemies, barely avoided a stream of acid that one of the monstrous insects spat, and retaliated by neatly severing its body in half.
'When is this going to end, damn it?'
A few seconds later, his odachi turned hazy, and then dissipated into a shadow. Sunny was at his limit.
'Please, gods, let it stop… let it stop… let it stop… argh, damnation, this is such crap! What the hell?! What kind of damned situation is this?!'
With nothing better to do, he grabbed a severed chitin blade of one of the abominations and used it as a makeshift sword.
At that moment, the veil of shadows created by the Shadow Lantern finally dissipated. The Irregulars saw a stunning image…
Wearing no armor and only clad in a torn black bodysuit, Captain Sunless hammered a severed limb of an enemy into the carapace of a Fallen abomination. The white chitin split, and the creature let out a painful shriek. With indescribable fury and resentment burning in his eyes, the young Master bared his teeth and punched the beast with his naked fist, crushing its head.
The veteran soldiers shuddered.
'Such righteous wrath… Master Sunless must really hate Nightmare Creatures, huh?'
Sunny, meanwhile, kicked the Fallen Beast away and let out a trembling breath.
'Phew… that was close. How did I even survive that last attack?'
At that moment, something imperceptible changed on the battlefield.
The stone hive, which had been unified and deviously intelligent before, suddenly seemed to lose much of its coordination.
At the same time, the Spell suddenly whispered into Sunny's ear:
[You have slain a Corrupted Tyrant, Remnant of the Jade Queen.]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
[You have received a Memory.]
He blinked.
'...What?'
What had just happened?
It seemed… it seemed that the persistent corrosion, which the Cruel Sight had learned to reflect thanks to the Wormvine's miasma, turned out to be more powerful than Sunny had thought. Much more likely than that, though, was that it just happened to finish off the mighty abomination after it had been brought to the very edge of death by Sky Tide, but before she could deal the killing blow.
What were the chances of that? One in a million?
Standing above the dead Fallen Beast, Sunny grinned.
'I guess I'm lucky today…'