After the death of the Tyrant, the battle did not last long.
The stone hive had already lost many soldiers, as well as its most powerful champions. Without the guiding sentience of its ruler, the lesser creatures seemed to lack most of their intelligence and coordination. Feeling this weakness, the exhausted Irregulars advanced and slaughtered them without a hint of hesitation.
With Soul Reaper rampaging at the front of the formation, the number of the monstrous insects quickly dwindled. Then, Saint Tyris joined the battle and more or less wiped out the remaining abominations single-handedly.
Sky Tide seemed to have received several wounds in her fight with the Remnant of the Jade Queen, but it did not slow her much. Moving between the giant insects like wind, almost too swift to be seen with a naked eye, she disposed of all the remaining Nightmare Creatures in mere seconds. Her saber cut through their impregnable white carapaces as if they were made out of water.
Just like that, suddenly, silence settled over the summit of the mountain.
The soldiers looked at each other in confusion, struggling to believe that that bloody battle ended so abruptly. Then, when the sweet understanding dawned on them, the Irregulars lowered themselves to the ground with relieved sighs, drained of all strength.
Everyone was too exhausted to move and needed a few minutes to rest and collect their thoughts. Tired smiles appeared on their faces.
Sunny found a patch of rock that was not covered by fetid blue lymph and plopped on it, as well. He was utterly spent. As the excitement of the battle died down, his thoughts turned slow and lazy.
'Ah, I'm hurt all over…'
He felt a pleasant satisfaction. Not only had they won a hard fight, but he also received a fair share of shadow fragments. Better yet, there was a Transcendent Memory of the Fifth Tier he was yet to take a look at…
For a moment, he wanted to summon the runes immediately, but then gave up on that idea. He was too tired to think properly right now. The Memory could wait until the cohort was safely back aboard the Rhino.
For now, Sunny was content to just sit on the ground and rest.
As he did, his shadows naturally took a look around.
The summit of the mountain had been transformed. The snow had melted or turned into blue sludge, the slope itself was littered with hundreds of dead Nightmare Creatures and deep cracks. The Gate still pulsed with darkness at the very peak, but one side of the deep schism it filled had collapsed and crumbled down.
Further down the slope, the massive carcass of the Jade Beetle lay on the cold stones. It seemed that the final stage of its battle with Saint Tyris had taken them away from the battlefield.
As a result, it was now pretty far from the stretch of the slope where Sunny had fought with the flanking force of the hive. Only corpses of Awakened and Fallen creatures remained. Some were cut apart, some were torn apart by the shadow tentacles, and many were utterly crushed by the fall of their ruler.
…Of course, the Irregulars did not know that, since that area had been covered by the veil of darkness summoned by the Shadow Lantern. To them, it all looked like Sunny's doing.
Their whispers entered his ears.
"Gods… look over there. Is that where Master Sunless fought?"
"So many dead bugs… wait, what the hell? Why are these corpses so mangled? It's like they were put through a meat grinder!"
"I mean, it does not even look like they were cut by a blade… it's more like he ripped them apart and crushed them with his bare hands."
"He did. Did you not see him, at the end? His weapon and armor must have been destroyed in the fight, so he just tore a leg off a Fallen abomination and then beat the bastard to death with it. And then… I swear to the gods, I saw it myself… he stood there and smiled, as though someone gave him the best present in the world!"
"I think he really hates Nightmare Creatures. His expression before that… so much anger, so much resentment. It looked, I don't know, personal? Maybe there's a tragic story there…"
"No wonder Soul Reaper went to the trouble of personally recruiting him."
"...What kind of devil is that kid?"
Sunny blinked.
Had he really smiled? Oh, that must have been the moment when he received the Transcendent Memory. He had indeed lost composure and grinned like an idiot for a few moments there…
In any case, none of these soldiers seemed to have connected him to Mongrel. They just thought that he was some kind of monster with a personal grudge against Nightmare Creatures. His own cohort, meanwhile…
Sunny turned slightly and caught sight of Luster, who was staring at him with an intense expression. The young man's eyes seemed extremely bitter, for some reason.
'What's up with that clown?'
At that moment, someone approached and sat down near him. Sunny turned around and saw Winter, who stared at him with a nonchalant expression.
"Wha…"
Before he could finish the thought, she suddenly grinned and pulled him into a very tight hug.
"You did great, Little Devil! Let's be friends…"
***
Soon, the Irregulars caught their breaths and started moving. Saint Tyris departed after approaching Sunny to thank him for his contribution in slaying the Tyrant, her voice cordial and stern as usual. This time, however, it almost sounded… partial.
Since the threat of the stone hive had been eliminated, a signal was sent to the First Army that the path was clear. Not too long after that, a long column of vehicles appeared on the road that stretched far below, on the other side of the mountain. One of the divisions was proceeding with haste to its next destination.
The Irregulars themselves were busy with collecting soul shards from the slain abominations. A dozen heavy loaders arrived to drag the carcass of the Remnant of the Jade Queen away. Even in death, a Corrupted Tyrant was extremely valuable. Its impenetrable carapace and other parts had a lot of uses for advanced spelltech applications.
Sunny would not be surprised if some of the jade beetle ended up being used to bolster the defenses of one of the siege capitals, most likely Falcon Scott itself.
After some time, Master Jet left for the base camp where the APCs were parked in order to contact the Army Command. Since there was nothing for Sunny to do at the summit of the mountain, he followed her and climbed into the Rhino to rest.
There, sitting on his comfortable bed, Sunny finally summoned the runes.
'A Transcendent Memory… ah, let's see…'
Soon, his eyes gleamed.