A black arrow noiselessly flew through the darkness of the moonless night and disappeared into white snow without a trace. Then, another. Sunny tried to send as many arrows flying as he could before the swarm arrived.
In the end, he managed to draw his bow fourteen times.
Knowing that he would have to — and, hopefully, have time to — rescue Saint, he had chosen to wear the Mantle of the Underworld into the upcoming battle. The Dying Wish was already fused with it, but Sunny had not poured his essence into the Transcendent charm yet, not wishing to draw attention to himself.
For now, he was just a black silhouette on the dark backdrop of the night, almost unnoticeable if not for the pale radiance of the crimson aurora that swirled above, devouring the skies with its ghostly light.
Soon, the swarm descended into the valley.
The Nightmare Creature were bestial in appearance, with dirty fur and emaciated, gaunt frames that brimmed with feverish power. Their snouts were long and narrow, revealing hungry maws with black tongues and countless fangs, all sharp enough to cut through metal.
The Fallen abominations were especially ferocious. Their lean bodies were twice the size of Nightmare and had bloody bone protrusions rising from the patchy fur, like morbid armor. Their tails resembled slithering snakes, and their long black tongues were dripping with venomous saliva.
Sunny had not encountered this type of abomination before.
Two months into the Antarctica campaign, the First Army had learned a few things about the Chain of Nightmares. Despite all the precautions, many Awakened had been pulled into the Dream Realm by the Call… most of them never returned, but two or three managed to locate the Seed and survive its trial, thus becoming Masters.
They had all brought the same story back. There was a previously unknown region of the Dream Realm where countless Nightmare Seeds seemed to be blooming, sending myriads of Nightmare Creatures into a frenzy. It was a vast desert covered by eerie ruins, with a giant black pyramid sometimes appearing on the horizon like a dreadful mirage.
Considering that most of the Gates originated from the same cursed land, it was no surprise that the Nightmare Creatures arriving into the waking world through them were also often similar. The First Evacuation Army had battled the same tribes of abominations many times. The Eyeless, for example, were a common sight throughout Antarctica, so humans had developed methods of dealing with them.
…But these Black Tongues were new. Sunny had never seen or heard about them before.
'Come down, you bastards.'
Lowering Morgan's Warbow, Sunny crouched and disappeared into the embrace of the shadows. Surrounded by them, he was all but invisible… which was good, because he did not want the abominations to notice him yet.
Following his command, the members of the cohort were also hiding. Even if it meant giving up the opportunity to bombard the Nightmare Creatures with ranged attacks during the approach, Sunny had ordered them to wait for his signal.
Seconds passed torturously slowly. The wind howled through the mountains, bringing with it the fetid smell of blood and rot. Cursing silently, he gritted his teeth.
Somewhere not too far away, Saint and Nightmare must have already engaged the second swarm. Sunny had expected to hear a litany of furious howls, but to his surprise and unease, all he could hear was the wind.
Three of his shadows were with him, wrapped around the bow, while the fourth one was with the convoy, so Sunny could not even see what was happening behind the mountain slope. The lack of information was driving him insane, and his muscles ached, begging him to explode into action.
But, following the plan, he forced himself to remain motionless.
Sunny needed the whole swarm of Black Tongues to descend into the valley before he launched his attack.
'Hurry, you damned wretches! There is no way you have not seen, heard, or smelled the convoy! Aren't you hungry for some delicious human flesh?!'
After a minute or so, the last of the abominations finally reached the flat surface valley. The mass of bestial bodies flowed south, aiming to cross the frozen lake. They were clearly moving with purpose, aware that there was prey nearby.
'Nearer than you think…'
Sunny waited until the swarm reached the middle of the lake, and then finally started to act.
Concentrating, he poured his essence into Morgan's Warbow. However, he did not draw the string again…
Instead, he activated the [Burden of Peace] enchantment, causing the fourteen arrows he had sent flying earlier to suddenly become unbearably heavy.
Maintaining and controlling so many arrows at the same time was not an easy task, even for him. Sunny had to test the limits of his essence control and concentration to achieve what he wanted. It felt like he would cough blood and faint soon…
But in the end, Sunny had passed that test.
Each of the arrows had sunk into a weak spot of the ice sheet covering the lake, which he had found with Kim's help. Now that all fourteen of them were suddenly bearing down on the ice with crushing weight…
The ice started to crack.
Slow at first, and then faster and faster, a net of cracks spread under the snow, as if a massive pane of glass was breaking. An indescribably beautiful sound of shattering ice drowned the howls of the wind for a few moments, and the Nightmare Creatures tensed.
But it was too late.
Before they could do anything, the surface of the lake beneath their feet broke, sending hundreds of abominations into freezing cold water. Instantly, the vast space of pristine snow was no more, replaced instead with a scene of utter havoc. Massive pieces of ice were collapsing and overturning as countless Nightmare Creatures fell into the utterly black, unbearably cold water below.
They struggled to climb back onto something solid, but there was nothing to support their weight anymore. The whole swarm was being swallowed by the lake.
…Of course, cold water was not going to kill a Nightmare Creature. They weren't going to drown, either. If need be, the abominations would swim to shore or simply walk on the bottom of the lake until they reached the surface again, breaking through the ice on the other side. For monsters like these, being thrown into a freezing lake was a small hindrance, at most.
Letting out a low growl, Sunny rose to his feet and drew Morgan's Warbow once again. This time, a different kind of arrow appeared on its string…
A strange arrow that looked like a caged bolt of lightning.
Wrapping three shadows around the [Strike of Thunder], Sunny did not bother to aim and simply let go of the string, sending the Ascended arrow into the middle of the lake.
The moment the furious bolt of lightning touched the surface of the water…
There was a blinding flash, and Sunny was momentarily blinded.
Before he regained his sight, the voice of the Spell spoke into his ear like a choir:
[You have slain a…]
[You have slain a…]
[You have slain a…]
[You have received a Memory…]
[You have received a Memory…]
[You have slain a…]
[You have slain a…]