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He had no choice but to do it. Too much depended on his success.

A moment later, he feinted an attack and jumped back at the last moment, disengaging from the three menacing coral golems instead. At the same time, he sent the Shadow a mental command.

The taciturn demon froze for a fraction of a second, as though hesitating. But in the end, she did not.

Abandoning the measured cadence of her flawless technique, Saint allowed the spear of the Hunter to strike her in the chest. The force of that vicious attack was so immense that her onyx armor shattered, allowing the tip of the spear to bite deep into her stonelike flesh. Soon, a stream of ruby dust flowed out of the wound, painting the broken cuirass red.

But the Shadow did not pay it any attention. Catching the shaft of the spear with her shield hand, she twisted her torso and flung the towering coral golem away.

And then, she suddenly dashed to the side.

Before the terrible creatures could understand what was happening, she closed the distance and descended upon the three abominations attacking Sunny. Even though her attack was swift unexpected, they managed to react to it at the last moment. The obsidian steel of her dark sword was met by weapons made of crimson coral.

It gave Sunny the second he needed to get past them, nevertheless.

Dodging the hand of the Priestess, he appeared behind the three golems and ran toward the distant figure of the Lord.

Behind him, Saint challenged all six of the golems, tying the down with a ferocious onslaught of attacks. She paid dearly to buy him time, however. Just a second later, another attack got past her defense, leaving a deep crack on the black armor. And then another, and another…

Ruby dust flowed down like blood.

With a terrible grimace contorting his pale face, Sunny rushed to reach the seventh of the Star Sigil guardians.

***

Kai approached the dark mass of broken flesh and groaning iron wires, feeling cold drops of blood fall on his face. Changing the angle of his flight to move parallel to the ground, he clenched his teeth and lashed out with his sword.

The heavy blade of the falcata collided with the iron wires and easily sliced them apart. This net was created from the same thin metal as the webs of iron spiders. As such, it couldn't resist the sharpness of his weapon Memory, which was elevated almost to the Ascended Rank by the miraculous Crown of Dawn.

His hand, however, wasn't as strong. Even with his core brimming with soul essence, Kai was still just a Sleeper. As soon as he struck the net, a sharp pain pierced his wrist.

He screamed, but did not let the sword fall from his hand.

'Almost…'

As a long cut appeared on the net, many corpses fell down through the breach. Kai had chosen the target for his attack carefully, making sure that the rain of dead Nightmare Creatures would fall on the empty stretch of crimson coral between the largely intact line of archers and the remnants of the vanguard, which was embroiled in horrifying melee.

But this was not enough. The number of dropping corpses was too small to relieve the pressure from the crumbling net.

Dashing through the air, Kai made a turn and flew back. A few moments later, he delivered another strike. A second cut appeared on the net, crisscrossing the first one.

With a strange and melodic noise, four triangular sections of the net collapsed, creating a wide funnel through which a flood of bleeding carcasses fell. Even more slowly rolled in the newly formed depression, finally allowing sunlight back onto the battlefield.

And through that breach, he saw the sky once again.

Most of the flying Nightmare Creatures had been slain by the archers, with just a few still trying fruitlessly to break through the net. But high above them, five dark dots still circled in the clouds.

As soon as Kai saw them, a cold shiver ran through his body.

Because it felt as though they saw him, too.

A moment later, the Messengers broke the perfect symmetry of their circle and plunged down.

'No!'

Kai's eyes widened.

Dashing through the breach, he dismissed his Aspect Ability and allowed inertia to pull him down. A moment later, he landed on the carpet of dead monsters and desperately looked for arrows sticking from the bodies.

Tearing one, two, three… five of them from the flesh of the Nightmare Creatures, he simultaneously summoned his bow. He would have gathered more, but there was no more time.

As soon as his bow weaved itself from sparks of light, Kai pushed himself off the carpet of carcasses and shot upward. Then, he looked up.

The five terrifying Spire Messengers were descending upon him, wind whistling through their gruesome black feathers. Hunger and madness were burning in their eyes.

For some reason, it felt as though the heavens themselves were falling on him.

Flying toward the Fallen Monsters, Kai desperately drew his bow and send an arrow in their direction… then two, three, four, and finally five.

At that point, the Messengers were close enough to see every detail of their repulsive pale bodies.

The arrows Kai shot were mundane ones, and thus unable to do much damage to these harrowing abominations.

…Unless aimed perfectly by a master of the bow.

All five struck the base of one of the Messenger's wings, damaging it enough to send the vile creature crashing down, out of control.

Kai dodged to the side, missing the second one by just a few meters.

The third one was now right above him, its beak opening in a gluttonous glee.

That was when Kai made his sixth shot. Only this time, the arrow he sent flying was not mundane at all.

It was the Blood Arrow.

The hideous black Memory streaked through the air and hit the Messenger right in the eye, sinking in so deep that only its fletching remained seen. The terrible monster suddenly convulsed, and then fell down.

The melodious voice of the Spell sang into Kai's ear:

[You have slain a Fallen Monster, Cursed…]

But he had no time to listen to it.

Using the body of the creature he had just killed as a shield, Kai evaded the attack of the fourth Messenger.

But the last one…

The last one suddenly appeared right in front of him, leaving Kai no path to retreat, no hope of saving himself.

It was too late.

The terrifying black beak shot forward.

***

Effie did her best. She really, really did.

But in the end, there was only so much that a person could endure.

After an eternity of refusing to give up, covered in terrible wounds, she made a mistake. It wasn't a mistake, even.

Just the inevitable failure of a body put through too much pain.

After delivering another lethal blow, she tried to dodge an attacking monster, but at the most crucial moment, her mauled leg suddenly buckled.

With a short yell, Effie stumbled and fell to the ground.

The creature didn't give her a chance to stand up again. It jumped atop the huntress, pressing her into the ground. All she had time to do was grab the jaws of the monster to prevent them from closing on her head.

Effie wanted to throw the heavy abomination off her, but a moment later, another jumped on it, its mandibles biting into her shoulder. And then another, and another, and another.

Soon, she was buried under a crushing pile of frenzied Nightmare Creatures, sharp teeth sinking into her flesh.

'Hurts… it hurts so much…'

Effie gritted her teeth, remembering…

What it was like, to see that distant, pure light.