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The black blur did not stop. A sharp blade instantly flashed toward Dorn, who had a startled expression on his face. The giant man only had enough time to slightly turn his torso — the blade missed his heart, slicing through armor and leaving a deep wound on his chest.

The blade continued forward without pause, a split second away from piercing Belle's head. Instead, it simply passed through it... the swordsman could not possibly dodge, but he just barely managed to activate his Aspect Ability and phase through the strike.

Leaving Samara utterly open.

Everything happened too fast. Before Kim even hit the ground, the enemy's blade was already mere centimeters away from slashing across her throat.

...However, a jade sword suddenly appeared in its way, blocking the lightning-fast attack.

'What the...'

Sunny, who had thrown himself in the path of the enemy, was tossed back by the ferocious force of the impact. The attacker, whoever it was, was so strong that his hands grew slightly numb.

He collapsed on the scorched road and rolled, instantly jumping back to his feet.

Kim landed on the ground. Luster did, too... both of his legs were cleanly severed at the knee, and blood was pouring out of terrible wounds.

Sunny's eyes widened.

But he had no time to think about it. The members of the cohort were too slow to defend themselves, and the ambush was not yet over. The creature — a dark silhouette moving with dire speed — had been thrown back, as well. Sunny only had enough time to notice a humanoid shape clad in black armor, and instantly lunged forward.

He had regained his balance a split second faster than the attacker, so the bastard had no way to avoid being pierced by the Sin of Solace.

...And yet, that was exactly what happened.

Before the jade sword could strike the creature down, it simply dissipated into the shadows.

'What?'

Sunny was stupefied for a short moment.

'It's... it's Shadow Step.'

Which meant...

He spun, but was a moment too late. The creature was already behind him, the black blade falling from above.

Sunny gritted his teeth, then blocked the strike with his forearm. The Marble Shell turned as hard as stone... and split open, broken by the vicious strength of the blow. The blade only managed to deliver a relatively minor wound, though, most of its power spent to shatter the shell.

Before Sunny could counterattack, the enemy had blinked out of existence once again.

'Not good...'

The creature appeared some distance away, aiming to finish off Kim. At that point, however, Saint was already there. The taciturn knight had leapt from Nightmare's back and flashed across the road, deflecting the black blade with her shield.

Inconceivably, the onyx shield actually cracked, and the Shadow staggered back.

The creature did not waste any time and lunged toward Kim, but then...

A black chain suddenly wrapped around its throat.

A dozen meters away, Sunny grasped the shadow chain and jerked it back with all his strength.

The enemy was thrown back, flying through the air and crashing on the road a few meters behind him. The creature slid back, then stopped, kneeling in the middle of the road.

It remained motionless for a moment, and then slowly stood up, glancing at Sunny with cold killing intent.

Subjected to the hate-filled gaze, Sunny turned grim.

The creature was about two meters tall, with plates of jet-black bone covering its body like a full suit of armor. Even its face was hidden behind black bone, which formed a menacing closed helmet. Two inhuman dark eyes burned with resentment and hatred through the cracks.

The lower part of the helmet was split by a jagged line, and when it parted, a maw full of sharp fangs was revealed, opened in a mocking grin.

Sunny, who was standing between the cohort and the abomination, grimaced and lowered his gaze a little.

In one of its hand, the creature was holding a curved sword that seemed to have been crudely carved from a long black tusk, its edge terribly sharp and harder than steel.

...Just as he had thought, the abomination was missing two fingers on the other.

Sunny sighed, lingered for a moment, and that said tiredly:

"I had a feeling that you would show up."

The scary stories about a murderous shadow that people in Falcon Scott had been telling each other turned out to be more than just stories, in the end.

It seemed that the little Scavenger had grown once again.

'Curse it...'

Of course, the wretched goblin would choose this exact moment to attack... why wouldn't he? Sunny was tired, beaten, and very low on essence. The First Army was in full retreat, and none of his allies could intervene on his behalf.

If Sunny was planning an ambush, that would have been exactly how he'd do it.

...Well, not quite. He would not have failed to kill most of his marks during the first assault.

Not letting the Scavenger out of his sight, Sunny briefly glanced at his soldiers.

Luster seemed to be in shock, weakly trying to sit up. Kim was by his side, hastily applying a tourniquet. Belle, Samara, and Dorn were shielding them with their bodies, their faces grim and tense... the latter was bleeding from a deep wound on his chest.

Saint and Nightmare were waiting for his command, ready to attack.

'Bad, bad... this is very bad...'

Sunny had already taken a glance at the Scavenger's soul, finding out that the damned waif had somehow managed to become a Corrupted Devil. The goblin... well, the bastard was more of an ogre now... must have devoured a lot of Nightmare Creatures to become that strong.

He must have devoured a lot of people, as well, considering how disturbingly human-like the Scavenger now looked. There must have been a lot of bodies left in the ruins of Erebus Field... and more victims still here in Falcon Scott.

Much worse, it seemed that swallowing a piece of Sunny's flesh allowed the creature to inherit some of his powers.

Powers related to shadows.

Dealing with an enemy like that would have been hard even if the cohort was in peak shape, but now... it was going to be a problem. Not a big problem, of course...

However, one thing made the situation truly dire.

The whole section of the city around them — the road, the buildings, the ruins — was about to be destroyed by a titanic explosion.