236 Ex Machina

With his back to the stone surface of the ancient statue, Sunny stared as the two tribes of Nightmare Creatures clashed in a cacophony of eerie roars and rustling noises.

Discovering a new target, swarming locusts swiftly fell from the skies and cut into the horde of the Blood Flower hosts, devouring scores of unfortunate primates in mere moments. Torn and eviscerated by the sharp mandibles, their flesh seemed to almost melt in the terrible maws of the flying abominations.

However, the massive beasts were not entirely defenseless. Any locust that lingered for a fraction of a second more than it should have was immediately grabbed and torn to pieces by the powerful primates, its black blood falling like dew on the petals of the crimson flowers that grew from their rotting bodies.

Some hosts even jumped off the colossus to grab onto diving reavers and tumble together to the distant ground.

In just a few seconds, the surface of the ancient giant and the air around him was consumed by utter chaos.

Indifferent to everything, the colossus steadily marched south.

'...Come to your senses!'

Shaking off his astonishment, Sunny swiftly finished off the primate that he had staggered a second before and pushed the heavy creature from the narrow path.

Despite the fact that their enemies were now fighting each other, the pressure on the cohort did not decrease. In fact, it only grew heavier.

Cursing under his breath, Sunny threw the Midnight Shard at another lunging monster, turned his back to the enemies, and jumped. Grabbing onto a crack in the ancient stone, he pulled his body up and nimbly scaled the neck of the ancient statue.

For several seconds that seemed to last an eternity, Sunny was completely defenseless against the potential attacks by the monstrous locusts. However, to his luck, Nephis had chosen that exact moment to unleash her flames on the other side of the statue. A blinding flash of white drowned the skies for a second, confusing the reavers and buying him enough time to reach the stone platform.

Climbing over its edge, Sunny rolled away and sprawled on the cold stone, trying to catch his breath.

His body was in agony. The Blood Weave might have destroyed the flower growing in his lungs, but the damage was already done. Sunny had trouble breathing and felt bloody foam bubbling on his lips. Every time he inhaled, a sharp pain pierced his entire being.

'Not… not too terrible...'

Although troublesome, these wounds were not going to kill him. Sleepers healed better and faster than mundane humans, and Sunny in particular was also transformed by the drop of Weaver's ichor, making him much tougher and harder to kill than most.

...Sort of like a cockroach.

As for the pain, he had been through worse and survived. As long as Sunny had adrenaline numbing it to some degree, he was capable of giving a fight still.

Not that it would be pleasant...

With a moan, Sunny picked himself up from the ground and looked around.

Things were slowly turning from bad to worse.

Kai was long out of arrows and had to resort to using his morbid Ascended Memory. Judging by how pale his face was, he had already missed a few shots, losing a lot of blood as the result.

Cassie was still trying to maintain the powerful winds that slowed the attacking locusts down, but her face and hands were covered in blood. It seemed that even the powerful enchantment of her armor and the ardent protection of the Quiet Dancer were not enough to fully save her from harm.

Effie was now fighting the flying abominations in melee, having only a fraction of a second to react every time they attacked her. Blood was streaming down her legs, her white chiton torn and soaked with it. Her bronze helmet was gone, lying shattered on the stones.

Caster did not seem to be wounded, but his face was dark with exhaustion. Maintaining his incredible speed was taxing on both the mind and the body, so he would not be able to last much longer, either.

The Stone Saint… was the Stone Saint. The taciturn Shadow was covered in black blood from head to toe and completely indifferent to it, which only enhanced her dark and menacing visage. She continued to move with elegant grace, protecting the members of the cohort to the best of her ability. But she couldn't be everywhere all at once.

…And then there was Sunny himself, who was in the worst shape out of all of them by far.

'Curses!'

And the worst news was that now that he had to retreat back to the platform, the abominable primates were about to follow him, forcing the cohort to defend itself from two sides simultaneously.

Even worst still, unlike Sunny, the other members didn't have Blood Weave to protect them from the red pollen.

'Bad, bad, this is bad…'

Just as Sunny was thinking that thought, a bloodied hand suddenly appeared from the other side of the platform. A moment later, Nephis slid under the golden rope and shakily rose to her feet.

Changing Star had white flames dancing in her eyes. Her skin seemed to shine with a soft glow, as though there was fire burning beneath it.

…That fire, if Sunny had to guess, was responsible for annihilating the red pollen as soon as it entered her body.

The Starlight Legion Armor was heavily damaged and seemed to be on the verge of melting, but still held, protecting the last daughter of the Immortal Flame clan to the end.

Not paying any attention to the members of the cohort, Nephis turned her head and looked south.

'What is she…'

Before Sunny could finish the thought, he was distracted by the sight of an ugly primate head rising above the edge of the circular platform. Cursing, he grabbed a jagged piece of chitin laying nearby and shoved it into the creature's eyes, forcibly pushing it back down.

At the same moment, an especially large locust suddenly fell from the sky. Batting the Quiet Dancer away, it dove right for Cassie.

Before anyone could react, its mandibles clicked.

However, instead of soft flesh, all they caught was the hard wood of the enchanted staff. The blind girl had managed to defend herself at the last moment.

The impact was still strong enough to throw her far back, nevertheless. Breaking the improvised barrier with her back, Cassie screamed… and slipped from the platform, plummeting down like a broken doll.

'No!'

The Prowling Thorn was damaged and restoring itself in the Soul Sea, and the golden rope was tied around the platform. He didn't know what to…

As the sound of a bow clattering on the stone reached his ears, Sunny saw Kai diving down from the neck of the colossus. Flying with incredible speed, he caught up with Cassie and grabbed her by the arm.

The two of them froze in the air for a moment, absolutely defenseless against the approaching locusts.

'No, no, no!'

…But the fatal attack never came.

Suddenly, the cacophony of the battle died down, turning into deathly silence.

Sunny blinked.

Several locusts were hovering in the air mere meters away from Cassie and Kai, but they were in no hurry to devour the helpless humans. In fact, they, too, seemed frozen.

A moment later, the locusts suddenly turned around and dashed away. In fact, the whole swarm was swiftly retreating, flying away from the stone colossus with as much speed as the gluttonous abominations could muster.

It was as if… they were fleeing from something.

Many of the locusts were carrying dead primates in their claws. It seemed as though the reavers were the ultimate victors in this terrible battle against the monstrous apes.

…But Sunny was pretty sure that, soon, the whole tribe of these terrible creatures was going to have crimson blooms growing from the cracks in their chitin. Blood Flowers were truly a horrifying enemy. Who knew what they would be capable of after subjugating a whole swarm of flying abominations?

The more pressing question, however, was… what were the locusts running from?

Sunny looked down, only to realize that the giant primates were also retreating, rushing down the body of the ancient statue in something that almost resembled panic.

Then, finally, he turned and looked south, following the line of Changing Star's gaze.

His face paled.

Out there, directly in the path of the walking statue, an inconceivably vast wall of furious darkness had devoured the whole world. It was swiftly moving in their direction, bolts of lightning illuminating the raging depths of clouds almost every second.

The storm was approaching.