971 Strategic Retreat

Sunny and his soldiers held back the abominations while the long column of vehicles drove through the cleared corridor. The pressure the horde was exerting on them was dire, but not impossible to overcome thanks to the artillery support from the mangled battleship.

The Awakened and the mundane soldiers worked together, aided by the lumbering MWPs and assault vehicles. Soon, the whole mountain slope was torn apart and enveloped in flames. An angry red glow spread through the blizzard, making it seem as though the snow itself was aflame, and the sounds of firing armaments, detonating explosives, and bestial howls fused into an ugly, deafening litany.

The battleship grew quiet, and the rain of artillery shells stopped. Either the vessel had run out of ammunition, or the stress of sustaining the heavy barrage had turned out to be too much for its already failing hull, causing it to sustain even more damage.

In any case, by that point, most of the caravan had managed to pass the advancing horde. With artillery bombardment gone and no killing field between them and the highway anymore, a flood of Nightmare Creatures rushed forward, aiming to slam into the defensive line of humans and rip them apart.

That was when Sunny finally utilized Shadow Manifestation. He had not used it before in order to conserve essence for this exact moment, but now there was no point in holding back anything anymore.

Rows of dark spikes rose from the ground, obstructing the advance of the abominations and forcing some to impale themselves on their sharp tips. Pushed from behind by the frenzied mob, more were run through, perishing right there and then. Others were simply slowed down.

The spikes were soon destroyed, but their job was already done-the momentum of the horde was stalled, and the MWPs were able to create a wall of fire in its way.

A few moments later, burning monsters burst through the flames, lunging at the defensive line with rabid rage. They were met by sharp steel and a rain of bullets.

"Hold! We are not done yet!"

Following his command, the soldiers held. The Awakened were burning through their essence, while the mundane fighters were exhausting their ammunition, but they held. One minute, then two...

Finally, the last of the vehicles drove past and disappeared into the haze of the snowstorm.

Sunny let out a relieved sigh. The battle was not over yet, but at least the refugees were safe.

"Infantry, retreat!"

Pulling out of the furious engagement was not an easy task and had to be done in stages.

First, the mundane soldiers orderly retreated, loading into the personnel carriers. After the massive vehicles drove off, the weakened defensive line shifted, slowly moving back.

As they did, the MWPs fired clusters of remote-controlled landmines, leaving hundreds of them in the wake of the retreating human force. Once enough of the pushing Nightmare Creatures entered the blast zone, the mines detonated, momentarily shaking the world.

The defenders used that moment to abandon the battle. The Awakened jumped onto the roofs of waiting vehicles, which then sped away. The MWPs followed, turning their torsos one hundred and eighty degrees to continue firing back as they ran.

Sunny was left alone to face the wrath of the bloodied horde.

Well... not quite. Nightmare emerged from the shadows with fury and bloodlust burning in his crimson eyes.

Looking at the approaching tide of abominations, Sunny smiled coldly.

"Come at us, bastards..."

The shadows surged around him, shooting forward like dark chains.

He used the chains and walls of shadows to funnel the Nightmare Creatures, killing and maiming as many as he could with his spear. Nightmare rampaged in their midst, too swift to be caught and brought down... at least for now.

But then again, they were not going to linger for long. All Sunny had to do was buy his soldiers time to put some distance between themselves and the enemy.

Soon, all his defenses were obliterated, and it seemed like he and his Shadow were going to be overwhelmed in mere moments...

That was when both of them turned into incorporeal shadows-Nightmare Creatures behind.

Now, the battle was truly finished.

What was especially great about its conclusion-and a pleasant surprise to Sunny-was that while some abominations lunged in pursuit of the caravan, most remained, seemingly more interested in the carcass of the monstrous jellyfish and the corpses of their own slain brethren.

It seemed that the caravan had managed to escape.

'Thank the gods...'

A minute later, Sunny and Nightmare emerged from the highway, soon catching up to the retreating soldiers. The caravan was still out of sight, hidden behind the wall of snow, but they would rejoin the main column soon-in cases like these, the forward force was meant to slow down so as not to leave itself without sufficient protection for too long.

Sunny ordered his steed to get close to the rearmost vehicle and looked at Samara, who was unsurprisingly sitting on its roof. With her red hair dancing in the wind, she was aiming her rifle back, firing a shot into the blizzard from time to time.

"How are you on essence?"

Samara glanced at him briefly, then smiled.

With a nod, he jumped up, placing his feet on the saddle, then leaped over to the roof of the vehicles and settled next to his sharpshooter. Sunny was confident in his riding skill, but not confident enough to try sitting on Nightmare backwards and shooting his bow.

As Morgan's Warbow started weaving itself from scarlet sparks, Sunny lingered for a moment, and then summoned the runes.

'That strange jolt I felt at the start of the battle. Don't tell me... did I finally fulfill the requirements of the Mantle of the Underworld?'