The enormous building made of nightmares crashed heavily onto the stone wall, covering its entire thickness and a little more.
The whole wall trembled, stone flew through the air, and a thunderous boom left everyone present stunned.
In front of it, with her sword embedded in the ground and an indomitable stance, the unstoppable Changing Star stared at it with cold indifference.
At her side stood Vaen, resting his enormous stone sword on his shoulder, a burning desire blazing furiously in his eyes.
Farther back, a tall, broad-shouldered man dressed in an elegant trench coat carried a massive bow in his arms. The bow was slightly taller than he was, and its ammunition consisted of enormous sharpened steel bars. His face was hidden beneath a hunter's hat and a balaclava.
The abomination turned, facing the group of sleepers with a gaze filled with madness and bloodlust.
It opened its jaws, packed full of fangs, and wind poured out, producing a shrill whistle as it sliced through the air.
A piercing sound, like steel scraping against steel, shattered the space. Some people covered their ears as they screamed in pain; the weakest collapsed unconscious on the spot.
Footsteps.
Someone approached from the side, carrying a tachi on their shoulder and wearing ragged leather and cloth. They were stained with blood from head to toe, and an aura of murderous intent enveloped them.
They stopped beside the princess and, with a fluid motion, planted their sword into the ground, resting their arm on the hilt.
"So then, what's the plan?"
The girl beside him smiled, and flames began to dance in her eyes.
"Kill it."
For a moment, silence settled among them. Then, the burly archer, Sunny, and Vaen spoke in unison.
"Understood."
The first to advance was Vaen. He began to walk slowly as an enormous suit of plate armor enveloped him.
His steps grew heavier and heavier. At the same time, his pace increased, until he broke into a run.
At one point, he lifted the sword into the air, gripping it with both arms to one side.
His speed increased steadily, until he looked like a massive cannonball tearing through the air.
The Fallen raised one of its six front legs to crush him without mercy.
The air whistled, and a massive metal bar flew forth, striking the creature's limb without warning. The enormous weight and brutal speed of the projectile completely tore apart the Fallen's claw, splitting it in half and rendering it nearly useless.
Then, with no time to recover, it tried to dodge the attack. Ignoring its massive size and weight, the creature moved at a terrifying speed.
But it came to an abrupt halt when one of its eight rear legs failed.
Below, a small cockroach had slipped through its defenses, severing its tendons.
Though the damage was minor, it was enough for the walking cannonball to arrive.
With superhuman strength, Vaen swung the enormous sword from the side up over his head.
Once the distance was right, he brought the massive block of stone down in a practiced vertical slash.
The creature tried to shield itself with its remaining five limbs, but it was useless.
The sword cleaved through its claws, reaching its chest and plunging deep into the muscle, then continued downward, splitting it open and finally crashing into the hard rock below.
Despite its new wounds, the creature did not take long to react. It lashed out again with its claws, which, though injured, were still just as deadly.
One was stopped by an arrow, another by a blazing flame.
And despite trying to dodge, two of them struck the imposing soldier of steel, sending him flying into the sea.
Far away, a small rock collided with the black waves of the ocean.
However, the time wasted dealing with the steel nuisance was efficiently used by the annoying cockroach, who had already disabled two more legs.
The beast let out another thunderous roar. With one annoyance gone, the fight was about to change.
- - -
Sunny stared coldly at the winged abomination.
Despite its grievous wounds, it still seemed full of vitality—perhaps even more than before—fueled by hatred and bloodlust.
He retreated in time to avoid being trampled and turned into a paste of flesh and viscera.
In the distance, he saw Vaen crash into the waves. Though he would have liked to go save him, there were more urgent matters now.
He continued handling the monster's right side, evading death by millimeters—or even less. At one point, he had to withdraw the shadow from his sword and wrap it around his body, granting him a massive surge of power.
At the moment, he stood above an ordinary Awakened, shrouded in the shadows of the forgotten coast and surrounded by death. His ability provided a considerable boost.
Moreover, his shadows granted him an even greater increase in power. He was no longer wrapped in the shadow of a single Awakened beast; instead, he was enveloped in two shadows of an Awakened monster.
He did not know exactly what the difference was, but the increase from each shadow was slightly greater than it should normally have been.
Even so, he was struggling—badly.
After the initial wounds, neither Nephis, nor the archer, nor he himself had been able to inflict any significant damage.
Although they held the advantage for the moment, if even one of them fell or slowed down even slightly, it would result in all of their deaths.
Of course, they were not novices who would allow that to happen easily. But if they did not find a solution soon, their deaths were inevitable.
For several minutes, the fight remained like this, with Nephis and the archer being the only ones dealing minimally relevant damage—yet, of course, insufficient.
Just as Sunny was about to resort to a risky and stupid measure, a hand emerged from the dark water.
Immediately after, Vaen's body was hurled toward the city. He began to shout something, but from the distance, Sunny could not make it out.
In the end, it was the man's shadow that gave him an idea of what had happened—it looked utterly horrified and terrified.
That could only mean one thing.
There was something in the water, and it was coming for them.
After dodging another strike, he moved closer to Nephis and said quickly,
"We need to leave. Vaen seems to think there's something in the water."
She looked toward the dark sea with cold calm.
Sunny began to panic, thinking she planned to face some horror from the depths.
He prepared to argue and fight her on it, but her words were the complete opposite.
"Let's go."
She began to withdraw, leaving Sunny behind to distract the creature.
'Common sense? Nephis? That's new.'
He moved again just in time to avoid being killed by the creature. He had to hold out until the archer created a distraction.
And so it happened. Moments later, hundreds of arrows and bolts were fired at the creature. Most did nothing; some embedded themselves, but in the end, the beast was forced to cover itself.
That instant was all Sunny needed to retreat.
He ran toward the rear, where the archers watched the battle with fear—but also with a fervent desire. They had just witnessed the birth of two more champions in the dark city.
Nearby lay Vaen, sprawled on the ground and sweating coldly. It seemed Nephis was questioning him about what he had seen.
"I don't really know… I didn't see it. It's not like I could have… maybe it was for the best. But something happened. I felt the presence of a creature coming for me. It was a Fallen Devil or a Corrupted Beast—I'm not sure—but that wasn't the worst part."
He swallowed, his expression hardening.
"Something else approached, but I didn't feel it. It was more like the entire sea decided to turn against that creature. One moment it was about to eat me, and the next it was gone, dragged into the depths by whatever that was."
Sunny tensed and turned his gaze back to the gigantic Needle Messenger.
It seemed to be slowly recovering from its wounds. It had used its enemies' retreat to heal, planning to come back for them.
Beside it, where the wall ended and the sea began, something happened.
Bubbles rose from the water, which then turned into a vortex of boiling waves.
By the time the winged abomination realized, it was too late.
A massive black tentacle burst from the water, nearly as large as the Messenger itself.
It tried to flee, but it was useless. The enormous limb lashed out, crushing half of its body. The monster's viscera were blasted out through its back, and the crunch of shattered bones echoed all the way to where they stood.
Sunny moved toward the burly archer, wrapped himself in both shadows, and grabbed a projectile and the massive bow. Only up close did he realize the bow was made of a strange material, somewhere between wood and steel.
Without paying the archer any mind, he climbed a small stone hill, where the archer had previously stood to shoot.
In the distance, the creature struggled against the tentacle, to no avail. Its death was all but sealed.
The only question was who would deliver it—and that would definitely be Sunny.
'Because I want to.'
He placed the massive metal bar on the string. It had to weigh at least a ton. The bow itself was enormous, at least twice Sunny's height.
With all his strength and willpower, he drew the bow. Simply holding the projectile in place required more than superhuman effort.
'How the hell did this guy fire this thing so often?!'
He was certain even Effie would struggle to pull off such a feat.
Of course, he was stronger than either of them right now.
He continued pulling the string back. His muscles burned, and his body was nearly crushed by the pressure he was enduring.
Then, just as the tentacle dragged the Needle Messenger toward the sea, he fired.
At the last moment, he sent both shadows into the projectile, making it far deadlier.
It crossed the distance in the blink of an eye. The steel struck the beast's skull, shattering it and driving even deeper, plunging straight into its brain.
The beast convulsed, trying to fight back, but its death was inevitable.
It let out one final inhuman shriek before being completely submerged.
[You have slain a Fallen Devil, General of the Needle]
[Your shadow grows stronger]
Sunny smiled. He had just gained twelve fragments in an instant. Before he could celebrate, the Spell spoke again.
[You have obtained a Memory]
His smile widened even further.
All around him, the sleepers were celebrating. They had just survived one of the greatest catastrophes they could have faced.
Sunny would have liked to celebrate too—he really would have—but he couldn't.
Because far away, in the vastness of the sea, he swore he saw three diabolical eyes staring back at him.