No matter how fast Sunny was, how intricate his control of the shadow essence was — he had spent a whole month doing nothing but practicing it, after all — no matter how strong his body could become as the result, he still couldn't be in several places at the same time.

Yes, he had two cores brimming with power, and his armor and his weapon were augmented by a combination of an Aspect Ability and enchantments. Killing one of the infernal hounds without receiving a hit was not that big of a problem… several, even.

But a dozen? That was too much, even for him.

So Sunny didn't even try.

At this point, Mantle of the Underworld was as close to the pinnacle of the Ascended Rank as a Memory could be, so these Dormant beasts had no chance of piercing it with their fangs. He could allow himself to be bitten a few times.

He just had to be strategic about it.

He had to protect his neck and the back of his head, as well as pay attention to balance and mass. Yes, the abominations couldn't get to his flesh just yet, but an impact was still an impact. If he wasn't careful, the bastards were going to topple him, and once he was on the ground, the game would be over.

Luckily, he had [Feather of Truth] at his disposal and could manipulate the weight of the onyx armor, turning it from incredibly light to as heavy as a mountain. In conjunction with the cautious use of Saint's grounded style, which excelled at solid footwork and indomitability, he could stay upright no matter how many beasts attacked him.

Ignoring the creatures that were lunging at him from the ground, Sunny dashed to the side to avoid being landed on by one of the jumping hounds, and received another on the tip of the odachi, allowing the momentum to impale it on the sword.

Before the heavy carcass could weigh the Shadow Serpent down, Sunny used the long hilt as a lever and slammed the dead creature into the mass of its attacking kin.

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By that time, one jaw was already closing on his thigh, and another was centimeters away from his forearm.

The bloodred fangs scraped against the stonelike metal of the onyx armor, not leaving even a scratch on it.

Sunny let go of the hilt of the odachi with one hand, then hooked its blade under the throat of one of the attacking abominations and made a simple move forward, slicing through tough fur, skin, and vulnerable flesh beneath.

His other fist landed on the head of the second beast. Unseen to anyone, the Moonlight Shard appeared in it at the last moment, its ghostly blade easily piercing the creature's skull and disappearing as fast as it had appeared after destroying its brain.

Sunny spun, throwing both corpses aside, caught the hilt of the odachi with his second hand, made a small thrust to pierce a lunging hound's head right through one of its eyes, and then dashed forward to descend on the group of them entangled in the carcass of the abomination he had caught on the tip of his blade earlier.

What happened next could only be described as a morbid, bloody dance. Sunny moved through the mass of Nightmare Creatures, much faster than any of them were, his great sword flying through them with graceful and fluid logic, sending more and more blood spraying into the air. Somehow, he managed to avoid most of their attacks, and those he did not ended up sliding fruitlessly from his armor.

He almost made it look easy.

…But of course, it wasn't.

Any of these beasts, even though they were only Dormant, could massacre countless mundane humans, or kill a less skillful Awakened in one fell lunge. It was just that today, they met a far more terrifying creature.

A true Awakened fighter.

And a monstrous one, at that…

Sunny cut through the mass of spiked hounds, strategically leaving many of them maimed, but alive. They could only bleed as long as they weren't dead, after all. And he needed them to bleed a lot to bring the Blood Blossom to the peak of its strength.

There were many of them around him… too many, really. But that, too, could be used to his advantage. He used the corpses of the beasts he had slain, the ones he had left alive, and those who were yet to meet his blade as a barrier to slow down the others. Through superior speed and clever positioning, he was able to not only always remain moving, but also evade being surrounded.

Things weren't exactly easy, but he was still managing without too much strain. His main problem right now was to not allow any of the abominations to move past him and escape into the streets.

Luckily, the few that did manage to slip by were quickly finished by the six Awakened staying behind, observing the massacre with grim, tense, and darkly awed expressions.

However, Sunny wasn't oblivious to the fact that this successful start was an illusion.

The first wave was just an appetizer, after all. Simply a hint of the true calamity to come.

So, his goal, for now, was to kill as many of the dormant beasts as he could, bring the augmentation of the Blood Blossom to considerable strength, and throw as many corpses at the stretch of cracked asphalt directly in front of the Gate as possible, to make it harder for the stronger abominations to enter into the real at full speed.

He felt the dreaded change too soon, though.

It came in a form of an eerie, long whistle that suddenly made the hounds lunge at him with renewed fury.

And then…

A crude arrow suddenly flashed out of the darkness of the rift, almost hitting him in the eye. The arrowhead, fashioned out of a splinter of a red bone, exploded against the wood of Weaver's Mask, throwing his head back.

'What the…'

He swiftly repositioned and caught his balance, then dashed forward and skewered several beasts on the blade of the Shadow Serpent.

More arrows flew out of the darkness, piercing the flesh of the attacking hounds or sliding off the onyx surface of the Mantle of the Underworld.

He felt each hit, though. The power behind these arrows was truly monstrous.

'Awakened… Awakened creatures are coming! Already?!'

As soon as he thought that, the first of the hunters came out of the darkness, following their hounds into the real world.

Sunny gritted his teeth.

A tall, desiccated humanoid with skin as black as coal and as rough as the bark of an ancient tree, wearing rotten remains of fur armor, raised a mighty bow made out of wood and bone, and looked at him with empty holes where his eyes should have been.

Furious, red flames burned in their darkness instead.

'Crap!'

Sunny grabbed one of the hounds and hoisted its body up… just in time for the arrow to pierce its body instead of hitting him in the face.

'Bows, they're using bows?!'

How was that even fair?!

Feeling the bloodlust of the Blossom charm surge in his heart, Sunny threw the dying hound at the bone hunter, gripped his sword, and dashed forward once again.

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