Crimson Spire (2)
Sunny gripped his blade as he approached the seven heads of the Heroes of the Forgotten Shore. The Lord's face was noble, while the Priestess was beautiful and gentle. The Slayer was arrogant and cold, while the Stranger hid behind his helmet, and only darkness could be seen through its crack.
"Will you keep standing there, or will you come out?"
Cold winds blew, tossing pieces of coral into the air. None of the coral pieces fell; instead, they gathered and began forming seven twisted silhouettes. Seven shadowy figures of the ancient Heroes of the Forgotten Shore appeared before Sunny.
Sunny did not flinch under the pressure they imposed. Instead, he summoned the Saint and lunged toward the Slayer. The Slayer moved toward him as well and grasped an image of a ghostly dagger, wanting to kill Sunny.
The Slayer stabbed toward Sunny's eye, but he barely dodged it. Then the dagger struck his blade, causing a web of cracks to appear on its surface. The corrupted silhouette of the Slayer retreated, but Sunny did not give her a chance. He channeled Shadow Essence into his legs and launched forward, colliding with the figure and cutting it in half at the torso.
The Saint was effortlessly fighting five of the silhouettes, even shattering one of them. But they would soon return, so Sunny moved toward the corrupted copy of the Lord.
The Lord was standing in the back, wearing a crown resembling the Dawn Shard, feeding power to the other corrupted copies. The silhouette of the Lord looked shocked upon seeing Sunny moving toward him. He charged to confront him, but the poor man didn't know what awaited him.
Sunny felt power coursing through him as if he were enhanced by all his shadows. The shadow of the Crimson Spire was feeding him and causing his innate ability to activate, so with Shadow Essence flowing throughout his body and the strength of a Dormant Terror, he unleashed his full wrath upon the corrupted copy of the Lord.
The odachi fell onto the Lord's head, as if carrying the weight of the heavens, and when it struck the Lord's body, it cut and shattered it like stone. The other corrupted copies collapsed from the Saint's assault and also due to the collapse of their power source. Sunny then moved toward the carving of the shining stars.
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Effie was watching a blazing spot of flames burning any monster that dared approach it. Nephis was there, fighting at the front alongside the giant serpent and the Shell Demon. Effie laughed, and a smile formed on her face.
"We're winning! Damn that pale bastard, he truly is a miracle and a freak for being able to pull something like this off!"
A strong wind interrupted Effie's joy. When she looked up, there was something unpleasant to the eye. Above, a tornado of flying Nightmare Creatures was spinning, wanting to tear them apart.
The first Nightmare Creature fell onto the iron net and was cut to pieces, turning into a heap of limbs and blood. Then the rest fell. The sound of the creatures crashing and tearing apart was so loud that it made the Sleepers in the rear anxious. Kai shouted at them:
"Up there! Aim up there!"
Hundreds of arrows and magical attacks flew upward, all composed of slings, bows, and the strange abilities possessed by the Sleepers. Dozens of wounded creatures fell onto the iron net, making the sky even darker. The iron net was extremely strong and massive, covering the island and half of the Crimson Bridge, but it would not withstand all this weight.
The more monsters they killed, the crazier the rest became. The situation on the Coral Bridge was very good, as the giant serpent led all the Sleepers and killed any creature that approached the army. Almost all the monsters there had died. Now the problem remained above.
Giant bolts were fired through small gaps in the iron net and pierced into the whirlwind of Nightmare Creatures, sending more of them to a swift death.
On the Coral Bridge, the rest of the Sleepers moved toward the end of the bridge where the dark vortex was, waiting for the Dark Sea to be sealed. At the front, Nephis stood exhausted, looking upward, then spoke to one of the Sleepers:
"Cut the net. Let the bodies fall."
"But…"
"Just do it!"
The Sleeper didn't argue and began passing on the orders to the others.
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Kai, upon hearing the orders, moved and gathered arrows, preparing for what was coming. The net collapsed, and the bodies that had been blocking the sunlight fell, along with dozens of monsters. The tornado had shrunk and become just a handful of Nightmare Creatures that the army of Sleepers could easily handle.
Kai flew up onto the iron net, wanting a better firing angle, but he quickly regretted it. The gaze of two of the Spire's Messengers fell upon him, and then they swooped in. Kai tried to dodge to get a chance to hit one, but he could barely evade their attacks.
Kai ascended vertically in a desperate attempt to escape. The Spire's Messengers tried to follow him but couldn't fly vertically. Thus, Kai got his chance. He fired the Blood Arrow into one of the Spire Messenger's wings, sending it plummeting into the jaws of the dark serpent, leaving only one of the Spire's Messengers.
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Sunny inserted the first Oath Key into the hole of the shining star, then moved to the second hole and inserted another key, then to the third hole and placed the third key. He inserted all the Oath Keys until he reached the seventh hole, and when he placed the last key into the center of the hole…
The world trembled.
And the entire Forgotten Shore quaked.
The army of Sleepers stared in astonishment. The dark vortex separating the Crimson Spire from the Coral Bridge was receding.
At Sunny's side, the Crimson Spire quivered, and its gates, sealed for thousands of years, swung open. The Dark Sea was sucked inside the Crimson Spire. And at the top of the Crimson Spire, an angry white sun blazed with incredibly intense brilliance. Sunny cursed:
"Really?! What a treacherous terror."