Caster looked up and nearly cursed.
On the outside, he was the picture of composure, the civilians and soldiers alike looking to the intimidating new Master for strength, and he did his best to embody that ideal.
He felt like he was back in his Legacy days, projecting strength he did not always feel.
Yet for some reason it came easier to him. Not because he was stronger, but because he had a better role model to follow now.
Though he loathed to admit it, Gehrman was much better at inspiring than any of the Valor Clan that he had encountered. He always took the first step, fighting in front of the frontlines, the man was so damn reliable it was scary.
Perhaps that was why he clung to the thought that, somehow, this would be anything but a massacre.
The Devouring Cloud was monstrous.
The absurd quantity of Nightmare Creatures that made it up was so great that the ever present moon of Antarctica's persistent night was being blocked out.
A veritable tsunami of these creatures stretched far. Not only were there enough to completely circle Erebus Fields, but there were also enough to do the same to the convoy Caster and his cohort now guarded.
There was no stopping these constant transports. The severe importance of them meant that no matter what time it was or what the situation was, so long as there were vehicles available, people would be carted to the nearest coast to rendezvous with the dispatch from the House of Night.
If only Saint Tyris were here, she would be tremendous against an enemy like this.
Caster thought of the Saint of the White Feather Clan, a separate vassal to Valor that once held the same station as the Han Li Clan. Of course, that changed when they managed to produce a Saint.
Ruling over the Chained Isles, Saint Tyris was nothing short of a monster. It was likely fair to say that besides the royals of the Great Clans, she held the most power and versatility of all Saints.
Her ability to be a harbinger and controller of storms made her an invaluable asset in any number of cases.
And this one was a prime example of that, a thunderous cloud of destruction would go a long way in thinning out this army of what looked to be flying leeches.
However, her current role was even more invaluable.
Further north, her storm winds curtailed the ever-present blizzard of the Winter Beast - the current King of Antarctica's Nightmares.
The thing was a Corrupted Titan and was responsible for shutting down comms across the continent simply by existing.
No one, not even Saint Tyris, had managed to make it anywhere near the center of the blizzard it created, as the further one went the more overwhelming the cold.
According to reports, Tyris had even recalled an entire lighting bolt of hers being literally frozen, the plasma turned into ice.
Such a thing shouldn't have been possible, but the Winter Beast made it so.
Caster summoned a humongous war bow, another Memory he had gotten from his 2nd Nightmare.
Thinking about that absolute monster of a creature, made fighting these insects seem much less threatening.
Caster paused, then summoned the worn grey mantle that smelled of home.
At first he had tried to avoid this Dormant Memory as much as possible, afraid to become dependent on it.
But now it has become something of a ritual.
Before battle he would be reminded of what he would get to go back to, and his mind sharpened, reaching battle clarity instantly and reinforcing his resolve.
The second Memory, a large spear, formed in his other hand. The thin polearm was unwieldy, and Caster wasn't sure if this was how it was intended to be used, but he had figured out that it worked much better as a great arrow rather than a weapon.
Situating the glistening gold spear on the thick string of the stone great bow, Caster took one final deep breath and fired.
His enhanced strength let the spear fly with such force that a rush of wind caused the vehicle he was standing upon to rock to its side.
And then.
[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Brood of the Devouring Cloud.]
[You have slain…]
[You have slain…]
[You have slain…]
[You have slain…]
The voices overlapped, remarking on the multiple creatures caught in the devastating blow.
The spear traveled through the cloud for several meters, taking down a dozen or so creatures before the whispers stopped and Caster summoned it back.
At the same time, he summoned two more spears, both different, but good enough to serve the same purpose.
It took time for Memories to be dismissed, and then return to the Soul Sea where they could be summoned again.
To make up for that time, Caster had spent his "Contribution Points" on a small arsenal of similar sized Memories.
The great bow was of the Ascended, and with Caster's strength the "arrows" he fired would wreck an Ascended amount of damage on the Awakened Beasts. Even though the spears themselves were mere Awakened Memories, he could wreck an untold amount of destruction this way.
But it wouldn't be enough.
Not nearly enough.
Caster suddenly was unable to hear any other sound other than gunfire.
The whirring of a mounted rail gun shot up into the sky, the Awakened Bullets roughly shaped by Gehrman did well enough, but there weren't nearly enough of them to turn the tides.
Which meant they had to rely on Gehrman.
And though it made Caster pissed out of his mind…Sunless also held the fates of Erebus Fields in his hands.
…
A crack of thunder shot through the air and a truly humongous salvo was unleashed on the Devouring Cloud.
At the moment, the swarm was attempting to wrap around the city, yet its progress was slowed thanks to the continuous assault of two Masters.
On one end, Sunny was using the war bow that allowed him to take out Goliath in a single blow.
He was repeatedly unleashing an arrow imbued with a mini storm. With each blow landed, a cage of lightning sprouted, arcing electricity frying a great number of bugs.
On the other side, Gehrman was in the air.
However, it was impossible to see the Red Judge within the storm of jagged swirling blood.
Instead of taking on the form of Trick Weapons, it was actually more efficient to keep numerous swirling saws around him at all times.
There were dozens of them, acting like a coating as he carved a war path through the Devouring Cloud.
It was an odd battle, even for him. He couldn't simply push through to the center as if he did, a large portion of Nightmare Creatures would simply go around him. Ignoring the Master in favor of the millions of mundanes.
So he had to hold something of a line all by himself.
Well…that was untrue.
In fact he had a lot of help, just no one up in the air with him at the moment.
Davis and his cohort were masters of espionage and stealth, they were clearly not suited for such a foe as the Devouring Cloud.
But they were still elites, and wherever their coverfire went, dozens of Nightmare Creatures would fall.
Still, something bothered him.
"This isn't right," Gehrman growled and cast a wide arc, bisecting one hundred or so surrounding leeches. That bought him about 1 second of reprieve before they were upon him again.
Big moves like that were nice, but the biggest issue of all this was still Essence conservation.
Gehrman had held back yesterday, but not by too much.
In helping the others conserve their strength, he spent a decent amount of his.
This was not out of some naive sense of responsibility, but simply the most mathematically efficient method.
Now the most efficient method was something akin to a marathon.
The problem was, neither he nor Sunny were on pace to keep it.
They were fighting fairly far away from Erebus Fields, but it wasn't like they could just jump into the fray like they did yesterday and pull every Nightmare Creature towards Sunny with his Charm.
The issue, once again, was the vastness of the Devouring Cloud.
An assembly of tens of thousands of beasts.
And that was when Gehrman realized the issue.
Trying to surround them, dispatching half their forces to chase the convoy…they were under control of a Tyrant, or maybe even multiple since the scale of the army was so great.
In the back of the swarm, somewhere, there was a commander and its lieutenants. Almost certainly of Fallen Rank.
Suddenly, the broach-like charm on Gehrman's chest throbbed.
He felt his body become more robust as avarice assaulted him.
Not due to any manipulation from the [Greedy Bloodstone Tailisman], but because his personality had caused his focus to snag on a single possibility.
If there are thousands of Awakened, there are likely around 1 thousand Fallen…or 1 thousand Blood Fragments.
He went through a couple simulations in his head as he continued to tear apart Nightmare Creatures.
Then he sent a burst of Essence into a bracelet Memory he had borrowed.
'HQ, any update from the Diviners on the position of the Heart of Darkness?' He asked. At the same time, his thoughts were projected from 5 matching bracelets, all worn by Awakened handling the logistics of this Nightmare.
'Still no report, sir.'
Gehrman frowned slightly.
He looked out over Erebus Fields.
At the end of the day, this wasn't just greed, it was an effective move. A blitz of devastating effect that would further conserve resources while putting Gehrman out of commission for…a day? Maybe a few more?
Naturally the most powerful fighter going down for a bit was absolutely out of the question.
But at the current rate things were going, hundreds of thousands of Erebus Fields citizens would die. It was likely the group at the convoy would fall, unable to keep up the war of attrition.
"Ah, what the hell," Gehrman laughed to himself in a raspy voice.
Then, he once again cleaved out a large group, taking its blood to form a symbol, a crescent moon hung high over the night.
Where he was situated, he could very well see the moon, but everyone else would likely miss something like this.
Naturally, the exception to this was Sunny.
His Shadow abilities granted him far more awareness in the night, and there was no doubt that the message would be received.
Contracting his rippling muscles, the surrounding blood coalesced on his back. He ended up with 6 humongous wings, each around two times his height.
Then, like a meteor the Red Judge launched forward.
Tearing through the Devouring Cloud until his senses picked up on it.
Fallen Blood.
There was no way he could drink it all fast enough. And at this rate speed the[Portable Blood Imbiber].
Instead he opted for the much more grotesque (and painful) option.
With a scream Gehrman cut through his own veins, his blood vessels being sawed through by the red life that ran within them.
The open wound seemed to reach out…and it was met with the foul blood of the Fallen.
The surge of power and madness rushed through Gehrman and he felt his teeth start to chatter.
The process caused his head to spin, but it took less than a second.
So he kept fighting, pulling apart the stronger Brood of the Devouring Cloud and ingesting their blood directly into his body, where it was then broken down immediately and turned into Blood Fragments.
Any damage he sustained was healed by the incoming torrents of Fallen Blood.
Surrounded on all angles, the singular Master was assaulted by thousands of beasts.
And he couldn't help but grin.