Veynar
Putting his strength into gripping the handle of the katana, Veynar swung it at full force, cleaving through the head of the abomination and killing it.
A moment later, he dodged several blows that were heading his way. Unlike Aether, he could not skid through attacks.
Instead, Veynar had far better footwork. His boots bit into the coral with each step, carrying him an inch away from death again and again. Every shift of his weight, every pivot of his heel, was carved into his bones by years of fighting, the only reason he was still standing now.
As Effie pushed the carapace centurion back with her shield, her spear flashed towards it. Simultaneously, Veynar's katana flashed to sever its spine. He had saved Effie just in time, a second later, and the tall bastard would have skewered her with one of its scythes from above.
But as soon as the centurion fell to the ground, another abomination was already taking its place, with a terrible salivating maw and furious eyes that burned with madness.
All around Veynar, the bodies of humans and Nightmare Creatures were entangled into an undulating, bleeding, roaring mess. Claws and steel weapons rose and fell, sending streams of blood, splinters of bone, and chunks of flesh to the ground. Screams of fear, pain, and fury mixed with the indescribable howling of the nightmare horde into a cacophonous litany of death.
'Shit!'
Taking several steps forward, he dodged a powerful slash of a three-meter tall mantis-like creature's scythe. In the same breath, he drew his blade, the steel flashing in the light, and severed the scythe clean from its body. Before the creature even realized its loss, Veynar had dashed forward at harrowing speed, his blade carving through its spine in a single motion. The abomination convulsed once, then folded in half as its body collapsed into the blood-slicked ground.
Before it even hit the ground, Veynar spun, his sword intercepting a rain of blows. Sparks screamed as his edge clashed against chitin and steel. With his free hand, he whipped a dagger forward. The dagger buried itself into the skull of a charging beast, punching through bone and silencing its roar mid-lunge.
Then right next to him, Veynar saw a familiar young man standing and staring at the creature in front of him with a scared smile on his face.
"You fool! Move!" Veynar's voice ripped out, raw and sharp with anger.
But it was too late.
The boy's head separated from his shoulders in a clean arc of steel. A fountain of blood sprayed across Veynar's cheek, hot and stinking, and the youth's body toppled backwards in a boneless sprawl.
'S-shit!' Veynar's stomach turned cold. The boy's terrified grin, frozen in death, etched itself into his mind. Too slow again. Always too slow. The guilt flared hot for a heartbeat, then instinct shoved it down, because if he lingered, he would die too.
Veynar was about to charge at the terrifying creature before something slammed into his ribs from the side, knocking the air from his lungs. His vision swam as pain flared white-hot. He hit the ground hard, slid across coral painted slick with blood, and twisted his torso just in time to avoid a finishing blow. The moment he rose, his blade snapped out, severing the creature's head before its strike could land.
Weight crushed his shoulder. Teeth bit down, tearing into flesh. His other hand summoned a blue longsword, hurling it with deadly force. The spectral blade buried itself deep into the chest of a beast charging from the front, frost spreading from the wound like veins of glass, encasing muscle and bone in jagged ice.
He summoned his dagger, ripping the jaw of the beast off his shoulder, and staggered forward. His blood painted his armor, sticky and warm, but his eyes burned with a savage light.
But there was no reprieve. Four more monsters closed in around him, circling like wolves, their claws twitching with hunger, their fangs dripping with anticipation.
Veynar exhaled. His katana slid back into its scabbard with a soft click. In his left hand, he summoned the longsword once more; in his right, another dagger gleamed wetly. Blood streamed down his arm, soaking his fingers, but his lips twisted into a grin that had nothing human in it.
All around him, the first line of the Dreamer Army was slowly buckling under the pressure of the nightmare horde. So many of them were already dead, and more were dying every second. Their bodies were torn to pieces and devoured, disappearing into the mass of monsters like morning dew. That sight was so harrowing and chilling that the mind simply refused to process it.
And yet, the Sleepers of the first line, those who possessed the most powerful combat Aspects and the best Memories, had achieved their goal. They stopped the devastating wave of abominations in its tracks and tied it down with their blades and their lives.
The horde failed to roll over the human army, obliterating it completely without even slowing down.
More than that, the massacre was not one-sided. For every human killed, several Nightmare Creatures were wounded, crushed, and cut to pieces. Arduously and at a great price, the first line was reforming itself, the survivors of the initial charge rallying around two champions.
They were Effie and Veynar.
With both of them turning into a bastion in the sea of monsters and gathering fighters around them, the advance of the horde stalled. Whatever creatures managed to get past were met and eviscerated by the Sleepers of the second line, led by Seishan and Theola.
…And throughout all of that, the archers and the siege engines of the third line never stopped firing.
***
Seraphine
Seraphine flinched at the horde of nightmare creatures advancing on the first line. She did not glance down, or else she would see that her hands were shaking uncontrollably. Seraphine did not wish to see it.
She clenched her hands and tried to calm herself down. Her aim was going to suffer if she kept shaking in fear.
Seraphine prided herself on overcoming things like social anxiety as well as getting through many unpalatable situations with grace and elegance, not to mention managing to survive in the labyrinth alone for many months without losing her sanity.
But this was just too much…
The worst thing was that she had promised Aether that she would try her best and protect everyone from the church with her arrows.
And her flaw was that she could not break promises. Seraphine had always refrained from making promises to anyone after receiving her flaw. But still, she had promised to protect, could she not keep a single simple promise?
That would not do, she was a priestess, even if not a true one. She had to protect her own people.
'What would he say in a situation like this..?'
Perhaps something ridiculous like, I entered the enemy's mind and gave it PTSD. He always came up with the most stupid explanations, what do you mean you traumatized a whole tree?
Strangely, thinking about him calmed down her mind. She only regretted that he was not close by to reassure her in person.
'I am becoming too dependent..'
Gazing at the approaching horde, she sighed and gripped her bow tighter.
The coral was sloping down in the place where Changing Star and The Blasphemer had chosen to face the guardians of the Spire. Because of that, the position of the third line was higher than the other two, which would allow them to continue firing long after Veynar and the rest had engaged the Nightmare Creatures in melee.
In theory.
They were all under the command of Night.
All around him, those Sleepers that had suitable Memories or Aspect Abilities were preparing to shoot, waiting for his command. The surviving Artisans and their assistants were busy loading the six powerful ballistae they had transported all the way from the Dark City and put together the last night.
"First mark!"
A second later, six heavy spears flashed through the air and crashed into the wall of monsters. Many of them were eviscerated, but these losses were like a drop of water in the sea of darkness.
"Second mark!"
"Now!"
As his melodic voice rolled over the third line of the Dreamer Army, she drew her bow and took aim.
Letting go of the string, Seraphine watched as the blue arrow split into five smaller ones. Then those five arrows bit themselves deep into several creatures and then exploded those creatures on spot. Several runes flashed before her eyes.
Very few creatures could resist her shockwaves.
However she hesitated when she prepared to take her second shot.
For a second, Seraphine was stunned by the harrowing sight. The scale of the massacre that was happening below her was just too vast to comprehend. Her heart was instantly constricted, full of worry for Veynar…
And all the other people she knew.
Everyone around her was doing everything in their power to kill as many Nightmare Creatures as they could. Arrows, magical projectiles, and heavy lances launched by the ballistae rained on the ghastly horde, reaping countless lives.
But it was not enough, not nearly enough…
Seeing so many people be torn to pieces and devoured while trying to protect her and the other archers, Seraphine couldn't help but wish that she could do more.
She slapped herself hard across the face.
'Get a grip dammit!'
Just a few meters above them, almost invisible in the bright light of dawn, a vast net made out of sharp iron wire was drawn above the battlefield.
The wire for this net was collected in the Labyrinth, from those areas where iron spiders were known to nest, and fashioned into the aerial barrier by the Artisans.
It was meant to protect them from the terrifying creatures that could fall at any moment from the skies.
After all, the Crimson Spire did not only have a Terror and a horde of guardians.
It also had its Messengers…
***
"Draw your bows! Take aim! Endure!"
On the ground near her, there were several quivers that awaited for their turns. Seraphine was shooting without respite, alternating between the splitting arrow and the mundane ones. It took time for the memory arrow to return to her hands, so she had to use something else in between.
Fortunately, mundane or not each one of her attacks exploded in shockwaves. Killing enemies quickly or wounding them very deeply. Her aspect was of the supreme rank, that was why it was very powerful in its attacks.
Gritting her teeth, Serpahine drew her bow, took aim, held her breath, and fired. Every movement had to be efficient, quick, and precise. As soon as one shot was done, another one immediately started. Draw, aim, release. Draw, aim, release. Repeat, and repeat, and repeat...
In these moments, she had become less of a human and more of a methodical battle machine that ran on all cylinders without stopping even for a moment.
She put an arrow through the eye of a terrible serpent, through the chest of a carapace demon, and pierced the leg of a creatures that was made of rotting flesh. Each and every one of her arrows emitted shockwaves that blew up limbs, killed.
She felt like she was drowning.
It took a lot of strength to pull the string of a combat bow. The draw weight of a good bow was as much as fifty kilograms, on average. Twenty times the weight of a sword…
And Memory bows like hers were much more monstrous. They were never meant for mundane humans, so pulling that string every few seconds burned through her stamina rapidly. Very soon, Serpahine's muscles screamed in pain, and her lungs seemed to be on fire.
"Keep at it! Draw, aim! Endure!"
'Is he high? Why the fuck do you keep screaming?!'
Letting loose another arrow, Seraphine drew in a hoarse breath and glanced up, almost out of habit.
'Fuck! Shit! Damn it!' Seraphine used every curse word she had in her vocabulary as she looked up at the sky.
At some point, five black dots appeared high above the battlefield, flying in an eerily perfect circle above it. A cold chill ran down Seraphine's back.
Five Fallen Monsters were observing the massacre that was happening below them with vile indifference.
Just a second later, countless Nightmare Creatures poured from the grey skies and dove down, swiftly approaching the ground. There were so many of them that their mass resembles a swirling black column of a colossal tornado.
Seraphine trembled, she paled like sheet.
"Skyward squads! Aim high!"
Brought back to reality by his voice, the archers quickly aimed at the sky.
Seraphine let the separating arrow loose, five arrows pierced through the skies as they bit themselves into the flying abominations and exploded in shockwaves, killing some and wounding many.
A tremor ran through the entire net, and drops of black blood fell to the ground.
There were so many of the flying Nightmare Creatures that it was impossible to count them all. Among the swarm of horrors, there were the giant locusts, massive abominations with hungry maws and bat-like wings, repulsive birds with fleshy tentacles growing from beneath their pale feathers, and many more.
…And above them, five black dots continued to circle in the sky.
Most of the archers around them had already switched their targets. Only the siege engine crews and those with Abilities and Memories unsuitable for firing upward continued to pelt the nightmare horde with deadly projectiles.
The quickest of the descending monsters were eviscerated, and soon, a rain of corpses fell on the iron net.
…But a few lucky ones had avoided the arrows and dove down to devour the humans who stood on the ground.
Reaching for another arrow, Seraphine found nothing but emptiness. Looking down in confusion, she saw that her quivers were empty.
Before she had time to process that thought, however, someone had already thrown two fresh quivers on the ground in front of her.
Picking up an arrow with bleeding fingers, Seraphine inhaled through her teeth and raised her bow.