Nico pivoted, his sabatons scraping against the coral as he twisted and thrust forward in a single, sharp motion. Soft, white light flared. The [Mourning Star] struck true, decapitating a crimson clay mantis' head and spraying a fountain of blood backwards.
[You have slain an Awakened…]
Exhaling deeply, he retrieved the mace and rose onto one leg, delivering a powerful sidekick to the still-moving corpse. The thorax caved inward, leaving a small crater. The body was redirected into the crowd.
Not a second passed before the rolling horde trampled over it, a dozen ravenous abominations clawing at each other to fill the gap first.
'Their momentum must stall…'
White sparks swirled around his left arm, marking the summoning of his glaive.
Dashing into the opening, Nico switched to a one-handed grip. A new weapon formed in his offhand, sweeping sideways before any of the Nightmare Creatures could react. Its unparalleled reach allowed it to butcher long gashes into carapace, scale, and flesh. A crescent of fetid blood marked its path.
'I had hoped not to show my Ascended weapon, but none will be aware of its rank either way, and all will be more distracted on the horde to evaluate its worth.'
He worked himself deeper into the undulating mass.
Two vermin — one a centurion, the other a fiend — lunged past the assault in a frenzy to attack him.
Allowing the momentum of his weapon to carry him into a turn, Nico angled his glaive towards the centurion, his hand sliding along the wooden shaft to elongate his reach. Two legs and a pincer flew into the air. The Awakened Monster's piercing shriek joined the cacophony of its already reeling brethren's.
The [Wrathful Crescent] grew lighter in his grasp.
Another wave of steel javelins embedded themselves into the stampede.
With his other hand now poised to deliver a vicious attack, he crouched under the fiend's skeletal hands and delivered a lethal uppercut with his mace. Soul essence rushed through his veins. The skull of the monster shattered before it could even separate from its neck. Bone burst into a rain of fragmented shrapnel. Nico danced away from the retaliation without consequence.
Activating the [Morning Star]'s enchantment, he then tossed it into the foaming crowd, watching as the damaged centurion tried to swat it away with its remaining scythe.
On contact it all turned to white.
Purifying light blinded Nico, searing heat stifled the battlefield, and a bone-rattling shockwave shook the ground. Mere moments passed before a large patch twenty meters wide was suddenly emptied of souls.
'That'll do it.'
Allowing himself a brief reprieve, Nico focused his innate senses to track other key member of the battle.
Shaman was rampaging far ahead of the frontline, surrounded on all sides. However, it simply attacked unabated, its five legs crushing anything unlucky enough to be below it, and two appendages used to either split or toss Nightmare Creatures around. Every now and then it swooped down, using its slimy torso to bash or slam, and its colossal maw to devour whole.
Two Crimson flames burned brightly at the crown, encouraging anything in sight to come and attack.
Effie and Caster were doing well after the initial charge, too. The former was using her shield and spear both as weapons, her strength only helping to create a balanced mix of offense and defense that worked seamlessly. The latter appeared as little more than a blur of blood, hazy clouds of blood helping to obscure his figure. Scores of Awakened Creatures easily fell.
Other than that, no other notable figures were heading the group. The frontline was still suffering heavy casualties.
So many people were dying.
All that pain, all that suffering, and all that madness flowed into his mind like a high tide, but he didn't falter. He didn't pause. What was happening now was well within expectations, and he was prepared. Shaman couldn't afford dampening his Attribute, but it didn't need to either.
'Eternal Dawn…'
The True Name clung to his thoughts tightly, anchoring him in his own reality. While violent emotions devoured his state of mind, all he had to do was focus on that undeniable truth, and the storm would still enough to keep himself focused.
'Time's up.'
The [Mourning Star] lay at the center of a charred crater; the bones and tough chitin of its victims scattered at the edges. Scorched beasts were currently being buried beneath the coming wave, their dying screeches unheard.
Nico dove back in. Amplified four-fold, his body could easily twirl the [Wrathful Crescent] around, moving with liquid grace, severing legs, claws, arms, and heads without effort. He danced like a dark wraith born for battle, reaping profane life after profane life, his blood-drenched silver armor staining a deep, dark hue.
[You have slain an…]
[You have slain…]
[You have…]
[You…]
The [Wrathful Crescent] hummed with sanguine glee, its steel drowning in bottomless darkness.
Three powerful roots wrapped around his circulatory system. Soul essence churned in Nico's veins, cycling through his four cores with such intensity that his veins swelled and glowed.
Something intangible was shifting in Nico's body. As he pressed deeper into the horde, demanding his blood to flow faster, stronger, denser, his soul was changing — refining, improving.
Not the cores, but the essence itself.
It was developing into something alive and Awakened, receptive to his will.
But not just yet.
So Nico killed, and killed, and killed until he forgot about anything outside of that slaughter. The waking world became but a strange dream. The other Sleepers were now distant and gone. All that was left was the strife of eight-hundred souls, the madness of a thousand more corrupted, the name that bound him, and death.
Endless death.
Grimacing as a stray attack dented his pauldron and reverberated in his shoulder, he spun his glaive, bisecting an iron spider in half. Using his soul sense as an unassailable form of vision, his foot crushed the lurching centipede slithering behind him underfoot, mace appearing in his free hand the next instant to crack open a Revenant's gnarled exterior. One well-timed explosion devastated its internal organs.
The great, terrible being collapsed in a heap, its body now a mere steppingstone for other monsters to attack Nico from above.
'It's not stopping—'
Before he could think another word, a malformed jaw snapped in front of his helmet. Droplets of viscous saliva dripped from its scaly chin. Nico exhaled and rolled, skewering the beast's head from underneath its jaws and dashing under it to the other side.
The Crimson Terror's boundless army showed no signs of slowing down.
Still intact, the frontline was now slowly disappearing into the second line to rest and recover. The wounded warriors had done their part, letting new champions slowly shift into their place. Even though the Dreamer army was messy and uncoordinated, they somehow managed to keep the casualties minimal during the transition, if only barely.
Behind them was an unrelenting assault of ranged attack. Sleepers used bows, slingshots, crossbows, throwing weapons, and any other projectile to launch into the fray. By the time most abominations reached the vanguard they were already injured with a stray arrow or two.
Of course, the siege weapons never stopped firing either. Over a hundred steel spikes were embedded into the warped plain of coral.
And above the entire battle was a net of steel wires constructed by the Artisans. Flying abominations were diving into the trap full speed, slicing their bodies into disgusting chunks. Even more blood rained onto the Dreamer army. Their bodies piled onto the cage, slowly but surely blotting out the sun.
'Ah… just how long will this go on?'
Nico hardly knew, but with more than enough strength left in his body, he dove back into the melee with renewed movement.