As the first blade fell, so did the second, and the third and the fourth; soon, every blade fell upon the Nightmare Creatures like rain. As the air around Lauri began to clear of the lumnicest blades, he did not allow the assault to slow, adding more weapons to the rapidly depleting storm.
The first sword struck its target, piercing clean through the head of one of the weaker Nightmare Creatures, killing it instantly.
Lauri's eyes narrowed as he heard a voice whisper into his ears, a voice he could never quite place. Despite having heard it hundreds of thousands of times during the years since his First Nightmare, Lauri could never quite figure out why it was so damn familiar.
So familiar, yet so strange.
The voice said:
[You have slain a dormant beast, Fetid Hound]
Lauri shook his head.
'Not a very original name. I expect better of you, Spell."
[You have slain an awakened-]
[You have slain a dor-]
[You have sl-]
The Spell's words began to overlap as more and more of the blades found their mark, turning into a continuous stutter as the Spell interrupted itself to announce the latest kill. Watching with great interest, Lauri allowed himself a moment to smile as an area around the Gate Guardian was torn apart by his attack.
The Gate Guardian – a grotesque, towering evolution of the lesser Fetid Hound – reared back, its body convulsing as the mighty hound's jaws split open wide, and a pressurised stream of pus erupted upward, a sickly beam tore through the air toward Lauri.
Lauri moved to react, twisting midair, he darted to the side in an attempt to evade.
Not giving up so easily, the Gate Guardian twisted its head, the beam following after Lauri, beginning to relentlessly track him through the air as he continued to try and dodge its toxic stream.
'Damnit, I can't focus on killing the weaker ones with this thing chasing after me.'
With his concentration broken, Lauri's barrage abruptly came to a stop. Whatever blades that had been flying through the air missed their marks now that Lauri's attention had been pulled to the Tyrant's attack.
Clicking his tongue, he abandoned the idea of keeping his distance.
Catching the haft of his double-sided axe with his free hand, Lauri's grip tightened as light flared around him.
In the next instant, his body dissolved, collapsing into a streak of brilliance as he activated [Light Dash] – dropping straight down toward the creature in a blazing counterattack.
Lauri reappeared beside the Gate Guardian in an instant. He had managed to clear a small area around the leader of the pack with his initial barrage, not quite as large as he would have wanted.
But since when did plans ever really work out?
The Gate Guardian had yet to react to Lauri's sudden appearance in front of it, meaning its head was still pointed towards the sky.
Leaving its neck entirely unprotected.
Lauri slammed one foot forward, digging his heels into the snow as he swung his axe towards the Gate Guardian's unprotected neck. Lauri tapped into his reserves, filling his muscles with as much essence as he could, intending to finish the Fallen Tyrant in one single blow. The axe bit into the hound's neck without resistance, tearing out a large chunk.
As its neck was slashed, it exploded outwards in a burst of vile pus and blood before the Tyrant collapsed to the ground.
Unable to react in time to move out of the way of the disgusting fluids, Lauri simply channelled his Aspect and created a wall of light big enough to protect himself. Peering through the wall, Lauri grimaced.
The fluids stuck to the wall in a large splat, but more importantly, Lauri noticed something was happening to the wall. A large crack formed at the centre of the wall where most of the secretion had landed and subsequently begun to dissolve the light like acid. Without any more resistance, the crack instantly expanded outwards.
Lauri cocked his head to the side as the wall shattered into sparkles.
'The wall barely lasted any meaningful amount of time before it broke. Is this an effect of the pus, or is it due to the power of this thing being a Fallen Tyrant.'
Lowering his gaze, Lauri noticed similar cracks forming on the head of his axe. Dropping the axe, he simply relinquished control over it, allowing the light forming it to come undone.
As he thought of what weapon he should form next to take on the approaching hounds. A chilling realisation dawned on Lauri, returning his gaze to the Gate Guardians' corpse, Lauri had only one thought in his mind.
'The Spell, why hasn't it announced my kill?'
Subtle movement drew Lauri's gaze to the Tyrant's neck. The torn flesh was writhing as it regrew, knitting itself together in a slick pool of tainted fluid. Threads of sinew stretched and reconnected, pulling the wound closed with slow, deliberate motion. The skin followed, crawling over the gap as though guided by some unseen will, sealing what should have been a fatal blow.
Lauri immediately tried to close the distance – a longsword formed in his hands – but he had taken too long. One of the Awakened beasts had reached him. Sliding to the side, Lauri caught the hound as it lunged. Swinging upwards, Lauri's longsword effortlessly sliced through its neck, beheading the monster.
[You have slain an awakened beast, Festering Mongrel]
Gritting his teeth, Lauri rotated his body as another Festering Mongrel jumped at him. Bringing his longsword down on the mutt's body, he left a large gash running along the length of its back. Before it could stand, Lauri brought his boot down on the mongrel's skull, splattering its brain into the snow.
Lauri had run out of time completely; he had failed to kill the Tyrant in one hit and disorientate its minions. Now he would suffer the consequences of his failure.
Whatever distance he had created for himself was gone; the pack of Fetid Hounds and Festering Mongrels were upon him. Each frothing at the mouth to get a bite of a human with such a pure soul.
Scowling, Lauri hurled his longsword at the nearest creature. The blade cut clean through the air before slamming into the skull of an unfortunate Fetid Hound, punching through bone and dropping the beast instantly.
He didn't slow.
Raising his hands, light gathered in Lauri's palms – then solidified. A pair of shortswords formed in each hand, their edges gleaming in the darkness.
What followed was nothing short of a bloodbath.
The first abomination lunged.
It died before its jaws could close.
Lauri moved like a streak of light through the swarm. He slid across the snow, the movement of his legs completely desynchronised from the movement of his body. This was another application of [Light's Edge]. Not only was Lauri able to form constructs of light, but he could freely control them.
This could be used in numerous ways, the simplest being to unleash a rain of luminescent swords on an unsuspecting horde of Nightmare Creatures. But a more advanced method would be to cover your body in plates of light, and manipulate these plates to control your movement. With this application, one could perform unnatural movements, such as flying or maybe even, sliding across the ground.
Lauri moved like a streak of light through the swarm. To an observer, it would look strange, maybe even wrong.
Unnatural even.
As though the world's rules simply didn't apply.
And in a sense, they didn't.
His blades flashed in rapid arcs. Light carving through flesh, severing limbs, splitting torsos, crushing skulls in a blur of motion. Each creature that threw itself at him met a swift and brutal end, their bodies collapsing before they even had the chance to fully comprehend their deaths.
Lauri caught a glimpse of the Tyrant; its neck had almost fully healed. In fact, it was beginning to move its limbs. The very fact that it had not moved them sooner made Lauri realise his initial attack had come much closer to killing the Tyrant than he had realised. Not just tearing out its throat, but potentially damaging its spine.
Despite this, Lauri had no time to lament his failure as, in the moment he was distracted from the fight, Lauri's swords broke, wisps of light vanishing into the night sky.
Whether due to overexerting them or due to the vile fluids of the Nightmare Creatures, it didn't matter. Lauri simply crafted new blades on the move. The darkness pulsed with each strike, brief bursts of light as new weapons were formed, illuminating the writhing mass of wretches as they surged forward in a desperate attempt to shield their leader as it healed its wound.
It didn't matter.
They weren't fast enough.
They weren't strong enough.
And one by one, they fell.
But one by one wasn't enough.
More and more of the pack of terrifying beasts arrived every second. The swarm was threatening to drown Lauri under its mass.
One particularly energetic dog jumped at Lauri, who twisted aside at the last second, the creature's jaws snapping shut where his neck had been. One of his swords dispersed into light as Lauri released it, forming a spear. He drove the butt of the weapon into the ground.
The charging beast impaled itself. The spear punched through its mouth, tore through its body, and burst out the other side in a spray of dark, ruined flesh. The creature spasmed once – then went still.
[You have slain a dormant beast, Fetid Hound]
Dropping the spear, Lauri turned to face the next monstrosity.
But before he could lash out at the next attacker, a devastating howl tore through the night like a physical blow, slamming into Lauri with crushing weight. The air trembled as Lauri's mind reeled from the sheer intensity of it, as the noise threatened to rip straight through his thoughts.
'Is that… a sonic attack?!'
Lauri staggered, teeth grinding as he forced himself to stay upright.
Despite being wracked by this abrupt pain, Lauri's gaze snapped toward the source.
The Gate Guardian had risen.