While leading around Goliath and destroying several hordes of Nightmare Creatures, Gehrman had successfully diminished the amount of assaults on Erebus Fields. Though it wasn't until Caster and his crew arrived that Gehrman finally understood what it would have looked like if he hadn't.
Nightmare Creatures from different Gates wouldn't normally horde together, even if a Tyrant was controlling one of the batches of monsters.
And yet when Gehrman and Sunny stood on top of the high wall surrounding the siege capital, what must have been the remnants of over 10 Gates had coalesced into a force all streaming towards the city.
This was not a matter of planning from the Nightmare Creatures, but simply a result of their base functions.
The primary motivator of any and all Nightmare Creatures was to kill humans.
It didn't matter how smart the creature got, at the end of the day that was an intrinsic need that had been proven to be tied to every Nightmare Creature.
Since this was the case, they naturally developed a sort of "sense" for humans. Sort of similar to Gehrman's own [Sixth Sense] Attribute, but far more specific with a much larger range.
So what would happen if such creatures were to spot a veritable mountain of their most sought after resource?
Naturally, they would gather.
5 Awakened stood behind Sunny, members of his Irregular Cohort. They all gave him nervous glances, which wasn't anything new.
What was weird was this one fellow who kept looking between the two of them. Fear, and another uncanny emotion mixed. It was as if he was imagining Sunny and him duking it out, and coming up with several different ways in which his Captain could beat him.
Eventually, Sunny sighed and addressed the young Awakened.
"Luster, have something to say?"
The Awakened quickly stammered, caught off guard by his being noticed.
"U-uh nothing important, Captain." the young man – Luster – let out a couch before saying in a meek voice. "I was just wondering, which of you two is stronger?"
Gehrman tilted his head, considering the question. On paper it shouldn't have been close, Gehrman had 7 Soul Cores while Sunny had 4. Gehrman had more battle experience, and though Sunny was a prodigy, that comparison ended heavily in Gehrman's favor.
But Sunny's real strength lay in his versatility. The current limits of his ability to create Memories were unknown.
Gehrman had caught him "weaving" a few times during the past week, and became convinced this sorcery could prove catastrophically powerful. Sunny had reached the point where he could determine the enchantments on his created Memories, or even alter prior existing ones.
If he had the materials, he could also prepare a deadly Memory or two that could counter Gehrman's abilities.
Not only that, it appeared that his strange Echoes had changed as well.
Indeed, there were now two that he had seen. The former Awakened Monster, the Stone Saint that had proven an incredible advantage during the Forgotten Shore, had increased in Rank and Class. And on top of that, Sunny had revealed to him that his Echo was currently undergoing evolution.
And now there was a new terror as well – an Awakened Terror. To be more specific, it was a pitch black steed with fangs and hooves tougher than diamond. Nightmare, as it was called, was not only a physical presence, but also one who dealt with dreams. Using his powers, the horse abomination could lull his opponents into sleep and trap them in a labyrinth of stolen dreams.
If the Stone Saint emerged from her evolution, perhaps the fight would be relatively even.
But before Gehrman could comment on this, Sunny scoffed loudly and gave Luster a scathing look.
"If we fought 100 times, I would lose 100 times. It wouldn't even be close. Now shut up and focus on giving Samara a steady supply of Essence."
Both Luster, and the other Awakened under Sunny gave him shocked looks. Needless to say they must have developed both great fear and great respect for their Captain, and struggled to imagine him ever losing.
And now there was one who their dreadful Captain claimed to be on a whole new tier of power.
Gehrman smirked at his friend, only to receive a scowl in return.
Clearly, Sunny wasn't keen on admitting his shortcomings. And yet he had answered as honestly as he could.
Perhaps it was because his distaste for outright lies, or perhaps it was a twisted sort of inspiration.
Sunny's Awakened cohort, as well as the entire population of Erebus Fields, were held in crippling dread this past week, even with 5 new Masters joining them.
But at the end of the day, what gave people the most hope was not a nebulous promise of support, it was individuals.
Individuals who were described as inhuman demigods would naturally inspire more than 5 nameless Masters.
And now this city had two such beings to turn to.
The Red Judge.
And The Devil of Antarctica.
"Now a good time?" Sunny asked under his breath.
Gehrman regained his focus. His eyes scanned the plains before him. The crisp green grass was becoming overrun, and the grey, black, and other random colors took over the landscape.
The veritable army of Nightmare Creatures would soon reach a point where all cannons within the Siege Capital walls and the Awakened stationed with projectiles could actually fire upon the approaching onslaught.
But Gehrman and Sunny had a different responsibility.
These thousands of Nightmare Creatures would not be the only force attacking Erebus Fields, and the resources of their defenses were frighteningly finite.
They needed to consolidate firepower as much as possible.
Fortunately, Sunny had a Memory that could help with that.
Using his Ascended Aspect Ability, Sunny had a nearby shadow turn corporeal. It grasped his arm and Gehrman's ankle.
What followed might have looked a bit silly, but it was the most efficient way of doing things.
Sunny barely had to expend any Essence at all to be taken down to the battlefield in mere seconds.
As Gehrman's wings tore through the [Hunters Attire], he launched himself forward. A trailing Sunny let out a few curses, but they ended up landing safely before the horde as easily as they had predicted.
Then Sunny took a step forward. On his black mantle, a Charm started to be woven into existence. And by the time it was fully formed, its enchantment activated.
Unlike [Greedy Bloodstone Talisman], this Charm had active enchantments that needed Essence to create an arcane effect.
But this effect was far more potent than any of Gehrman's resistances would be. That being said, the effect it produced was much more situational.
And this was the exact situation it would be useful in.
An invisibile ripple was sent out, providing two very different effects on allies and enemies respectively.
Gehrman and the rest of the Awakened and soldiers experienced a burst of courage at the mere sight of the Devil of Antarctica.
The Nightmare Creatures on the other hand, experienced an exponential increase in bloodlust…all focused on Sunny.
During this time, Gehrman was not idle.
He summoned his [Blunderbuss] and though it was a short range weapon, he let the spray of bullets travel at the oncoming force.
Dozens of meters away the gun lost the majority of its impact, but the spread and Rank of the projectiles did cause many creatures to bleed.
That was enough.
The now separated blood fell to the floor and started to rapidly move back towards Gehrman, where it started to coalesce and churn in an ever expanding ball over his head.
From their, a construct was developed, each mechanic carefully solidified at different tensions until a circular saw was created. It began spinning rapidly, causing the wind to be pushed and pulled.
At the same time, Sunny summoned another Memory, a small old-style lamp now hanging from his hip.
It was quite similar to what Gehrman remembered the lamp Johann had frequently used in the darker parts of his Hunt.
But this Memory had a vastly different purpose.
Instead of light, a torrent of shadows escaped from the lamp. Much more than Gehrman had been expecting.
Each of them formed tentacles that had multiple tendrils working in cohesion sprouting from each of their ends.
This was something Gehrman had had Sunny start practicing after the young Master came to ask him for advice.
Since Gehrman's [Blood Manipulation] was very similar in practice to Sunny's [Shadow Manipulation] he had requested some tutelage.
Now Sunny's constructs employed a very small but fundamental aspect of mechanics. Nothing crazy like the many Trick Weapons Gehrman often generated, but instead using physics to make sure each construct was realistically structurally sound.
If one made a construct that was forced to do something impossible, it would expend an impossible amount of Essence. But if the construct remained grounded in reality and its effects remained decently simple, then the cost was drastically reduced.
Not only that, the effects also underwent a decent boost.
Powered by physics, the tentacles tore into the Nightmare Creatures with minimal movement for optimal damage. And that damage led to more bleeding.
Gehrman's saw grew larger and larger.
By the time the first Nightmare Creature nearly reached them, Gehrman was satisfied.
With a groan he willed his creation forward.
The result was a bloody massacre.
It was already spinning fast enough that if the material of the saw was merely mundane, the amount of energy from its centripetal force would still damage Awakened Creatures. But this construct was not mundane. Mixed with Gehrman's own blood, the edges were largely of the Ascended Rank, and against Awakened and Fallen creatures, the result was simply unfair.
The saw spun through the vast array of Nightmare Creatures with little difficulty.
The teeth of the blade also made it so a large amount of new blood was spilled everywhere.
Moments later, an identical blood saw formed.
The two saws – both 30 meters in diameter – went opposite ways.
As they started to decimate the edges of the attacking force. Gehrman focused on creating a funnel.
And with the army focused on Sunny and not these giant war saws, the shape revealed itself within minutes.
Then, The blood saws turned perpendicular, and easily cut several meters into the earth, the funnel became more literal, and the assault of the forces of Erebus Fields started.
The sky turned black, coated in missiles, Awakened Arrows and projectiles, and cannon balls forged by Gehrman himself.
…
Several hours later, the city was caught in a state of euphoria.
"I heard the Red Judge killed a hundred Nightmarer Creatures just by looking at them!"
"My brother was in the Government HQ, monitoring everything, and he said that as soon as the Devil reached the battlefield, all the Nightmare Creatures started going after him specifically."
"Man…looking out over that field, its tough to say who the real Nightmares were, those monsters, or The Red Judge and the Devil."
Gehrman didn't really understand that last rumour, but it appeared to provide a similar amount of excitement to the rest of them.
Many such rumors spread like wildfire, further inflaming the people's desire to live and fight.
Admittedly, things had not gone as smoothly as they had hoped.
A few Fallen Tyrants loitered in the back of the group, and they managed to break the funnel fairly early on by controlling their underlings.
But even they would eventually have their attention pulled toward Sunny when they got close enough. And during that time,
A shot from the [Slothful Evelyn] proved to be fatal to all of them.
It was the first time in a long time Gehrman was using such a variety of Memories, he actually had to refresh himself on his arsenal just to make sure he wasn't underutilizing anything.
But at this point, unless the situation called for specific counters, Gehrman's three Transcendent Memories would do the trick.
That being said, he doubted they would do much good on this next foe.
Over the mountains, a few kilometers out, a buzzing could be heard. It started faint, but soon grew deafening.
A cloud the size of a small mountain range was flying toward them.
The Devouring Cloud had set its sights on Erebus Fields.