Chapter 1218 Hunted

Chapter 1218 Hunted

There were thirteen humans desperately trying to escape the pursuit of the Great abomination.

Or rather, there had been.

Without anyone noticing the reason, one of the Masters stumbled and fell. No one had attacked her, and the pursuing corpses were still out of sight. The woman grabbed her neck and screamed.

A moment later, she rose with a strange smile on her lips.

Where a radiant soul core had been, there was now nothing but spreading darkness.

'Curse it all...'

Sunny commanded the sole shadow that had remained with him to wrap itself around his body, and ran.

Someone's hoarse shout reached his ears:

"S—split up!"

'No! You fools...'

The logic of that desperate call was simple and not without reason. There were seven vessels of the Gate Guardian — eight, now — and twelve surviving humans. If they escaped in different directions, some of them would have a chance to survive.

But it was pointless to apply logic to Great abominations. These beings existed outside any kind of human rationale, outside reason. Only by staying together and helping each other would the survivors have a chance to preserve their lives, no matter how While Morgan, Seishan, and the members of Neph's cohort chose to stay close to each other, the other five Ascended turned and ran in small.

It was already too late to try and explain that to the frightened Masters, though.

While Morgan, Seishan, and the members of Neph's cohort chose to stay close to each other, the other five Ascended turned and ran in different directions.

Not a second later, a dark blur intercepted one of them, and a fountain of blood shot into the air.

Up ahead, Morgan looked back from the saddle of her steel mount and cursed. Then, she hesitated for a moment and jumped off its tall back. The Echo then galloped in the direction of the approaching corpses, lowering its horned head.

As a whirlwind of scarlet sparks rose around her, Seishan stopped and turned around. Her exquisitely beautiful face was cold and somber.

The two of them looked at each other, and then, Seishan slowly raised her hands.

'What are they doing?'

Jet was riding Nightmare, so she was far ahead of the rest of them. Effie was maybe the fastest runner among the group of survivors, so she was ahead of the pursuers, as well.

Only Sunny and Nephis were falling behind.

As they ran, Neph's eyes shone with white radiance. She briefly touched Sunny's shoulder, and he felt the nurturing warmth of her flames pour into his soul and body. Instantly, their speed increased.

It was still not enough, though.

Neither the augmentation of the burning shadows nor the tenacious nature of Blood Weave were enough to overcome that terrible fatigue anymore.

Even though he had to stop for a dreadful reason, he still welcomed the short moment of falling onto the sand.

A split second later, though, Sunny had to push his battered body into a roll and jump back to his feet.

'Curses...'

Miraculously, they had managed to escape all but one of the taken corpses. The last one still pursued them, never letting the group — now reduced to only seven people — stop and rest for even a minute.

At some point, the heat and the scorching sand had transformed into an lethal threat of their own.

And yet, they persisted... until now.

That was because a second corpse suddenly appeared out of nowhere, barring their path.

The figure standing in front of them was not one of the original seven abominations, though... instead, it was a familiar face.

Sunny let out a tired sigh.

'So he's here, as well...'

Master Xu was staring at them with an eerie smile.

Nephis, Effie, Jet, Morgan, Seishan, Kai, and Sunny... the seven of them had nowhere else to run. One vessel of the Gate Guardian was behind them, and the other was in front of them.

The night was approaching.

"What do we do?"

Kai's voice sounded tense and tired. He could still escape, of course... maybe. The Great being approaching them had to have ways of dealing with flying prey.

Sunny closed his eyes for a moment, then outstretched his hand and summoned the Sin of Solace.

What else was there to do?

He commanded all but one of his shadows to wrap themselves around the white jade of the cursed blade, turning it perfectly black.

"...Kill the bastards."

They had to kill them or die... kill them and die, if need be. Either way worked.

It was better than turning into the skin costumes of the Gate Guardian themselves, anyway.

But Sunny... Sunny wanted to live.