Using the short window of opportunity, Sunny jumped back to his feet, dashed forward, and thrust his jade sword into a small crack between two plates of armor that covered the giant's knee joint. The thin blade of the Sin of Solace easily slid into it and bit into the Demon's flesh, drawing a few drops of putrid black blood.

That was all he had time to do before leaping back.

The shallow wound Sunny had delivered was by no means mortal, or even seriously debilitating.

But it didn't need to be.

The plague of the [Sinister Whisper] had already been passed to the Gate Guardian by the swift jade blade.

'Let's see how strong your mind is, bastard.'

Even diminished by the potent mental barrier of the Undying Chain, the eerie whispers of the Sin of Solace were constantly assaulting his own sanity. Of course, it was strange to think of any Nightmare Creature as sane... they were all mad to begin with, after all.

But Sunny had high hopes. A demon was a demon - no matter how wicked, it was still a sentient being. That sentience, which made these creatures so dangerous, could also be destroyed.

The Gate Guardian finally unleashed another attack, this one so fast that Sunny barely had time to react. With no other choice, he gritted his teeth and blocked it with the blade of the

Sin of Solace. Another shockwave exploded outward, and he was thrown back like a cannonball.

'Crap...'

Sunny flew back, smashing into several Nightmare Creatures on his way. Several devastating impacts rattled his entire body, and bits of broken flesh flew into the air. Landing dozens of meters away from the Gate Guardian, he collided against the ground, bounced, and then rolled for a bit, leaving a deep groove in the snow.

Throughout all of it, there was a vicious smile on his lips, however. That was because he had managed to deliver a cut to the wrist of the Demon just before his block crumbled.

The giant was already near, so Sunny rose without wasting any time and dashed forward to meet him.

For a short stretch of time which, nevertheless, felt like an eternity, he danced around the Corrupted abomination. Diving through the shadows and using Shadow Manifestation, Sunny was able to just barely stay ahead of the terrifying creature by a split second. Several more shallow wounds appeared on the giant's body, drops of blood rolling down its bone armor.

At first, the Demon did not seem to be affected at all. Then, however...

First, his movements slowed down a little, becoming slightly erratic.

Then, his body grew tense.

The creature twitched and suddenly struck itself in the head, as if trying to shake off a dizzy spell.

The more wounds accumulated on the giant's body, the louder the whispers of the sinister blade grew.

Eventually, the Demon froze in an awkward pose, its arms hanging limp and its neck twisted at a strange angle. It remained motionless for few long, tense seconds.

Then, a chilling roar escaped from its maw, making the world shake.

'What the...'

As the Gate Guardians sanity... insanity... or whatever it was that guided its perverse sentience collapsed, an endless sea of bloodlust and frenzy seemed to overwhelm the abomination. Letting out a bestial growl, it moved again and lunged at Sunny like a mountain of muscle, bone, and murderous rage.

Sunny stared at that frightening sight for a short moment, then calmly stepped through shadows and appeared twenty or so meters behind the crazed horror.

His disappearance did not seem to affect the Demon much. Maybe the broken abomination did not even notice it, consumed by rabid

long arms forward, grabbed the nearest Nightmare Creature, and brutally ripped it apart.

Then, not satisfied by the ghastly sight of the ruptured corpse, it howled and dove into the surrounding swarm, crushing and tearing bodies to shreds. Just in a few seconds, the crazed Demon killed more Nightmare Creatures than Sunny had on his way to meet it.

'D-damn...'

Looking at the rampaging Gate Guardian, Sunny couldn't help but shudder. Sin of Solace was truly a frightening weapon.

...Did it only seem so, or had the whispers of the jade blade grew a little clearer?

He really felt like he could learn to understand them. If he just listened a little bit closer... a little bit longer... yes, surely, he would... (C) content.

***

The rest of the battle did not take long. Verne's Awakened and the Devils fought the swarm of Scavengers at the front, while the frenzied Demon decimated its center. Many Nightmare Creatures tried to attack the Gate Guardian to save their lives, but all of them failed.

Sunny did not, however.

Felling a mindless enemy was infinitely easier than a cunning one, and the maddened giant seemed to have lost all its ability to think straight. Being consumed by the curse of the [Sinister Whisper], it had turned into a rabid beast. Sunny used that to his advantage, pulling the attention of the Corrupted Demon toward other abominations while he methodically worked on dismantling its armor.

The trick was to remain out of sight and only attack the giant from the back. Of course, navigating through the swarm of abominations without being cornered was not an easy task, but the havoc consuming the battlefield was so thorough that Sunny had even less trouble with that task than usual.

Eventually, he bled the Gate Guardian, diminished its power with dozens of cuts, and finally pierced its black, wildly contorting heart.

A few moments later, the voice of the Spell reached his ears through the clamor of battle:

[You have slain a Corrupted Demon. Myriad Eater.]

[..Your shadow grows stronger.]

The giant's corpse crashed to the ground. making it tremble.

Sunny stared at it for a moment, surprised.

A Corrupted Demon...... suddenly, he remembered his first moments on the Forgotten Shore, and the monstrous shark that had almost scared him to death. It was a Corrupted creature, too. Either a Demon or a Devil, considering the two soul shards that the Carapace Centurions later harvested from the half of the carcass that a much more harrowing being had left behind.

Who could have thought that, one day, he would be killing abominations comparable to that fearsome monstrosity?

Shaking his head. Sunny brandished the Sin of Solace and looked around.

It was time to clean up the rest of the mess.......