Shadow Slave

"Draw! Aim! Endure!"

Just as Night shouted these words, Aiko tripped and fell. The bundle of arrows she was carrying in her arms scattered on the ground.

"Ouch…"

Picking herself up from the coral, she hurriedly gathered the arrows and dashed to the nearest archer, then placed them near his feet.

In this battle, the role of people like her — those who were too weak to fight and did not possess a useful Aspect — was simultaneously the most simple and the most chaotic. They were charged with supplying the Sleepers participating in the battle with everything they needed, be it arrows, crossbow bolts, stones for their slings, or anything else.

There were several teams of runners doing different things. Initially, she was supposed to help carry the wounded from the first and second lines to the makeshift hospital at the back of the formation. There, a few people with Aspect Abilities having to do with healing waited, ready to help. Her friend Stev was one of them.

…But as it turned out, there wasn't a lot of wounded in this battle. Most simply died on the spot. So she was left with nothing to do and ended up here, helping to supply the archers.

She had just brought two quivers to Night, and was on her way…

…Wait, how crazy was that?

Trying to catch her breath, Aiko glanced around and shivered.

'Crazy, this is crazy…'

The scene in front of her was just too bizarre to be true. Several hundred Sleepers were besieged by a horde of Nightmare Creatures on the ground, with another falling on them from above. All that in front of an ugly, endless tower of crimson coral. Surely, she was dreaming…

'Of course you are! This is the Dream Realm, you dimwit!'

the weirdest thing of all... was that she was stuck in all this craziness with none other than Night from Nightingale, the breathtakingly beautiful idol whose posters hung on the walls of most girls her age back home. Despite the fact that the two of them

weird dream a teenage girl like her

a muffled curse, Aiko saw Stev and another Sleeper carrying a crude stretcher. On it was a young woman, covered

albeit not too seriously. Running up to them, Aiko took over and helped

her tiny body was not easy, but she gritted her teeth

hurried to the back of

the exhausted crews of the siege engines, who were slowly but surely running out of the massive lances to hurl at the rampaging

of it, things weren't going well for the

the sea of monsters, but Aiko didn't know how much longer those poor people would be able to hold. The second line was now entangled with the Nightmare Creatures, too. The initial plan had been for these

number of the flying abominations did not

all

through her body, Aiko trembled and involuntarily turned her head to the tallest point in the

other

is that guy

strange young man who had gotten her into

Aiko had quickly learned who the important people were and what positions they held in the Bright Lady's cohort. Everyone's role was clear and easy to

…Except for Sunny.

Nephis's cohort, but Sunny himself always insisted that he was not. He was thought to be

to himself, ridiculous bragging, and carefree attitude. They simultaneously respected him for being Changing Star's scout and considered him mostly

was harmless. She had seen him appear from the shadows and kill the

mind, Sunny was very mysterious. He

with Lady Nephis now, she suddenly felt a tiny

Changing Star had

they were going to