Shadow Slave

Master Jet studied the map for a few moments, and then traced a line across the ocean that lay between the four continents. Then, she suddenly asked:

"Do you know a lot about seafaring, Sunny?"

He slowly shook his head.

"As much as the next guy, I guess."

She smiled.

"Understandable. In truth, navigating the oceans is not an easy task. If it was, we could have just used the Pacific or the Atlantic to transport food from South America. But trying to sail them is pure suicide, for now."

Soul Reaper leaned back and took a sip of coffee.

"Most of our planet is covered by water, and most of that water is infested with dreadful Nightmare Creatures. That is because most Gates open underwater. And since we have very few methods of battling them below the sea — and very little reason to — we just leave those Gates be. Humanity might still hold four and a half continents, but we have surrendered all of Earth's oceans to the enemy."

She sighed, then dejectedly shook her head.

"Still, no civilization can exist without efficient transportation, and shipping cargo across water has been the mainstay of transportation since the dawn of time. So, we maintain a presence in the Indian ocean. Navigating it is not easy, however, because there are unspeakable and uncountable horrors dwelling in the depths."

Sunny hesitated for a moment, then asked with a bit of curiosity:

"Wouldn't it be easier to ship stuff through space, then?"

Soul Reaper grimaced.

"It is not cost-efficient. Getting to orbit requires considerable resource commitment, more so with heavy cargo, and resources are something we desperately lack. Plus… space is rife with its own dangers."

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

"What dangers?"

She simply shrugged.

know. Suffice it to say that simply maintaining a scattering of satellites that support the network and the Obel Scale is

He frowned.

we manage to make use of the ocean if it's so

Master Jet smiled.

The answer is

a couple of

"The Great Clan?"

She nodded.

They are not called Nightwalkers just to honor the clan founder, after all. To move across the ocean, convoys that

leaned back, thinking. He knew a bit about the third

prominent clans. They resided in a dire region of the Dream Realm known as Stormsea,

Sovereign of their own. Anvil of Valor and Ki Song ruled their families, but Asterion was seemingly not related and had nothing to

clear why the other two powers did not consume the weaker one. Now that Sunny learned of the pivotal role Nightwalkers played in sustaining human civilization, he guessed that they simply offered too much utility to

the nature of the region they controlled might have simply been too hazardous for either Valor or Song to invade, or their existence created a bit

were just too many coincidences between their powers and the deity of depths, oceans, darkness, stars,

did Nightwalkers bear the

would certainly

Master Jet, meanwhile, continued:

reach their destinations, which is both a blessing and a curse. The problem with that situation is that while there are more Nightwalkers than there are

She sighed.

calculations, it will take at least two years to evacuate the population of Antarctica that way. That is even if we commit the bulk of our navy to the operation.

Her voice grew dim.

going to start in a few months, at most. It won't be too severe

silent for a