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.

simply maintaining a scattering of satellites that support the network and the Obel Scale is already

He frowned.

do we manage to make use

Master Jet smiled.

is pretty simple…

blinked a couple

"The Great Clan?"

She nodded.

representatives of the House of Night excel in guiding ships through turbulent waters. They are not called Nightwalkers just to honor the clan founder, after all. To move across the ocean, convoys that consist of massive, heavily armored ships

third and the

was born from an alliance of several prominent clans. They resided in a dire region of the Dream Realm known as Stormsea, and controlled one of the three Great Citadels — which, as far as he knew, resembled a giant ship and was most likely left behind by one

and Ki Song

of the pivotal role Nightwalkers played in sustaining human civilization, he guessed that they simply offered too much

hazardous for either Valor or Song to invade, or their existence created a bit of much-needed balance and deterrence between the two dominant Great

House of Night was deeply connected to Storm God. There were just too many coincidences between their powers and the deity of depths, oceans, darkness, stars, travel, guidance, and

did Nightwalkers bear the lineage

would certainly explain a

Master Jet, meanwhile, continued:

with that situation is that while there are more Nightwalkers than there are descendants of the other two Great Clans, their number is still

She sighed.

water. By our calculations, it will take at least two years to evacuate the population

Her voice grew dim.

in a few months, at most. It won't be too severe at the beginning, but quickly ramp up, drowning the entire archipelago in

silent for a