Shadow Slave

As Sunny already knew, water was the optimal way of transporting cargo — and people — across vast distances. Human civilization had always made use of this property to its benefit.

The earliest paths of trade and cultural exchange, and therefore progress, were situated along great rivers, and later shifted to seas and oceans. That had led to many prominent civilization centers being situated along various coasts.

However, humanity had regretted that fact dearly when the water slowly crawled forward and devoured all those beautiful, important cities. Even worse, once the Nightmare Spell appeared, seas and ocean became infested by terrifying Nightmare Creatures.

For that reason, very few populous settlements were situated near water. The further inland they were, the better. Humans still needed to make use of the convenience that only the ocean could provide, though. For that reason, there were many fortified ports in each Quadrant.

Sunny was looking at one such port.

Even after experiencing the dread and grandeur of the Forgotten Shore and the Chained Isles, he could not help but feel a bit of awe. The port itself looked like an unassailable fortress, with tall walls rising from the water and various fortifications protruding far into the bleak waves.

Colossal cannons were aimed at the horizon, ready to bring down hell on anything that would dare to approach the crowded harbor. Various spelltech defensive measures brimmed with energy. He had no doubt that even more were hidden underwater.

…Much more impressive than the port itself, however, were the ships.

Sunny froze when he saw them.

Around forty metal leviathans were anchored along the shore, each more than a kilometer long and as tall as a castle. Their hulls bore such thick and heavy armor that it seemed strange for these mountains of steel to stay afloat. Some seemed shiny and new, but most bore deep, giant, ugly scars. Many armor plates were bent and corroded, while some were deformed by some unknown titanic blows.

Each ship possessed a plethora of armaments, ranging from heavy artillery cannons to rapid fire anti-air guns and snub-nosed mortars. Rows of rockets, missiles, and torpedoes could be seen in the hidden nests. The main cannons seemed especially fearsome, most of them resembling oversized railguns that stretched the whole lengths of the vessels.

heavy kinetic round with such ferocious speed that barely any human structure would have been able

the water like slumbering giants. Looking at them, Sunny couldn't

deadly weapon, so it was easy to forget how mighty and destructive mundane people could

the technology grew less and less reliable against

shrug off the most devastating of bombardments, while Corrupted ones were capable of surviving nuclear blasts. Science couldn't explain the principles at work in these instances, but plenty of empirical evidence had been gathered, to ruinous results, during the

the ocean. Unless they were complimented by Awakened fighters and guided by a Nightwalker navigator, even these floating juggernauts weren't

admire the silent

certain… that train is

the fleet, a

to our small

turned his head

not changed much. She was still the same — confident, beautiful, with raven black hair and cold, icy

was a satisfied

she walked closer and glanced at the anchored

"Impressive, aren't they?"

a moment, then

I see them, I am starting to understand how we are going to evacuate eight hundred million people from

shook her

load up a few millions of refugees, and

She sighed.