Shadow Slave

At that moment, Samara appeared from the hatch of the Rhino and called out to Sunny:

"Captain! We are being hailed on the comms."

He sighed, then opened his eyes and reluctantly stood up. As the Awakened soldier stared at the pale young man with wide eyes, he smiled pleasantly… and then disappeared without a trace, prompting the man to flinch and take a step back.

…Back inside the APC, Sunny emerged from the shadows, walked over to the communication suite and sat down behind a terminal. At the press of a button, Master Jet's face appeared on the screen.

Soul Reaper seemed to be standing in front of a pile of mangled corpses, illuminated by an angry orange glow. Dancing flames reflected in her icy blue eyes, making it seem as if they were glowing.

Set against that backdrop, her smile looked rather sinister.

"Hey, Sunny. I heard that your cohort won its first battle. I guess congratulations are in order?"

He nodded and studied the carcasses of Nightmare Creatures behind her.

"Yeah… you seem to have achieved a victory, as well. What's the situation like with the other divisions?"

The field army had separated into seven divisions after reaching the Antarctic Center… or was it brigades? Sunny was still a bit confused about the hierarchy of army units. In any case, one of them had stayed behind in Falcon Scott, while the other six had deployed south and were currently on the move. Each consisted of ten to fifteen thousand soldiers and was accompanied by seven hundred Awakened or so.

Master Jet shrugged.

"It's not too bad… yet. The Irregulars are doing their job as well. For now, everything seems to be going according to plan. What about you? How did your cohort perform?"

Sunny sighed.

"Not… bad. We mopped up the opposition easily enough. However, we wasted a lot of essence. If the intensity of the conflict picks up, I'm not sure if I can employ the same strategy again."

She nodded.

"It will definitely pick up, so… good thinking."

thundered from the dynamics, and the image on the screen became noisy for a few

then

to go. Follow the flanking battalion for now and help them deal with the horde that's blocking your division from advancing south. Don't exert yourself and your soldiers,

Sunny smiled.

"Will do."

Jet glanced at him briefly and

"Good luck, Sunny."

He sighed.

luck to you,

signal had already cut, turning the screen black. All that remained

lingered for a few moments, then shook his head and headed toward

sky was still cold, dim, and illuminated by the distant cannonade of

could not close every Gate, it had learned to diminish their threat in various ways over the years. Encasing them in cement or burying the rift under

have made a point about securing his share of the spoils, but it was too much hassle. The results would be tallied and converted to an appropriate amount of

Luster and Kim were already

the APC, Sunny

"Gather up!"

assembled around him, he pointed to

yourself and absorb them. We have ten minutes to get ready to move out. Our next task is to support the assault on the flank of the bunch of abominations making a ruckus on

were no questions. Ten minutes later, the Rhino joined the column of the army vehicles and rolled forward, in the direction where the flashes

up the slope of the mountain, then crested

abominations away from themselves. The barrage of explosive shells, squall of slugs unleashed by the

chaotic battlefield from

distance, the six Nightmare Gates that had disgorged the horde were

is going to get

soon sent them a packet of information, marking down priority targets in

the assault on the flank of the enemy force, Sunny studied it all and then pointed at

We must take this Gate Guardian down. You guys help me clear the path to the big bastard, then stay

told him to take it easy… but Sunny was

bloodlust, making the members of