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."

and the image on the screen became noisy for a few moments. Soul

pursed her lips, then said in a neutral

and help them deal with the horde that's blocking your division from advancing

Sunny smiled.

"Will do."

glanced at

"Good luck, Sunny."

He sighed.

to

screen black.

his head

had changed outside. The sky was still cold, dim,

their threat in

personnel was already cleaning up the road and harvesting the soul shards. Sunny could have made a point about securing his share of the spoils, but it was too much hassle. The results

Luster and Kim were already back with

APC, Sunny

"Gather up!"

the cohort assembled around him, he pointed to the glimmering

with unsaturated cores, share the soul shard among 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 the other side of the mountain. Only Dormant Abilities and passive enchantments this time, so don't get too rowdy. Once the

army vehicles and rolled forward, in the direction where the flashes of light and the sounds of explosions were coming

battalion passed the small valley, climbed high up the slope of the mountain, then crested a narrow pass and came in

line of a well-organized human force. The soldiers were not in a hurry to attack and concentrated on keeping the abominations away from themselves. The barrage of explosive shells, squall of slugs unleashed by the towering war platforms and countless soldiers of the mechanized infantry, and several hundred Awakened were doing a good job of containing the

the chaotic battlefield from above,

the six Nightmare Gates that had disgorged

going to get old really fast, isn't

down priority targets in the mass of

the enemy force, Sunny studied it all and then pointed at an especially

this Gate Guardian down. You guys help

to take it easy… but Sunny was not going

making the members of the