Shadow Slave

The First Evacuation Army was accompanied by three Saints. One was loyal to the government, while the other two… the other two had been sent by the great clans.

Unofficially, Valor and Song had refused to participate in the Southern Quadrant campaign. Officially, however, they still had to keep up appearances. For that reason, each had provided a token force to support the evacuation effort, and the two Saints in question were in charge of these forces.

Sunny did not know who these Transcendent were. All he knew was that the government had wisely chosen to separate them, sending one to East Antarctica, while the other ended up in the Antarctic Center.

And now, apparently, that latter was coming to aid the Irregulars in vanquishing a powerful Corrupted abomination. He was not sure how to feel about that.

On one hand, the help of a Saint was more than welcomed. On the other hand… one of the reasons he had decided to participate in the Antarctica campaign was to get away from the great clans and their machinations.

Now, it seemed that he just couldn't escape coming in contact with the Sovereigns and their forces.

'Curse it all…'

With a sigh, Sunny sent Luster the coordinates of the rendezvous point and walked over to the pilot's cabin.

"We have new orders. Get to this location as fast as possible."

The young man yawned, studied the coordinates for a bit, and then nodded.

"Aye, sir."

He lingered for a moment.

"Uh… by the way, what's there?"

Sunny shrugged with a nonchalant expression.

Corrupted Tyrant?

stared at him with wide eyes,

left the marching formation of the division and accelerated forward, quickly overtaking slower vehicles. Then, it made a sharp turn, left the wide highway entirely, and entered

suspension system, the members of

installed on the Rhino's roof flooded the landscape in front of it with stark light, cutting the dimness with wide beams. Various sensors supplied Luster with additional information

just as lifeless, but

more uneven and mountainous, too. Basically, most of the landmass was covered by a vast mountain chain. Because of that, the horizon was obscured most of the time, and it was hard to notice any approaching threats. More than

only recently shrugged off its heavy veil. The passing

sufficient speed, sometimes making use of existing roads, sometimes cutting through untouched wilderness. It climbed or descended tall hills and mountain outcroppings, traversed stretches of frozen marshlands, and waded through labyrinths

Southern Quadrant was not as lifeless as it had used to be. The life that was spreading through its reaches, however, was not the kind anyone in the waking world would

Samara was yet to return from the Dream Realm, Sunny was the only member of the cohort with decent means of ranged attack. Using the open lid

path, only to be slain by a swift black arrow

'For now…'

morning, evening, and night — the Rhino reached the ruins of a small outpost, where two similar carriers were parked in the shadow of a broken wall. A

jumped off the roof and walked toward

you guys

Reaper's

cargo capacity of our carriers is limited, so we

Covetous Coffer. As the large chest manifested itself into reality and opened its toothy maw, Sunny thrust his hand inside, and then threw a can of instant coffee and an expensive chocolate bar to the startled

Thank

fight a Corrupted abomination of a high Class. They seemed relaxed and nonchalant about the whole ordeal, and paid more attention to the

Gate was situated on its

and joined them, he looked

and caught the tail end of their

woman. Hot

you, idiot, I saw that Mongrel guy myself once.