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.

Tyrant? Something like

him with wide eyes, and suddenly

slower vehicles. Then, it made a sharp turn, left the wide highway

suspension system, the members of the cohort

briskly traversed the wild expanse of the Antarctic Center. Powerful spotlights 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 to better steer

but in a different manner. There were fewer signs of past

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

Antarctica had been covered by ice for millions of years, and only recently shrugged off

sufficient speed, sometimes making use of existing roads, sometimes cutting through untouched wilderness. It climbed or descended tall hills and

was one thing that kept Sunny tense, it was that he rarely had an opportunity to see far ahead. These days, the 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

with decent means of ranged attack. Using

hours, he had to use his bow three times. Several stray abominations wandered into the Rhino's path, only to be slain by a swift black arrow before having the chance to approach it. Luckily, none

'For now…'

reached the ruins of a small outpost, where two similar carriers were parked in the shadow of a broken wall. A handful of people could

Luster stopped the vehicle, Sunny jumped off the roof and walked toward the fire. Orange light gleamed, reflecting from the bleak metal

you guys

members of Queen's and Soul Reaper's cohort looked at him with

of our carriers is limited, so we couldn't bring

As the large chest manifested itself into reality and opened its toothy maw, Sunny thrust his hand inside, and then

Thank

bunch of Irregulars did not look like people who were about to fight a Corrupted abomination of a high Class. They seemed relaxed and nonchalant about the whole ordeal, and paid more attention to the can of coffee than

Three Gate was situated on

grateful Awakened brewed coffee for themselves and Sunny's soldiers, who emerged from the Rhino and joined them, he looked around and noticed Master

them and caught the tail end of

definitely a woman. Hot

that Mongrel guy myself