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

at him with wide eyes, and

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

system, the members of the cohort barely

the landscape in front of it with stark light, cutting the dimness with wide beams. Various sensors supplied Luster

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

mountain chain. Because of that, the horizon was obscured most of the time, and it was hard to

of years, and only recently shrugged off its

the complicated terrain. It moved toward the rendezvous point with 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 of giant boulders

that he rarely had an opportunity to see far ahead. These days, the Southern Quadrant was not as lifeless as

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 of the hatch to shield himself from

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…'

noon — which, of course, looked the same as 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 handful of people could be seen gathered around a fire, having a cozy

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

you guys

and Soul Reaper's

hot water, sir. The cargo capacity of our carriers is limited, so we

toothy maw, Sunny thrust his hand inside, and then threw a can of instant coffee and an expensive chocolate bar to the startled

sir! Thank you,

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

Three Gate was

and joined them, he looked around and noticed Master Jet and Winter.

caught

a woman. Hot as

idiot, I saw that Mongrel guy myself once.