Shadow Slave

Chapter 872: Spreading Nightmares

The initial several weeks of the Antarctica campaign were the most intense... at least for now. The divisions of the First Army steadily moved south, fighting through the swiftly growing swarms of Nightmare Creatures and establishing strategic encampments along the way. These encampments were going to serve as the transit points of the evacuation networks soon.

Moving through them, all the population of the Antarctic Center was going to be relocated to the siege capitals to await eventual salvation. The same thing, only on a much larger scale, was happening in East Antarctica, where most people of the Southern Quadrant lived.

As days went by, the Chain of Nightmares grew more rampant. New Gates manifested with increased frequency, disgorging more and more abominations into the waking world. Luckily, the burden pressing down on the First Army also grew lighter, since more and more divisions reached their destinations and entrenched themselves inside the cities that would become humanity's strongholds in the coming months.

Without the need to brave the enemy-infested wilderness, the lives of the soldiers became less perilous. That was not to say that they were not terribly busy - turning a populous city into a wartime fortress was a laborious task, too.

However, no one was as busy as the First Irregular Company.

Just like Master Jet had promised, the Irregulars almost never rested. While other soldiers had specific tasks that sometimes forced them into battle with the Nightmare Creatures, and sometimes did not, the seven cohorts of Irregulars constantly moved between various flashpoints to douse their flames.

Day after day, battle after battle... soon, the novelty of Antarctica's sobering reality dissipated, and the endless procession of combat engagements blurred into one continuous, bloody ordeal.

were doing their job,

as those in the first two days of the active operation. Some demanded more precision than all-out effort, others simply had to be fought

well as each other. Their

enhance his arsenal of Memories, for one. With so many Nightmare Creatures that needed to be slaughtered, each

plate armor for killing a Fallen officer of the stone hive. Just like the carapaces of the monstrous insects, it was pure white and incredibly durable. Luster managed to acquire a charm that was supposed to increase his luck, even if no one could really tell whether it actually worked or not. Samara was now wearing a chameleon cape that blended into

were using

casualties. The swiftly racked up kills and contribution points, as

of Mongrel, who was slowly turning into

ego again so soon, but the circumstances forced him to make a different decision. There was just too much for him to do. Often, several missions of utmost importance appeared simultaneously, and since he could not be in two places at the same time... he sent Nightmare and Saint to take care of the easier ones

the battlefield. They were also able to traverse the mountainous terrain of the Antarctic

lower spectrum of hardship. A Transcendent weapon or not, Saint and Nightmare could not compare to the power of the

dangerous tasks, Mongrel popped up here and there without any discernible pattern, appearing from nowhere and disappearing without a trace after dealing devastating damage to the

and file of the First Army grew explosively. The Guardian Angel of Antarctica... that title, coined

used by the other captains of the Irregulars. No one else dared to speak it to his face - or behind his back, really, considering that the rumor that he young Master was always watching