Shadow Slave

Two days later, they finally received a word from Master Jet. The message, which had passed through several people before reaching Sunny, was simple - retreat to Erebus and rendezvous with Davis and his cohort of Irregulars there.

Godspeed.

Sunny took a deep breath after hearing the news.

It was as he had expected, even though a small hope that some miraculous help would be sent to assist them on the thousand-kilometer journey had been still somehow aflame in his heart. Now, it was completely extinguished.

With that, the cohort's short period of rest was over. It was a good thing, too.

Over the past couple of days, Sunny killed several Nightmare Creatures that had wandered close to the camp. Strangely, there had not been as many of them as one would have expected, and he was quick to dispose of the bodies. Still, the smell of blood was slowly permeating the area, and pretty soon, it was bound to attract bigger threats.

The blizzard was still raging outside the wreck of the old war machine. Piercing the swirling snow with beams of light, the Rhino growled as it drove forward and abandoned its temporary shelter. Accelerating, it then moved north, toward the slopes of the towering mountains.

The atmosphere inside the vehicle was tense, but as minutes passed without anything lunging an unexpected attack on the APC, everyone calmed down a little.

...Except for Sunny. He had no plans of calming down until they safely reached the stronghold of the First Evacuation Army. In fact, he would prefer if his people remained tense and paranoid, as well.

too much pressure, too. People tended to break if subjected to persistent and overwhelming stress without any chance to take a breath. Actually, his soldiers were holding up surprisingly well, considering everything they had gone through in the past two months... and for a good reason. One of the criteria he had chosen

who seemed like a carefree fool most of the time, was enduring the rigors of the calamitous Antarctica campaign with a surprising tenacity. Maybe it was exactly that lighthearted and frivolous

I need to

had never

Nightmare followed it from a small distance. Even though the mountains were obscured from view by

leading to the former LO49 and

hesitated for a few moments, frowning. Then, he

to the left a little and slow down. We are going to take a

his instructions, gradually slowing down. Eventually, the massive vehicle

of the Cruel Sight's shaft falling silently into his hand. Struggling against the wind, he then walked forward and

with several empty buildings standing with their doors ajar. Some distance away to his left was the ocean, which made Sunny feel very

be seen. The Nightmare Creature had not been dead for long - a day at most, maybe two. From

by the vicious wounds covering its body, it had not been killed by human weapons, and as

'...Strange.'

Realm. Out here in the waking world, there were too many human bodies for them to tear apart, and too many human souls to devour. So, even when different tribes of abominations collided with each other, they

a small number of siege capitals, things could have

course, Sunny prevented himself from becoming too optimistic