Shadow Slave

As expected, the refugees were devastated by the news that their salvation had slipped away from their grasp at the last moment. Many of them looked like they were about to give up, but strangely, the terrible change did not end up being as crushing to their already crumbling morale as Sunny had thought it would be.

The reason... he was the reason. Or rather, his status and reputation.

Although being found by a Master was not really comparable to boarding a rescue ship, Ascended were a kind of symbol among humans. Saints were too mysterious and distant, so it were the Masters that dwelled in the human subconscious as the epitome of valor, achievement, and might.

Sunny did not know about valor and achievement, but Ascended were indeed immensely powerful. And he was more powerful than most.

So, when the refugees learned that Master Sunless of the First Irregular Company had taken command of the convoy, many of them were elated despite their extreme exhaustion. He had a fearsome reputation, after all... in fact, Sunny felt that the mundane soldiers had gone out of their way to embellish his achievements as much as they could when they delivered the news. Their purpose was transparent - the soldiers, too, wanted to keep the morale of the civilians from reaching the very bottom of despair.

As a result, the refugees regarded him as some sort of intrepid hero, who was both the scourge of Nightmare Creatures and a dauntless savior of men. When they looked at him, their eyes were full of hope and reverence.

Sunny was weirded out by these gazes.

'Fools. How easy are you to deceive?'

Did they not hear the part of the story where a whole settlement that he had been stationed at was completely destroyed? But no, they didn't. People just wanted to believe in something that would give them solace, no matter how far removed from the truth their belief might be. It was strangely easy for them to ignore anything that conflicted with such a belief.

In the end, making people lie to themselves was the best and most effective kind of deception.

make the refugees easier to control, but there were other things to

as well, he couldn't help but feel that it could only be planted into fertile soil. Wouldn't a

that, it was no surprise that the Nightmare Spell had descended

he would be able to reduce the number of mundane humans

at me, thinking

and climbed inside. Remembering the mangled corpse of an Awakened Demon that rested under the snow less than a hundred meters away, he wanted to leave the terminus of the coastal highway as soon as possible... but there were

Obel, can I

the First Generation, so he would have valuable insight about the task facing Sunny,

gave him a few good ideas. However, something like the Chain of Nightmares had never happened in the history of the world before, so there was no handbook on how to survive

well as Professor Obel, Beth, and Sergeant

any time and got straight

that they will be able to make it across the mountains. However, we can't do it here in the open. There is an abandoned

simple. He couldn't have the civilians sleeping in the cramped transports, since the consequences of someone turning into a Nightmare Creature inside one would be devastating. So, ideally, they needed to find a well-protected campsite every

since the Dark Times, was hidden in the mountains at a sufficient

paused and looked at his subordinates with a grim

of threats we need to be wary of: those from beyond, and those from within. I won't say anything about the former, since they just

a

wake them up. If they