Shadow Slave

There could not have been a tunnel that stretched under the Antarctic Center for hundreds of kilometers. Not only would a structure like that be a miraculous feat of engineering, but far too many people - especially the army strategist and someone as knowledgeable as Professor Obel - would be aware of its existence.

However, no one had been.

Sunny remained silent for a while, then looked at the old man. Professor Obel simply shook his head.

"I am afraid I can't explain. Which... is not too surprising. After the Nightmare Spell descended, there are many things in the world that science - or rather, our limited scientific understanding - fails to explain."

Sunny sighed.

'Great.'

What was he supposed to do now?

It was clear that the laws of nature were either broken or worked differently inside the tunnel. Space was not behaving as it was supposed to behave... or maybe they had simply traveled to some. strange pocket dimension that was filled with nothing but true darkness.

Maybe they were all under the influence of another mind hex. Maybe they had all been devoured by the swarm of Brood beasts, and were now condemned to an eternal purgatory.

Who could tell?

Sunny cursed silently, then wrapped all four shadows around the Undying Chain to ramp up its mental protection. Nothing changed. The oppressive darkness did not disappear... if anything, it seemed even more foreboding now.

He closed his eyes for a moment.

"Alright. Let's not panic yet."

the tunnel, echoing in the darkness. In the place where his steel gauntlet had landed, a small impression appeared,

back into your

followed his instructions without asking questions. The convoy continued to move forward. However, this time, Sunny made it stop after ten minutes

enchantment of the Cruel Sight to illuminate the path and ran back into the darkness. Moving much faster than the vehicles had, he soon reached the point of the previous stop and studied the cracked section of the wall, then made

for another ten tninutes. After that, Sunny commanded them to put the vehicles in reverse - the tunnel was not wide enough for the Rhino

while, he gave

'...This is bad.'

course, had not been without a

Belle, Dorn, and himself had walked for around six kilometers during the initial scouting, and then

to make sure that the same principle still applied. Indeed, he had been able to

was to test if something would change with more

fist and the net of cracks around it, but there was none. At some point in time. somewhere between five and ten kilometers of separation, the mark had disappeared without a

from the tunnel. The way back, and

darkness, Sunny felt a cold shiver run down his

he had led the scouting party a few kilometers further... would they have been separated from the convoy forever?

come close to disaster without even knowing

'I was lucky.'

as powerless as

Simply by existing.

was far away, probably preparing for the war between Valor and Song with the rest of

'...Damnation!'

at the battered vehicles of the convoy. There were almost four hundred people in them that he

have always been a liar! There's nothing

took a