Shadow Slave

Sunny froze, mesmerized by the harrowing sight of a dark expanse of weathered stone rising from the depths of the ocean. It rose higher and higher, rivers of water flowing down from the numerous grooves and ravines covering the surface of the giant's arm. Due to the scale, it seemed as though the arm was moving deceptively slowly, but he knew that to be an illusion.

A single thought formed in Sunny's stunned mind.

'Goliath...'

One of the three titans that had come to the Antarctic Center. It had to be him... the Whispering Legion was dead, and the Winter Beast prowled somewhere far to the north. The last one, stone giant Goliath, had disappeared without a trace. Army Command had no accurate data on his current location, the last time Sunny had been in contact with them.

...No wonder, if the missing titan had been traveling through the shallows off the coast of the landmass.

'It's... it's a damn Fallen Titan.'

A moment later, Sunny suddenly came to his senses, shrugging off the dread and awe of witnessing the enormous creature... or rather, one of its limbs. What was the big deal, anyway? The Goliath was a runt, as far as titans were concerned. He was simply a giant stone abomination, instead of a sentient force of nature. Even then, Sunny had seen far greater beings before...

However, the damned titan - no matter how he compared to others of its kind - could destroy the convoy with one brush of his finger.

Barely suppressing his panic, Sunny stared at the falling hand of the giant, then twisted around and waved at Luster, shouting as loud as he could:

"Go, go, go! Speed up!"

situation, it was that Goliath's aim seemed to be a bit off. If the convoy accelerated, they had a slim chance of shooting underneath the gargantuan

they end up being just a little bit too slow, at least a couple of vehicles would be instantly flattened by the titanic blow... but stopping meant death,

more speed. Sunny and Nightmare galloped ahead of it, diving into the shadow of the swiftly falling hand and emerging from it on the other side. The APC was just behind

off seconds... the first of the

'Not yet, not yet...'

rear vehicle shot past the Gate. A few moments later, Goliath's arm hit the concrete surface of the highway, pulverizing a large swath of it and sending a localized earthquake

momentarily flew into the air, then hit the cracked surface of the road

'Made it...'

from death was both temporary and futile. No matter how fast the convoy was moving,

something managed to stall the giant for a few minutes,

fair... this

they had been through, after everything he had done, this was the end?

started to rise from the ocean. Goliath was pulling himself out of the cold water, its ugly head emerging from

Sunny shuddered.

a graceful statue. Unlike the magnificent monuments of the Forgotten Shore, Goliath looked more like a small mountain that had come to life than

asymmetrical, with mounds of stone rising from its back like humps.

two cavernous holes gaping in it, drowned by darkness, and a single circular eye set deep in the

of stone, like the rest of the

even more