Shadow Slave

Saint Tyris waited for a few moments, then spoke again:"Some of you have already faced one of these monsters.Master Sunless over there has even survived encountering four out of five..."

Without prompting, everyone in the room turned to stare at him, their expressions varying from pity to astonishment. He even heard a few whispers:"Four? And he's still alive?""That kid must be cursed or something.""Devil's own luck, ha..."

Sunny cleared his throat."Ah, yes. Using this moment, I might as well sincerely thank Army Command for giving me the opportunity to complete my collection and get to know the Winter Beast, as well."

A wave of laughter spread through the room.

Sky Tide gave him a stern look."I'll mark you as a volunteer, then."

Before Sunny could protest, she continued:"The first target is a swarm entity known as the Devouring Cloud. Our diviners were able to determine that it is not a powerful Nightmare Creature, per se, but instead the remains of one. The Devouring Cloud was most likely a Fallen Terror, one that had its main consciousness destroyed at some point in the past. The swarm of its brood remains, however, and that is what we need to counter."

She glanced at the Irregulars."Master Winter, considering your proficiency in ranged and area-of-effect attacks, you will be in charge of bolstering the city defenses when it comes to deflecting aerial threats."

Winter nodded. After explaining a few more details, Saint Tyris continued:"The second target is a creature that was designated as the Heart of Darkness. Not a lot is known about it, except for the fact that it is composed of numerous insect-like drones, wielding powers connected to elemental darkness and possibly spatial distortion. The knowledge of this being was brought to us by the First Irregular Company."

That would be Sunny and the members of his cohort, who had been diligently reporting everything about the enemies the convoy encountered during their visits to the Dream Realm.

Sky Tide looked in the direction of the four Irregulars."The Heart of Darkness has been present in the Antarctic Center since before the Chain of Nightmares. Its Rank and Class are unknown, but the current theory is that the Irregulars disturbed the creature's evolution to titan... if so, we might have avoided an even bigger disaster. In any case, the people most suited to deal with that threat are..."

She named three unfamiliar First Army Ascended. Apparently, their Aspects would work well against a myriad of murderous, darkness-infused beetles. Sunny was happy to hear that he would not have to face the damned insects himself again.

went according to

It is responsible for destroying the battleship Ariadne, as well as massacring the garrison of the LO49 installation. Master Sunless is the only known

lingered for a few moments, then shrugged."There's not much to tell. The bastard hides underwater and kills people by luring them into the ocean with immensely powerful mind manipulation. It also places a mind hex on everyone else to make them ignore the victims. That is the pattern of behavior that I witnessed, which is not to say that the creature does not have other means of attack. You can read the details in the

Nightmare Creatures to defend it, either, which might be a vulnerability. Oh... also, there has to be some kind of limitation to its ability to wipe out large groups of people. Otherwise, it would not have waited weeks to kill everyone at

Master Naeve. Since the creature appears to be aquatic in nature, it is going to be your responsibility to hunt it down. The Terror cannot be allowed to approach the

House of Night simply nodded....Sunny hoped that they had

beautiful face."The Winter Beast... was recently confirmed to be

of the creature's Rank. Master Roan especially

to the last image."Which leaves us with the Fallen Titan Goliath, the creature responsible for the obliteration of Erebus Field. Do note that, as of now, we have only experienced its physical might. The exact nature of Goliath's

image of

silence, there was suddenly a calm

around, staring at Sunny with confused expressions. He smiled."What? The bastard owes me a new armor. Plus, I've never killed a titan before...

shook their heads."This is not a good time for

a time

studied him for a few moments, then turned

communicators in the room notified

the area of effect

via a chain of special relays to

mostly monopolized by Army Command - Sunny had to spend a considerable sum of