Shadow Slave

...And it still raged on by the time Sunny and his cohort were done with their shift. Or maybe it was already another assault — by now, it was often hard to tell where one attack ended and a second one began.

Descending from the wall, the Irregulars passed through the busy camp below. Lumbering loaders were racing to send heavy ammunition containers up, wounded soldiers were being triaged and tended to, fresh reinforcements were waiting their turn to enter the elevators. Here and there, a damaged MWP stood, being hastily repaired by a crew of technicians.

Leaving the staging area, they soon reached the Rhino. The mighty vehicle was not in the best shape, but it could still be used to get around the city. Plus, while the members of the cohort had decided to bunk in comfortable barracks, Sunny chose to remain in the familiar APC. He had even learned how to drive it... well, more or less... from Luster.

"Are you coming with us, Captain? Oh... sorry... Major."

Kim looked away awkwardly after asking the question. Sunny simply shook his head.

"Not today. I have a couple of errands to run, so just take the Rhino to the barracks and then park it in the usual spot. Oh... and rest well. Tomorrow is going to be a long day."

Although the cohort had ended up not doing much today, everyone was still tired. They quickly drove off, leaving Sunny alone.

...Day four of their stay in Falcon Scott was coming to an end.

Circulating his essence to fasten its replenishment rate, Sunny walked for a few minutes, breathing in the cold air as the hum of distant explosions washed over him. Then, he jumped on the step of a moving transport and allowed it to carry him closer to his destination.

The vistas of a city at war floated past him, too many refugees crammed into too few buildings. Everyone was doing their best to create some sort of passable environment for themselves and their neighbors... but there were a lot of problems, too.

Most of these people were shaken and traumatized, some very close to breaking down. There were a lot of conflicts and violent outbursts, and even more dark feelings.

...There were a lot of Nightmare Creatures being born from the bodies of failed Aspirants, as well, since the Spell ran rampant among the refugees and there were not nearly enough soldiers to find all the infected before the worst happened.

A suffocating atmosphere of fear, tension, and sorrow permeated the air.

yet, people lived on. Their resilience and adaptability triumphed over everything, allowing them to endure and even find moments of

plenty of laughter, and witnessed many small details of how the

'They still have hope...'

down and walked the rest of the way on foot, reaching a section of the staging area where large white warehouses

being processed and refined for the use

engineer met him

"Major Sunless?"

the man to lead him toward

as long as you have enough contribution points, you can cut a good chunk for yourself. Not that I know what you need it for... usually, it's

Sunny smiled.

Creature carcasses — those valuable enough

of the Remnant of the Jade Queen — the Corrupted Tyrant he and Sky Tide had killed — had been placed here once, for example. The incredibly durable jade carapace of the monstrous beetle

of the processed material was instantly used to strengthen the fortifications of the city or the First Army itself. There were all kinds of things that could be done with various parts of

push his weight around, bargain a little, and spend

warehouses, he

was a Corrupted Devil yesterday that managed to breach

stared at him

wall. We just receive the carcasses and come up with ways of dismantling them. Another team

blinked a

Just show me the Corrupted material

was led through several warehouses, studying a series of ghastly corpses, one more frightening than the

a small skeletal body hidden somewhere in its center. There was a carcass of something that seemed like an eight-legged

'Damn...'