Shadow Slave

1040 The Fall of Falcon Scott (58)

'Right… now, we just have to get to the secondary defense line. Once we're within the city instead of on a plain, evading the abominations should be much easier, so the last stretch of the way won't be as hard.'

Sunny glanced at his companions, evaluating their state. Everyone was exhausted, dirty, and covered in blood — both their own and that of Nightmare Creatures — but alive.

The only problem now was to somehow extricate themselves, and the two hundred surviving Awakened, from the attacking horde.

At that moment, as if to answer his thoughts, Bloodwave turned to look at the mass of abominations. Then, the enigmatic Saint glanced at Master Jet.

"Take your soldiers and go, Soul Reaper. I will hold the beasts back for a bit… tell your commanders to activate the explosives as soon as you're past the defense line."

Sunny stared at him in shock, feeling that these words sounded a bit like... a farewell.

"You… you…"

Bloodwave gave him a strange look.

"Ah… I think you might have misunderstood, Sunless. I am not trying to sacrifice myself. It's just that an explosion like that won't harm a Transcendent too much. The Awakened, however, or even someone like you… better not risk it."

Sunny slowly nodded. Indeed… Corrupted Nightmare Creatures could survive a nuclear explosion without too much trouble, some Fallen as well. Rampart Protocol was not going to kill a Transcendent like Bloodwave, or even seriously inconvenience him.

Master Jet nodded.

"We'll be going, then."

not know what exactly the Memories were, but judging by the fact that Bloodwave

at him,

the army fortifications. I'll stay back a little, to make sure that everyone who is still alive gets safely out of the blast zone before

out

terribly loud, isn't it? Damn.

that, he spared her one last glance and turned

"Come on! Go!"

they dashed toward the nearest breach in the wall, Master

"...Retreat!"

First Army did not make her ask twice. Delivering one last attack, they used their remaining strength to momentarily push the enemy back, then turned around and

a desperate wish to survive. The defense line instantly collapsed, and the soldiers dove into

promise and stall the enormous horde of Nightmare Creatures all by himself, at least

heard the roar of a rushing tide

cohort flashed through the abandoned staging area and escaped

in darkness. Many buildings had collapsed, creating a complicated labyrinth of snow and broken concrete. Others still stood, but were charred black by the flames. Some streets were strangely untouched and eerily empty, and of course, there were functioning roads that the First

roads. Luckily, all of them could see in the dark thanks to Kim, so the lack of illumination was not a problem. Their running speed was not much lower than that of a moving PTV, but nevertheless, he felt a pang of

going to lose the

area, near where they had started their shift. Sadly, the battle had taken them far away from the main gate of the city, so there

whole place blew up, the

'Damn it! Damn it!'

run. He had to lead his people to safety… that

of the retreating Awakened. The span of the southern section was very long, so no one else was in view. Right now, all that mattered was speed, and each soldier was making their own path to the secondary defense line. Sunny suspected that most would try to reach the maintained

the darkness, moving as fast as they could, their stamina long