Shadow Slave

1059 The Fall of Falcon Scott (77)

It was all a gamble. A dire, dangerous, deadly gamble… the soldiers of the First Army were betting their lives against the Winter Beast without even knowing if they would be able to reach it, let alone hurt it.

They might have made that gamble out of desperation, but they had also made it out of necessity. All of them had received a chance to leave, and all of them turned it down. Some had done it due to their sense of duty, or camaraderie, or misguided bravery. Some had simply grown numb to the horrors of the war.

As for Sunny himself, he was not really sure what had led him here. He had come to this broken land in search of power, but that desirous quest seemed so childish now. Antarctica had put a lot of things in perspective… however, this shift of perspective only made things less clear instead of revealing the truth.

All he knew was that he felt fiercely reluctant to leave the job unfinished, and that he did not want to fail the soldiers who had entrusted him with their lives. Sunny had never wanted to be in charge of anyone, but now that he was, their hopes and desires weighed on him like chains. Strangely, though, he did not want to refuse that burden.

He felt quite protective of it. Maybe that was what Master Jet had meant when she said that no one was free in this world.

Regardless of the reason, Sunny felt a frantic hope burning in his chest as he marched into the blizzard.

'Come on, come on… we can do it…'

Behind him, the column of shivering soldiers stubbornly moved forward inside a cage of flames. The infantrymen were all encased in suits of powered armor, which were all hermetic and insulated, capable of withstanding the most hazardous environments. The Awakened were all much tougher, and many of them possessed protective Memories on top of that.

And yet, they were all suffering from the terrifying cold. It was just too insidious, finding a way to pass through all forms of defense. Even Sunny felt miserable because of the snowstorm. Much worse, the cold was getting worse and worse the deeper into the blizzard they walked.

They had to find the true body of the Winter Beast soon.

'That cold… there's something wrong about it. It doesn't feel like a… a natural… natural force…'

Even his thoughts felt slow and frigid.

But there was no way back for them now. All that Sunny could do was march forward and endure, hoping that he and his soldiers would be able to reach the heart of the blizzard.

The fire produced by the MWPs helped alleviate the cold to a certain extent. But then, slowly, the heat of the furious flames started to feel less and less substantial. The flamethrowers were still spouting long streams of burning fuel, but it was as though the fire itself had been robbed of its warmth.

How could fire be cold? Sunny did not know, but he felt as though the flames now contained no heat whatsoever. They were like predators that had lost all their teeth.

'Curse it…'

He glanced back, seeing a few of the mundane soldiers staggering as they walked, then gritted his teeth and continued to move forward.

The snowstorm could not be too vast. They had to be getting closer to its center… all they had to do was endure a little longer.

Suppressing a hint of fear, Sunny sent his shadows to scout ahead. As soon as his body lost their support, the cold assaulted it with renewed strength. He cursed quietly and concentrated on resisting the furious blows of the hurricane winds.

Behind him, the Awakened and the mundane soldiers were shielding their faces and leaning forward to withstand the force of the storm. Even the towering war platforms were struggling to keep their balance — they had great mass, but also a much larger surface for the wind to attack. The pilots controlled their lumbering machines with intricate skill, keeping them upright and moving forward.

The shadows flew into the storm. Even though it was almost impossible to see through the raging snow, they had other ways to perceive the world. Sunny hoped that at least one of them would be able to discover the true body of the Winter Beast — after all, searching for it was not hard.

All he had to do was follow to where the cold was most dreadful.

terrible the unnatural cold would become… and indeed, his shadows were able to discover

though. Sunny felt a little shaken when he realized that,

sense, since shadows were incorporeal beings, but it was nevertheless true. Once they flew sufficiently deep into the snowstorm, the power of the Winter Beast seemed to transcend logic and reason. It was capable of freezing even those things

'How… how can it…'

the frigid slowness of his thoughts was also not just in his imagination. If the Corrupted Titan was capable

the Winter Beast's snowy domain could avoid being pervaded by

continued to walk in the direction they had discovered. Every step he took felt heavier than the

soldier stand up, but it was of no use — the man was not moving. His comrades had no choice but to abandon their futile attempts. The column flowed past the motionless figure, and

long after that, someone else dropped

dread settle in

need to keep going. I refuse… I refuse to give up! I refuse

continued to walk with an ugly expression on his face, leaning low to resist the

the snow. Sunny could feel their shadows turn lifeless in the distance. Every death cut him like

mundane soldiers at first. Then, one of the MWPs staggered and froze, depowering — a moment later, a powerful squall crashed into it, making the towering machine sway and collapse. Eventually, even

then the

advancing into the blizzard by its side, too. However…

the more murderous the cold became, the stronger the winds grew, and the harder it was to make even a single step forward. It felt as

'Damn it… damn it…'

Then, a new body would

a… a vast, maddening anguish. And a deep,

Not for himself, but for the

he became

diabolical cold that permeated his mind, he could no longer feel his Dream Realm anchor. It still existed there, somewhere, but it was as though the mystical connection was distorted by a hazy wall of snow. Sunny could not sense the anchor, and

run, just like the rest of

going to lose,

him with indescribable

were getting closer to the heart of the blizzard. They were

had become just too

were slowly failing him. He could not see too far, and he could

that sphere, there were only a few Awakened. As far as he knew, everyone else might have already succumbed to the ruthless

like this… it can't be,

able to accept if they had reached the true body of the Winter Beast, but failed to defeat it. But the idea of being wiped out without even making it to the eye

damn it, damn it

still, the cold was growing more

15:50

the end, that was exactly

step forward. He had lost sight of the brigade and did not know if any of his soldiers were still alive. There were only three Awakened

each second, still, the cold was growing

He closed his eyes.

'...Admit it.'

staring