Shadow Slave

For the next few days, Sunny and Jet stealthily pursued the Skull Centipede. These days were long, tense, and perilous - not only did they have to brave the wilderness, but they also had to keep up with the ghastly abomination while not being seen or sensed by it. On a few occasions, they had almost been discovered, barely managing to salvage the situation at the last moment.

Sunny was not sure what would have happened if the creature had found them. With Saint supporting the two scouts from the shadows, they at least had a slim chance of slaying the Tyrant... but a battle like that would be a dire one. It would have had to be one of those battles where he was forced to put everything on the line, only surviving by the skin of his teeth.

In the past, Sunny had fought plenty of battles like that. He had grown so used to walking the thin line between life and death that he did not even consider such things unusual anymore. That mad balancing act was just par for the course... however, he also knew that he would not remain on the winning side forever. If he kept risking everything, his luck was bound to run out one day.

After Falcon Scott, his way of thinking about things shifted. Sunny was now much more experienced, and with that experience came cold, calculating prudence.

His chances of defeating the Skull Centipede and its army of bone abominations would be much higher with the support of two entire companies of Awakened, and so, he was determined to meet this enemy on a battlefield of his choosing, with the odds stacked in his favor as much as the circumstances allowed.

Jet was of the same mind. They followed the plan and put all their effort into remaining hidden.

The centipede slithered across the vast plains of East Antarctica, eviscerating everything in its path. It had no mercy for the other Nightmare Creatures, slaughtered swarms of them like helpless ants. After each massacre, the giant abomination would devour the corpses of its prey and coil its body into a macabre burrow of skulls, then wreathe and spew out more bone fiends.

The centipede's army continued to grow as it advanced through the wilderness. With each day, Sunny and Jet grew became more and more despondent... it had been hard to tell at the start, but now, there was no denying it.

put it on a direct collision course with one of the siege capitals in East Antarctica. Each human stronghold on the continent was surrounded by vast masses of frenzied Nightmare Creatures, and even

Skull Centipede was allowed to launch an attack on a siege capital, it would already be bad enough. However, if it managed to gain access to all those corpses... the strength of its army would increase exponentially, and the threat posed

a disaster. The Saints, however, were already busy racing endlessly from place to place, solving one crisis

was important to stop the abomination as

the rest away. It dragged its massive body onto

from a safe distance as they hid between two enormous boulders. On the ground between them lay a scattering of bleeding carcasses - they themselves

frowned. "It killed too many this time. Considering how long it takes to create a bone soldier... I'd say we'll be stuck here for

shrugged. "The more it is delayed, the better. Army Command will have

a few steps back and contacted the headquarters to make a report. Soon after that, Soul Reaper's

"Understood."

"It's happening. The welcoming party has

let out a relieved sigh.

one was not easy to arrange. Simply deploying troops outside the siege capital was a dangerous task by now - the wilderness was teeming with numerous Nightmares Creatures, and an expedition force risked drowning in a horde

time, Army Command was receiving constant updates on the creature's location from Sunny and

piece was in place. All that remained was for the scouts