Shadow Slave

Chapter 1849 Taste of Ash The Sword Army entered Godgrave with relative ease. Of course, it was a tense and solemn day. The Awakened warriors were pale with dread as they ventured into the scarlet jungle and crossed over from the humerus bone of the dead deity to the vast collarbone.

They were in a Death Zone, after all.

However, the army barely suffered any casualties. Changing Star and her Fire Keepers had pulled the attention of the local Nightmare Creatures away and established a beachhead on the collarbone plain. Most importantly, the brought the authority of the king to this dire purgatory — emboldened and empowered by his presence, the army marched on.

The veil of clouds did not break, held together by the power of Sky Tide of the White Feather clan. The Transcendent and Ascended warriors repelled the sporadic attacks of remnant abominations without too much strain. And later, the King of Swords himself descended upon the battlefield, using the Ivory Island as an anchor.

Once the storm of swords manifested above the jungle, the battle was ostensibly over.

The army cut a path through the predatory jungle, using the beautiful silhouette of the Ivory Tower to navigate it. By the time they reached the scene of slaughter, there were no abominations left for them to fight against. They were only numerous corpses and the rustle of countless swords swirling in the sky above.

Instead, the task they faced was of a more mundane nature. They had to establish a camp and start fortifying it, building an impregnable fortress on the surface of the ancient bone. That fortress would serve as the staging ground for the rest of the military campaign in Godgrave.

…The Song Army, however, fared much worse than that.

***

Rain was staring at the ground with a tired expression. On the ground in front of her, the wind was playing with flakes of ash.

She was staying completely motionless, and those flakes of ash had been a person not too long ago. Above her, an incandescent white void shone blindingly through the broken clouds.

Her first day in Godgrave had been a long, bitter nightmare.

The first battle the Song Army had fought was a sobering experience. Led by the seven princesses, the Saints and the Ascended warriors of the Song Domain clashed with the horde of Nightmare Creatures and repelled it. The unimaginable violence unleashed by that clash made the world quake — but, worst of all, some of it reached the battle formation of the Awakened warriors.

The casualties were not immeasurable, but they weren't negligible, either. Perhaps because it was the first time the soldiers fought against the abominations of Godgrave, the strategies developed by the royal clan to breach the difference in Ranks between them could not be deployed promptly, or at all.

That could improve as the army gained experience, but today, too many people died.

Rain herself did not participate in the slaughter, because the Seventh Legion was positioned in the second line of the formation, where the battle had not reached. However, she could hear and feel the terrible mayhem of the desperate struggle happening ahead.

Nevertheless, eventually, the battle ended. The vanguard obliterated the horde of the frenzied Nightmare Creatures. Those of them who had got past were immobilized and eventually cut down by the Awakened soldiers. After the soul shards were harvested, the corpses of the abominations were pushed aside, and the bloodied army continued to ascend the arm of the dead god.

they entered

horde of Nightmare Creatures had been. Everything here was not what it seemed — but all of it was insidious, hungry, and chillingly deadly. The grass, the flowers,

seem too phased, taking the dread of the scarlet jungle in stride. But those who were younger and less experienced, like member's of Tamar's cohort, were left shaken. Their mental fortitude was sorely tested, and that was after having already

of Godgrave was not as impervious to being damaged by the Awakened as the Corrupted Nightmare Creatures were. It was

still many that

the ground, then wailed and convulsed as their bodies gruesomely became fertile soil for

crawled into their armor. The effect of the paralytic poison was instantaneous, making the victims fall down without making a sound… however, it was unclear if they remained conscious and felt excruciating pain when the eggs deposited

strangled and drained of blood by thorned vines that hid beneath the vermilion moss. Some were pulled

depths of hell… if not for the fact that the Dream Realm was much more harrowing than

no time to drown in

various legions and divisions took turns defending the outer

Ranks dealt with the brunt of the danger once again. But Awakened soldiers like Rain also had a lot to do — both

also that of others. Her arrows seemed to not know how to miss, striking

hellish place than most Awakened were. It was because she could sense the movement of shadows, and therefore detect

swiftly

over again. It was not even because of having to climb the steep slope of the

due to the mental strain of enduring the horror

around Ravenheart for four years. But now, she realized just how tame those settled regions of this terrible world

was barely holding on to her composure…

after a while, the

after all. The jungle did not change, but the soldiers of the Song Army had

the collarbone. The engineering corps swiftly established a robust bridge under the protection of the First Legion, and then, the Song Army slowly started to cross over to the over side of the bottomless

perhaps the most perilous step of the invasion of Godgrave. Rain felt incredibly tense while the Seventh Legion waited for its turn to enter the bridge… however, in the end, they reached the collarbone plain without

jungle on the over side was much the same, but

feeling was

a strong wind rose, and a loud wailing of a war horn washed over

"Don't move!"

quite timely. The members of her cohort remembered the meaning of the wailing horn despite their fatigue and mental exhaustion, but many of the surrounding soldiers were

entire army suddenly grew

bone was almost painful to look at… a wave of unbearable heat crashed into the human invaders, and the smell