Shadow Slave

Chapter 1876 Third Pillar The eight Saints that had followed the enigmatic Lord of Shadows into battle were both rattled and elated. The battle was a gruesome ordeal, but they had expected that much.

What they did not expect was to learn just how powerful their sinister commander had turned out to be.

The Lord of Shadows was a singular existence because, unlike the rest of them, he was not a vassal of the King of Swords. He was a mercenary Saint that Lady Nephis had somehow convinced to pledge his blade to the Sword Domain's cause — therefore, she knew him best. So, nobody had doubted her promise that they would not be able to defeat him in a fight.

Nevertheless, it was a startling shock to witness the Transcendent sellsword in action.

Not only was he immensely powerful and chillingly lethal, he was actually an existence of the same caliber as the other two field commanders of the expedition force — Changing Star herself and Summer Knight, the most renowned paladin of the Great Clan Valor.

The Saints had thought that the expedition force had two pillars, but now, they knew that there were three.

By the time the shrill wail of the war horn signaled them to retreat, the way they looked at the Lord of Shadows had changed completely.

…Sunny was a little bit amused by their change of attitude.

'I used to live in this damned place alone, of my own free will. What else did they expect? That I'm a weakling?'

Hearing the war horn, he let out a tired sigh and prepared to pull back.

He could sense Nephis enter the range of his perception, followed by the Fire Keepers. Once she and the other Saints of the first war party advanced, Sunny commanded his Shadows to retreat and followed suit.

Soon, he found himself behind the battle line, surrounded by his eight Transcendent subordinates.

Now that their shift was over, Sunny suddenly felt the weight of fatigue crash into him like a mountain. He was tired, dehydrated, and covered in sweat… it was to the point that he did not know what he wanted to do more, summon the Endless Spring to quench his thirst, or summon it to wash himself.

'In hindsight, Antarctica wasn't that bad. At least it wasn't so damn hot there...'

Dismissing his Shadows to let them mend the scrapes they had received in the nurturing darkness of his soul, Sunny gazed at the exhausted Saints and raised an eyebrow behind the mask.

"What are you waiting for? Retreat to camp. We only have sixteen hours to recover before the second round starts."

Rivalen of Aegis Rose sighed."...You really know how to raise morale, don't you, Lord Shadow?"

gallant voice sounded

at

do. I doubt you'll like

seemed to shiver, then looked

any more attention, Sunny headed in the direction of the distant camp. His

stretch of the First Rib they were crossing had been enveloped by the scarlet jungle before his war party cleansed it. There was ash in the

would arrive to harvest soul shards from them — but for now, the carcasses simply carpeted the ground, helping one realize just how terrible the battle had

Sunny sighed.

is only

soldiers. The warriors were covered in

For some reason.

the process of assembling into a march formation, but when Sunny and the Saints approached, everyone paused

tide, and then, a deafening cheer

a crowd of cheering soldiers, Sunny felt a cold chill run down his spine, and a sudden sense of dread

He almost stumbled.

because he

"...Glory! Glory! Glory!"

expression. The shadows populating the battlefield moved as he

for a few long

"Move out!"

voice was colder than the frozen depths of

and then died out. The tired

'Ah, how bothersome…'

of the dead god's collarbone — mercifully, he did not have to handle the minutiae of managing an army out of battle. He simply wanted to dismiss his mask and armor

end, he wasted some essence to step away from the camp through the shadows,refresh

soldiers had eaten and were now asleep — some in the tents, some simply on the ground. Most had dismissed the outer layers of their armors because of the heat, so there was a lot of skin in sight. It was a stark contrast to what he was used to from Antarctica, where everyone had always tried to put

the scene of the camp silently, then shook his

'...I hate jungles.'

to sleep, he walked to the lifts and climbed some way up the slope of the collarbone to observe the distant

on the edge of the wooden

and a thoughtful gaze. His lake-blue eyes were calm, and his glistening