Shadow Slave

Chapter 1917 Fast Promotion Once the platform passed the great width of the porous hone, they were surrounded by emptiness from all sides. The vast Hollow sprawled beneath them, drowning in darkness. Here and there, radiant pillars of light fell from the cracks in its dome and illuminated the ancient jungle...

No one knew what unspeakable horrors hid under its impenetrable scarlet canopy, so the soldiers shivered, trying to distance themselves from the edges of the platform as much as possible.

Rain simply sat on the creaking wood, trying to catch her breath. She did look at the alien landscape below, but only for a short moment — seasoned hunters like her knew not to stare at the Dream Realm too closely.

Lest something stared back.

She looked at Ray.

"How's your wound?"

The young man was pale and uncharacteristically quiet. Fleur was treating him, but with how low she was on essence, the process was taking time.

The young man forced out an unconvincing smile.

"I'll live."

Then, he glanced down and paled even more.

"...Until we reach the ground, at least."

Tamar dismissed her helmet and sat down near Rain, swiping back her sweaty hair. She scowled and looked at him with scorn.

"Why are you worried? You have escaped the Hollows before — as a mere Sleeper and completely alone. You are an Awakened now, and we are surrounded by an entire army."

Ray stared at her gloomily.

"Don‘t remind me! I still have nightmares about that day... I mean, I would have, if I could dream..."

turned, looking

Ray? You survived the

startled by

have I not regaled you guys with the amazing story of our chilling winter solstice? If that's the case, then — why, yes! Listen here...

launched into the story, making Rain wince — she had heard it retold at least a dozen times, after all, and each was more unwieldy than the previous one. Still, she couldn't help but notice that the expressions of the soldiers eased a little as they listened to Ray talk. All of them were frightened, and hearing that three Sleepers had escaped from the Hollows alive gave them some much—needed

winter solstice all along.

'Ilow sneaky.‘

how to be subtle, as

they all disembarked, looking around with wary

the battered soldiers of the expedition force were sprawled on the ground, resting, or hurriedly wolfing

Your position is

to their devices for a while. No one knew how long this rest would

was no

you think the commanders

voice sounded subdued... but not at all meak. Rain had assumed that the delicate girl was really soft at first, but after

shrugged and looked into the

"We'll know soon."

sunshine freely poured down, and so, the scarlet infestation in a wide area was no older than on the surface. It had already been annihilated by the

But not peaceful.

in the darkness — Lady Seishan and Death Singer were currently there, facing the old monsters of the Hollows in a bloody battle to clear a path for the

in front of them, a

expedition force was in a perilous

not much we can

they could do was fill their stomachs, replenish their strength, and

exactly what they