Shadow Slave

Chapter 1920 Marching Through Hell Eventually, the already dire situation turned into absolute chaos.

The horde of Nightmare Creatures had caught up with the expedition force, and the rear of the formation became engrossed in a moving battle. Several Saints led the defensive efforts, slaughtering the menacing abominations with all their might.

The death toll among the Nightmare Creatures was high, but the soldiers were suffering heavy casualties, as well.

Luckily — or perhaps unfortunately — the mad frenzy of the pursuing Nightmare Creatures had caused a destructive chain reaction in the Hollows. The local predators were overcome by hunger and bloodlust at the sight of human troops, but they weren't happy to see the numerous abominations from the surface invade their territory, either.

To the Great Ones inhabiting the ancient jungle, the weak surface dwellers were nothing but prey, just like humans were.

For that reason, the pursuing horde suffered a terrifying massacre when appalling silhouettes lunged into it from the jungle. The ancient predators grew mad from the stench of blood, slaughtering everything they could see with chilling cruelty... a few of them fell, too, buried under an avalanche of hideous monsters.

The internal strife between the rightful rulers of the Hollows and the invading surface dwellers alleviated some of the pressure on the army, but not a lot of it. The expedition force was still bleeding lives -— not a staggering number of them, but more than ever before.

The people trapped in this morbid hell soon found themselves missing the unpredictable and inescapable radiance of the deadly sky. Who would have thought?

Rain, meanwhile...

Was missing the weird antics and ridiculous stories of her teacher.

In the past four years, she had lived through plenty of frightening situations. Hunting Nightmare Creatures as a mundane girl was not a safe vocation, after all... but he was always there, with her, talking her through the difficult ordeals and taking care of her when she felt lost.

they were surrounded by thousands of soldiers, her teacher

loved to hear him tell an outrageously nonsensical story with a straight

'Let's see...‘

heavily, she helped 'l‘amar deal with a monstrous tick that had lunged at them from a branch and assessed how much essence she

benefit of not having an Aspect was that she rarely ran low on it, unlike other Awakened. So, Rain was doing quite fine, for

say

something like... "What, this? This is nothing! Have I told you about that time I climbed into a Cursed Terror‘s nest and stole its egg? l was actually looking for tasty fruit to treat someone

Or...

date, of sorts.

the dreadful situation, Rain smiled

'Yeah, right.‘

look like the kind of scoundrel to attempt such lunacy —

nocked it on the string of her bow and took a

in Lady Seishan... she will not lead her

she was a

because she needed that army to fight

be

And it wasn't.

plunged into the bloodshed, retreating slowly while holding back the frenzied mob of Nightmare Creatures. The Saints were fighting some distance