Shadow Slave novel Chapter 904

Two days later, they finally received a word from Master Jet. The message, which had passed through several people before reaching Sunny, was simple - retreat to Erebus and rendezvous with Davis and his cohort of Irregulars there.

Godspeed.

Sunny took a deep breath after hearing the news.

It was as he had expected, even though a small hope that some miraculous help would be sent to assist them on the thousand-kilometer journey had been still somehow aflame in his heart. Now, it was completely extinguished. _{fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com}

With that, the cohort's short period of rest was over. It was a good thing, too.

Over the past couple of days, Sunny killed several Nightmare Creatures that had wandered close to the camp. Strangely, there had not been as many of them as one would have expected, and he was quick to dispose of the bodies. Still, the smell of blood was slowly permeating the area, and pretty soon, it was bound to attract bigger threats.

The blizzard was still raging outside the wreck of the old war machine. Piercing the swirling snow with beams of light, the Rhino growled as it drove forward and abandoned its temporary shelter. Accelerating, it then moved north, toward the slopes of the towering mountains.

The atmosphere inside the vehicle was tense, but as minutes passed without anything lunging an unexpected attack on the APC, everyone calmed down a little.

...Except for Sunny. He had no plans of calming down until they safely reached the stronghold of the First Evacuation Army. In fact, he would prefer if his people remained tense and paranoid, as well.

But there was such a thing as too much pressure, too. People tended to break if subjected to persistent and overwhelming stress without any chance to take a breath. Actually, his soldiers were holding up surprisingly well, considering everything they had gone through in the past two months... and for a good reason. One of the criteria he had chosen these particular Awakened by was their mental resilience, after all.

Even Luster, who seemed like a carefree fool most of the time, was enduring the rigors of the calamitous Antarctica campaign with a surprising tenacity. Maybe it was exactly that lighthearted and frivolous personality of his that made the young man so immune to despair.

'...Do I need to learn from Luster?'

That was something Sunny had never expected to think about.

The Rhino drove forward, and, hidden by the veil of snow, Saint and Nightmare followed it from a small distance. Even though the mountains were obscured from view by the snowstorm, the jagged peaks were getting closer and closer. Sunny's shadows prowled outside, scouting the path ahead.

Just before they reached the terminus that separated the coastal highway, which stretched along the whole length of the Antarctic Center, from the road leading to the former LO49 and the path that took a turn to climb high into the mountains, one of the shadows noticed something strange in the snow.

Sunny hesitated for a few moments, frowning. Then, he moved closer to the pilot's seat and spoke calmly:

"Turn to the left a little and slow down. We are going to take a stop in a couple of kilometers."