Shadow Slave novel Chapter 906

Sunny had never seen a few words crush a man's spirit so thoroughly.

...Except for maybe himself, when Nephis had spoken his True Name and commanded him to leave her for dead on the Forgotten Shore.

The soldier managed to remain standing, but he looked like a marionette with its strings cut. All light was extinguished from his eyes. He remained motionless for a while, and then turned slightly, throwing a forlorn glance at the small, battered fleet behind him.

Sunny could imagine how he felt. After surviving the cataclysmic destruction of the siege capital, these people weathered untold horrors to make it this far alive. What had kept them going was probably the hope that salvation was drawing closer and closer. And now, when they almost reached the destination, that hope was cruelly crushed.

He sighed.

"It just happened a few days ago. The news would not have reached you. My people and I are the only ones who survived."

The soldier looked down, silent.

Eventually, he asked:

"If I may ask. What are your plans now, sir?"

Sunny looked at him with a deadpan expression.

"My orders are to proceed to the Erebus Field siege capital to rendezvous with another cohort of the First Irregular Company."

Suddenly, a tentative spark appeared in the soldier's eyes.

"Master Sunless, sir. Will you consider..."

Sunny knew what he was going to say. It was not that hard to guess.

...He wanted to laugh.

In fact, he almost did. It took a lot of self-control to remain outwardly calm. A bitter, familiar, unhinged laugh got stuck somewhere in his throat.

Of course, Sunny knew. The soldier was going to ask if the Irregulars would escort the civilian convoy to safety. Why wouldn't he? They had persevered for the last week without any Awakened to protect the handful of transports from the rampaging Nightmare Creatures. And even though their hope of sailing to safety aboard the Ariadne was gone, there was an actual Master standing in front of them.

And not just any Master, but one of the most deadly ones in the First Army, accompanied by a cohort of absolute elites. The Irregulars were the cream of the crop of human forces.

Surely, they wouldn't leave defenseless civilians behind.

Surely...

The problem was that this decision was not an easy one. Heavily armored and exceedingly maneuverable Rhino could potentially make the thousand-kilometer journey to Mount Erebus. The flimsy and damaged civilian transports, however... their ability to traverse the mountains was doubtful. At the very least, they would slow down and limit the versatile APC.

Which would put its crew in danger.

By agreeing to take charge of the convoy, Sunny would not only make his task several times harder, but also drastically increase the chance of his own soldiers dying.

That was why he wanted to laugh.

In Sunny's last conversation with Verne, the stalwart Master had told him that it was impossible to get hundreds of civilians through the mountains alive. Back then, Sunny had responded by saying that people could not know what was impossible until they tried it.

And now, he had to either leave these people to die...

Or eat his own words, and put his money where his mouth was.