Shadow Slave novel Chapter 966

The new arrivals did, indeed, turn out to be one of the splinter groups of the Erebus Field survivors. There were many more people in their caravan than in Sunny's caravan, but none of the soldiers held a higher military rank than him, the most senior officer among them being an Awakened lieutenant named Carin.

Needless to say, there were no Masters among them, either.

So... ironically, he ended up being in charge again.

Sunny had been responsible for six Awakened and two civilians after leaving I.o49, which suited him fine. Then, more than three hundred refugees and several dozens of mundane soldiers joined them.

Those numbers seemed like a joke now.

After the Erebus Field survivors joined his group, Sunny found himself in command of a significantly larger force. There were more than four thousand civilians currently sheltered in the crowded resupply station, as well as five hundred mundane soldiers.

her, as well as four new Sleepers. Sunny sent the latter to their nameless counterpart, placing the young man in charge.

The guy had turned out to be quite resourceful, and Belle's mentorship seemed to be bearing fruit. Not to mention that his core was close to being saturated already.

In the end, there were now three full Awakened cohorts - and a half - under Sunny's command. There were also twelve powerful MRWs being piloted by mundane specialists and more than enough powered armor suits for the soldiers, which drastically increased the caravan's defensive ability.

The vast supply reserves of the underground station suddenly did not look so inexhaustible anymore.

'Ah, this is going to be a headache...'

Studying the crowded depot, Sunny grimaced. The increase in power and in the number of tools at his disposal was welcome, but he would have to rethink his entire strategy as to how to traverse the two thousand kilometers separating them from Falcon Scott.

Before, Sunny had mostly put his efforts into avoiding combat engagements, meticulously circumventing Nightmare Creatures and only attacking those swarms that could not be bypassed. But with a caravan this large, that was not an option anymore. There was just no way to perfectly hide so many people.

Luckily, the caliber of threats they could take on also increased. With several cohorts of Awakened and a small army under his command, Sunny would be able to simply roll over many swarms, maybe even cut a path through the weaker hordes of abominations.

But all of that required a lot of mental adjustment, and even more work for his shadows. His map would also have to be updated to account for the changes in the caravan's composition.

'Oh, well. No sleep for me today, it seems.'

Walking toward the Rhino with a slightly exasperated expression, Sunny couldn't help but hear bits and pieces of the conversations the new arrivals were having with the members of the initial convoy.

"...I don't think any of us can survive."

"What's that? Cheer up, man. The Devil himself is with us, so who can be against us?"

However, that was before the towering colossus smashed through the city defenses, destroying the grandiose magma barriers, drain vents, and most other contingencies the government had put in place.

With the perimeter of the siege capital breached, a titan rampaging on its periphery, rivers of lava flowing through the broken barriers, and hordes of Nightmare Creatures using the chance to get inside, there had been nothing that the First Army division stationed at Erebus Field could do to stop the cataclysmic assault.

The few Masters of the accompanying Awakened force had joined forces to stall Goliath for as long as they could while the soldiers desperately tried to evacuate the civilians.

That was probably where Davis and his cohort of Irregulars had perished.

Lieutenant Carin did not know how many people had made it out of that hell in the end, but judging by her expression, it was probably much less than the total population of the city. The last thing she had witnessed before leading the caravan away was the colossal figure of Goliath, turned incandescent from bathing in the molten lava, plunging into the ocean and disappearing under the dark waves.

From where the titan had emerged the next day to attack Sunny's convoy.

...After Carin was finished speaking, a somber silence settled inside the Rhino. No one know what exactly to say.

Eventually, Sunny sighed.

'Their nightmare is over...'