Shadow Slave

During the Dark Times, humanity had come to the brink of destruction. A series of cataclysmic natural disasters had brought it to its knees, causing several waves of mass migrations, each of them accompanied by plagues and famine. Previously arable lands had turned into wastelands, and many resources that had previously been the lifeblood of civilization were suddenly running dry.

There had not been enough food for everyone, not enough livable space for everyone, and not enough power source for everyone. So, humans had done what they knew best.

They had turned to war.

…The marks left by those devastating wars still haunted the planet. From the polluted air to the derelicts of broken military machines, they littered the Earth like scars caused by a deadly infection. The old bunker Sunny was facing right now was one of those scars.

He knew neither what army had built it and for what purpose, nor what had happened to those people and why the bunker now stood abandoned. He also did not care.

There were always stories about terrifying doomsday weapons hidden in such places, waiting to be unleashed by a carefree explorer, but most of them were just that – stories. In reality, places like that one were usually empty for one simple reason: everyone had died or left, and those who survived had no need and no capacity to return.

Plus, the bunker had already been unsealed a long time ago. Its massive blast doors stood open, covered with snow.

Sunny was much more worried about the present than the past. Anything could have made its way inside during the Chain of Nightmares. If a tribe of Nightmare Creatures had made a nest in the narrow underground passages, laying siege to the bunker would not be easy. In fact, it was as tough of a task as a military unit could get.

But he could not turn back.

The civilian transports were crowding the mountain road behind him, with nowhere else to go. The vehicles needed maintenance and repair, and the people inside needed rest. It was his obligation to provide for them.

Looking at the dark entrance gloomily, Sunny turned and addressed his cohort:

“Prepare yourself. The seven of us will enter the bunker in fifteen minutes.”

Sergeant Gere, who stood nearby, hesitated for a few moments.

“Sir… what if there are Nightmare Creatures inside?”

Usually, the task of clearing an underground nest would only be entrusted to a much larger and better prepared force. Sunny stared at the soldier silently, and then shrugged.

“There are. So what?”

His shadows were already creeping through the dark bunker, scouting its many chambers and passages. There were indeed abominations hiding underground… a lot of them. They had turned the abandoned complex into their lair some time ago, and its nature was going to make any potential assault both hard to pull off and bloody.

For a regular military force.

Sunny and his people, however, were elites. He was confident in their ability to clear out the bunker without suffering any losses. They had no other choice, anyway.

Most of his confidence, though, came from himself.

As minutes passed by, Sunny used his communicator to project an image on the snow and started to slowly fill it out as the Irregulars watched attentively. Passage after passage, room after room… soon, a detailed map of the bunker was projected in front of them.

Then, Sunny marked every Nightmare Creature and its position on the map. Lastly, he sketched a rough figure of a snake-like monstrosity and drew several red dots on its body. Those were the weak spots he had observed with Kim’s help.

eαglesnᴏνel Sergeant Gere stared at the projection, dumbfounded.

…Not paying him any attention, Sunny addressed the Irregulars:

“There are ninety-four Nightmare Creatures inside the bunker, as well as several hundred… eggs. The plan is simple. We’ll go in and clear them all out, level after level. The first two levels only have Awakened abominations, and the heart of the nest seems to be situated on the fourth, with several Fallen protecting it. There’s not a lot of room to move, so mind the walls. Sam, leave the rifle behind. It won’t be of any use underground, anyway…”

He spent the remainder of the fifteen minutes going over the important points and explaining what kind of enemy they would be facing.

Then, without any fanfare, the cohort brandished their weapons and entered the bunker, disappearing into the darkness without a single radiant Memory illuminating their way.

Hidden in the shadows, Saint and Nightmare remained outside to guard the convoy.

An underground nest was always a dire target. The lack of light, the unpredictable nature of the terrain, the twists and turns of narrow passages that could lead to an ambush at any second, the limited space that made it hard to move and fight… it was a nightmare for a cohort of Awakened, especially if the abominations had both the numbers and the home ground advantage on their side.

…It wasn’t too hard for the Irregulars, though, because they knew where the enemies were, what the lay of the land was, and had already developed an optimal plan of attack. Even if something unexpected happened, Sunny’s shadows were keeping an eye on everything, so the cohort would know about any potential attack in advance.

Swiftly moving from room to room, from corridor to corridor, they methodically slaughtered the Nightmare Creatures. Despite being inside a beast lair, it appeared as though the abominations had found themselves inside an enemy stronghold instead. The Awakened seemed to know the structure of the bunker better than its current inhabitants, as well as how to separate, flank and box the monsters in.

There were no avoidable movements, no words spoken. The Irregulars were fast, efficient, and deadly. Belle especially seemed to be born for this type of assault, since he could freely phase through walls and attack from any angle. His sword made short work of the monstrous snakes, striking precisely at the vulnerable sections that Kim’s Aspect had pointed out.

Sunny was in full control of the situation. His shadows spread throughout the underground complex, informing him of the movements of the enemy. Whenever there was a possibility of danger appearing, his spear lashed out, obliterating the threat. Whenever there was a change, he adjusted the plan on the fly and informed his soldiers.

They went through the first level like the Reaper’s scythe, cutting down all living things on it, then did the same on the second.

Then, the third.

In the end, not even the Fallen abominations could do anything. The last rabid assault of the Nightmare Creatures was completely dismantled by an essence trap that had been set up by Samara. Whoever survived the blast was finished off by the melee fighters.

Just like that, the deadly nest of powerful abominations was obliterated.

As soon as the last of the creatures lost its life, shadows surged across the underground complex, dragging the corpses away to hide them out of sight.

…About an hour after the cohort had entered the bunker, Sunny emerged from the darkness and breathed in the cold air. Then, he looked at the soldiers waiting outside and calmly said:

“Bring the transports inside.”

The soldiers stared at him for a few seconds in silence, then turned around and walked toward the vehicles without saying anything.

…What was there to say?

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