Shadow Slave

On the second to last day before the departure of the First Evacuation Army, Sunny and his cohort had nothing much to do. The gymnasium they used had actually been dismantled the previous night, so it was impossible for them to continue training.

Of course, Sunny could have come up with an inventive way to put his soldiers through more grief, but he eventually decided against it. Instead, he gathered them on the wall of the port fortress for an improvised picnic.

Leaving the Northern Quadrant was a big occasion, especially considering that they were going to war. This was probably going to be their last chance to relax and enjoy themselves in complete safety, so it would have been a shame to miss it.

The cohort enjoyed a lavish meal consisting of various tasty dishes Sunny had commandeered from the officer’s mess hall. There were even beverages that were technically prohibited by army regulations, even though they had very limited effect on Awakened.

The seven of them watched as heavy containers were being loaded on the massive ships in wistful silence. Well… at least six of them did. Luster, meanwhile, was secretly ogling Samara.

After a few moments of silence, the tall woman suddenly said in an even tone:

“What are you staring at?”

The young man flinched and awkwardly looked away.

“That… uh… that’s a wicked scar you have! How did you get it, Sam?”

Samara, indeed, had a prominent scar that stretched all the way from her shoulder to her forearm. Since the sleeves of her bodysuit were currently rolled up, a part of it was on display.

She briefly glanced down at her arm, then shrugged.

“When I was around your age, there was a Gate that opened on top of an unfinished city barrier. As one of the closest Awakened to the site, I was among the first responders. We held the Nightmare Creatures off while the construction crews were evacuating. Anyway… there was an explosion, and I was thrown over the edge. Luckily, my arm got caught on some scaffolds. It hurt like hell, but at least I didn’t fall all the way down to the ground and turned into a puddle.”

Luster blinked a couple of times, then grinned.

“That’s nothing! I actually had my entire right arm bitten off once. A giant stone worm somehow tunneled under the Citadel I was anchored in, and then emerged from underground, swallowing the Gateway in one go. Those of us who survived had to fight it off, but then got stuck on the pieces of rabble, surrounded by a swarm of smaller worms.”

He paled a little.

“…Smaller compared to the first one, of course. Each was at least ten meters long, actually. The only good thing about the bastards was that they could only move through soil, so we were safe as long as we remained on top of big chunks of stone. We did so for a couple of weeks. But when our food and water were gone, we had to make a run for it. I killed an entire worm myself… but not before the damned thing gobbled up my arm!”

Luster was fortunate that he had lost his limb in the Dream Realm. Although it must have caused a lot of damage to his physical body, he had not been crippled for life.

The young man looked around and gave Belle a cocky smile.

“What about you? What’s the worst you’ve been hurt, huh?”

The swordsman thought for a bit.

“Well… I guess it was a few years back. I was stationed at a remote research outpost, all the way out there in the wilderness. We had a Gate open nearby, and the entire facility ended up being overrun. I was pretty much the only one to survive, but the Nightmare Creatures were on my heels. I had no means to contact the HQ, as well, and the nearest human settlement was half a thousand kilometers away.”

An amused smile appeared on his face.

“It took me about a month to reach it on foot. The pursuing abominations were easy enough to deal with, but the air… suffice it to say, by the end of it, I was constantly coughing out chunks of my lungs. That was the worst I have been hurt. Luckily, a kind Ascended healer lent a hand to help me recover.”

A disturbed silence settled over the cohort. A few moments later, Dorn suddenly snorted.

“That reminds me of my solstice. The very first Nightmare Creature I stumbled upon managed to thoroughly crush both of my legs. I had to drag myself through the mud for two entire weeks of slow, painful crawling to get to the nearest Citadel. That was many years ago, of course, but no abomination has managed to do such a number on me ever since.”

Since everyone seemed in the mood to boast about their battle scars, Quentin hesitated for a bit and then decided to share a story, as well:

“I was captured by a Nightmare Creature that looked like a giant spider once. It put me in an impenetrable cocoon and filled it with digestive fluid, to turn me into an easily consumable slushy… as spiders do. The problem was, I was able to heal myself a little bit faster than the acid was dissolving me. Still, after several weeks of that, my patience grew really thin.”

Kim looked at him in horror.

“H—how… how did you escape?”

The gallant man smiled.

“Well, while the acid was slowly corroding my body, I was slowly corroding the cocoon. It gave out before I did, fortunately. However, I failed to avenge the other victims and kill the spider… it is still out there, somewhere. I hope we’ll meet again, one day.”

Kim looked down, and then sighed.

“I… was actually never hurt too badly. There was this one time when my entire cohort contracted a strange plague, though. It was a… a really torturous disease, and it quickly spread to the entire Citadel. Many people died in agony. Eventually, we found out that the plague was a manifestation of a bizarre Terror. Once we did, a Saint of the great clan Song arrived, and somehow managed to destroy it. I, as well as those who were still alive, were spared.”

Luster patted the young woman on the shoulder.

“You did well, Kimmy.”

Then, he looked at Sunny, hesitated for a few moments, and cautiously asked:

“Uh… what about you, captain? Have you ever been hurt real bad?”

Sunny scratched the back of his head.

“Oh? Let me think… I had my ribcage crushed once, I guess. I was also disemboweled, poisoned, burned, and drowned. One time, I was even burned and drowned at the same time.”

Luster blinked.

“How could anyone be burned and drowned at the same time?”

Sunny gave him a lively smile.

“Easy! You just need to be drowned in molten metal. But the very worst physical wound I have ever received… huh… has to be getting beheaded, I guess? That one really stung. Honestly, I do not recommend getting decapitated, if you can avoid it. It’s really not worth it… in most cases…”

The six Awakened were staring at him with strange expressions.

Sunny cleared his throat.

“What? It truly isn’t! Trust me, I should know…”

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