Shadow Slave novel Chapter 2036

Rain was laying on top of her bedroll, too tired to move. The interior of her tent was like an oven, and the merciless sky was pummeling the word with heat outside. The mere thought of the radiant expanse of the sun-bleached bone, which seemed to glow like snow in the pouring sunlight, made her eyes ache for the comfort of shadows.

Which was why the flap of her tent was closed, submerging the interior into a comfortable dimness. The passive enchantment of one of Rain's Memories kept her cool, and she could finally breathe.

The past few days had been… challenging.

The Song Army had set out north, marching at a truly punishing pace. They had to escape the pursuing enemy, sure, but the soldier had not even had the chance to recover from the battle. Enduring the dire hardship of the hellish march immediately after that calamity was like a cruel torture.

Everyone was slowly breaking under the strain…

It wasn't easy to break Awakened, but Godgrave was just the place to accomplish that.

The situation was only made worse by how disheartening it felt to be destroying the extermination outposts as the army retreated north. They had fought long and hard to establish them, after all — battling the scarlet jungle was a harrowing affair, but it had felt rewarding. As if they were banishing something vile and odious into darkness to build a place under the sun for humanity.

What did it feel like to dismantle these outposts with their own hands, then?

The Seventh Legion had destroyed only one, so far. It had to be done in a rush, so the fortress had been set on fire immediately after the garrison evacuated. Luckily, the most widely available building material in Godgrave was wood, and the flames spread quickly.

It was not quick enough, though. The Blood Sisters surrounded the burning outposts and bombarded it with ranged attacks, reducing the fortress to rubble. What had taken weeks of battling the dreadful jungle and enormous effort to build was reduced to a smoldering pile of charred debris in a matter of minutes.

As the soldiers watched the scene of destruction in grim silence, it was hard not to feel as if all the blood, sweat, and tears they had spilled were for nothing.

By the time the legion moved on from the blackened ruin, the first scarlet vines were already crawling out of the fissure.

'Damn it all.'

Rain shifted and glanced at the deep shadows nestling in the corners of the tent. It was so hot inside…

After remaining silent for a while, she said in a low tone:

"You know… you can already make cooling enchantments. Why don't you enchant the whole tent, while you're at it?"

There was silence for a few moments, and then, a chuckle came out of the shadows.

"Mostly because it would take time away from more important matters. Why don't you learn runic sorcery and enchant the tent yourself?"

Rain smiled in the darkness.

"I just might. Can I really learn it?"

A familiar figure emerged from the shadows, sitting down on the floor of the tent. He shrugged.

"I don't see why not… a friend once told me that it would take no more than a century, but with your apparent talent, it should be much faster. A few decades, at most."

Rain sighed.

"...Figures."

Then, she studied him with a neutral expression.

"Why did you come out?"

Sunny smiled.

"I have something for you. Give me your hand."

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