A mere year after the New Workshop's inception and meteoric rise to prominence as a most powerful and unique Government program, it was already being deployed on a large scale.
In all truth, Gehrman did not wish to have anyone besides a few elites and himself travel to the perilous continent. But he recognized that the situation was desperate, and thus made several tough calls.
For one, the New Workshop in the Outskirts of NSCQ would continue to grow and expand under the supervision of Oskar and the other District Bosses Gehrman had trusted. Backing him was the old leader of the mercenaries, Malcolm. 10 of his most trusted also served him as a sort of higher guard/police. Naturally, all the recently Awakened teenagers were also at Oskar and Malcolm's disposal, but given their age, Gehrman left several instructions on what was, and what wasn't okay to make them do.
Meanwhile traveling in huge transport ships towards Antarctica where 1,000 engineers. Each having created a successful Trick Weapon out of a Nightmare Creatures corpse. Naturally, they would need the proper tools, but Gehrman was confident that with the surplus of beasts flooding the land that he could easily create the remaining old mercenaries (now all bearing the Hunter's Oath Rune) formed a contingent that would eventually fit in nicely with the Government's forces.
At the moment, the force that was traveling across the oceans in 20 colossal ships was dubbed the "First Evacuation Army".
Its main force consisted of about 400,000 mundane soldiers outfitted with the most dangerous technology that humanity had developed over 1,000s of years of warfare. The vast majority being exoskeleton devices that drastically increased the power of a human. Outfitting them with tremendous firepower including multiple missiles and the sharpest blades science could craft. But despite there being over 10,000 of these suits, they could not do too much.
"Only an Awakened can kill and Awakened."
That was the saying that had become prevalent since the Nightmare Spell had descended. Though Humanities cleverness could kill Dormant creatures, Awakened creatures were oddly immune to the vast majority of high-tech devices.
Only the largest of bombs or rail guns could kill Awakened and Fallen. There was no firearm or weapon that could allow a mundane person to kill an Awakened…at least, that would have been the case if not for the New Workshop.
The 1,000 engineers were being taught on various ships how their weapons could be modified to fit the mech-suits of the Government. There were still a few issues, of course.
Trick Weaponry required a level of dexterity and training to fully utilize, and it would be impossible for most soldiers to use them effectively, as their familiarity with the mech-suits were all they knew.
But Gehrman wasn't picky on what weapons were created. Though he doubted he could outfit the entire Government with firearms made of Awakened materials, creating "bayonets" out of the carapaces' of the Nightmare Creatures surrounding his Dread Citadel was easy enough to semi-mass produce.
But in the end, the mundane humans could only do so much.
It was the Awakened that would make the difference in how many lives were saved.
In total, there were 4 convoys that were making their way to Antarctica. All of them traveled in large groups of ships like Gehrman currently was. There were about 20,000 Awakened and 50 Masters total, evenly split among the 4 convoys. Not including the New Workshops own numbers.
Among those Awakened were a group of elites dubbed the "Irregular Company." Technically, Gehrman was a part of this task force. Though his orders were different, and instead of going where was needed and supporting the weakest points of Antarctica, Gehrman would be rampaging across the barren lands, ending swarms of Nightmare Creatures before they ever got the chance to reach any humans.
But this was not because the Irregulars were unfit to do so, on the contrary they were the elites of the elites. They consisted of several very small cohorts, with one Ascended Captain and 5 or 6 unique Awakened. Each Captain got to pick their cohort to create the most deadly unit possible. And each of them were already forces to be reckoned with.
Gehrman knew this would be the case when he saw who was in charge.
Soul Reaper Jet.
Her name was pervasive among all Government employees. Her epithet was whispered like the title of a demon. Both feared and respected by all. But what mattered the most to Gehrman was the fact that he already had an idea of what she was capable of.
When Gehrman was initially taken into Government custody he was met with what he assumed were the strongest individuals that they had at their disposal.
One was Saint Cor.
The other was Master Jet.
She had been the only one besides Sunny, Nephis, and Gehrman to have a visually distinct Soul. Though she did not possess multiple Soul Cores like the other Divine Aspect holders did, she undoubtedly had an Aspect of high Rank seen as she was so very different.
Instead of a singular, engorged core. But instead of being whole and perfect, it was made up of a mess of shards. All brimming with essence and held together by eerie energy. In truth, it looked like what one might expect a recently destroyed Soul to look like.
Nevertheless, this uniqueness was enough to put Gehrman on guard around her.
And now that he knew that her Aspect allowed her to deal damage directly to an enemies Soul, not just their physical form, he was even warier.
Though his [Burial Blade] now could perform Soul Damage, an Aspect that revolved around that type of attack was bound to be more potent.
In any case, Colonel Jet (as she was now known) would likely be the most dangerous force outside the Saints.
When Gehrman had first received news of the Chain of Nightmares, he had expected massive movement from the Great Clans.
…the result was bitterly disappointing.
One Saint from each Great Clan was sent. Token Forces. They were all Vassal Saints – except for the House of Night, where it seemed all Saints had a voice in their ruling council – and though the rest of the forces under their command followed, it was still not even 10 percent of the Great Clans strength.
And if one counted their Supremes, then it probably wasn't even 1 percent.
In that way, it seemed like only the House of Night was taking this moderately seriously, with them sending many "Nightwalkers". These elite Awakened and Ascended were given the namesake of their lost founder, and they seemed to all have uncanny navigation and path-finding abilities.
It was with two of these Nightwalkers that Gehrman would be coordinating most with.
Thinking of this, he silently clenched his fist.
He wasn't mad at the Nightwalkers by any means, instead it was anger at his "allies" at Song.
Their inaction was explained at that very moment as an alert on his communication device sounded. The message read:
"We can't risk losing more forces than Valor. We are working on coming to an agreement with them so we can send more with the Second Evacuation Army. Eubin has already decided to lead that delegation, and if I'm done with my Second Nightmare by then, then I will join you there as well."
Gehrman's face slackened and his eyes turned blank.
He did not send a message back.
"...Bullshit."
Gehrman wasn't familiar with these politics, but he had been around the Princesses and Caster enough to get a feel for their mentality.
There was probably a tacit agreement between the two to Clans to only send so many into Antarctica. Maybe it was so they could send a message, maybe it was so they could punish the Vassal Clan who seemed most out-of-line, or maybe…it was because they just couldn't give a damn if tens of millions of Mundane Humans died.
He had spent enough time around the Jade Palace to know that they certainly thought the King of Swords would be willing to let such an atrocity occur to ensure his power. And they all acted like Ki Song wouldn't.
But Gehrman could already tell that was almost assuredly incorrect.
When he had met her, Ki Song had appeared a stressed, powerful, and determined leader. A mother, who had to do hard things in order to protect her children.
That was who had spoken to him, and that was who had raised Seishan and her sisters with such love that they remained eternally indebted.
But he had merely met a fragment of Ki Song, both literally and figuratively.
There was no way the Princesses knew what their mother got up to with her seemingly endless vessels. They couldn't possibly keep track of them all.
Every moment Ki Song was tucking her daughters into bed she was also likely killing something in the same breath.
And even if that "something" was a Nightmare Creature, the fact that only a small fraction of her remained with her family while the vast majority was out doing gods knew what…well, how could she remain sane? How could someone like that possibly remain human, or appreciate humanity at its weakest?
Gehrman turned back to the screens describing the First Evacuation Army.
He couldn't do anything about the Sovereigns, but he could do something in Antarctica. It was time to find out how powerful he had truly become…and find out how mad he could get.
…
A few hours later Gehrman was in abyssal waters that were dyed red with blood.
Something odd had occurred. It appeared some kind of Nightmare Creature was casting some spell on the convoy, causing a bunch of workers to fall into a daze and walk off the ships.
And his poor mundane Engineers were probably the most susceptible to such an attack.
Gehrman already had high mental resistances simply due to how similar they were to his different Madness's. But with the now Ascended [Greedy Bloodstone Tailsman] granting a considerable boost to that resistance it was likely only a Great Creature, or a considerably powerful Corrupted one, could break through his mental fortitude.
So when he first heard the strange "Siren songs" he immediately rushed to the top of the ship, and then below it.
At the same time he wasted a lot of blood in his [Portable Blood Imbiber] to create curved railings that would prevent the hypnotized Mundanes from being able to climb into the waters.
As he fell, he noticed that the blue ocean water was actually black. It was similar to the Dark Sea of the Forgotten Shore, but did not share its imposing and dreadful stench.
Instead of being completely blinded when he went under, his [Sixth Sense] only became slightly dimmed.
But even then he could already tell where the singing was coming from.
Gehrman could swim, but in this situation he simply made himself as narrow as possible and then pulled his blood in the direction he wanted to go.
It was inelegant and he suspected he looked rather silly.
…he even lost his cap. Which was saying a lot given that it stayed on when he flew most of the time. As a part of the [Hunter's Attire] Memory it both fitted perfectly and had some strange Arcane ability to stick to his head.
But this wasn't an enchantment, simply a tendency.
So in cases like this it would fly off and Gehrman would simply dismiss the cap, allowing it to return to his Soul Sea to be recovered at a later date.
At that moment he forgot all about that though.
A dozen or so Fallen Demons all sang together in an enchanting song. Gehrman noted with aggravation that many Mundanes, and even some Awakened from the other ships were falling in and swimming towards them.
Gehrman growled, in this environment, most of his weapons were rendered moot.
But if there was one good thing about his dealings with the House of Night, it was that his knowledge on underwater combat and weapons had improved drastically.
Gehrman pulled a considerable amount of his own blood out of his body, forming a harpoon that quickly started to rotate and generate bubbles.
The Fallen Demons were quick to respond. Four broke off to respond to the attack while the other eight kept the song going.
They were much faster than Gehrman was in the water.
But two of them died in the next second.
The gyrating harpoon ripped through one's heart and another's lower body. Their blood clouded the waters.
Gehrman smiled and pulled it toward himself, making up for the blood he lost and boosting his strength. But more than that, he needed more Madness. The Demons were clever, but they still lacked mental acuity. Their coordinated strike indicated a Tyrant or Terror, but it had yet to make itself known. That meant that there was some distance.
And if there was distance, Gehrman could overwhelm whatever method of communication it was using by fraying the already scattered bestial thoughts of the Demons.
Two things occurred at the same time.
Pale purple sparks started to appear around Gehrman's hands.
A flurry of Frenzy rocketed outwards, tearing and cavorting through the water. Though it wasn't a true mental attack, the other Sirens gave up their song.
With that goal completed Gehrman dodged an incoming blow from behind.
Unfortunately, he was unable to completely dodge a well coordinated slash from below. Gehrman may have seen it coming, but his unfamiliarity with fighting underwater was enough to slow his movements by a fraction of a second.
Still, the [Hunter's Attire] was a Transcendent Memory. And though it was not armor, the garb painstakingly crafted by Old Gehrman was in no ways weak. Its design allowed for force to be redirected. Instead of having one's arm bitten off, it would slide from a beasts maw with foul, but manageable injury. As long as no limbs were lost, the Old Hunters, and the current Gehrman, could come back from anything.
A small tear opened to the Siren's bird-like talon. But in the next second it was closed. The [Ageless] Enchantment rapidly repaired it.
Fallen Demons were daunting opponents, they could not be underestimated.
But in Gehrman's current state…there could be no comparison.
The Memory that Gehrman had summoned finished appearing. Even without the League's Oath Rune the writhing Vermin of the [Envious Executioner Gloves] were apparent.
The ugly dark red mist emanated from Gehrman, and then ghostly red skulls were shot from them. They were fairly slow, but they quickly gained speed.
Ignoring physics, the non-physical attack reached 5 different Sirens, including the two near him. Each of them froze, paralyzed with the agony of the Vermin who had perished. Then, they were all ruthlessly open with manifested claws of blood.
After those corpses were drained the battle was over.
With this much blood Gehrman could create much bigger, and deadlier constructs.
However, a sensation ran up his back as he felt a new figure rapidly approaching.
But based on the size, it was not a Nightmare Creature.
The foggy blood coalesced and wove into a fine, but durable net that quickly enclosed around the rest of the Sirens.
Gehrman suspected his new ally to take a couple of attacks to kill them all, but as soon as he reached the net, all of the Sirens perished.
A flash of dark blue hair and indigo eyes were all Gehrman could see as the Master gave him a nod, and then he rocketed towards the hulls of the other ships.
Before, he had thought the Ascended of the House of Night a bit underwhelming compared to their contemporaries, but seeing how that Nightwalker had just moved, a satisfying thought occurred.
They were quite literally fishes out of water. Now that they are in the Ocean…perhaps they could perform on the level of a weaker Saint.
No wonder the Government felt comfortable with using such a large convoy. Though they lacked a Sovereign, The House of Night was still a Great Clan. And in Antarctica they were finally allowed to remind the world why that was.