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“Looks like it started.” General Aubance, perched atop his fearless warhorse, looked up at the leaden sky and muttered. The bearded general’s expression was calm, even though they’d be diving straight into hell.

“Will it really be alright? You’re sacrificing my city, you know?! The least you can do for that is get me to safety!” Elvaro, Ulbdor’s chief, peered out of the window of an extravagant carriage.

He was yelling at Aubance, his voice carrying a mix of excitement and tension. Sweat gathered on his forehead, and spit escaped his mouth.

Aubance, on the other hand, simply shrugged and offered a nonchalant reply to the angry child’s outburst.

“Beats me. We’ll be swimming through a sea of monsters, after all. No one can guarantee your life there.”
“What?! Y-You! Y-You said I’d be safe here!”
“Relatively, that is. The safest place for you to be is, without a doubt, at my side. If you don’t like it you can go lock yourself up in the Ark.”

Elvaro was at a loss for words at Aubance’s response.

Because Aubance had told him that staying with him would be safer than boarding the Ark, Elvaro had even gone so far as to hire a carriage for himself. All so that he could be under the protection of a person that rivaled any hero. Elvaro also thought about the remote possibility that the Ark was stopped. Because he knew he would perish if that happened, Elvaro had prepared this carriage, which had a narrow radius and was guarded by the best men he knew. This, Elvaro thought, was the most secure way out.

Elvaro bit his nails with stress as he turned to face Aubance with a question as thoughts began to cross his head.

“Say, is there a chance they’ll survive the Crusade? That adventurer, Tieck, should be as strong as you, right?”

Aubance couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the ridiculous question.

“Seems you’re still not willing to give up, huh? It’s impossible. They’ll all perish, and the city will follow them. Not even a speck of dust will be left behind.”
“Damn it.”
“Regrettably, we’ll lose warriors of Tieck and Imitia’s caliber.”
“Didn’t they say they’d escape at the last minute?”
“Haha. That too is nothing but wishful thinking. It’s impossible. They too will die. Besides…”

Aubance suddenly stopped narrowing his eyes, “You’ll see how unrealistic their ambitions are when you see what’s behind this door.”

◇◇◇

“OPEN THE GATE!!!” At Seletina’s order, the inner gate, which was the gate closest to the city, began to open. With a gurgling and screeching sound, Ulbdor’s heart became exposed.

The soldiers shouted, rumbling the ground and raising their fists to keep fear and despair at bay, fanning the fire of life that burned within them.

Meanwhile, at the end of the bridge leading from the inner gate, the outer gate began to rumble. This gate, which had been sealed so tightly that not even an ant could pass through, slowly creaked open.

“W-What…” Someone uttered, his perplexed tone revealed everything he was feeling.

The little opening in the outer gate allowed the Demons to enter. They pushed and shoved one another as if trying to jam themselves through a house’s open windows during a storm.

They poured in one after another, and in the blink of an eye, their numbers swelled into the thousands. The thought of how many demons would swarm Ulbdor when the outer gate fully opened made the warriors sick to their stomachs.

“Do not falter! Shoot them down!” From the far back, Gugugan’s order echoed, bringing the soldiers back to their senses.

The stiffened soldiers gulped and began shooting fire arrows from their drawn bows. Hundreds of bright red arrows shot through the air, striking their dark enemies with precision.

The demons, their flesh pierced by the arrows, tumbled and caused chaos amidst their ranks. Then came the trap at the bridge. A powerful smell of oil assaulted the nostrils.

In the next moment, the whole bridge turned into a sea of flames. Heat waves shot far back, causing one’s skin to tingle from the intensity of the shimmering flames.

Everything that could feed the fire was crammed into that space, including valuable explosives that were supposedly carried in from the south, oil, alcohol, hay, and highly flammable clothing.

“……”

Seletina flapped her wings and stepped off the platform, squinting as she looked at the pillar of flame. As her wings of light faded into thin air, Imitia appeared by her side.

“It’s started,” Imitia mumbled, yet Seletina could still hear her clearly.

One after another, the Demons stepped through the pillar of flames, breaking through the sea of red.

Although they’d suffered losses, there were even more of them. The Demons charged forward endlessly, kicking away the corpses around them. The sound of their marching alone was painful enough to make one’s eardrums pop.

“Mage Squad! Forward!” Gugugan yelled once again.

Replacing the archers, robed soldiers stepped forward and began unleashing spells one after another. Lightning, fire, ice… Various spells slammed against the tsunami of Demons. Yet they all proved futile.

Even when arrows and enormous stones were shot from the several catapults in the back, slammed against the horde, and killed one Demon after another, it all felt pointless.

The Demons eventually crossed over the bridge and poured into Ulbdor like a wave pouring over an ant’s nest. They were vastly outnumbered. This was when many of the warriors lost hope.

They all thought that their being here made no difference. That they were nothing more than a grain of sand being tossed about by the muddy waters. Yet, reality wouldn’t wait for them. Death was already at their doorstep.

“CHAAARGE!!!” Gugugan’s command failed to inspire these hopeless warriors who were already drowning in despair.