"It's nothing serious. Just bad luck," Oara said. She had already ventured into the Demonic Realm dozens of times. Alone, at that.

At first, she had only slaughtered monsters near the entrance. Later, she had pushed farther in, searching for a way to eliminate the Demonic Realm. Finally, with a hypothesis in mind, she had ventured deeper still.

During one such excursion, Oara had encountered a bizarre monster: a Ghoul with an exceptionally potent venom in its fingernails. The instant she saw it, her knight's intuition told her it would be no easy opponent. It also gave her evidence on which to build a hypothesis.

What was a Demonic Realm? It could be considered another colony. Kill the leader, and a colony dissolved. What, then, of a Demonic Realm?

"The same principle applies. This isn't even a particularly large Demonic Realm. But it's been here for over fifty years, I'd say."

The story continued alongside her explanation of the poison. Encrid listened in silence. Oara was no scholar, but she was a knight who had spent her life dreaming of eradicating the gray forest's Demonic Realm before her.

Things she couldn't understand however hard she thought? Things she couldn't even begin to guess at? She threw herself into them to find answers. If she didn't know, why not enter the Demonic Realm and see for herself? Without absurd martial strength, no one could even have contemplated such an approach, but she had done it. That was how she had learned.

"It's time for a new generation to take over."

She didn't know how it worked, but one thing was certain. The Demonic Realm's core changed. Oara had concluded that this Ghoul was the next core that would sustain the Demonic Realm. In colony terms, its leader.

A few exchanges of blows had told her as much. Its strength and speed were on another level, and it had intelligence to match. She didn't know what the previous core had been. Nor did she want to. Only one fact mattered to her.

Kill that one evolved Ghoul, and the Demonic Realm would lose its power. No monsters more dangerous than it would emerge. They could take their time eliminating the rest one by one. They wouldn't even need a knight for that. Roman would see to it. He was Oara's successor.

She had already chosen who would follow her. Given the chance, she would burn through even her own life to destroy the Demonic Realm's core. That was her resolve and her conviction.

Her complexion brightened as it rarely did. Will coursed through her body. Strange, though it was. As she spoke, Oara thought how truly strange it was that talking to the man before her made motivation well up of its own accord. Part of the sense of omnipotence she had felt upon first becoming a knight filled her again.

"Are you saying the poison can't be cured?"

Encrid had grasped the crux of it. As he asked, another volley of arrows flew over the ground newly blanketed in darkness.

"Oa!"

The soldiers shouted their battle cry. Arrows rained down from the shelter of the walls, and the same four squires and two proto knights stood just outside the gate. Should anything happen, they would immediately form a wall and smash the approaching monsters' heads.

Oara smiled at Encrid's question and gave his back a hearty slap.

"Hey, do I look like I'm about to die? I'm looking for a cure, so don't worry. Besides, I've got at least ten good years left, you know?"

Given time, she would find a way. It didn't sound like a lie. The Ghoul's fingernails had poisoned her, but an immediate cure was impossible. Several reasons had compounded the problem: she had repeatedly entered the Demonic Realm in that condition, and fought the Ghoul twice more, adding other poisons to the mix.

She had tried divine healing and medicines from renowned alchemists, but the matter remained unresolved. Divine power wasn't all-powerful, after all.

"I'd noticed from seeing you a few times, but those back muscles really are something."

Oara looked at her palm as she spoke. The springiness of Encrid's back muscles still lingered faintly against it. They had felt good, in other words.

She went on to say that there were days like this now and then. Today was one of them. A day when the monster bastards suddenly came crawling out to make trouble. They couldn't predict everything the Demonic Realm would do.

"Those little spider bastards."

Oara's eyes shone white as she muttered. Her Will-infused gaze pierced the darkness.

Several giant monstrous spiders rushed the squires and proto knights. Their enormous bodies bore down on the humans.

"Don't get cocky!"

Oliver could be seen bringing his mace down before them.

THWACK.

The spider's head split, spilling thick black fluid.

"Dunbachel."

Encrid called to her some distance away. She approached reluctantly, dragging her feet as though she truly hated being here. Perhaps that reaction was only natural, considering she had spent days asking over and over when they were going back. When Rem threatened from behind to cut off her ankles if she dragged her feet once more, she quickened her pace.

CAAW.

The crow called tirelessly, while an owl's long hooting sounded over and over from within the Demonic Realm.

"Can you see?"

"Well enough."

Beastmen had good night vision. Training allowed Encrid to make out objects to an extent, but he wouldn't see as clearly as she did. Dunbachel continued.

"They're holding them off in front of the wall."

SKREEEEE!

Sure enough, another screaming spider's cry rang out. It came from a little way in front of the gate. A couple of torch stands illuminated the people there, their shadows stretching toward the Demonic Realm. The four squires and two proto knights had advanced at the spiders' approach.

"They fight well," Dunbachel said without enthusiasm.

Encrid, too, kept his gaze fixed on them. They were as formidable as ever, smashing every spider monster that approached. They showed no intention of giving ground. Roman in particular, one of the pillars of that wall of martial strength, looked ready to pierce the sky with his fighting spirit.

"You lot can die smiling too!"

His shout was cheerful. He didn't seem to be straining himself at all.

There was no threat. And yet Encrid's instincts warned him, sharply enough to make his skin prickle. Why? He didn't know. Watching the fight, Dunbachel asked,

"Can't we just leave?"

"Hey, Captain. Something feels off."

Rem approached and called to Encrid. Farther behind him, Luagarne cast a look their way.

"Hm?"

Oara tilted her head as well. Encrid wasn't the only one who could sense the mood in the air. True, his countless deaths might have made him more sensitive. But Oara, too, felt something was different.

She blinked and considered it. Their numbers weren't particularly large for a wave. Spiders usually won through sheer numbers. Wasn't that why some of the soldiers on the wall had started loosing arrows straightaway? So why this sense of foreboding? Why did the air feel so ominous?

"Twin red moons?"

Very rarely, both moons turned red. That day was called Darpina. A time when the god presiding over death descended to this land, and the god presiding over monsters took a brief peek at the world. In other words, a day when bad things happened.

"Bring my armor."

At Oara's command, two soldiers brought it over. Iron plate covered the chest, with leather reinforcing parts of it.

While she removed her cloak and put on the armor, Encrid caught a commotion from inside the gate below the wall. Amid the twanging bowstrings and commanders' shouts, the noise sounded out of place. It sounded like an argument.

"I'll head down first."

Encrid descended the stairs. On his way down, he saw the people arguing before the gate, which stood open just wide enough for one person to pass through. One was the soldier known as Rowena's man.

"Let me out!" he shouted.

"Don't be insane. Go out now and you'll die."

"I don't care. I'll take death!"

The soldier shouted, but Milio, guarding the gate, couldn't allow it.

"You stupid bastard."

"Fuck, Milio! Rowena went out on scouting duty and hasn't come back!"

The soldier wasn't on the verge of tears, but he sounded as though he was crying. Milio couldn't speak. Rowena and his friend standing before him were the city's most famous lovers. A flower that had bloomed in the darkness of the Demonic Realm. And he knew that either of them would give their life for the other if they were in danger.

That was why he couldn't let him out. Rowena was capable, enough that joining the knight order in a few years was a real consideration. She would still be alive.

"Have faith and wait. Rowena's more capable than you are."

"She's already overdue."

Milio couldn't win against this man. His bastard friend's loyal subordinates stood silently behind him.

"You're all planning to go?"

"We thought we'd show some support for our Squad Leader's love life."

The soldier immediately behind him spoke. He had come here after killing two of his lord's men who had been throwing their weight around back in his home territory. Now he was a friend and a full-fledged soldier of the brick city.

It was madness. Sheer madness, but Milio stepped aside.

"The knight order's already holding the front. Circle around to the left."

"I know."

The soldier slipped out through the gate.

"Oa!"

Milio suddenly shouted, and the soldiers atop the wall stamped their feet in answer.

"Oa!"

"We'll die smiling!"

Their battle cry tore through the night sky.

Screaming spiders were only one variety of spider monster. There were armored spiders and web-shooting spiders as well. Naturally, none could breach the wall the knight order had formed twenty paces in front of the gate. And now one more person joined them.

"Hey, let me play too!"

Oara. With her back against the wall, she slid down, dropped to the ground, and joined her knight order. Descending the wall that way was a feat in itself. Then she darted into the monsters.

"Where do you think you're going!"

She drew her blade as she advanced, a long, slender sword. Running in a straight line, she curved sideways and swept her sword across.

It was like a stream of water cutting through the darkness. Her sword traced a smooth, unbroken curve. With blade in hand, she moved her feet to draw a line, and everything it touched was severed, armored spider and giant spider alike. Abdomen, head, shell; it made no difference.

Nothing would stop her sword. That much was clear just watching her. If they came at her one after another, she could kill every monster there alone. At times, merely glaring at a monster made it freeze. That would be the effect of the dizzying intimidation Encrid himself had experienced.

While Oara was lightly warming up, the short-haired blonde was doing no less impressive work. Her eyes shone white.

"Poison. Evasive maneuvers."

Peering through the darkness, she directed the formation. At her words, the four squires split into pairs to either side.

SPLAT!

Black slime struck where they had stood. One of the spiders was spitting poison.

"Hmph."

The blonde's hand moved. With a flick into the air, she sent a throwing knife flying into the poison-spitting spider's head.

"Fucking spider bastards."

Roman, wielder of the blunt greatsword, briefly broke formation. He stepped forward and swung.

BOOM! BOOM!

Explosive crashes rang out as his bludgeoning blows crushed six armored spiders. Black bodily fluids spattered the ground.

Meanwhile, Rowena's man emerged from the gate.

"Hey!"

Oliver spotted him and shouted from the far left of the formation, where he was swinging his mace.

"I'm going with him."

Encrid came out after him, followed by Rem and the others. At those words, Rowena's soldier looked ready to cry.

"Are you an angel?"

"Shut up and get moving, or I'll throw you back inside."

The calm warning silenced the soldier. The plan was simply to scout a limited area. Would they only need to hold on until dawn? Perhaps.

The twin red moons shed an ominous crimson light between the clouds. Encrid glanced back without much thought. He saw Milio coming out with some troops.

A knight could cut down a thousand, but still had only one body. While that knight killed a hundred, nine hundred could circle around and do something else. Squires, proto knights, and soldiers existed to fill those gaps.

As he turned his gaze forward with that thought, Encrid's hair stood on end.

"Block them!"

Oara's shout reached him before he could even identify the sensation. Then came a sound.

TWANG-TWANG-TWANG-TWANG!

With it, he saw things raining down from overhead. From their presence and the sound of air being sliced apart, Encrid sensed what the monsters had fired. Arrows.

But he couldn't make them out properly. Darkness veiled his sight like a curtain. The twin red moons hidden behind the clouds were no help.

Dunbachel's pupils dilated. The moderately oval pupils expanded to fill her eyes and gleamed. She could see what the monsters had fired. Unlike the arrows humans normally used, these were white, seemingly fashioned from bundled thread, and they filled the sky. It looked as though dozens of meteors had shattered and were falling on their heads.

Dunbachel reflexively drew her curved swords and crossed them overhead. All she had to do was block, deflect, and dodge.

"Head down."

Rem reacted as well, grabbing a nearby soldier's head and pushing it down as he swung his axe. Encrid reflexively brought out his shield. An arrow struck the shield in his right hand.

THUNK! CLANG!

The arrows struck and bounced away, their tips apparently not particularly sharp. Rather than sharp, they were heavy. That was how they felt to Encrid.

He dropped to one knee and easily blocked the arrows that followed. The barrage did not stop. Attacks like these could do nothing to squires, proto knights, or knights.

But ordinary soldiers were different. Arrows alone posed a grave threat to them. Those immediately beside him had Rem, Dunbachel, and Luagarne, more than enough to protect them. The troops atop the walls could use the stonework as shields. But what about those who had risked their lives coming out to fill the gaps?

"Milio!"

Encrid shouted a warning. He saw a white arrow fashioned by the monsters strike Milio's head.

CRACK!

Milio had thrown himself forward to save a subordinate rather than protect himself. His helmet crumpled under the impact, and his eyeballs burst from their sockets. His head split open in a spray of blood.

Not every arrow carried the same force. But some were lethal. The monsters were cunning. Instead of targeting those their arrows would never work on, they aimed for the relatively weaker soldiers.

"I'll chew you fucking bastards alive!"

Encrid heard someone rage. He felt much the same. Milio had done more than anyone to make his stay here comfortable. It would be a lie to say he hadn't grown attached to him.

That wasn't the end of it. Something like a pole suddenly rose amid the monsters. A person was tied to it. A blue stone, seemingly an ignition stone, was fastened to the tip. White and blue light mingled with the darkness, illuminating the people bound to the poles.

"Rowena!"

The soldier who had come with them shouted.

Monsters taking hostages, too. Encrid instinctively sensed that this wave was unlike any before it. Was that a reason to stop? To stand here stupidly gaping in shock?

"Rem, Dunbachel. Left."

While everyone else froze for a moment, Encrid lowered his stance. Darkness, ignition stones, hostages; however shocking it all was, nothing would change if he didn't move. When it was time to fight, he had to fight.

"Damn it," Dunbachel muttered, then moved.

Rem had already lowered his stance and was advancing.