Chapter 99: A Bloody Battle Begins

"Quick, quick, assemble!"

"Damn it, hurry up! Evacuate those bystanders! Get them out of here and out of the way!"

"A Hellgate? How could something like that appear inside the capital?"

The young squad leader gathered all the available forces in the vicinity. Though he didn't know how much it would help against the slowly rising fissure of molten lava in the air, he pressed on anyway.

"Sir, where are the Nightblades?" the squad leader asked Edward, who was watching the rising Hellgate. He couldn't resist asking despite his hesitation.

Everyone knew that, during times of war, the city guards served as protectors in name only. Petty thieves or minor disturbances weren't an issue, but something on the level of a Hellgate was beyond their ability to handle.

Yet this Nightblade officer, whom he had encountered during the night of Erphine's monstrous outbreak by the inner walls, hadn't summoned his unit. Instead, he had tasked the squad leader with gathering city guards.

But could these city guards—who were currently chattering nervously and displaying immense fear of the Hellgate—really make a difference?

The young squad leader, a minor noble, felt that he was cursed. He had only joined the city guard to earn some distinction and polish his credentials, yet he'd already encountered two such disasters. Perhaps, in some twisted sense, he was lucky: he hadn't been the scapegoat for the first disaster, and likely wouldn't be one for the second either.

"The Nightblades are stationed at the royal palace. We can't count on them for now. Our task is to hold out until the royal guard arrives," Edward said, exhaling deeply.

The kingdom's forces were stretched thin due to the war. Much of the military strength had been dispatched to the frontlines. Previously, each district's city guard had been led by an advanced knight, but now...

This squad leader was relatively diligent, but he only possessed the strength of an advanced knight-in-training. The other districts likely weren't in better shape.

Under normal circumstances, the Nightblades would have filled in the gaps left by the weakened city guard during wartime—but now of all times, their hands were tied. It would take time for the royal guard to arrive.

Edward watched as one horned demon after another flew out of the lava fissure and into the sky, their humanoid faces filled with curiosity and a sinister excitement as they surveyed their surroundings.

These demons were the vanguard from Hell. Edward knew that if the Hellgate weren't closed soon, stronger and more terrifying demons would sense the portal and make their way through. That would be a true disaster.

"Wang Yu failed to stop the Hellgate... is he alright?" Edward murmured to himself.

The reality anchor had severed communications, and Wang Yu hadn't sent any updates since then. Edward wasn't sure what caused the massive explosion earlier, but it was likely Wang Yu's doing.

"Edward, I detonated the reality anchor to try and break through the top of the demon summoning array, but it seems I was too late. At least I managed to accomplish something."

Wang Yu's voice suddenly came through right as Edward was getting worried.

Wang Yu had been rushing through the slums by the walls, where the Gap didn't extend. He recalled what he had seen inside the crater and took some time to organize his thoughts before relaying the information to Edward.

"The sewers had been cleared out ahead of time, and someone set up a summoning array there. The missing residents from the slums you were investigating were likely taken down there as sacrifices."

The memory of the grotesque scene below—with blood and flesh strewn everywhere, and the wails of souls lingering even after death—flashed through his mind. The plight of the capital's lower class was too grim for him to ignore.

The disappearance of impoverished residents in the slums hadn't even caused any ripples. Though they were nominally residents, they clearly weren't considered part of the capital's community.

The capital's implicit hierarchy was, to Wang Yu, a breeding ground for countless hidden dangers. Coupled with the unchecked violence and chaos in the capital's shadow, Wang Yu couldn't help but suspect that the royal family was deliberately fostering something.

His thoughts turned to a weapon the Professor had once mentioned—something called the "Corpse of the End." Though the Professor had attempted to block the details from Wang Yu, he had heard enough to piece things together.

"The darkness and violence born from these people will ultimately be projected into that sea of mental energy. At its center, something monstrous will take form. A primordial abyssal will, maturing in strength... Just what is the royal family playing at?"

Shaking off his grim speculation, Wang Yu refocused on the task before him. Now wasn't the time for conspiracy theories. The immediate priority was to contain the demons and halt the spread of the scorched earth.

"Although the explosion didn't destroy the summoning array, it did open a path aboveground. Once the royal guard arrives, they can breach it from above. Edward, our job now is to hold these demons off and minimize casualties."

Wang Yu had a clear plan in mind. The demons emerging now were just the vanguard. The winged demons weren't particularly strong—about on par with advanced knights-in-training—but their ability to fly and launch fireballs made them a nuisance.

The real trouble would come with the next wave: beholders, minotaurs, black goats, and other more powerful demons. Their strength would escalate dramatically.

"Ahhhhh! Someone save me! Please, help me!" A desperate scream echoed from a distance. Wang Yu glanced back to see a young woman who had been discovered by winged demons wedged between two buildings. They grabbed her and lifted her into the air, savoring her terrified expression and futile struggles.

Wang Yu sighed. He didn't intervene. It was too far, and while killing the winged demons wasn't difficult, he wasn't a superhero. He'd help those within his reach, but strangers beyond his ability to save wouldn't weigh on his conscience.

A heavy thud and silence followed as the screams abruptly stopped. Wang Yu didn't look back. This was only the beginning. As long as the demons roamed freely, tragedies like this would keep happening. What he witnessed was merely a microcosm of the chaos in the capital.

"I'm gathering city guards to establish a defensive line between the wall district and other areas. The next tier of demons will arrive in about five minutes. You have two minutes to rendezvous with us."

Edward's voice crackled through the communicator. The background noise was chaotic. Wang Yu could vaguely hear terrified questions, frustrated shouting, sobbing, and cursing.

"Understood." Wang Yu nodded and picked up his pace.

The royal guard still needed time to arrive. Without the Gap, it would take about fifteen minutes. Every five minutes, however, stronger demons would spawn from the Hellgate. Time was their scarcest resource.

For now, most demons remained within the slums. If not for the residents being sacrificed, the demons would already be engaged in a massacre—but with no weak humans left to draw their attention, the demons would quickly grow bored and turn their sights elsewhere.

The outermost line of defense, the city guard, had already engaged the first wave of demons, marking the beginning of the battle.

Winged demons were the weakest creatures of Hell, and stood out for nothing but their mindless aggression. Their capabilities stemmed more from sheer numbers than anything else.

The Hellgate's throughput was limited. More powerful demons took more time to transport, but weaker ones like winged demons could pour out essentially nonstop.

The winged demons swarmed chaotically without any semblance of formation whatsoever. They shrieked with laughter as they hurtled toward the makeshift barricade erected at the boundary between the slums and other areas.

"Can we really handle so many of them?"

"Damn it, this is my first real battle!"

"I thought city guards only dealt with bandits! Why is this happening to us?"

"I don't want to die here..."

The hastily assembled city guards had constructed a rudimentary barrier of old carts, furniture, and rubble. It stood barely waist-high and was utterly useless—both to the flying winged demons and the more powerful ground-based demons yet to come.

Equipped with decent kingdom-issued armor and weapons, the guards seemed well armed, but their minds and spirits were ill-prepared. Despite the capital's generally higher standard of strength, their lack of courage and discipline was glaring.

They quaked in fear and confusion as they mustered a defense against the winged demons, held in place only by the authority of their superiors.

The sheer number of winged demons blotted out the sky. Though their bodies were only the size of human children, their outstretched wings made them appear much larger. The sense of oppression that emanated from a flock of winged demons was suffocating.

The city guards, who had been hastily recruited during wartime, were far from formidable. They were largely a ragtag bunch of inexperienced individuals lacking both skill and resolve. However, they were still formally integrated into the kingdom's military structure. To disobey orders would bring dire consequences later.

Thus, even when confronted with the overwhelming swarm of winged demons, they dared not flee and instead braced themselves to confront the threat.

"Calm down! These demons are merely the vanguard. If you can't hold your ground against these winged fiends, you certainly aren't going to survive the day! Steady your nerves and prepare to fire!"

A grizzled knight with streaks of gray hair shouted commands from the middle of the formation. These seasoned officers were either retired frontline soldiers unwilling to remain idle or veterans with hidden injuries that prevented them from returning to the frontlines.

Compared to the ragtag city guards, these veterans still retained excellent military discipline and steadfastness. Under their orders, despite the lingering chaos and fear, the city guards managed to form a rudimentary formation. They used nearby buildings as cover and readied themselves for combat.

As the winged demons drew closer, their leader maintained an air of composure, though he was inwardly panicking. His resolve and experience far exceeded those of an ordinary guard, but that also left him acutely aware of the demons' terrifying nature.

These winged demons were merely the vanguard. Far more dreadful foes were sure to follow. The odds of survival for those of them present at the frontlines were grim at best. The squad leader wasn't sure how many would make it through, or if he himself would survive.

But even if death were inevitable, it would be after a fight to the bitter end. "For Aleisterre—fire!" he bellowed as the winged demons flew into range.

The sound of taut bowstrings snapping filled the air. The soldiers, already on edge, instinctively pulled their crossbow triggers without fully registering their leader's words.

The tension of the strings translated into momentum for the bolts. The military-grade crossbows demonstrated their deadly power as a volley of bolts rose from the guard formation, slicing through the air and piercing into the swarming winged demons.

A chorus of wet thuds followed as sharp metal tips easily punctured the demons' fragile bodies. Those struck in the head died instantly, falling lifelessly from the sky. Even those hit in the limbs struggled briefly before losing strength and plummeting to the ground.

Demons whose wings were grazed met similar fates; with their wing membranes torn, they were unable to stay aloft. They tumbled from heights far beyond what they could withstand, landing on the ground in grotesque heaps of gore.

A single coordinated volley from hundreds of guards significantly thinned the demons' front ranks.

The guards' subsequent volleys, however, were less synchronized and slower due to their inexperience with reloading crossbows. Yet the sheer density of the demons made precision unnecessary—each bolt seemed guaranteed to strike a target.

"Ha! These demons aren't so tough after all!"

"That scared me for nothing! Haha!"

"We're gonna make a killing this time."

"Better stay cautious. There are too many of them."

"What's to worry about? We'll be well rewarded for this!"

The inexperienced guards that initially lacked confidence quickly became elated upon seeing how easily the demons fell.

"Stay alert and take cover!" their leader suddenly shouted.

The winged demons, seemingly aware of the humans attacking them, let out shrill, deranged laughter. Despite suffering heavy losses, they showed no fear—only heightened excitement.

As the demons closed in, fiery red glows appeared in their hands. One by one, they conjured blazing fireballs and hurled them into the air.

The soldiers stood in stunned silence, watching the rain of fireballs descend upon them, their minds blank. Weren't these demons supposed to be easy to kill?

Perhaps they were. But these demons could kill them just as easily.

Explosions and flames turned the street that served as the first line of defense into a hellish inferno.