The Assault of the Dark Elves
The endless army of darkness surged forward like a tidal wave of death.
Composed entirely of undead, it was almost limitless in its ability to replenish itself. No matter how many fell, they rose again, and again, with no end in sight.
In any normal situation, creating undead would have required rest to recover the black magic consumed. But this time was different.
Jae-hyun, the Demon King, possessed more black magic than any other ruler of the realm. His recovery speed was unnatural, allowing him to summon an army of ten thousand undead in a single moment of expenditure.
Yet even as the legions poured across the horizon, the human defenders held the line. Knights and mages stood among the ranks, their weapons humming with holy power. The cannons on the walls above roared again and again, tearing through the endless hordes of skeletons and zombies that formed the bulk of the enemy.
The low-level undead were nothing compared to the true horrors that had plagued the world for days. Dirithas, the beast born from the nightmares of Gamera, and the monstrous entity that belched black smoke capable of turning any soldier it touched into the forces of darkness, had already reduced the human armies to near collapse. But pure undead legions? They might have been stopped with the combined might of the empire.
Today marked the fourteenth day since Jae-hyun’s arrival on the continent.
At the Habsburg Empire’s fortress.
“Ugh… I’m dying of exhaustion…”
One soldier slumped against the battlement wall, his voice thick with fatigue. Yesterday had been a nightmare all its own.
A single Dirithas had rampaged through this very fortress, carving through defenses before falling to the combined assault of the angels. Farther away, another fortress had lost thousands when the angels, drawn by the same commander’s reports, had blindly charged and triggered a self-destructing trap. The angels had been slaughtered by the thousands.
On this side, however, the angels had fought cleanly.
They had unleashed Holy Flare, a sixth-circle holy spell powered by divine energy. The flames had burned the monster, though it proved resistant. Instead, the angels had closed in with their blessed swords, slicing and retreating in a deadly dance. The medium-level angels—those who wielded Aura Blades—had darted in and out, while the rock blast spell, infused with holy power, had hammered the beast relentlessly until it finally collapsed.
Thanks to that flawless coordination, not a single angel had been injured. They had not clung like ticks and been consumed by self-destruction. They had simply fought, won, and moved on.
Now the undead legions advanced once more. The surviving angels descended in a storm of holy spears, their divine energy shredding the undead. Those who had been wounded during the battle were healed instantly by the same power, their touch also blessing the soldiers’ arrows. Mana cannons fired fire and wind spells that obliterated entire ranks.
It had been a glorious victory.
Yet the empire’s fortunes across the entire continent remained grim. No one dared celebrate. Another attack from the Dark Empire could come at any moment.
The soldiers, however, could not ignore the ache in their chests.
They had just fought for their lives. They deserved a drink, a moment of peace.
“Damn it… I just want one drink.”
“Roast meat and a cold beer while I sit down.”
Even the knights felt the same pull. Everyone did. The battlefield was brutal, the stress of constant combat crushing. And with only men here, the thought of women was inevitable.
Inside the fortress, two thousand stunningly beautiful female angels waited.
The handsome male angels were simply not the type to stir much interest. But the female angels… that was a different story.
Two thousand of them. Stunning beyond words.
The soldiers had spent the morning trying to ignore the growing heat in their blood, but the fight had drained them.
They could not touch them. It was a capital offense. According to imperial law, the punishment was immediate execution. And even if it weren’t, the angels were no ordinary soldiers. Every last one of them possessed knight-level strength.
But the men’s restraint had cracked.
A handful had slipped away during the battle with the Dirithas. They had crept into the rest quarters where the female angels were resting, only to be overwhelmed and killed by the same women they had tried to assault.
It had happened yesterday.
The lesson had been clear. The soldiers had tried harder than ever to control themselves today.
One man muttered to his comrade as they leaned against the wall, eyes fixed on the distant horizon.
“If the war ends, I’m definitely proposing to Barbara.”
“Too bad. Can’t do it anymore.”
A voice suddenly rang out from somewhere near the ramparts—soft, elegant, and laced with a seductive warmth that sent a shiver down every spine.
The soldier blinked slowly, his head spinning.
The world tilted.
He felt it more than saw it: the ground beneath his feet trembling.
Then his knees buckled.
A dozen more soldiers beside him collapsed in a heap of blood and screams.
On the walls above, every man who had been standing guard fell in the same instant.
Even the knights who had been watching them.
Their bodies were found seconds later, throats sliced clean through.
The killers? Women.
Stunningly beautiful women.
Their skin pale as moonlight, hair in shades of deep blue, emerald, gold, silver, and purple. Each one wore a short black leather skirt that barely covered her thighs, leaving their midriffs bare beneath white tank tops. Their ears were elegantly pointed.
Dark elves.
They had once been elven servants of the light, their hair and eyes the color of the forest—until they had fallen into darkness.
Their greatest skill was the same as the vampire clan’s: assassination.
Having already possessed moderate magical talent from the spirits of the Demon World, they had sworn loyalty to Jae-hyun and received his new power in return.
All of their black magic up to the fifth circle.
In exchange, they had been bound to offer their souls to the Demon King even after death. The deal had been sealed without hesitation.
Now, through their direct contract, they wielded black magic freely and knew every spell. Though they lacked combat experience, they had become true fifth-circle black mages.
The moment they had received that power, they had drawn closer to the spirits of the Demon World. Their movements, already graceful and gentle from their elven heritage, had grown even more fluid, more lethal.
Especially at night.
Tonight, in the absolute darkness, they moved without a sound.
The Silence magic blocked every noise, while Stealth rendered them invisible. They climbed the walls in perfect silence and seized control of the battlement in seconds.
To any soldier who had been taught that dark elves were naturally superior at stealth and assassination, this was no surprise.
“Female angels are resting. Move quickly.”
“Copy that.”
With the rampart secure, the dark elves exchanged simple message-magic signals and began their descent.
They moved like shadows through the fortress, slipping between the barracks.
All the patrols that had been sent out were already dead.
Even some of the male angels.
The two thousand male angels, however, had been segregated from the females in separate quarters.
The dark elves split into two groups.
One half headed toward the male angels’ barracks. There, they launched their one-sided ambush.
“Kyaaa!”
“Eek!”
The two thousand male angels were still there, but the moment the dark elves appeared, the first screams of surprise tore from their throats.
“Enemies!”
“Hostiles!”
By the time the warning reached them, it was already too late.
The dark elves had already infiltrated the rest quarters.
Fire spirits roared to life across the fortress, setting every building ablaze.
“Burn it all!”
“Kill them all!”
The dark elves’ commands were spoken with cold beauty that did not match their faces.
The male angels fought desperately, but the surprise was overwhelming.
“Calm down! Eighth rule—extinguish the fires immediately, and the rest of you eliminate the enemies!”
“Calm down!”
“Calm down, damn it!”
Knights ran from barrack to barrack, trying to restore order, but it was hopeless.
Then something worse happened.
Five minutes earlier.
While the dark elves attacking the male angels had been slaughtering without mercy, those who had targeted the female angels’ barracks had done something entirely different.
They had surrounded the entire structure, waiting in silence.
Only one thing remained in their hands: a single black sphere.
As soon as they squeezed it, thick black smoke exploded outward.
The interior of the barracks was instantly sealed in darkness.
The female angels resting on the floor, still in their white tank tops and short skirts, had no time to react.
“Gasp! Gasp… Aaaah!”
“No— I don’t want this!”
At first they simply coughed and cried from the smoke.
Then their bodies convulsed as if struck by some terrible illness.
Their limbs locked rigid for a moment.
Then they collapsed again.
Seconds later, every single one stood up.
In their hands now were weapons.
Their wings—still adorned with pure white feathers—were fully spread.
And their faces…
The black smoke had been released by the dark elves who had been inside the barracks all along.
The female angels had not even noticed their arrival.
The sudden appearance should have caused panic.
But none came.
Instead, they simply raised their weapons and attacked.
The dark elves smiled, their lips curving in perfect, sadistic beauty.
“Welcome back,” one of them whispered, voice like velvet over steel.
And then the slaughter began.