Even If the World Abandoned Them (1)
Omen moves.
Silently. Without a sound. Not even a message pops up.
Omen's role is to secretly devour deletion targets from the Arcana Continent.
It's only natural that no one would notice unless they were watching it like the Witch of the Southern Sea.
"Huh?"
But things were different this time.
There was a watcher in the skies above Arcana.
A human? No, human technology couldn't even get off the ground in the first place, so there's no need to consider that possibility.
The same goes for mages using mana. What mage with nothing better to do would waste their immense mana just surveilling the Arcana Continent?
That's right.
"What the hell is that?"
Thudududu—
The ones who could witness Omen's emergence were the dwarves with their technology.
Thanks to them keeping a close eye on the Arcana Continent from the skies.
A young dwarf shouts urgently into the communicator.
"G-Gunner! Are you seeing this?!"
"Yeah, I see it."
"The d-demon king's castle…!!"
Holy War.
To secure victory, they needed the advantage in information.
Thus, monitoring the enemy's movements was an indispensable daily task for the dwarves.
But Gunner and the other dwarf pilots could hardly believe their eyes.
"It v-vanished in an instant!!"
As if it had been carved out.
The demon king's castle was being swallowed whole by some enormous "something."
They could only call it something.
That grotesque form defied description.
Questions pour in on Gunner.
"Is that a demon too?"
"Gunner, what do we do about this?"
"If it's swallowing demon king's castles, maybe it's on our side?"
For now, he shakes his head.
"Everyone, quiet. We don't make the calls."
His response was stern.
'Damn it. What the hell is going on?!'
No matter how much he racked his brain.
No matter how coldly he observed the continent.
He couldn't comprehend the unfolding situation.
If it were just one demon king's castle vanishing, maybe.
But couldn't they tell from the number of dwarves reporting in simultaneously?
It wasn't that a demon king's castle had vanished.
Demon king's castles had vanished.
Gunner continues.
"Remember. Our role is intelligence gathering."
"…!!!"
"Report exactly what you've seen. Got it? Good. How many demon king's castles remain right now? We were monitoring a total of thirty."
Reports from the pilots roll in one by one.
"Two demon king's castles southwest of Antonium are no longer visible…!"
"Same up north."
"Same situation here, Gunner."
One by one….
'Twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two…?'
Gunner's face goes pale as he counts in his head.
It happened in the blink of an eye. In the time it took to bat an eye.
"…The demon king's castles have been annihilated?"
All thirty demon king's castles they'd discovered.
Every single one had vanished from the Arcana Continent.
This was no time for pointless pride.
Realizing the gravity of the situation, Gunner grips the control stick.
"All units, return to Iron Castle Ho immediately! We have to report this to Chainwalker—and to Sir Hoyeol!"
*
Chainwalker's expression darkens gravely.
"A crisis in a different sense."
What were dwarves like by nature?
Like molten metal, once ignited, they burned fiercely from within.
That's why he was confident he wouldn't back down from any enemy in the Holy War.
But this….
"An unknown enemy now?"
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
But calling whatever had swallowed a demon king's castle in an instant an ally was a stretch.
Who could guarantee it?
His gaze turns toward where the demon king's castle had been.
Right beside it were humans who had been fighting demons to the death.
Chainwalker unwittingly harbors a chilling thought.
'…What if there were humans in that demon king's castle?'
That would mean they too had been swallowed.
What snaps Chainwalker from his contemplation is the dwarves' greatest blacksmith, Walls Whale.
"What are you fretting over? Pondering won't change a thing. When stray thoughts creep in, pick up a hammer. You've gotten too refined, Chainwalker."
"No time for backtalk, Walls Whale."
"I'm serious."
Whatever it was.
It couldn't even be called an enemy.
More like a disaster no one could escape.
Of course, he wasn't giving up early.
The dwarves had already made their best judgment.
Tap tap—
Walls Whale pats Chainwalker's slumped shoulders.
"Wait for Sir Hoyeol's reply."
They'd sent word to Hoyeol via Diend.
Of course, even Hoyeol couldn't predict this or pull an answer out of thin air.
Still, Chainwalker feels a slight relief.
'At least he'll make a better judgment than us.'
Creep—
How much time passes?
Diend returns to Iron Castle Ho.
"Hm?"
It was so quick, Chainwalker wonders if the message even got through properly.
He asks Diend.
"What did he say, Diend?"
If more intel was needed, they'd sortie immediately.
If firepower was required, the dwarves manning Iron Castle Ho's mana cannons were ready to fire.
In short, they were prepared for anything.
But the response.
Was utterly unexpected.
Diend's low voice intones.
"Little comrades, there is no need for concern."
"…?"
"My lord has this situation within his arrangements."
"?!!"
It had happened in the blink of an eye.
As they'd seen from above, whatever swallowed the demon king's castles had vanished without a trace.
Gunner, listening intently beside them, chimes in impatiently.
"Diend! Did you relay the positions properly? It's not just one or two castles. Demon king's castles across the entire continent vanished simultaneously. That something! And now that freak has completely disappeared…."
Even for Hoyeol, how could he track it?
It defied common sense, so Gunner raises his voice.
"…."
Normally.
Even Chainwalker, who would usually rein in the hot-blooded Gunner, stays silent.
Gunner's doubts mirrored his own.
But he'd anticipated even this?
Diend continues immediately.
"My lord also added."
Creep.
Diend moves to the window of Iron Castle Ho.
Gazing down at the Arcana Continent, he finishes.
"The hunt will begin from within."
…Hunt?
From within?
Did that mean there were enemies among allies?
The dwarves' faces tense.
But fortunately.
The dwarves' misunderstanding doesn't last long.
At that moment.
Rumble!!
Something.
Inside Omen's belly.
The hunter had encountered its prey.
*
The Empire.
Antonium's elite soldiers.
"Ugh…."
They awaken with groans.
What the hell happened…?
They'd successfully approached the demon king's castle.
Buried the prepared magic tools in the ground before the walls.
Those vile demons.
p>Currently holed up in the demon king's castle, not even showing a shadow.
Antonium's soldiers hadn't forgotten their nature.
The moment they let their guard down, those fiends would reveal their true colors and trample the Empire.
Clutching his throbbing head, he asks.
"…The traps, the magic tools?"
Traps.
Magic tools to bind the demons' feet.
If they could annoy them even a little.
It would buy time for the Quirnburk Mechanical Tower to activate.
But.
"The magic tools aren't the issue…. What, what is this vibration?"
"Hey, not the issue? What do you think our mission—?!"
"W-Watch your feet!!"
Rumble…!
The ground heaves.
Did the buried magic tools malfunction?
No, impossible.
This was far too powerful to mistake for a magic tool's effect.
BOOM!!
The ground, the earth itself begins to shake.
The soldiers scramble to their feet in panic.
Forgetting they're before a demon king's castle, they shout.
"Fall back for now!"
They urge their staggering bodies onward.
In the midst of it.
A sudden doubt arises.
…Wait, why did we lose consciousness?
They'd been exceedingly cautious.
Not some demon status effect, they were sure.
No time for fear now anyway.
These were elite soldiers who had survived countless battles.
'Then….'
Could it be related to this massive vibration underfoot?
If so, could those sworn to protect the Empire just flee like this?
He decides in an instant.
"…Damn it!"
His body resists.
His foggy mind screams to ignore this place and run.
But the man grits his teeth.
"Halt!"
If it didn't stop at the demon king's castle and headed for the Empire?
The Empire would be exposed to the threat without warning.
But if they witnessed its identity, that changed things.
'This is no proud retreat.'
Besides, hadn't they vowed never to turn away again?
A single ray of light in endless darkness, the dawn, the Black Dark Dragon.
Hadn't they sworn upon seeing him?
"Hasn't the Empire already raised the curtain on its counterattack, men?!"
Yes, for the Empire, with only advance left.
There was no more retreat.
Even if they fell here.
Using their bodies as stepping stones.
The Empire must press forward.
"All eyes on it!"
"…!!!"
"Watch clearly with your own eyes what stirs beneath your feet. Witness what happens here. And no matter who, report what you've seen and heard to His Majesty!"
That was their role.
Grind—
An instinct they couldn't defy.
What suppressed it was experience.
No, more precisely, pride.
Thanks to that, they could witness it.
CRUNCH!!
"!!!"
The "something" bursting from the earth swallowing the demon king's castle whole—where they had just been.
Not even shock escapes their lips.
It felt unreal.
Wh-what…?"
The demon king's castle site.
Not even rubble.
Not even traces of the swallowed demons' blood.
"N-No way…."
As if it had never existed.
The demon king's castle was gone.
Erased.
The thorn in their side, the demon king's castle, vanished.
Yet they couldn't rejoice.
The situation was incomprehensible.
Swish—
That "something" turns toward them.
In that instant, certainty strikes.
The source of the shattering headache.
"U-Ugh?!"
Pain so intense it whites out everything.
As if screaming to forget the scene they'd just witnessed.
But he grits his teeth.
"Urghhh…!!"
Grind grind!
Teeth grinding against eardrums.
Yet he doesn't yield.
Hadn't they vowed?
To report this inexplicable phenomenon to His Majesty.
"Damn it all!!"
How to even describe it?
Words spill out anyway. It didn't matter.
The soldiers had conviction.
Even if His Majesty found no solution.
Antonium had the Black Dark Dragon, that man.
So.
"Run, soldiers of the Empire! Toward Antonium!"
Dadada!
Soldiers scatter and charge in all directions.
If even one made it.
If they overcame the crushing pressure and delivered the news to Antonium, their mission was fulfilled.
The moment the soldiers overcame instinct and moved.
Swish—
Something.
Omen moved as well.
Unnecessary witnesses are not required for deletion operations.
Why Omen remained unknown on the Arcana Continent.
It began demonstrating the reason firsthand.
However.
Gurgle?
Omen had overlooked something as well.
Gurgle rumble…!!
What it had just swallowed.
"!"
Rendering their grim resolve laughable.
The something falls silent.
The soldiers catch their ragged breaths and cautiously turn their heads.
And flinch.
"Why's it writhing like that?"
Gurgle gurgle rumble—
The massive something thrashes like it's got colic.
But the doubt doesn't linger.
Yes, because there were those who showed rather than told.
Those who had encountered their prey.
Stab!!!!
A form bursting out, ripping Omen's body apart.
The soldiers squint and peer.
That's….
"A forearm…?"
Precisely, a man's forearm.
More accurately, the forearm of a man gripping a silver sword—neither ornate, sharp, durable, nor suited for combat.
"The black thing looks like clothes, but why's it so tattered…?"
In the Holy War, including the Empire.
Across the Arcana Continent.
Abandoned by all, yet they hadn't lost their [Resolve].
"W-Wait a second!!"
Even if.
They were the Empire's soldiers who had abandoned them.
They wouldn't turn away.
Such madmen were one of a kind across the vast continent.
"Th-That attire… demon hunter…? N-No way…!!"
Akshan.