The taste seeping into the mouths of the people was earth and blood, while a searing heat crackled and scorched their skin. Maybe from the impact, or maybe because a haze had settled over their heads, their thoughts wouldn’t come together. In the sky, thin clouds stretched in a line, dyed crimson by the lingering light of the sinking evening sun. On the ground, however, a sun of blue flames illuminated the surroundings as if devouring the sunset itself.

“U-aaah… it won’t go out! It won’t go out?!”

“Stop moving!”

“Don’t fight head-on! Get to the side!!”

People were burning like bonfires. What had been his younger brother had twisted into something else, baring its fangs at the soldiers. Bodies were carved apart along with their armor, and any head touched by the war hammer dispersed into the void. Even the chunks of flesh that flew off were caught up in Demon Fire burned and turned to ash. Unable to grasp the reality before him, Hayes sat on the ground in a daze. Suddenly, someone shook him, and he realized a soldier was calling out to him.

“Pop my shoulder back in. Hey, can you hear me, Hayes?!”

It was Howard, his comrade-in-arms. The Libertoa soldier who had rescued Hayes at the border kept shouting his name while his left shoulder hung limply.

“Yeah, I hear you.”

The blur in his vision cleared, and Hayes’ consciousness finally returned to reality.

“The tendons and bone?”

“My fingers move, so it’s probably not torn.”

His armor had been ripped apart with such absurd force that there was no need to remove it. Hayes reached out and began to feel around. Running his hand along the base of the shoulder, he felt that the bone was no longer where it should be. When he pressed, his fingers sank in. Beneath the skin, it felt hollow. Searching around, he found the head of the upper arm bone displaced forward. The strange demon must have dislocated it.

“Relax.”

Placing his right hand against the shoulder blade, Hayes grabbed the upper arm with his left and pushed it inward while pulling it into place. A pained breath escaped Howard. After a grinding sensation, Hayes lowered his gaze to the treated shoulder, just in time to see his comrade rotating the newly set joint and gripping his sword.

“Get up, Hayes. At this rate, we’ll be wiped out.”

Hayes understood what that meant. Of the thirty soldiers who had been here, barely more than ten remained. They would soon be buried as well.

“You think I can stop that thing?”

Hayes had survived countless battlefields and grown stronger. Otherwise, a wandering Highserk native like him would never have become a company commander in the Libertoa Trade Federation army. But facing that monster head-on was a bad joke. The sticky blue flames threatened to reduce everything nearby to ashes. Even in close combat, ten men together were being pushed back by that great demon. What could someone as insignificant as him possibly do? The expectation itself was absurd.

“And you’re telling me to kill my brother again? A second time?”

Even if the form had changed, it had once been his little brother. The moment his thoughts reached that point, the hideous sensation of the sword he’d driven in came back, and his hands began to tremble. Howard, his face strained with impatience, suddenly dropped down to sit beside him.

“I’m a soldier hired by the country for money. Back when I was just a starving kid with no education or connections, I thought this was the best path. Turns out I was wrong. A battlefield is a miserable place. Enemies and allies alike die pointlessly, just like that. Some of the ones I killed were barely more than kids. Looking back, they were probably just like us, fighting for money, land, duty… or something else they couldn’t avoid.”

While the battle with the female great demon raged on, the two men sat side by side talking. It was absurdly out of place and leisurely. Even so, Hayes kept listening.

“…Have you heard the rumors about the Great Rampage? The troops that retreated from the Felius front must’ve been under an order to keep quiet, but you can’t shut people’s mouths. One of the rumors says that to break the stalemate, they burned down the great demonic territory in the center of the continent and intentionally caused the Great Rampage. It might just be the usual battlefield gossip, but the homeland that would use a brother as bait to kill a valuable enemy soldier? Wouldn’t surprise me.”

It was news Hayes had never heard, despite once being from Highserk. Perhaps it was too unreliable, or perhaps it had been concealed to prevent resentment or rebellion. It had been the hateful cause of the destruction of his homeland and the loss of his family, yet it didn’t seem connected to the current situation.

“Howard… what are you getting at?”

Hayes asked directly, seeking certainty.

“You don’t owe that shallow country anything. With all this chaos, the watchers are overwhelmed. One man running away wouldn’t be noticed. Look at these corpses, bones don’t even remain. Forget your brother, take your family and run to another country. Well, it’s not as easy as it sounds… leaving your homeland is hard, you know that. After all, people are killing each other over land right now. If persuasion doesn’t work, leave your family some money and go alone. Hah… you’d have a long life ahead of you.”

Those words from a Libertoa man he had known for so long were almost unbelievable.

“What about you?”

“For what I’m paid, it’s not worth it. Still… I’m a soldier, and I’m a Libertoa man. I’ve got a little patriotism, a little pride. And I can’t just abandon those guys. I’ll stay… but Hayes, don’t get any foolish sympathy or misunderstandings. I’m the kind of man who thinks that if an enemy nation across Lake Selta weakens, then an intentional Great Rampage is perfectly logical.”

Hearing Howard’s confession, Hayes desperately turned his thoughts over. Either way, there wasn’t much time.

“Honestly… I thought maybe it’d be fine if everything burned down like this. Me included. But… yeah. At the very least, I’ve made my choices. My brother did too. In the end, all I did was trick him and stab him with a sword, so I won’t blame people or nations. I abandoned Walm.”

“You serious? Even like that, it might still be your brother.”

“Precisely because he’s my brother. I killed him once already. I won’t pretend it was just a mistake and erase it. Though now, I’m not sure which of us will cross into the underworld first.”

Hayes had killed his brother and chosen the path of a Libertoa soldier. It was a horrifying road stained with blood, yet he had chosen it, and now, he had to bear the responsibility.

Resolving himself, Hayes gathered his mana and activated his skill. Unlike the all-consuming Demon Fire, his ability was ironically Frostbind. The raging heat and cold clashed violently. The difference between them soon became clear, and the cold was swallowed by the blue flames with his magic barrier trembling under the heat.

Squinting against the scorching air, Hayes’ eyes met those of the female great demon. Golden eyes locked onto him like a predator selecting its prey. Exhaling white vapor, he formed a blade of ice with cracking sounds. His ice sword swung upward from below, intercepting the war hammer as he stepped in front of his comrades.

After a brief clash, the ice sword shattered easily under Strong Strike and the blue flames. Countless ice shards scattered through the air like hail. Without even speaking, the demon swung its war hammer as if dismissing him as a disappointment.

And the assessment was correct. Hayes possessed neither Diamond Skin to turn his body into steel nor Strong Strike to transform a dull blade into a masterpiece. Nor did he have any skill capable of slaughtering enemies by the company. What he had gained was merely something he’d grasped desperately while drowning in the torrent of the Great Rampage.

Still, he was used to desperate struggles.

Gathering ice chaotically around his left hand, he met the incoming hammer. The ice shield shattered with the shrill sound of breaking glass. As if cutting down an annoying weed, the great demon twisted its wrist and swung again. This time, it was aiming to sweep away Hayes’ torso along with the remaining ice but its gaze caught Hayes’ right hand, then slid toward the scattered ice.

“Tch!”

Realizing he had been seen through, Hayes withdrew his hand. The fragments of the shattered ice sword reassembled in midair, reshaping themselves. A blade of ice reared like a serpent toward the demon’s neck but the hammerhead knocked it off course.

“Too bad.”

Throwing away the newly formed ice scythe, Hayes reshaped another ice sword but the female demon suddenly vanished.

Lowering its body, the massive figure accelerated by hot wind and shot forward like an arrow. The difference in raw strength had already been proven by the dead.

Hayes leapt backward, but he couldn’t fully evade it. Even the grazing blow sent a shock through the ice covering him. Swallowing both the air leaving his lungs and the curses on his lips, he stabbed his ice sword into the ground like a staff to halt himself.

A flurry of blows followed but in the brief time Hayes bought, the surviving soldiers regained their composure. Fewer of them were uninjured, but they had been chosen as soldiers for the foreign minister’s unit, and their movements were swift.

“Leetia! Don’t aim carefully, just keep firing!”

“I know!”

The magic soldiers who specialized in ranged combat had been deliberately chewed up in the opening melee. The female great demon was cunning despite seeming playful. Whether Hayes liked them or not, they all had to do their part, especially the precious magic users.

Blades of wind forced the demon either to dodge or intercept. One mistake would slice Hayes apart, but the risk was unavoidable. While blocking the storm of iron and blue flames with ice, Hayes kept his distance. If he got too close, he’d be crushed. If he stayed too far, the demon would turn its attention to someone else.

“Don’t rush in! Control your distance!! Lefty, don’t stop moving, you’ll get eaten!”

Howard, having returned to the fight, shouted orders to Lefty, whose ribs had been crushed and movements slowed. The Demon Fire had drained the soldiers’ mana and concentration, but they barely managed to regain coordination. Like tossing wet wood into a bonfire, Hayes’ cold aura weakened the power of the blue flames.

“Haa… ghh…!”

But producing that cold consumed enormous amounts of mana. The ice he used for offense and defense melted and shattered more easily. Their stalemate was nothing more than a way to keep the balance on thin ice.

Swords, spears, shields… countless were shattered. Repeatedly recreating ice drained his mana further. Nausea and headaches followed as his reserves dwindled. He couldn’t even consider the numbness creeping through his limbs. Crimson mixed into the melting ice again and again.

While the war hammer crushed through his defenses, two soldiers slipped in from both sides. Howard slashed at the demon’s head, and Lefty struck its shin with a longsword.

The female great demon pulled back its extended arm. Leaning its chest away and folding its upper body, it slid its foot back. Both strikes were evaded as if they had passed through empty air. The flickering blue flames had distorted the perception of distance, but the real reason was its exceptional eyesight.

“Even this isn’t enough?!”

Hayes squeezed out his remaining mana and created an ice tree beneath the demon’s feet. But the thin branches, weakened by heat, could never hope to deal a fatal blow. The war hammer wrapped in blue flames swept them aside instantly. As tiny ice fragments scattered with a bluish glow, Hayes circled to the demon’s non-dominant side.

“Haah!”

For the first time in the battle, the demon’s movement slowed. The distraction had worked. Seizing the rare opportunity, Hayes stepped forward without hesitation. A hastily formed ice spear shot out toward the demon’s head.

All he achieved was a cut on its cheek and a thin line of blood.

A chill ran down Hayes’ spine. The strike from its blind spot had been seen at the last moment. He regretted not aiming for the torso instead of the head but the price of that mistake came in the form of the fist rushing toward him.

The upward strike, accompanied by a slicing sound, could easily crush a human skull. Complete evasion was impossible, and tilting the ice covering his body, Hayes curled up like a shell. The impact felt like being trampled by a horse.

“Hayes?!”

He couldn’t even tell whose voice it was. His body lifted into the air, tumbling across the ground without knowing which way was up. His breath caught as if he’d swallowed mud, and pain screamed through his entire body. Forcing his stubborn limbs to move, he felt the earth beneath him and barely regained balance. Each shallow breath made his chest ache.

The enemy would not wait.

Staggering, Hayes tried to return to the fight but the deafening sounds of battle had stopped. The hot wind faded, leaving only smoldering embers casting an eerie glow over the battlefield.

“What—”

Before Hayes could ask, the answer appeared.

The female demon’s body was wavy, swaying like a slime, shifting into a shapeless form. Howard and the others kept their distance, unable to attack. With the enemy’s condition unknown, probing with mid- and long-range magic was their only option.

Hayes was about to call out to the frozen Leetia, but the demon spoke first.

“It finished? Hah… what a shame…”

Muttering in boredom, the demon grew its Demon Fire once more, blasting out scorching wind. Then, blending into the blue flames, it disappeared into the forest’s shadows. Hayes stared at where it had vanished, breathing irregularly. Nothing else followed.

Many things remained unclear, but one fact stood out. Hayes had survived.

“How many are still alive?”

One of the surviving soldiers muttered.

“Eight. The special platoon leader’s somewhere in there burned to ash, but we can’t even tell which one.”

Howard answered while searching the surroundings. Of the special platoon unit, their leader was dead, and only eight were still recognizable as humans.

“What about command? Howard, you’re the senior one, so it’s you?”

Protecting his ribs, Lefty asked for a decision. Excluding the former adventurers and newcomers from Highserk like Hayes, Howard had the longest service among the surviving Libertoa soldiers.

“For now… yeah. Though ‘command’ doesn’t mean much. In this state, all we can do is run.”

Continuing the mission was unimaginable. It was a failure in almost the worst possible way. Hayes could already picture the displeased face of the foreign minister.

“Hey Hayes… that brother, or sister, of yours…”

“…Who knows. And I don’t have a sister like that.”

A burned soldier asked him cautiously. Hayes had younger brothers but a gigantic, bloodthirsty “little sister”? Not a chance.

“What about the bodies? We can’t tell them apart.”

At Leetia’s words, silence fell briefly before Howard spoke heavily.

“If anything’s left half-burned, take hair. If that doesn’t work, collect rings or equipment as keepsakes. With all this chaos, Highserk’s border guard will show up soon. We leave immediately.”

After gathering what few belongings they could see, the group left the corpses behind and departed the village. After two blasts of Demon Fire, Hayes’ home village had been reduced completely to ashes.

With lingering regret, Hayes glanced back toward the forest where the female demon had disappeared. It was the forest where the three brothers had once run around as children. Now, the second brother was dead, and the third had chosen a different path.

At the very least, Hayes prayed that in this life the brothers would never meet again.

Translator – Lyxxna