The earth was dark red, as if blood were running through it.

Endless sand and dust was whipped up by some sinister wind from who knew where, almost blotting out the entire sky, making everything look so dim and dull.

Forget the sun, moon, and stars—hardly any sunlight fell here at all. When you lifted your eyes, all you saw was that bleak, muddled chaos where you couldn’t even tell the boundary between sky and earth.

“How long have we been walking?”

The man suddenly stopped, kicked aside a piece of sedimentary rock that had almost completely weathered away, drew his dagger, and dug out the wild grass that was struggling to survive in a crack in the stone.

“Reporting, Captain. Since leaving the last campsite, we’ve been walking for six hours!”

The one who answered him was the youngest soldier in the squad, named Vick. As for a family name... Vick, who came from a border village, had no family name—only the simple honesty and warmth he’d been born with.

Even though that face had still been scraped terribly rough by the ceaseless wind and sand here, and had even scabbed over from injuries, you could still see, deep in those eyes, the childish innocence that hadn’t completely vanished yet.

What let Vick confirm the time was an old pocket watch he treasured dearly, because everyone knew that on the lid of that watch there was a photo of the fiancée he believed was the cutest in the world.

Even though anyone else only needed one look to understand she was just an ordinary girl with freckles all over her face, and could even be called a bit ugly.

Vick would still hug that pocket watch and grin stupidly in the dead of night.

“Six hours, huh.”

Ebul brought the wild grass to his nose and sniffed lightly. After confirming it was non-toxic, just the most common kind of weed in this desert, he finally plucked off a few blades and put them in his mouth to chew.

His brows furrowed slightly. He hadn’t eaten for a long time, and he’d barely even had any water, so his sense of taste had already gone numb, yet he still found it hard to bear the bitterness in those blades.

At least there was a little moisture in the leaves, letting the tip of his tongue recover just a bit, and easing that tearing dryness by a trace.

“Six hours. Judging by the pace we were moving at just now...”

Ebul took out a compass and a tattered map.

The wind and sand cut off almost every way of judging direction through the outside environment. Luckily, the standard-issue compass distributed by the army was tough enough and still worked.

“It should be here.”

Ebul measured with his finger and finally confirmed the position they were in.

But right after that, his expression grew heavy.

Because next to the location marked on the map where they were, there was only an area not even half a finger-joint wide, and on it, in red paint, a conspicuous circle had been drawn.

Red represented danger.

“This isn’t good.”

“Wh... what do you mean, not good?”

Ebul’s expression scared Vick so badly he shrank his neck and muttered, “Captain, when you look like that, I... I’m kind of scared. Are we...?”

“Shut up!”

Ebul glared viciously at Vick and casually stuffed a root with richer juice into Vick’s mouth.

“Even lacking water didn’t make you talk any less!”

“Mmph, mmph...”

“When I say it’s not good, it’s really just a matter of choosing, that’s all.”

Not bothering anymore with Vick, who almost choked to death on the grass root, Ebul carefully studied that red warning zone, constantly matching it up with some information he knew in his head.

“If I remember right, this should be a demon race outpost.”

“Outpost? Is there an important area here?”

Facing Ebul was a bearded middle-aged man named Gree. One of his eyes had been cut by a blade in a recent fight. Because conditions were limited, it had only been crudely stitched up, so when he spoke it was like a disgusting centipede writhing on his face.

“Not sure. This outpost was discovered by Hansen’s scout squad. You remember Hansen, right? That Sisreel guy who always sprayed spit when he talked.”

“I remember.”

Gree was expressionless. “I heard he got torn apart alive by the demon race?”

“...Whether he got torn apart alive or not, I don’t know. But that guy has gone back into the Goddess’s embrace either way, so I don’t have detailed intel about this outpost, either.”

Ebul sighed.

That earlier demon race offensive had been far too terrifying. Before they could even react, they were already trapped deep in it. Now, even searching for the main force was this difficult.

“So now we have to choose.”

Ebul tapped the map and said, “Either we find a chance to pass through this demon race outpost, or we choose to detour.”

“How far of a detour?”

“At least a full day’s march.”

“Can we even hold out another day?”

“This...”

Ebul raised his head and looked at the few people gathered around him right now.

Himself, Vick, Gree, Polly, and Morris.

Five people.

Only five people.

And they weren’t even an elite scout unit trained specifically to traverse deep in the Abyss and bring back intelligence. They were just an ordinary squad. There was even a brand-new recruit like Vick in the unit—enlisted less than a month, and he hadn’t even fought many hard battles.

All of it came from three days ago, when the demon race suddenly launched a terrifying offensive on the army. Demon race powerhouses tore open the formation, and up in that sky, they fought a bloody battle with that duke—someone who, in Ebul’s eyes, had been omnipotent.

Yet Ebul watched with his own eyes as the duke was surrounded and then fell from the sky, like a meteor about to burn out.

And it was exactly that defeat that forced the entire defensive line to withdraw. Many units were shattered. To avoid being encircled and annihilated by the demon race, they had no choice but to flee in the opposite direction, deeper into demon race territory, then look for a chance to return to the army.

Their squad was one of them.

But traveling through demon race territory was a truly terrifying thing. The environment here was vicious, supplies were scarce, mutated demonic beasts would appear at night, and even worse were those brutal demon race wanderers roaming this desert...

The five of them had their hearts in their throats almost every moment, and had made it this far by being cautious every step of the way.

But over these three days where they could practically be called completely out of food and supplies, they had forced themselves onward by sheer will. Could they really endure one more day, just for a slightly higher chance of survival?

“No.”

Gree touched the wound on his face and said decisively, “Including the time after that to find the main force, we absolutely can’t waste this day anymore. Otherwise it’s no different from looking for death.”

“...That’s true.”

Ebul closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Passing through a demon race outpost wasn’t rational either, but as the captain, no matter the outcome, he still had to give the order.

“In that case, don’t waste time. Get ready to move on... while we still have the strength to swing our legs, before we turn into old men who need canes just to walk.”

“... ”

The lame cold joke didn’t even make their eyebrows move. Only Vick let out a few stupid chuckles.

Messy, faint footsteps rose again, blending into the howling wind.

With the course decided, the group began moving quickly.

They advanced along the direction indicated by the map and compass. Finally, after an hour of silent marching, they saw the demon race outpost marked on the map.

“Hansen’s intel wasn’t wrong.”

In the shadow of a concealed gap between massive rocks, Ebul lay ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) prone there, observing the entire outpost through a monocular telescope.

“This really is a demon race outpost, and it isn’t small.”

“Is security tight?”

“Tight... but not that tight. Those demon race are weird. It looks like they’re celebrating something?”

From far away, Ebul stared at those demon race figures dancing around and exclaimed in surprise.

“Don’t worry about what they’re celebrating. If there’s an opening, then hurry up and go.”

“Understood.”

Ebul flipped up smoothly.

But at the instant he was about to put away the telescope, something that appeared in his field of view made his movement suddenly freeze.

“What is it?” Gree frowned, puzzled that this captain, usually so decisive, would hesitate like this now.

“I saw horses.”

“Horses? What’s so strange about horses?”

“The demon race don’t have ordinary horses! And it’s not just horses...”

The telescope shifted back slightly, and in Ebul’s view, one after another, those wagons being pulled by horses—wagons packed full—came clearly into sight.

“Damn it!”

Ebul slammed the ground in fury.

“Those demon race bastards stole our grain and supplies!”