“Are you ready?”

Ebul looked at the sky. The yellow sand covering the Abyss still blotted out the canopy overhead. You couldn’t tell at all whether it was noon or evening—just like the unknown road ahead of them.

Vick was looking at the sky too. He missed the sunset back home. In that little village, there was a river that happened to run through it. Whenever the sun slanted west, the red evening glow would spread in layers across the glittering river surface, like a girl’s cheeks flushed red with shyness.

And yet back then, he never looked at the beautiful sunset at all, because by the river, beneath the creaking windmill, that shy, red-faced girl was sitting right beside him.

“Ready,” everyone answered in unison.

“Good. Vick, get ready to call the time.”

“Yes!”

Vick gripped his pocket watch tightly. The freckle-covered girl on the lid was still smiling. He wondered if he would ever get to see the sunset on her face again.

It was just a pity the Abyss had no sun.

...

...

“S-Sorin, sir... why are you here?”

Inside the demon race camp, a demonfolk with green skin kept wiping the sweat off his forehead. He nodded and bowed as he hurried after a towering figure.

That towering figure was wrapped in silver armor. The armor was hard and gleaming, completely different from the scrap-iron trash on the bodies of ordinary demonfolk, constantly proclaiming the noble status of the figure inside it.

Of course, the most important thing was the skin that occasionally showed through the gaps of the armor. It wasn’t the green or red most common among low-ranking demonfolk, but...

A pale color similar to humans, yet slightly different.

A high-ranking demon.

The green-skinned demonfolk trembled slightly. He was the leader of this camp, with the authority to command over a hundred low-ranking demonfolk, yet in front of this lord, he still didn’t even have the courage to lift his head.

That was the natural pressure high-ranking demonfolk exerted on low-ranking demonfolk like them in the demon race’s strict hierarchy.

“I’m here to inspect.”

The high-ranking demon called Sorin spoke coldly.

“This batch of supplies is very important. Tomorrow the Demon General will send people to take delivery. To be safe, I came personally to take a look.”

“W-what could go wrong...?”

The leader forced a smile. “Those idiots aren’t too bright, and they like drinking that reeking horse blood, but they definitely wouldn’t dare touch what the Demon General wants.”

“You think I’m worried about those idiots?”

Sorin suddenly turned his head. That lofty gaze looked as if it were also looking at a lowly idiot.

“According to Komde, there are still many human remnants fleeing around our rear areas right now. I suggest you be more careful. If anything happens to those goods, I’ll personally twist your head off!”

“R-remnants? Sorin, sir, you’re joking. If they’re remnants, then naturally they’re not worth worrying about.”

The leader bared his teeth in a grin, utterly disdainful of those so-called human remnants. Humans were a weak species that only had some combat power when their numbers were large enough.

In a place like the Abyss, those weak humans would show their frail true form, fit only to become demon race food.

So what could just two or three remnants do to him? This was a camp guarded by a full hundred demon race elites!

If any human really dared be that bold, he wouldn’t even need Sorin to come—he’d twist his own head off...

Boom!

An explosion sounded suddenly.

“...They really came?”

The leader’s cheek twitched. He jerked his head around toward the direction the sound came from.

But before he could react, there was another one.

As if it were specifically meant to slap him in the face, that explosion was deafening. It came from the camp’s main gate, kicking up huge clouds of dust, even making the ground shudder a few times.

“Alchemical bombs?”

The leader jolted awake, fear flickering in his eyes.

He looked down on weak humans, but the alchemical magic weapons those humans used had truly dealt the demon race—especially the low-ranking demonfolk who charged the front—devastating blows. He had personally watched one of his own kin turn into bloody scraps of flesh under a single black, ugly, utterly unremarkable alchemical bomb.

So just from the sound, he knew exactly what kind of attack that was.

His earlier composure vanished without a trace. Now he was truly drenched in sweat.

“This is what you call absolutely safe?”

Sorin’s expression went cold in an instant.

“No, no... Sorin, sir, please calm down. This is probably just some blind fool coming to die. We’ll quickly—”

But before the leader could finish...

With another boom, a third alchemical bomb exploded. The camp gate the leader had overseen with his own hands and taken pride in collapsed in full view of everyone.

Three in total!

Even the lowest low-ranking demonfolk knew that even among humans, alchemical bombs weren’t something you could just throw around casually.

So this clearly wasn’t some blind fool coming to die. It was a planned attack!

“Trash!”

Sorin kicked the leader away and shouted, “The gate’s been blown down and you’re still standing here stunned?”

“I-I’m going... I’m going...”

The leader rolled on the ground several times, then scrambled up on all fours in a ridiculous scuttle, taking men with him as he sprinted toward the camp gate, where dust was billowing.

Sorin stepped forward as well, ready to go stabilize the situation in case anything happened.

But after only two steps, his stride suddenly halted.

“No. Something’s off.”

A sharp light flashed through Sorin’s eyes as he murmured to himself.

“The human front has contracted. The ones still wandering in the Abyss really are only small scattered remnants. And humans are always crafty—would they do something this stupid, smashing the gate like eggs hitting a stone?”

“So... what are they actually trying to do?”

...

...

“The explosion went off.”

“The timing was perfect.”

“The outposts’ attention got pulled over there. Let’s go.”

“Yes!”

In the sand and dust, several figures bent low and moved cautiously along the base of the camp wall.

They all had some green juice smeared on them. It came from a plant very common in the Abyss. It was poisonous—smearing it on skin caused intense burning pain and itching.

But it could cover their scent, keeping the roaming demon hounds from detecting their position.

So even Vick—who had never been through anything like this—bit down hard, endured the pain, and advanced in silence.

“Hold.”

At that moment, Ebul in front suddenly stopped and lifted a hand, signaling.

Polly and Morris nodded in understanding. The two of them limped, but moved without a sound as they slipped in along the other side of the wall.

Very quickly, with two faint, almost imperceptible “pff” sounds, the two of them leaned out with blood on them and nodded this way.

“Go.”

Ebul kept moving.

Vick followed close behind, but the corner of his eye still involuntarily went to the two low-ranking demonfolk who’d been silently dealt with. A flash of envy crossed his eyes.

He wondered when he would become as experienced and skilled as Polly and Morris—then he wouldn’t have his legs shaking in fear when facing brutal demonfolk.

“All the low-ranking demonfolk cleared out. Looks like Gree really did draw them over,” Morris said in a muffled voice as he wiped the blood off his dagger.

“Yeah.”

Ebul nodded. “Then we need to move faster. Gree can’t hold out long.”

After confirming they were safe for now, they quickened their steps. Soon, they arrived at the place where the supplies were stored—something they had scouted in advance.

At a time like this, the difference between humans and demons showed. A spyglass—something incredibly useful in war—was basically standard equipment for every squad in the Empire’s army, but among the demon race it was a “luxury” that only a handful of high-ranking demonfolk could use.

“Good thing today’s sandstorm isn’t so bad the visibility’s too low,” Ebul murmured with relief.

“G-Goddess above,” Vick prayed too.

“The Goddess can’t reach the Abyss.”

Ebul spat low, ordered the others to keep watch outside the tents, and quickly went to the stacked wagons.

Most of the horses had already been killed, or penned elsewhere. What was piled here were only the wagon compartments storing grain and supplies. The black wooden box bodies were stacked in layers, like huge coffins thrown down in a mess.

Ebul moved fast. He took out that small magic scroll, unrolled it, and stuck it onto a compartment in the center.

Then he carefully took out an inferior magic stone no bigger than half a pinky nail. He licked his dry tongue and stuck it onto the scroll.

A magic scroll could only be activated by magic power, and people with talent for magic were extremely rare, so something like this counted as scarce goods he’d gotten through connections.

He began to miss that logistics guy. He didn’t like war. He even had some connections at home, enough to stay in a safer place like logistics... yet when that sudden calamity happened, that guy still rushed without hesitation at the demonfolk that leapt on him.

Served him right for getting torn apart alive. He didn’t even kill a single demon bastard. A coward and a piece of trash, even worse than a rookie like Vick.

Ebul rubbed his face hard, but his movements only sped up. He silently completed the last step.

“Done.”

A simple triggering device was set on the scroll.

In about three minutes, the warmed magic stone would release magic power, fully activating the scroll.

Simple, but effective.

Most importantly, three minutes was enough for them to get away.

Ebul let out a light breath, checked it again, confirmed nothing was wrong, and prepared to withdraw quickly.

The longer they stayed here, the more dangerous it got.

“...”

But after only two steps, Ebul suddenly stopped, turned around, and looked at that pile of black wagon compartments again.

He still couldn’t understand why the demon race had seized this batch of supplies.

They couldn’t be allowed to obtain the most scarce food humans had—that would become a stepping-stone for the demon race to climb out of the Abyss... That was the consensus of the entire imperial Abyss frontline, and it was something he’d been taught again and again from the moment he entered the army.

So even if they were surrounded, even if they were routed, at the last moment, imperial soldiers would definitely burn these things. They would absolutely never leave the demon bastards even a scrap.

All it took was one fire, one alchemical bomb, ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ or one spell... These supplies, dried extremely thoroughly for storage, were that easy to destroy.

But...

Right in front of him now were a full hundred wagons of supplies, captured by the demon race.