The night in the Abyss was especially cold, as if even the sand had frozen over.

Standing atop a dune and looking out, the yellow sand and dust that seemed as though it could drown the entire world had finally come to a stop as well. All things fell asleep because of it, outlining a silence so oppressive it made your heart pound.

But even on such a rare, calm night, when you lifted your head, you still couldn’t see what those humans spoke of—brilliant stars and a bright, clean moon.

"A clear sky..."

Ailag Elrag gazed into the Abyss night sky stained like ink.

"Can there really be a sky clearer than this?"

He couldn’t imagine what it looked like for countless points of light to be scattered across that ink-dark sky, or across a sky still shrouded in yellow sand. Much less could he imagine how, in those humans’ descriptions, a round jade disk could hang in the heavens.

Maybe they were deceiving them. Humans were always that despicable.

Yet no matter what kind of torture he used on those captured humans, no matter how he tore their flesh off slice by slice, the answers he got were almost completely the same.

With a creature as despicable and weak as a human, if you thought they could maintain a lie to this extent, you were giving them far too much credit.

"Good."

Ailag Elrag lowered his gaze from the sky that stretched endlessly far away, and looked toward this barren wasteland no one would ever miss.

"We’ll be able to leave this place completely soon. Very soon."

Suddenly, firelight flickered to life, linking together into a long serpent that drew irregular long lines across the withered land.

The firelight illuminated Ailag Elrag’s face. From outward appearance alone, it was a face with no difference from an ordinary human at all. His features were even somewhat refined—only those blood-red eyes revealed a lofty cruelty and cold indifference.

"Demon General Lord."

At the end of the line of fire, a demonfolk knelt on one knee and reported respectfully.

"The search has been completed."

"How is it?" Ailag Elrag asked flatly.

"After the search, all one hundred thirty-two low-ranking demonfolk in the camp are dead, and the manner of death was extremely miserable, as if they were dismembered. Even Lord Sorin also—"

"I’m asking how the things that were being transported are. Who gives a damn about that idiot Sorin?" Ailag Elrag said impatiently.

Even among high-ranking demonfolk, there were enormous differences. A lowly thing like Sorin, who needed armor to cover up his defects—how was he worth Ailag Elrag spending any thought on?

What mattered now was that batch of goods he was supposed to be receiving.

A hundred Sorins couldn’t compare to how precious those things were.

"Y-yes..."

Suppressing the trembling in his body, the demonfolk swallowed hard and said,

"As for that batch of goods, I can’t describe it well in detail. Please, my lord... please, my lord come see it with your own eyes."

"Hm?"

Ailag Elrag let out a faintly puzzled sound through his nose. But the demonfolk had already pressed his entire body tight into the sand, not daring to say another word.

"Worthless."

Ailag Elrag scolded in a low voice, stepped on that low-ranking demonfolk’s back, and climbed down from the saddle of that huge lizard-like demonic beast.

The firelight split a path for him. Ailag Elrag walked into the camp where the blood still hadn’t dried.

There wasn’t the chaos he expected, nor were there signs of the camp being overrun by a large force. Aside from the camp gate that was clearly blown apart, everything was intact, as if everyone were still asleep inside their tents.

But when he lowered his head, what he saw was corpses of low-ranking demonfolk scattered across the ground.

The chill in Ailag Elrag’s eyes thickened. As if he had sensed something, he headed straight for the tent in the very center.

A demonfolk at his side respectfully lifted the cloth flap for him, and raised a torch, letting him see the things inside the tent even more clearly—though he already had night vision.

It was a huge, irregular... ball? Like someone had used their fists to smash metal parts together by sheer force.

The ball was enormous, almost filling the entire tent. Ailag Elrag planted his palm against it and forced it to rotate.

The side that had been hidden turned to the front, revealing a crudely drawn... smiling face.

It was only three simple curved lines, but on the edge of the third and longest curve, the stroke suddenly hooked upward on purpose, vividly sketching a trace of mocking amusement.

As if it were laughing at how late they had arrived.

Ailag Elrag seemed to truly be able to imagine it—the disgusting smile on that person’s face when they drew this.

"My lord, these arcane-conducting materials..." the demonfolk attendant asked tentatively. If they were only forcibly pieced together with brute force, maybe these arcane-conducting materials could still—

"The arcane-conducting properties are gone. I don’t know how it was done. They’ve completely turned into pure scrap iron."

Ailag Elrag remained expressionless as he tore off a piece.

But the moment it sat in his palm and he pinched lightly, that metal-like material instantly crumbled into fragmented iron sand.

He’d spoken too early. It was worse than scrap iron.

Though it didn’t really matter.

"Such precious arcane-conducting materials actually turned into scrap iron?"

The demonfolk attendant’s face shifted. His voice trembled as he muttered,

"If the higher-ups punish this, my lord will—"

"..."

Ailag Elrag glanced at him.

The demonfolk servant clapped a hand over his mouth, realizing he’d said the wrong thing.

But it was already too late.

Bang.

Like a ripe watermelon being cracked open, the demonfolk servant’s head exploded, red and white spraying everywhere.

The headless corpse convulsed a few times, then went limp on the ground, and was quickly dragged away by other demonfolk who were already used to it.

Even though these low-ranking demonfolk were ugly in appearance, the stuff inside their heads wasn’t much different from those cunning humans.

So why could they be this stupid?

"The other side’s trail—did you find it?" Ailag Elrag asked.

"Y-yes." Another demonfolk said shakily. "They went east."

"They didn’t even try to conceal their trail? Like they want me to catch up."

Ailag Elrag stroked his chin, his gaze sweeping over the twisted spherical shape before him.

Efficient slaughter. A bizarre method that could strip arcane-conducting materials of their properties. And an attitude that wasn’t afraid of him catching up at all...

"And the direction they went..."

Heh.

Ailag Elrag suddenly let out a soft laugh.

"Looks like this time, the Empire brought someone incredible."

Perhaps it was related to that piece of intel the higher-ups had just sent not long ago.

"Th-then... my lord?" the demonfolk suddenly asked. "Are we still going to chase after them?"

"..."

Bang.

Another watermelon burst.

Ailag Elrag took out a handkerchief and wiped his palm in disgust.

See? These things were just that stupid.

...

...

After passing through the barren, desolate sandland, the scenery around them visibly grew far more lively.

It wasn’t to the point where it was lush and green everywhere, but in this starless, moonless night, you could still occasionally see one or two small animals that counted as normal come out to move around and forage.

Of course, it was also more likely that the not-so-normal creatures here would instinctively fear the powerful existence passing through.

"We’re getting close to the edge of the Abyss."

"Is that so?"

Muen, swaying atop his horse, answered sleepily.

It wasn’t that he was exhausted to the point of collapse after going a few days without sleep. He’d just "eaten his fill" earlier, so drowsiness naturally rose up.

"Hah..."

Muen yawned.

"This stretch is longer than I imagined."

"It was you who demanded I jump straight down from the edge of the Abyss. I told you—there are violent spatial currents above the Abyss. Even a Crowned One can’t easily grasp the position."

King Yintuo pressed his palms together as he spoke.

"Alright. But it really does count as a shortcut, doesn’t it."

Muen patted ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ his cheeks, forcing himself to wake up.

Just then, urgent hoofbeats sounded. Vick spurred his fine horse and came galloping over.

"Report!"

He dismounted a bit stiffly and made a military salute toward Muen.

"The front has already been scouted. Everything is safe."

"Good."

Muen nodded.

"Keep it up, Soldier Vick."

"Yes!"

Vick mounted again, galloped off, and quickly disappeared from everyone’s sight.

"Th-then... um, Young Master Campbell."

Watching this, Ebul finally couldn’t hold back and said,

"You really don’t need to spoil that kid like this. We know you don’t actually need anyone to help scout..."

As he spoke, Ebul secretly glanced at King Yintuo to the side.

Although this old man hadn’t made a move from start to finish, Ebul knew that someone who could be treated with such respect by the duke’s son could absolutely not be an ordinary old man.

Most likely, he was a powerhouse brought specifically to protect him.

"It’s fine."

Muen smiled and waved his hand.

"Isn’t this a soldier’s duty? I can’t exactly stop a soldier from doing his job."

"Young Master Campbell..."

"Alright. Enough small talk."

Muen cut Ebul off. His tone shifted as he said,

"Tell me the details from a few days ago."

"A few days ago?"

"The Imperial army’s rout... the time several demonfolk grand dukes tried to encircle and kill my father."

Muen’s face was expressionless, like he was talking about something utterly insignificant.

"That time...?"

A trace of fear appeared on Ebul’s face.

"To be honest, we didn’t see it that clearly. Back then, my squad was in the vanguard camp. We were supposed to be the unit closest to the enemy, but all I saw was streaking light, and the whole formation was blown apart in an instant. A lot of people were crushed into meat paste on the spot by something."

"Is that so?" Muen murmured. That should’ve been the scene of those demonfolk grand dukes forcibly tearing open the battle formation.

"Then, then I watched those streaks of light fly up into the sky and fight Duke Campbell. I remember there were... three streaks of light?" Ebul sounded somewhat unsure. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

"Weren’t there four?" Polly said in shock.

"Five! I saw it clearly!" Morris said.

"Nonsense! With only five demonfolk bastards, how could they hurt the Lion King!"

Even Gree, who had been silent all along, shouted in rebuttal.

"There were thirteen! That’s right—thirteen! They say they were all demonfolk grand dukes. With a wave of their hand, our people died in droves! And that was with the Lion King protecting us!"

"..."

Listening to them all talking over each other, Muen couldn’t help but give a bitter smile.

Trying to get ordinary soldiers to describe the battlefield in detail was, in the end, simply too difficult.

For combat at the level of a Crowned One, they couldn’t even see it clearly.

But even so, compared to the pale words and ordinary numbers in intelligence reports, these accounts from firsthand witnesses could still more vividly sketch the cruel baseline of this war between the Empire and the demonfolk, stretching on for hundreds of years.

The horses stopped.

They paused atop a hill.

And at this moment, with no sun rising, only a vague light—like brightness filtering down through a layer of gauze—gradually drove back the darkness.

Looking out, in the distance, a magnificent wall clinging to a steep cliff finally revealed itself before everyone.

"We’re here," Muen murmured softly.

The destination of this trip.

The legendary natural barrier.

Imperial Defense Line · Doronslei Fortress.