I inspected the inside of the outpost.
All the soldiers were dead.
Some were still clutching their weapons, while others had died sitting in place.
Judging by the scene, it seemed they had been caught off guard by an unexpected attack.
Since the sentries outside had been taken down without resistance, those inside likely couldn’t mount a proper defense.
Oliver pointed to a corner of the outpost.
“Wade, look at that.”
“The carrier pigeons are all dead, and the communication resonance stone is shattered. They wanted to cut off any contact with the inner wall.”
“They were dead set on this… Damn it. This means we can’t even request reinforcements. Even if we start running for the inner wall right now, it’ll be too late.”
The outpost soldiers were all dead, and all means of communication were destroyed.
Outside, the demon army was approaching.
From the situation, it was clear the demons heading this way knew the outpost was defenseless.
Even if there were survivors, they wouldn’t be able to call for help.
Oliver, gripping his head, looked at the approaching demons, then noticed a demon corpse lying inside the outpost.
“You filthy bastards!”
Thud! Thud!
He repeatedly kicked the demon’s body, stomping on its head.
His boot, driven by rage, crushed the demon’s skull completely.
Even then, he didn’t stop until the corpse was reduced to rags.
“Haa… The only choice now is to abandon the outer wall and retreat. Let’s set off the emergency smoke and fall back immediately.”
“No, we can’t do that.”
“What?”
“If we retreat now, the nearby outer-wall outposts will also have to withdraw. That would force the entire Empire’s defensive line to fall back, making it even harder to fight the demons.”
I opposed Oliver’s decision.
All that talk about outpost troops and defensive lines was just an excuse.
What I was really worried about was that if the defensive line retreated to the inner wall, Kalian would have no choice but to join the battle.
Victoria was already in a bad mood—there was no way I could let Kalian’s reputation take a hit on top of that.
“What do you propose we do? We don’t have enough time to get reinforcements from the inner wall.”
“We hold the line ourselves. We’ll fire an emergency flare to alert the inner wall, but we cannot let the demons break through the outer wall.”
“Is that even possible?”
“It is if I’m here.”
The soldiers’ faces turned pale.
Oliver gritted his teeth and nodded.
“Understood. Let’s give it a shot.”
“Open the gate. I’ll go out alone and hold them off. You all cover me from inside the fortress.”
“Understood.”
The soldiers hurried to follow Oliver’s orders.
Though they were only a single platoon, they understood well that they had nowhere left to retreat.
I glanced at Victoria.
“Are you okay?”
“Why are you asking that?”
“You don’t look well.”
Victoria was staring at the demon corpse Oliver had stomped into mush.
Officially, she was here to help defend the fortress, but at the end of the day, she was still a demon.
It would be better not to involve her in this any further.
“If you’re not feeling well, step back. We’ll take care of it. You don’t have to step in.”
From now on, I was going to slaughter the demons.
I couldn’t let her see that side of me.
Screeeech—
Leaving the rest of the troops behind on the wall, I stepped outside alone.
The demons had approached within striking distance.
They didn’t charge recklessly. Instead, they formed proper ranks and stopped within attack range, staring at me standing in front of the gate.
A demon who seemed to be their commander halted his troops, then spoke to me.
“Open the gate and step aside.”
“Would you do that if you were me?”
“Do you really think you can stop us alone? Even with the rats hiding inside, you barely number in the dozens. If you surrender quietly, I’ll at least spare your life.”
“Who would believe that nonsense? Let’s skip the pointless talk—we’re both busy, so let’s get this over with.”
“Foolish.”
At the commander’s signal, the demon soldiers wielding spears surrounded me in a semicircle.
Behind them, archers and mages prepared their ranged attacks.
A well-disciplined army, following the basic principles of warfare.
Even though I was alone, they were wary of my strength.
Their formation ensured they wouldn’t get tangled up with each other and accounted for the fortress’s covering fire.
The demons completed their preparations and unleashed a barrage of attacks.
Arrows and spells rained down toward me and the fortress gate, while the spearmen held their positions to prevent my escape.
However, I blocked their concentrated fire effortlessly.
“You… you’re strong.”
“This isn’t the time to be admiring my skills.”
“What…?”
Slice.
Blocking the attack, I closed the distance to the demon commander in an instant and severed his head.
His head flew into the air, and only then did the demons realize what had happened.
In their panic, they turned their weapons on me, but their carefully constructed formation crumbled in the chaos.
That disorder spread like ripples in water.
I slaughtered them all.
Demon blood splattered everywhere, forming a misty haze.
Severed limbs and heads flew in all directions.
“Aaaargh!”
“A m-monster! He’s a monster!”
“Run! Run for your lives!”
“Retreat! Ret—gaaah!”
At first, they thought they were up against just one man.
But as screams and blood painted the battlefield, their morale crumbled.
“I’ll help!”
To make matters worse for them, Oliver, who had been watching from the fortress, rushed out to join me.
Fueled by excitement, he laughed like a madman as he cut down the demons.
“Kahahaha! Are you afraid? You worms, are you scared?! I’ll kill every last one of you. I’ll tear your flesh and drink your blood!”
Oliver fought in the most brutal way possible, slicing open their stomachs and spilling their guts while they were still alive.
Humans naturally hated demons, but this guy was excessive.
Maybe he had seen too many comrades die on the fortress walls.
I just hoped Victoria wouldn’t take this the wrong way.
By the time reinforcements arrived from the inner wall, the demon army had already retreated.
We had defended the outer wall without losing a single soldier.
After stationing new guards at the outpost, we returned to the inner wall.
Hubert and the other fortress soldiers welcomed us with great celebration.
Hubert, in particular, had a gleam in his eyes.
“That was incredible, Wade. Absolutely amazing. You drove off an entire battalion of demons with just a single platoon.”
“We were lucky.”
“Lucky? Don’t be ridiculous. No one here is foolish enough to believe you survived this by sheer luck.”
Oliver interjected from the side.
“He’s right. Wade charged into the enemy lines alone. He practically took on a battalion by himself.”
“Is that true?”
“The entire platoon saw it. He dashed in, took the commander’s head, and slaughtered them like a ghost. The vermin were so terrified they couldn’t even fight back.”
“Remarkable. Holding the outer wall was a tremendous achievement. If it had fallen, the losses would have been catastrophic.”
Hubert acknowledged my accomplishment and decided to hold a feast to commemorate the victory.
While we mourned the soldiers lost to the demons, no one dwelled on it too much, likely to keep morale from dropping.
As the sun set, dinner time arrived.
Hubert gathered everyone and raised his glass.
“A toast to Wade’s outstanding achievements and to the soldiers who lost their lives. Death to the demons!”
“Death to the demons!”
Oliver, Vincent, and the soldiers echoed the chant, raising their glasses.
Kalian and I lifted our glasses out of courtesy, while Victoria simply held hers, remaining silent.
As expected in a room full of hardened soldiers, the dinner was rowdy.
Loud voices and curses filled the air, laughter shook the tables.
“You guys should’ve seen Wade in action! It was like watching a swordmaster straight out of legend!”
Oliver was still talking about me.
The gathered soldiers listened intently, and those who had been on the outer wall eagerly backed up his story, adding to the excitement.
“They’re really fired up,” Vincent, the platoon leader, said with a shake of his head.
Unlike Oliver, Vincent remained calm as he reviewed some documents and reported to Hubert that the inner wall’s defenses had been reinforced.
Since all the sentries had been wiped out, there was a possibility that demons had infiltrated beyond the outer wall.
Oliver scoffed at his caution, calling him overly paranoid, but Hubert and I agreed that it was the right course of action.
The Next Morning
After waking up, the first thing I did was climb up to the fortress wall.
I needed to check if anything had happened overnight—if the demons had attempted a sneak attack while we slept.
Once I reached the top, I saw that everything was normal.
Both inside and outside the wall looked the same as usual, and the soldiers on guard confirmed that nothing had happened.
After enjoying the cool morning breeze and sunlight for a moment, I stepped back inside the fortress and headed to the dining hall.
There was still some time before the morning roll call, so I figured I’d grab a quick bite to eat.
But as I turned the corner and entered the dining hall, an unexpected sight unfolded before me.
Corpses.
One, two, three, four… A total of nine bodies sat slumped at the tables, all dead.
Judging by their clothing and the disheveled state of the tables, they were the same soldiers who had attended last night’s dinner.
What stood out the most…
All nine of them had been beheaded, their severed heads placed neatly on their respective plates—
As if mocking someone.
“What are you standing there for? Huh? What’s that smell…? F**k, what the hell is this?!”
Oliver, who had arrived a step behind me, screamed at the horrifying scene.
Hubert, Vincent, Kalian, and Victoria soon followed, one by one, each witnessing the gruesome massacre.
They all exchanged looks, their faces filled with the same question—
“What the hell happened here?”