Stellan’s childhood had once been bathed in the morning light of Derose.
The scent of bread from the market, the cool mist of the plaza fountain, the dust kicked up while chasing his friends… these past experiences were deeply etched into his mind. He grew up in Derose; he was a local through and through.
When the first demon tore through the border defenses and broke into Derose, turning half the town into a sea of fire, the eighteen-year-old Stellan dropped his carpentry tools and headed for the recruitment office.
Through years of campaigning, many scars had been added to his body, and countless hardships showed in his eyes.
Yet, he always stood atop the walls of Derose, guarding everything behind him.
Until today.
Demons attacked Derose once again, but this time, their offensive far surpassed anything before, revealing a hysteria that felt like the final moments of the world.
What terrified him most was that mountain-sized, massive demon.
With just one claw strike, it destroyed half of the city wall. The most respected Grand Mage in the city exerted all his strength, yet he could only briefly delay its advance.
Familiar streets burned in the flames, and the screams of his compatriots tore through the air.
Stellan gripped his chipped longsword, his palms split open, yet he could not leave even a white mark on that scale-covered body.
From the mouths of his comrades, he learned that this demon possessed Power at the Demi-God Level.
This realization once caused him to lose all will to fight.
That was until his old Captain pushed him just before an explosion, forcing him to leave Derose.
“Stellan! Get out of here! Go for help! Go east… go…”
Driven by a survival instinct and the desire to protect his home, he navigated through the shadows of countless demons.
He traversed collapsed alleys and burning ruins, stumbling as he rushed out of the fallen city gates.
Behind him were towering flames and the roar of despair. He did not dare look back, only running desperately until his lungs burned and his legs went numb.
……
The Rose Knights, having just finished an overwhelming battle, were taking a brief rest.
The lingering scent of Magic and scorching energy in the air had not yet fully dissipated.
Isavel suddenly looked up into the distance, her pupils shrinking slightly.
In her line of sight, a crimson “wall” that seemed to connect heaven and earth was advancing at an incredible speed, swallowing everything in its path.
She could sense that it wasn’t ordinary dust, but a terrifying Power Storm.
If she wasn’t mistaken, it was likely the energy aftermath caused by the battle between the Goddess and the Abyssal Dragon.
An aftermath of this magnitude was not something she could deal with at the Demi-God Level, even though she had stood at the peak of that level for a very long time.
“Is that… a sandstorm?”
Leanna’s voice carried a hint of uncertain alarm. A storm of such scale, containing such staggering Magic, was beyond her understanding.
“Leave this place! Immediately!” Isavel ordered decisively, her voice clear and urgent.
The Order of Knights assembled quickly, galloping in a direction perpendicular to the storm.
However, the storm’s speed of advancement was beyond imagination.
Even at the full speed of the Rose Knights, being overtaken by the storm was almost a certainty.
Left with no choice, Isavel could only cast Magic to help them accelerate.
Even so, the storm continued to slowly close in on them. Visibility dropped sharply, and their sense of direction gradually blurred.
Rarely, a few beads of sweat began to form on Isavel’s forehead. ‘I don’t want to die in such a pathetic way,’ she thought.
Once caught in the storm, it wasn’t just a question of the Rose Knights’ survival—it was a question of whether she herself could survive…
Just as they were struggling to find a place to take cover, a weak shout suddenly came from beneath a giant rock eroded like a honeycomb to their side:
“Everyone! This way! Quick!”
A man wearing a tattered military uniform, covered in dust and blood, was struggling to lean half his body out, waving desperately at them.
His lips were parched, his face a mess of soot and exhaustion, but his eyes still held an unyielding will to survive.
Leanna stepped forward quickly, reaching the entrance of the cave where he was waving.
After sensing no danger within the Dungeon, she motioned for the other girls to hide inside quickly, and Isavel followed suit.
Shortly after they hid in the underground passage, the wind roared outside. Staggering energy swept past the entrance, making everyone’s hearts race.
A long while later, after the storm had passed, Leanna finally had the presence of mind to look at the man by the dim light.
“You are…”
She wasn’t a local of the Abyssal Ancient Battlefield, so she naturally didn’t recognize the Derose military uniform.
She could only judge from the badge on the man’s chest that the person before her was a soldier.
Stellan sat on the ground with his back against the cold stone wall, panting heavily.
He glanced at Leanna and the others behind her who possessed extraordinary temperaments—especially Isavel, who was clearly exceptional—and knew they were definitely not ordinary people.
But he had a more urgent mission now; he couldn’t afford to stay here and chat.
“My name is Stellan. Running away from that Abyssal storm just now is useless. You can only survive by hiding.”
His voice was hoarse as he forced himself to try and stand, but he stumbled because of a piercing pain in his ankle.
He looked down; his tattered combat boots had long since worn through, revealing mangled, blood-stained feet covered in sand.
“Sorry, I have other important matters to attend to. I must leave now…”
He clenched his teeth, trying to drag his injured foot toward the exit, but the pain caused the veins on his forehead to bulge. Every step was shaky.
Meilin was quick to act, casting healing Magic on him, while Leanna moved to his side and said, “Your foot injury is very serious. You won’t get far like this. If there’s something we can help with, please tell us.”
Stellan leaned back against the rock wall and shook his head in despair, a bitter smile appearing on his gray, weary face.
“Help? Thank you for your kindness, but those demons… they’re too powerful…”
The scene of world-ending destruction seemed to reappear before his eyes, and his voice carried a suppressed tremble.
“Based on just you all… you probably won’t be able to repel them. I can’t… I can’t let you go to your deaths. That’s… a suicide mission.”
“If you really want to help, then help me contact a nearby human outpost. If they get the news, perhaps they’ll send people to Derose…”
As he spoke, Stellan’s voice grew quieter. It had actually been more than one day since he escaped from Derose.
After such a long time, Derose might have already been trampled and destroyed by those demons.
His plea for help might be completely meaningless.
Not only that, but the old Captain hadn’t been clear before he died; he only told him to keep going east to find support.
But to this day, Stellan had never seen a human outpost outside of Derose.
‘Will I truly be able to find reinforcements?’
While he was lost in his own sorrow, Leanna’s voice rang in his ear. “How will you know unless you try?”
Try?
For some reason, these words struck Stellan’s fragile heart.
His eyes became bloodshot, and he nearly roared, wanting to scare off these “ignorant” kind-hearted people.
“You’ll die! Listen clearly! The demons there include a Demi-God Level existence! A real Demi-God Level! My city… Derose, was destroyed under its claws!”
Isavel, who had been silently observing, stepped forward slowly.
Her gaze landed calmly on Stellan’s blood-soaked feet, then swept over the deep despair hidden in his eyes.
Her voice wasn’t loud, but it carried an undeniable coldness.
“Tell us the location, Stellan.”
She paused, her gaze appearing to see through his forced facade.
“Other than us, do you really think you can find reinforcements in your current state? Give it up. You don’t even know their location, let alone how to find them.”
As a Villainous Saint, her words were exceptionally blunt.
Stellan’s heart felt as if it were being squeezed by a hand, making it hard to beat and hard to breathe.
He wanted to argue, but when he looked up and saw the light burning in the depths of these girls’ eyes, he felt as if he had been infected.
In his despairing eyes, a tiny flame of hope, so weak it was almost extinguished, flickered to life.