D stared at the crate, his pained expression stood in stark contrast to Diane, who excitedly ran down the list of potions and effects on the list that came with the crate. The writing on her list appeared almost equally as illegible as the one on the crate earlier, maybe only slightly better?

  Considering the effects he had witnessed so far, though, he couldn’t say he was too surprised. If anything, he felt an incomparable heartbreak at the sheer arsenal that he blew up earlier. An absolute waste born from desperation, panic and ignorance.

  “Alright, so the important ones… I’ve seen the star fire in action, green is a flesh-only acid, grey bursts into a mist that confuses low-rank demons, purple is a paralytic poison, and dark blue bursts into a petrifying mist?!”

  “Yup! That matches!”

  Diane nodded excitedly in affirmation, though D’s mouth turned a little dry as he considered the implication of it all. A couple of the potions were unique, and the efficacy for all of them was practically guaranteed to be beyond the majority of rare potions that were available.

  And, as they were able to be mass-produced in just a couple of days… he didn’t dare to think of the impact on war in the long-term if the technique ever got out. Most pressing was making use of what they had to help those still retreating, and… to not mix up the dark blue potion with the swirling blue potion.

  “Hey, Gregory, take the green potion. Orc, you’re coming with us. Get a better sword from one of the wounded and put that purple poison on it. And caster, you get the grey and dark blue. I’ll take the star fire.” D shot out the orders quickly, grabbing two of the swirling blue potions before hopping out of the cart.

  “Now that’s more like it!” The orc smiled wide, showing off his large, sharp teeth. Some of the injured had halfway decent weapons, and of those some were bound to be all too happy to have one more reason to avoid the fighting.

  However, Diane froze the moment she heard Gregory’s name, and stared with an unsettling intensity at the young soldier as he rummaged through the potion crate while trying to figure out their colors.

  “B-by the way, my name’s H-Halford, sir.” The caster stuttered, as he made his way around to the back of the cart.

  “Right.” D replied curtly as he took a quick stock of his gear, then continued. “We’re a bit ranged-heavy in our loadout, but Gregory has the most armor. He’ll stay with you in the rear and will catch anything that makes it through. I’ll be up front with the orc.”

  “What about the bear guy? S-shouldn’t he—?” Halford’s voice trailed off, as me motioned towards Jotuun. The ursine’s ears twitched slightly, though he offered no other response.

  D stopped for a moment, then shook his head. “He stays with the girl. Here.”

  Halford grunted as Gregory abruptly stepped backwards with a slight squeal.

  “W-what?” Halford asked, confused, and then stepped back himself when he looked up at Diane.

  “You’re name… is Gregory?” Diane’s voice dripped with an unsettling intensity to match her gaze. Her breathing… seemed heavy, and her body swayed back and forth as her fingers tore into her arm.

  She twisted around and stumbled away from the young man, as her breathing picked up in intensity. Even in the unnatural darkness of this night, she could see the silhouette of a Grendel running past one of the city’s lamps, although whether the shrieks she could hear were from its latest victims or from within her head… she couldn’t tell.

  Fear.

  Anger.

  Pain.

  It laughed as it killed them.

  It laughed as it hunted us… it laughed… and they… want to kill us all…

  She couldn’t hear the voices behind her anymore, nor did she notice the back of the cart lift as something heavy climbed into the front. Her body shook violently as image after image tore through her mind, unable to tell the difference between what was real and what had passed.

  They’ll never… stop coming… they hurt Em… they hurt Clover… I can’t escape… they’re killing everyone… they… I… I have to… Gregory! Hal! Tront, Frank, Garen! Don’t… DON’T LEAVE ME! I’ll… I’ll…

  The swirling thoughts calmed. The tension in her body momentarily abated, and then contracted with renewed ferocity. Her eyes focused with lazer-like intent, as she unleashed a bloodthirsty howl.

  A single voice replaced the thoughts, a deep voice dripping with scarcely subdued rage. A voice whose words she howled exactly as she heard them.

  “I’LL KILL THEM ALL!”

  The fear and pain slipped away. She didn’t notice when she drew her rapier—even as her hand gripped tightly onto the handle— nor could she hear the sound of her own scream.

  Diane charged through the golden barrier, and the moment she passed through it… she could feel him out there. She could feel her connection again, she could feel the endless well of mana… and with it, her rage amplified.

  Devil sight! Devil’s Wrath! Reinforcement!

  Her eyes sharpened and turned into yellow slits, while a dark aura began to run and course through her veins. A dark shadow began to manifest outside of her body, twisting itself around her.

  The darkness cleared before her eyes, as if the night was no longer there. She could see the demons swarming ahead of her, cutting off the retreat of the knights far ahead. She could see Brunhilde leading a large group of soldiers, together with Krom, the Red Sun, and various adventurers as they retreated from the west gate.

  “YOU WILL NOT” Diane screamed, as she raced forward. Although she didn’t recognize many of the demons in her path, she knew the gaunt and the imps… and especially the Grendel. She sharpened her focus on the vicious creature, and red veins throbbed in her eyes.

  “TAKE MORE FROM ME!” Diane howled shrilly, as her voice began to crack.

  Thick, dark flames sprung from her free hand as she charged forward, and rapidly coalesced into a massive, raging inferno masquerading as a sphere.

  “FIREBALL!”

  The ball tripled in size as she called out the shortened spell name, with flames struggling to escape their spherical prison. They licked off the sides with ferocity of a blackened sun.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  She ignored the pain that seared through her veins as heat burst from her mana channels into her body. It still hurt… but the pain was less than before, as the mana flowed more freely through her strengthening mana channels.

  She aimed at the Grendel, as that monster blindly and joyously tore apart an injured woman it had pounced upon. The woman’s pitiful shrieks quickly fell silent as the monster stabbed into her back, and ripped out her spine.

  The other demons around it were in the process of tormenting their own prey with glee, most already injured and barely able to resist.

  In front of Diane’s eyes, there was only that Grendel remaining, and without hesitation, she unleased it upon them.

  D tried to control his own shock.

  A feat that he found near impossible to do, as the fury of the black flames reflected in his glasses. A swift change in energy ripped through the crowd, as wailing of the injured was drowned out by a growing roar of cheers.

  Much like the blessed light, the purple light that shone forth from the black flames pierced the veil of darkness that had enveloped the city. Even though the blast was half-way up the road, D felt the shockwave from the impact.

  Part of the stone wall from the Royal Knight’s garrison collapsed, and a host of demons was reduced to charred cinders.

  “Praise the divines! That had to be flare!” Someone cheered gleefully behind him.

  “She really is from house Culaine! The daughter of the legend is with us!” Another man replied.

  Between his own night vision, and the light emanating from residual pools of black flame, D could see that some demons had still survived.

  Worse still, hordes of those cursed dead began to pour out from the alleys of midtown. It wouldn’t take long for them to circle around the temples barrier and cut off their retreat… if the barrier even stopped them.

  “No matter what, keep that girl alive! MOVE!” D howled, snapping Gregory, Halford, and the orc out of their daze.

  Even as he rushed to catch up, the ursine and the saber tooth were already well ahead of them. The only thing he could surmise was that they clearly hadn’t hesitated to go after her.

  “New formation! Orc, cover our left flank! We’ll support them with range! Halford, use your shield spells to keep the girl from getting flanked!” D spat out his orders as quickly as he could, and loaded a thin, heavily sharpened bolt as he did so. It look almost like a long, thin blade attached at the head of a bolt-shaft.

  He dropped to a knee and winced at the forceful stop mid-sprint, as he aimed for a gaunt that charged at Diane from behind. Its mouth gaped wide as it rushed forward, as it sought to quench its insatiable hunger.

  Bless. Power Shot. Precise Shot. Enhanced Shot. Acceleration.

  With a light whistle, the bolt launched and flew as fast a bullet before it slid perfectly between the incredibly narrow gap in the gaunt’s ribs. It only stopped as the wider shaft got lodged in place, unable to fit through.

  The fiend tumbled, as Diane lanced her rapier into the first of a pair of imps, still reeling from the blast moments earlier.

  Another was less fortunate. It squealed as it tried to put some distance between itself and the girl, it hadn’t gotten more than a few steps away before she charged forward and grabbed its leg with her free hand.

  Blood spurt forth from it as she crushed the leg in her hand, before she threw the imp like a rag doll into the air. It had scarcely hit the ground, before Clover had caught up and proceeded to maul the thing.

  What the hell changed?! This sheer aggression… that level of mana reinforcement, what happened?!

  D struggled to grasp what he was witnessing, and still continued forward. He loaded a regular bolt, and sniped an imp as it was preparing a spell from a nearby rooftop.

  “Shield wall!” Halford shouted, panting hard. An effervescent barrier had formed above Diane, just moments before a cannatare, having leapt from the roof of the garrison, crashed into it, snapping wildly with its maw.

  The creature thrashed violently, and rolled off the barrier as Jotuun roared and tackled into the beast.

  With a swipe of his massive paw, he flung the beast into a still-intact portion of the garrison wall, with a distinct thud. It was followed by a ferocious yowl, as the young saber tooth lunged at the demon.

  Claws and teeth clashed, and Clover was sent rolling away. In mere moments, both creatures had savaged each other, with non-fatal gashes cut across both of them. The demon seemed to be breathing heavily, as a thick trail of drool dripped from its mouth.

  Has their haste finally run its course?

  Before the cannatare could capitalize on its advantage, Jotuun charged in from its flank and smashed down furiously onto its skull. He lunged atop the demon, using his weight to pin it to the ground as he grasped its front legs and yanked them backwards.

  It tried to bite at Jotuun’s arms, though it couldn’t angle its head enough to reach them. It howled in pain, as the bones in its legs snapped and the muscles tore.

  Clover recovered, and rushed back in. He bit onto the demon’s neck, and with a powerful crunch, severed its eyeless head from its body.

  With the little devil on one side, and the mass of retreating troops on the other, the remaining demons seemed like they were soon to be overwhelmed.

  Just as D was about to breathe a sigh of relief, he instead quickly twisted around in response to a howl of pain from the orc.

  A disfigured goblin had latched itself onto the orcs arm, only to be promptly thrown off and cleaved by his sword.

  “God damn, how the hell are fighting in this god-forsaken darkness!” The orc yelled out, as he aimed his sword wildly about.

  The purple light from Diane’s flames was quickly fading, though D could still barely see the horde rushing towards them thanks to his night vision.

  Of course they can’t see! Without that light, they may as well be blind!

  “Fuck! Halford, give me your blue potions now!” D shouted, and snatched the bottles out of the mage’s hands as soon as he pulled them out.

  The orc bellowed, and swung his sword violently as more creatures swarmed him. D could only offer him a regretful, silent prayer for his sacrifice, as the undead descended on him first.

  Precise shot. Acceleration.

  D threw the potions, one after another, to try and create a wall with the petrifying mist.

  “Back to temples! Let move!” He yelled out, and order which Gregory and Halford were all but too happy to follow.

  The first shattered near the orc’s feet, just as a thunder deer gored the unfortunate demihuman. It burst into a pool of bubbling liquid, from which massive cloud of blue mist rose, although it may as well have been a black wall in this darkness.

  The other bottle burst exactly the same, and was carried by the wind into the divine barrier. The barrier seemed to do its job, as the mist instead tracked its way around the outer edge and never made its way through.

  If anything, the potion worked too well, and the mist had nearly reached the edge of the road. D was prompted into shouting out a warning, as he heard the metal clanking of approaching troops behind him.

  “DON’T STRAY OFF THE ROAD! HEAD STRAIGHT INTO THE BARRIER! DON’T STRAY OFF THE ROAD!” He screamed at the top of his lungs, as he rushed back to stand right near the edge of the road himself.

  Bless. Protection from Evil.

  He cast the holy spells on himself, hoping that in the worst case, they might offer some defense against the petrifying mist… though it was not the same as true divine magic. He made sure to guide everyone as best he could away from the silent mist.

  Nothing… nothing has come through at all…

  D shivered a little, as he felt like the mist behind him was gnawing at his sanity.

  Just a slight change in the wind…

  Orange glows illuminated the darkness, as the end of the column caught up. Lu sent wave after wave of flame to cover their retreat, though it seemed more out of his own lack of visibility at this point. Nothing was behind them, at least not anymore.

  “Where’s Diane?!” D yelled, as he recognized Brunhilde as she supported wounded soldiers with each of her arms.

  She glanced away from D with a pained expression, as a muscled, barbaric-looking woman responded in her stead.

  “She went frickin’ feral! She was dead set on clawing my arm off when I tried to stop her!” Terra shouted, and pointed at a gash on her left arm as she ran past him.

  D felt like the knot that had been quietly forming in his stomach had turned into a dark, unforgiving pit.

  Then, he felt a subtle tremor in the ground… followed by an unholy screech that sounded as if reality itself was tearing asunder. The air itself shook, and seemed to crackle with a strange energy.

  Thanks to the collapsed portion of the garrison wall, D could see the tip of a tear in space itself creep up past the rooftop. And with it came a notable shift in the wind… stalling it first, and then pulling it ever so slightly towards the harbor, as if calling the air into itself.

  D took two long strides towards the center of the road, and looked longingly back towards the temple and the safety within the divine barrier.

  There’s enough time to make it… but… if that girl dies…

  D grimaced, and cursed the petrifying mist as it forced him to make a decision while it glided slowly between him and apparent safety.

  “Fuckin hells. It’s all turned into the god-forsaken, fucked-to-shit hells.”