* * *

“Looks like the seal is still intact. That’s a good thing. It’d be quite a headache if something went wrong with a seal that big, wouldn’t it, Sorin?”

“That’s right. Hopefully the other seals are okay.”

After acknowledging Cadel’s signal, the Guardian Knight Order marched straight for the seal. Dreyfe pursed his lips as he rode at the head of the line with Sorin.

“I hope so. If the seals in the Empire are intact, the next step is the outer seals. Have you ever been to the outer seals, where the environment is said to be harsh?”

“I haven’t. Still, it’s better for us to suffer than for the citizen of the Empire to live in danger.”

“You have such a noble heart.”

Martin, who was nearby, disagreed with Dreyfe’s sarcasm.

“Sir Dreyfe, what kind of attitude is that to the commanding officer, Sir Sorin? No matter how close you are to him. And how can the other knights watch and learn if you act like that?”

“There’s nothing to learn. All I can teach them is swordsmanship. They’ll have to learn their manners from their own family.”

“Sir Sorin! Don’t just stand there, take control. It’s not the first time you have been the subject of the talk because of Sir Dreyfe, and he has been so consistently disrespectful since we cooperated with other knight orders, I feel embarrassed to even raise my head.”

Martin looked to Sorin for help, but Dreyfe snorted before Sorin could open his mouth.

“Shame on you. Go back to managing your subordinates, who go to someone else’s knights and argue with them.”

“What, what did you say?”

“I’m embarrassed, very embarrassed.”

Dreyfe and Martin exchanged sharp words and raised their voices. Sorin seemed unwilling to intervene, so the bickering seemed to continue until they reached the seal circle.

“……What?”

Over the hill they crossed, something that shouldn’t be seen came into view.

A fireball shot across the sky, a massive ball of flame that glowed as intensely as the sun, drawing the attention of the Guardian Knight Order.

Spotting it, Dreyfe frowned and muttered.

“The signal’s been reversed.”

* * *

10 minutes before the incident.

Cadel was successful in activating the seal circle. The low number of monsters in the area meant that the seal would not be a problem, and if it was, it was better to be ahead of the game than to wait for allies to arrive.

“That’s the seal. It’s a lot…… bigger than I thought it would be.”

Van craned his neck to look up at the huge, oval-shaped ‘seal’ floating in the center of the magic circle. The materialized seal looked more like a natural phenomenon, like an aurora borealis. It looked like a twisted gap in space.

The seal also had a strange, indescribable color, resembling a turbid, polluted lake that had released various colors of oil.

And so, while Van was marveling at the mysterious, indefinable seal, Cadel drew a neat conclusion.

‘It’s just a gate. I often saw it in manhwa and the like.’

This one was different because it was a lock that blocked a passage rather than a doorway, but the part of monsters being on the other side was the same.

“Anyway, the gate…… No, the seal seems to be intact. I don’t see any cracks, and the mana flow is normal. We’ll just have to wait for our allies and reinforce it.”

“I’m bored, Cadel. I flew all this way just to see this smelly seal. Human choices are always disappointing.”

“Sorry, but I’m human too.”

“Ahaha! That’s what makes Cadel so special!”

Lydon, free in the air, lunged at Cadel, but Van stood in his way, growling. Cadel shook his head, tired of the two men’s never-ending battle.

Then, suddenly, he realized something strange.

“……Lydon.”

“Huh?”

“Does this seal smell bad?”

“Yeah. It smells like the smell of demons. It’s so bad I want to rip my nose off. And it seems to be getting worse?”

Why does it smell?

The seals were meant to isolate the Demon Realm, cutting it off from the human world entirely. Not a single demon was allowed to set foot in the human world, not even a single breath. And there was nothing wrong with this seal.

So common sense dictated that they shouldn’t smell anything remotely resembling a demon here.

‘Are there demons lurking around?’

Looking down from above, Cadel could see nothing but monsters. Besides, if there were demons, Lydon would be the first to notice. Even now, didn’t he say that there was a smell ‘from the seal’?

Van and Lydon’s expressions changed as Cadel’s complexion darkened rapidly. Van slowly sheathed his greatsword with a vague sense of unease, while Lydon stared at the seal with a vague smile.

“It’s not the same, it’s getting worse. Cadel, something is…… coming?”

And the very next moment.

Crack. Crack crack.

Like a crack in a thick pane of glass, a tiny crack began to spread from the bottom of the seal, black energy leaking through the thin crack like a beam of light. Cadel saw it and raised his hand to the seal, startled.

“Are you f*cking kidding me?”

The seal that had been holding up just a moment ago was now being destroyed. And no allies had even arrived yet.

Cadel hurriedly attempted to repair the seal, channeling his mana over them.

“Lydon! Come and help too!”

“Now this is getting fun!”

“What fun!”

An excited Lydon quickly slid down to Cadel’s side, and between the two magicians trying to stop the seal from breaking, the only swordsman, Van, kept his eyes on the crack.

He could feel an unwelcome energy coming from the crack. It didn’t take much effort to figure out what it was.

“……Demonic energy again.”

The aura that hadn’t even been opened yet was reacting to the energy beyond the seal. Whether it was simply because the energy of the Demon Realm was crossing over, or because the one who was responsible for the crack was the owner of the unusual demonic energy, he wasn’t sure, but neither of them was pleasant.

‘I don’t want to get emotional like last time.’

The battle with the High Demonemon named Sellev had taught Van many lessons. One of them was the ‘limitations of aura operation’. He had clearly stepped up his game in his battle with Ergo, but he still couldn’t master his aura.

‘If it’s not perfect, it’s meaningless. A power that can’t protect Commander is worthless.’

In any situation, against any enemy. He needed to be able to manipulate aura perfectly. The problem was, Van hadn’t yet figured out how.

‘Aura’s control was easy when I faced the giant Sellev. But I didn’t control the power intentionally.’

Even the feeling at that time was vague. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t been practicing, but try as he might, he couldn’t quite recall the day. Van clicked his tongue in annoyance, suppressing the aura that threatened to open up of its own accord. But just then.

Crack—

The crack widened, and a grotesquely shaped hand shot out of it.

“……!”

Reflexively, Van jerked back, eyes widening at the razor-sharp nails hovering just in front of his nose.

Four fingers with long, hooked yellow nails, dark green skin, and no thumb. But the most striking thing was the size of the hand.

It was an impossibly huge hand. It looked less like a hand and more like a menacing weapon, the kind only an ogre would carry.

“Van! Are you okay?”

“Don’t worry about me, Comman—”

Stepping back, Van tried to reassure Cadel, but the scene beyond the mysterious hand left him speechless.

Dozens of eyeballs stared back at him from the crack, which had opened up even wider than before.

It was a horrible sight. Van hoped that they would be sealed back up without popping out, but unfortunately, his hopes were quickly slipping away.

“What the f*ck, why is it the same no matter how much mana I pour in?”

“Cadel, throwing a temper tantrum isn’t going to get us anywhere. Should we just give up and catch the monster that comes out of there?”

“No! I won’t catch it! I won’t fight it!”

It was not for nothing that a battalion of magicians was deployed to manage the seal. Even though genius-level magicians called Cadel and Lydon were pouring all their mana into it, the disturbed energy of the seal showed no sign of reversing.

After a desperate effort, Cadel had to admit. He’d gotten his hands dirty, even on this mission.

‘Is this how things are supposed to be?’

In despair, he removed his hand from the seal in a gesture filled with lingering regret. Lhydon also stood up, shouting that he was giving up.

And as if waiting.

Shraang!

Cracks spread in all directions, and a terrible howl echoed through the air. Cadel looked up at the sky, feeling like he was about to cry.

“……I’m an idiot for expecting it to be easy.”

With a heavy sigh, a giant fireball streaked across the sky.