Zhang Wei, commander of the Sichuan Province Public Security Armed Forces Department’s 2nd Company, had remained in the rear, and the operation had made him uneasy from the very beginning.
Go ahead with the army and occupy the city? That’s different from Colonel Xiao’s orders.
His doubts had only deepened when they deliberately bypassed their allies fighting up ahead and continued their advance.
“Colonel Wang, are you certain our regimental commander agreed to this operation?”
The middle-aged senior officer frowned at Zhang Wei’s question.
“Why do you want to know?”
“No matter how I look at it, something feels wrong. Our regimental commander clearly ordered us to conserve our strength in the rear and guard headquarters….”
“Ah, you mean that little regimental commander.”
Zhang Wei’s expression hardened at the officer’s mocking tone toward Xiao Shen.
“Regimental Commander Xiao Shen holds the same rank as you, Colonel Wang. And he’ll soon be promoted to major general.”
“That child knows nothing about the world. He was simply lucky. As if awakening as an A-rank Hunter wasn’t enough, he even made the promotion list thanks to that Korean bastard’s exploits. Considering how quickly he’s risen through the ranks, I wonder if he has some useful guanxi1 in political circles.”
“He may be young, but he’s exceptionally capable. He’s also highly respected—he’s close enough to us to treat us like brothers.”
The senior officer stroked the command baton in his hand.
“I know perfectly well that Hunters don’t care about rank. But this is wartime. This order came from General Liao, the commander.”
“From the commander himself…?”
“That’s right. So if you don’t want to obey, you may turn back now. Just remember that doing so would constitute disobedience.”
“…!”
“We’re merely trying to speed up our advance. Given the circumstances, it’s unlikely there are any monsters left behind, but if there are, we’ll wipe them out and rescue any civilians in danger. That’s all. Understood?”
Zhang Wei remained silent for a long moment before nodding and withdrawing.
The Public Security Armed Forces Department was generally treated as a separate organization outside the military, but this was wartime. Defying General Liao, commander of the western front, would not be a wise choice.
“What did he say?”
Zhang Wei answered his subordinate’s hushed question.
“He said it’s an easy operation, so we should shut up and follow him. If we refuse, it’s disobedience.”
“Do you believe him?”
“If you mean the first part, of course not. But the second part is probably true. What do you think?”
“Of course I don’t believe him. That bastard Colonel Wang has no ability of his own. He only made it this far because of his guanxi1 with the Crown Prince Party. Everyone says he’s General Liao’s obedient dog.”
“And this order came from that very General Liao. Even if something stinks, we have no choice but to endure it for now.”
“…Damn it.”
“But Colonel Wang might be telling the truth. Most of the monsters in the surrounding area should be fighting our allies. With our current forces, we can handle a few stragglers.”
Zhang Wei looked around.
In addition to the hundred Hunters, including himself, they had more than twenty tanks and five hundred infantrymen. Three attack helicopters flew overhead, scouting their surroundings as they advanced.
Please, let there be no serious casualties.
Perhaps Zhang Wei’s wish reached the heavens, because what he feared did not happen.
They entered a small town near Suining with every sense alert. Monsters had devastated the place, but the ruined downtown was utterly silent.
The occasional goblin or Orc sprang out at them, but none posed any real threat.
“Kieeeek!”
Slash!
After killing a dozen or so monsters at the head of the column, Zhang Wei relaxed a little.
“Even monsters of different species are appearing separately. They must have strayed from their groups.”
“Just as I expected. What did I tell you?”
The officer’s arrogant tone grated on him, but this was still preferable to the alternative.
Zhang Wei silently nodded, only to stop short at the senior officer’s next words.
“You want us to split up?”
“That’s right. Under these circumstances, we should find the survivors as quickly as possible.”
“But, Colonel Wang, we haven’t even been inside the city for an hour. We should advance a little farther toward the center before—”
“Watch your insolence.”
“Excuse me?”
“You Hunters may be better at fighting, but I’m several steps ahead of you when it comes to tactics. I currently hold command authority, so shut your mouth and follow my orders.”
“…!”
“Didn’t you hear me? Shall I give the order to your men myself?”
“…I’ll do it.”
“You have a detailed map, I assume. We’ll meet in the central square in two hours.”
The officer gave Zhang Wei an obnoxious smile and was about to climb into an armored vehicle when—
Whoooosh! Boom!
Zhang Wei blinked blankly.
He wiped his face with one hand, and his palm came away covered in sticky blood.
It was unmistakably human, a vivid crimson. The officer’s body, its upper half gone without a trace, toppled from the armored vehicle.
Thud.
A suffocating silence fell.
Zhang Wei was the first to recover.
“Everyone, prepare for battle—!”
“Monster! A monster has appeared!”
“Tank!”
“The regimental commander has been killed!”
The Hunters of the Public Security Armed Forces Department were the first to react to those shouts. The soldiers took a moment longer to grasp what had happened.
And waiting for them, already thrown into utter chaos by the sudden death of their commander, was an even more horrific death.
Whoooosh!
A single sound tore through the air.
A beam of light shot forward at an invisible speed and swept through the soldiers advancing in orderly ranks and files.
Boom-boom-boom!
It burst dozens of people like balloons before finally piercing the armored vehicle moving under infantry escort.
The streak of light punched through the vehicle’s hardened shell and bored deep inside.
The moment Zhang Wei saw it, he roared like thunder.
“Everyone, get clear!”
But before his voice could reach them, the deafening roar that erupted in the next moment swallowed everything.
BOOM!
The armored vehicle erupted in a flash of red and a cloud of black smoke. Hundreds—thousands—of fragments became blades that tore through everything around them.
Countless soldiers and lower-ranking Hunters who had failed to react in time collapsed like bundles of straw.
Their lifeless bodies did not so much as twitch.
“…!”
“W-what the hell…?”
Zhang Wei bellowed at the people frozen like statues.
“Spread out! Everyone, spread out! Get as far away from the tanks and armored vehicles as possible!”
But the soldiers, experiencing combat for the first time in their lives, had gone rigid. The unseen enemy did not let their confusion go to waste.
Whoooooosh!
The sound of death came again.
This time, however, there was more than one streak of light.
Boom! Boom-boom-boom!
“Aaaaaagh!”
Flames surged upward, and screams flooded the air.
The more than twenty armored vehicles and tanks were rendered useless in no more than an instant.
The three attack helicopters circling overhead were also reduced to countless fragments and crashed to the ground.
Boom! Clatter-clatter-clatter.
Amid a horrific scene that could only be called a sea of corpses and blood, Zhang Wei felt a chill run down his spine.
At least A-rank monsters. And there aren’t just one or two.
Ironically, it was the most accurate judgment Zhang Wei made that day.
Sssssss.
Between dark alleys and collapsed buildings. Atop the roof of a building still engulfed in flames.
Ten figures that had appeared like black mist stared down at the hundreds of surviving humans with burning violet eyes.
When Zhang Wei saw them mounted on warhorses that had been stripped to the bone, a word escaped his lips like a groan.
“…Death Knights.”
Knights who had once been noble, only to be corrupted by black magic.
The very Death Knights who had vanished alongside the Lich after the Great Cataclysm had appeared.
Ten of them.
The first word that came to Zhang Wei’s mind was death.
Is this where it ends?
Death Knights were beings that surpassed A-rank monsters.
A hundred Hunters and a military force still remained, but Zhang Wei already knew.
There was no escaping the net they had cast.
But…
“I have no intention of dying quietly.”
Zhang Wei was not the only one who felt that way.
Unlike the soldiers, who were too frightened even to hold their guns properly, the Hunters of the Public Security Armed Forces Department raised their weapons with determination in their eyes.
“You don’t have to go this far.”
One of the platoon commanders answered Zhang Wei’s quiet words bluntly.
“And you’re allowed to?”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought you here.”
“You didn’t bring us. We followed you. We’ve survived more than ten times thanks to you, so I’d say we were due for something like this.”
He spoke as though it were nothing, but he couldn’t hide the tremor in his voice.
Zhang Wei licked his parched lips as he stared at the ten motionless Death Knights.
“Fight with everything you have, and make sure at least one of you survives. That’s all I have to say.”
A thunderous cheer answered him.
The Hunters cast off their fear, their eyes shining like morning stars.
If they had wanted safe, prosperous lives, they could have chosen another path.
But they had joined the Public Security Armed Forces Department instead of becoming bodyguards for wealthy businessmen or working as mercenaries because of their honor and sense of responsibility as Hunters.
This was a fight they could never retreat from.
“Let’s go! Sons and daughters of the people, descendants of Zhonghua2!”
Zhang Wei had just finished shouting with all his strength and was about to charge the nearest Death Knight when—
Rrrrrumble!
It was almost instinctive.
The ground shook violently, and a vast, overwhelming energy washed over them. Every surviving human turned toward it, terror making their hair stand on end.
There, where all their gazes converged, a black knight slowly crossed the ruined city center.
Red eyes flashed beneath a helmet pulled low over its face. The breath of death spilled from its bloodless lips.
“Sar, Garosh.”
Words in a language of the Demon Realm that no one could understand.
Yet in the next instant, Zhang Wei realized what they meant.
Kill them all.
The ten Death Knights charged from every direction, reflected in Zhang Wei’s widened eyes.
Slash!
The slaughter began.
Splash.
A hoof stripped to bare bone stepped into a pool of blood.
The black knight gazed down at the corpse of Zhang Wei, the middle-aged Hunter who had resisted to the very end. The approaching Death Knights knelt before him on one knee.
“Lord. Your next command.”
His next command.
The black knight remained silent for a moment, then abruptly extended a hand.
Whoosh! Slash!
A black streak of light lashed out like a whip, slicing through concrete and rebar.
The building collapsed at an angle. Within the exposed interior, several humans huddled together with their hands clamped over their mouths.
“Jinjin. Honey. It’s okay. It’s okay….”
“Sniff… sob….”
“Dadda?”
A human male and female. And…
A creature so small and light that he could not yet tell whether it was male or female.
Was that what they called a child?
Child. Child?
Where had he heard that word before?
Pushing the sudden question aside, the black knight reached out. Every human he saw had to be annihilated. That was the command he had received.
But—
“…?”
For some reason, his hand would not move.
They were undoubtedly weak beings who would turn into a handful of blood and vanish from a mere flick of his finger, yet it was as though an invisible barrier surrounded and protected them.
“What are you?”
At the black knight’s eerie voice, the child squirming in its parents’ arms suddenly began to wail.
“This…”
The black knight abruptly raised his head and stared into the distance, then turned his mount around.
The Death Knights voiced their confusion at their leader’s sudden action.
“Lord?”
“We’re going back. Now. At once.”
“Then shall we deal with the humans—”
“We’re going back. Now. At once.”
That was all.
The ten Death Knights bowed on one knee in deference before riding after their leader.
Just before they vanished like mist, the black knight’s red gaze fell upon the three humans who had miraculously survived, then moved away.
Whoooooosh.
The blood-scented wind swept through the corpse-filled ruins.
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