It was a late night in a deep darkness.

The moon was either not out, or it was hidden by clouds, and the world was submerged in darkness.

Only a faint starlight was pouring down on the ground.

This was the world of darkness.

I looked around at the guys with my starlight sword in hand.

In their eyes, which were reflected in the starlight, there was nothing but astonishment.

I looked at the scene with a pleased heart, and then I belatedly realized one fact.

"Ah, you scared me. Why are the magical beasts here too?"

They were standing together so naturally that I didn't feel any sense of incongruity for a moment.

Magical beasts are creatures that can't stay still. Because magical beasts are crazy, and crazy is magical beasts. That was their inherent nature.

But they're standing so quietly?

I've never seen a magical beast stand still like a well-behaved dog.

Now that I look at it, it was an army of mixed humans and magical beasts.

Since it was a large-scale escort procession, I expected some flies to be attracted.

I knew that the miscellaneous flies wouldn't dare to approach recklessly.

Because at a glance, it wasn't a weight class that mere bandits could take on.

Instead, I expected that the large-scale bandits would one day launch a night raid.

But suddenly, a horde of magical beasts?

I really didn't expect this.

[It seems they're not just a simple group of bandits.]

The Heavenly Demon laughed lowly.

I scratched my cheek, hiding my confused expression.

"Damn it. What the hell is going on?"

The one who seemed to be the leader of the guys said to me.

He seemed to be a magician, as he was leaning on a large staff, and his voice was filled with astonishment.

"...You tore the curtain? How?"

I snorted and spun my sword.

"What do you mean, how? It tore because it was weaker than my sword."

I answered nonchalantly and quickly estimated their numbers.

...It was almost like an army.

It wouldn't be strange if they marched on the city walls like this.

"You."

I pointed at the guy with my sparkling starlight sword and said.

"You were talking about the Dark Heaven earlier. Are you that group of vermin called the Dark Heaven Cult or something?"

The guy, who was wearing a hood, reminded me of the old magician who had been playing the flute.

Judging by his appearance, this guy also seems to be a magician...

Why do these magicians go around looking so gloomy?

It makes me want to beat them up.

"...."

Anyway, the shock of me tearing their curtain and appearing just as they were about to attack seemed to be quite great.

The guy was at a loss for words for a moment, and then he asked in a low voice.

"Did you notice our attack?"

"So I'm here, right?"

"How on earth did you know? The surprise attack was perfect."

I slung my sword over my shoulder and laughed.

"You foolish fools. It's too quiet. So quiet that even the crickets have stopped chirping."

"...!"

And also, the spirits were making a fuss, saying that there was a bad smell.

I tilted my head to one side and read the guy's mind.

"Yes, you're right. We are beings that you can't carelessly look into. Beings that you can't dare to understand with common sense, those with such keen senses are the owners of the platinum tag."

"...."

"Did you think you were standing on the top of your head? No, no. Have you ever heard of the peak of foolishness? That's where you are."

I grinned and added.

"And it's also the place where you'll soon fall and die."

The magician in the darkness held his staff tightly and was motionless for a moment.

Since it seemed like he was trying to buy time, I delivered the good news.

"Ah, are you waiting for the attack from the other side? Don't worry. Our reliable Schmitt and the sly madwoman are in charge of that."

Bang!

Just then, a loud noise was heard from the other side.

"Ah, just in time. It seems they've already started over there."

I pointed my sword forward and finished my words.

"Let's get started too."

As I was talking nonsense, I had secretly changed the starlight on my half-sword to moonlight.

You can't give magicians a chance.

It's common sense to eliminate them as soon as you have the chance.

I immediately stepped on the ground and extended towards the guy.

Moonlight Sword, Second Form. Flash.

A single flash was drawn in the darkness.

The faint moonlight cut through the darkness.

I passed by, cutting down the leader of the guys without a sound.

It was truly a moment.

Flash.

One of the ultimate skills I had devised while riding in the carriage.

An evolution of the bloody flash into moonlight.

Its speed and power were incomparable to the bloody flash I had shown in the decisive battle.

At this point, wouldn't it be comparable to Ashley's golden flash?

"...Hmm?"

But I didn't feel like I had cut anything.

It felt like I had cut a thick cloth, not flesh and bone.

When I looked back, the contents were gone, and only the robe the guy had been wearing was collapsed on the ground.

I muttered in a dumbfounded tone.

"...What kind of magic is this?"

—Grrr...

A low growl was heard from nearby.

I had reached the very front of the army while drawing a flash.

From behind, beyond that, the guy's voice was heard.

"Attack!"

—Krawk!

At the same time, the guys poured in.

But I wasn't flustered even with these ferocious guys in front of me, and I brought my sword to my side.

Because although the magician's escape was unexpected, this situation was as I had expected.

I put my sword into an imaginary scabbard for a moment, and then I injected a generous amount of crescent moon moonlight and drew a large semicircle.

Moonlight Sword, First Form. Half Moon.

Swish!

The guys who were surrounding me were cut in half at once.

The half moon did not distinguish between magical beasts and humans.

—Kwak!

—Kyaoo!

Although a considerable number of guys were cut down in an instant, there were still many of them, as if they had brought a lot.

Moreover, these were an army of magical beasts.

Look at the magical beasts that are rushing at me right over the corpses of their comrades.

There was no fear in their ferocious eyes.

...For some reason, they seem even more ferocious than usual?

—Kieek!

—Kuaaak!

The magical beasts rushed at me like crazy animals, regardless of whether their comrades died or not.

It wasn't strange because they were originally like that.

Rather, it was much better to see them like this than standing still like before.

"Oh."

To think I would receive so much attention from the magical beasts.

It was a little burdensome.

In fact, it's very rare for magical beasts to act in groups.

Therefore, I was also a little flustered.

Because I used to hunt magical beasts one by one by tracking them, it was difficult for me to deal with them when they rushed at me in a group like this, even if most of them were D-rank.

"Everyone, line up."

I muttered softly and soared into the air.

Bang!

The place where I had been just a moment ago was caved in with a loud noise.

"Hmm."

There's no doubt.

Not only have the guys become more ferocious, but their strength has also increased.

I've been hunting magical beasts for over 10 years, so I can't be fooled.

At a glance, the guys who looked like D-rank had such strength?

So, it was like a D-rank had become a D+-rank.

Of course, such a rank doesn't exist.

'Magical beast enhancement?'

The kind of thing that only black magicians would do.

I walked around on the heads of the magical beasts for a moment to think, and then I stood on the head of a particularly tall one.

It stood out among the magical beasts, so it looked like a tree in a bush.

—Kuooo!

It was a guy who was presumed to be a B-rank magical beast.

Of course, this guy also seemed to have been enhanced and had become a B+-rank.

'To think that even a B-rank magical beast is being controlled by these guys.'

How on earth did they do it?

I was inwardly surprised.

—Kwak!

The guy got angry and tried to throw me off.

"Just stay still for a moment. Let me think."

Trrrk!

I froze the guy's head for a moment by driving ice art into it.

As I was thinking about how to deal with these guys, I heard the black magician's command again from behind them.

"Drink the potion!"

"What?"

Come to think of it, there were not only magical beasts, but also beast-like humans.

The guys who had been standing back to watch the situation were seen gulping down something.

And then, from here and there, the eerie sound of bones breaking was heard, and the guys who had become half-man, half-beast began to jump towards me.

"...I'm going crazy."

The good news was that those guys were rushing at me, not the camp.

As I watched the half-man, half-beast guys excitedly climbing the frozen magical beast, I couldn't help but frown.

"No way. These disgusting guys."

I created the Snow Branch Blue Flame Art and condensed the opposing energies in both my hands.

But since the camp is not far away, a little weaker.

"I'll have to blow them all away at once."

Saaa! Fwoosh!

A white chill on my left hand, a blue flame flickering on my right hand.

"Love in my right hand, peace in my left hand."

I muttered incomprehensible words, watching the guys who were climbing up at a fast speed.

"If you combine them... chaos!"

Chijijijik!

The ice art and the flame art, the chill and the flame, reacted violently in my hand...

And then they were forcibly combined into one and began to spin.

At that moment, a hatchet flew from somewhere and stuck in the head of the magical beast I was standing on.

"We're here!"

"Kill him!"

Just as the half-man, half-beasts had almost reached me, a shadow shot up from under my feet and tried to grab my leg.

It was probably the work of the black magician who was giving orders from behind.

"Get lost. Where are your dirty hands."

Just before the half-man, half-beasts who had finally reached the top rushed at me, I kicked away the shadow that was trying to grab me and then jumped off the magical beast's head with the chaos.

I decided to personally gift them the chaos I had created with my own hands.

"Hehe."

A ball of light made of blue and white.

I threw it downwards.

The two energies spun rapidly and fell.

It was so fast that it looked like it was flashing alternately between blue and white.

A round sphere named Chaos spun and fell into the middle of the guys.

But it wasn't time to watch.

If I stood still, I would also be swallowed by that chaos, so I hurriedly tried to escape.

Since the chaos was falling from top to bottom, going up from bottom to top was the most efficient route.

I hurriedly created Night Sky Spears in the air and stepped on them like stairs, and then I soared into the night sky, which was dim with starlight, at a fast speed.

'Ah.'

A moment.

I realized that I had created a new ultimate skill.

This could be seen as a new level of lightness skill.

When I looked at my feet, the Night Sky Spears I had stepped on were scattering into black mist.

With every step I took in the air, a black cloud remained like an afterimage.

It was like the trace left by an immortal who roamed above the clouds, which I had heard about from the Heavenly Demon someday.

'The name is... Black—'

[Black Immortal Step.]

This time, the Heavenly Demon snatched the name before I could even name it.

I naturally continued my thoughts.

'Black—Sunbo. That's right. I'll call it Black Immortal Step.'

[....]

But it wasn't time to be leisurely naming things.

Because the chaos was falling to the ground.

Because the foretold disaster was dyeing the ground white and blue.

Although I had made it weak because the camp was not far away, I couldn't predict exactly how far the shockwave would reach.

Time stretched out.

In a short time like a moment, I kicked off the Night Sky Spears I had created in the air one after another and shot up vertically towards the night sky.

How far have I come up?

"Ah."

When I suddenly raised my head, a sea of stars that seemed ready to pour down at any moment unfolded before my eyes.

The appreciation was brief.

And then the sea of stars, which seemed to be swaying in the darkness, seemed to brighten for a moment.

KWAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!!

A huge explosion occurred in the lower town.

(End of Chapter)