“Why do we have to be the ones to investigate it?”

An annoying voice groaned. Darwyn craned his neck back, facing the source of the whining. As usual, it was Jared. That young lad was going to be the death of Darwyn. Always complaining— never wanting to put in any work to get things done.

That was the problem with kids these days. Sure, Darwyn himself was not much older. He was in his mid thirties, but unlike Jared who was wasting away in his prime years, Darwyn had put in the work early on. Now, the senior soldier was equal in strength to a Platinum Rank adventurer. As a Level 77 [Warrior], he was very much considered one of the best fighter in his brigade. Even stronger than the captain who was only in his low Level 70s.

Meanwhile, Jared was still equivalent to a Silver Ranked adventurer even at twenty years old. Ridiculous.

“Shut it, kid. Quit complaining or I’ll force you to investigate this fist upside your ass.”

Darwyn snapped as Jared just sighed. The group of soldiers laughed, continuing trudging along down the road.

“That’s enough, Darwyn. You’re scaring the kid.”

Castor patted Darwyn on the back with a soft chuckle. Jared flushed as his platoonmates continued to take jabs at him.

“I’m just saying— can’t we get adventurers or something to check it out? This doesn’t seem like a job for us, don’t you think?”

“Too bad. We ain’t got any high-leveled adventurers left in the city after those idiots from the Remembered Order Company snagged ‘em off. We gotta deal with it ourselves.”

Darwyn scoffed at Jared’s idea.

“That’s annoying..”

Jared sighed. Truth be told, Darwyn himself could somewhat sympathize with the young man’s complaints. After all, this whole investigation seemed pointless. A bunch of [Farmers] saw a flash of red light in the night sky, and now they were sending a thousand soldiers to check it out. That hardly seemed necessary. A single platoon was more than enough to find out what was going on.

But the higher-ups ordered it. Perhaps it was because they thought these flashing red lights were a sign of an incursion from the Inoria Empire. They had been quite quiet lately. They used to frequently kick up quite the fuss along their border with Wisha. But since Wisha was a member of the Eastern Kingdom Alliance, the Inoria Empire never actually took direct military action against them. And that wasn’t going to change now.

It really was probably just going to be a [Mage] practicing some light spell. Nothing more.

“Doesn’t matter if it’s annoying. We go where we’re ordered to go, simple as that.”

Darwyn spoke simply as he marched forward, turning away from the young man. A sea of metal helmets streamed down the little gravel pathway. Armored figures each adorning the crest of the Wisha Kingdom. The westernmost nation in the Eastern Kingdoms Alliance.

It’s probably just a waste of time.. Darwyn thought as he took a step forward, metal boots blinking against the gravel ground. Still, even if it was an annoyance, he just had to grit his teeth and deal with it. That was how life worked.

—--

“Alright, we’re here. Now where’s the trouble?”

Darwyn placed his hands on his hips as the brigade of soldiers overlooked the sprawling farmlands. A small town lay waiting in the center. It looked like it could fit maybe.. a thousand people? Slightly more? At most.

This was the source of the complaints. Now what was there to investigate? Darwyn didn’t know. He didn’t care. He found it more frustrating that there wasn’t actually any obvious threats looming over the town. But as usual, Jared felt the need to pipe up.

“That’s odd..”

“What are you yapping about this time, kid?”

Castor rolled his eyes. Darwyn glanced over at the two of them as they fussed over the village.

“I don’t.. see anyone working the fields. It’s midday— shouldn’t there be a bunch of [Farmers] out at work right now?”

Jared narrowed his eyes. Darwyn shook his head.

“Are you daft? These [Farmers] probably have Skills at work. No [Farmer] below Level 40 needs to spend all day out in the fields.”

“City kids.”

Castor grinned. Darwyn snorted, and Jared flushed. But still— the older man had to admit that something about this whole situation seemed off. However, if he had to choose between mocking Jared or admitting Jared was right, Darwyn would always do the former.

A susurration broke out up front where captain Helmut stood with a spyglass directed towards the town. He said something to his second-in-command, before an order spread throughout the brigade.

“Stay on guard! We march into town!”

“I told you guys.. something is wrong.”

Jared muttered. But neither Castor nor Darwyn acknowledged him for that. They trudged along and eventually reached the village.

—--

“It’s a ghost town. Where did everybody go?”

Jared’s voice was the only audible sound in the silent and empty town. Even with a thousand soldiers gathered here, there was barely a clink of the metallic boots or armor from their fidgeting. Everyone was on guard.

The entire town had been deserted.

“Hush, kid. You talk too much.”

Darwyn shushed the annoying boy. Jared Drew back meekly.

“S-sorry. I’m just a little nervous.”

“You’re always nervous. Now shut it.”

Castor scoffed. Darwyn scanned his surroundings as he furrowed his brows. He bent over and touched the dirt where a footprint was left behind.

“Bare feet. No sandals.”

He muttered. Captain Helmut’s voice drew the soldiers’ attention a second after.

“Platoons 1 to 12, search the town. Scour every nook and cranny of this damn place until you figure out what happened. Platoons 13 to 24, fan out over the fields. Darwyn! You’re in charge of that lot.”

“Yes, captain!”

Darwyn and the others saluted the man before taking off.

—-

“It makes no sense..”

Darwyn gritted his teeth. He couldn’t help but agree with Jared’s assessment. Something was clearly amiss.

“No tracks. No trails. Nothing. The villagers didn’t leave their town. Something happened to them while they were inside the village.”

Jared shivered as Darwyn finished. The young man clutched his shoulders as his metal armor trembled.

“I told you— something is wrong! This.. this..”

“Just shut your trap already, boy.”

Castor snarled, but Darwyn didn’t react or say anything. The older man was a veteran. He was rarely ever scared or afraid of anything. But this— this sent a prickle down his spine. He bit his lower lip as he continued forward, wading through the rice fields with his muddy boots.

He looked around at the other soldiers traversing the paddy fields. There were hundreds of them fanning out over the farmlands— if anything happened, they’d all come rushing to his side. But still he was on edge. Darwyn didn’t exactly have a Skill like [Danger Sense]. Maybe he would if he had gone down the path of a [Rogue]. But he had common sense. And common sense was telling him to get out of this damn place before whatever happened to the [Farmers] and villagers happened to him as well.

He jolted back when a sharp voice called out to him.

“Darwyn! Over here!”

He nearly staggered back onto Jared. The boy caught him, and Darwyn quickly shrugged him off.

“What’s going on?”

They rushed over to the source of the shouting. A dozen soldiers were gathered around a small crater. A figure lay slumped over there. Darwyn frown.

“What is this? A body?”

“Yes, sir. But it’s..”

The men shifted back as Darwyn’s eyes widened. Jared stumbled back and puked. Even Castor couldn’t help but grimace.

A desiccated husk of a corpse lay there. A Human man, face twisted in pain. Contorted in a way like he was letting out a silent scream. Even though his body was dried up to barely resemble a person, the pain in his eyes was still clearly evident.

“What do you think did this?”

One of the soldiers asked. Darwyn tried to work his jaw. He looked towards the uneasy soldiers before turning back to the corpse.

“I..”

He hesitated. He didn’t know. Of course not. But he couldn’t just admit it to them. That would ruin morale. He shook his head.

“All we know is this must’ve happened a while ago. We just need to figure out what did this—”

And a scream cut him off before he could finish. A high-pitched screech of pain. The sound of someone dying. Like they were being eaten alive. Darwyn raised his head and faced the source of the scream. He saw a platoon of soldiers running through the paddy fields. One of them tripped on something before vanishing under the water over the wet ground.

Darwyn rushed forward— everyone rushed towards the running platoon’s side. But before they could get there, the last of the soldiers were yanked into the water. Their bodies were completely gone. The water surface was still. It didn’t even look like there had been people there just moments earlier.

“What just happened?”

Jared asked breathlessly. Castor took a step back with his trembling boots.

“This is—”

And he screamed. Darwyn spun around, drawing his sword as Castor was yanked by a pair of little hands into the water. For a moment, there was a thrashing on the surface. Jared lunged forward to pull Castor out. But there was a final splash of water— and nothing.

Castor was gone.

“It’s something in the water!”

Darwyn yelled as he backed away from the muddy ground. He pulled Jared up to his feet and spun around.

“We—”

He started, but another soldier was immediately pulled into the water. Darwyn turned around as soldier after soldier vanished with a cut scream. The veteran [Warrior] clicked his tongue.

“Regroup back at the village! Go!”

He screamed and made a break for it. Dozens of soldiers vanished by the minute. Darwyn could’ve ran ahead of them, but he stayed behind so that as many of them could escape as possible.

“Movie—”

He started, when the water beneath his feet splashed out. A little green hand grabbed at his ankles. He looked down to see a scaled face. A pair of glistening red eyes. A monstrous smile. A reflection in the water. One which he couldn’t identify because it wasn’t actually there.

“You— get off of me!”

He kicked down hard. And the thing actually recoiled and vanished. Darwyn stumbled forward until he was away from the rice paddies. Away from the water. He stood on proper ground as what was left of Platoons 13 to 24 gathered together at the edge of the village. Too many of them were lost and left behind. But that didn’t matter.

“Find captain Helmut! We need to tell him about what happened there!”

Darwyn pushed past the soldiers as he headed to the center of the village. He turned a corner and paused. He looked down as he saw a glint coming from the floor. A sword lay at his feet. A body collapsed next to it. The crest of the Wisha Kingdom on his chest.

“That’s.. Seth from Platoon 4..”

Jared sputtered. Darwyn himself barely noticed that. Instead he saw the desiccated corpse. The dried body. It hadn’t been more than two hours since the platoons split up. A body couldn’t dry up this fast.

And that was when the screams began to break out from inside the village. Darwyn snapped his head up and dashed forward.

“Captain Helmut! Captain—”

Darwyn yelled out as he sprinted down the streets to the village center. And that was where he saw the fighting. Bodies lay collapsed all around him. Each of them desiccated. Drained of blood and water. Their skin flaking and dry.

“Darwyn!”

Helmut’s gruff voice cut through the chaos and fighting. The captain stabbed out with his spear and impaled a little green creature. It almost looked like a [Goblin] mixed with a fish. Except, somehow, far more ugly too. Darwyn rushed forward with wide eyes.

“What is that?”

His question was answered a second later as Helmut pulled his spear back and black blood sprayed all over the floor.

“Demons— they’re everywhere. I don’t know how, but they were somehow hiding in the water. We need to get out of here.”

“Demons? What are Demons—”

Darwyn started, but a shriek interrupted him. He turned around and looked towards the edge of the village. Dozens of the little green creatures flopped out of the rice fields. They looked up with their deformed fish-like heads and smiled with terrible impish grins. They made sounds that sounded like laughter, before rushing forward and clawing apart a platoon of soldiers in an instant.

[Kappa - Lvl. 59]

[Kappa - Lvl. 63]

[Kappa - Lvl. 57]

..

Jared screamed as he backed away, raising his shield in terror.

“There’s so many of them!”

One of the [Kappa]’s leapt forward, tearing through half a dozen soldiers before landing before the boy. His eyes widened in fear as the [Kappa] pointed at him. The blood from the corpses behind the Demon lanced out like a spear and would’ve impaled him if Darwyn didn’t jump in the way.

“[Sunder Slash]!”

The Level 77 [Warrior] cut down the blood-spear with ease. The [Kappa] blinked in confusion, and he rushed forward.

“[Tank Charge]!”

The Demon swiped out with its claws but he simply tackled it to the ground. It was only Level 61. He should’ve been able to kill it with ease. But somehow it managed to fight back. It held up against him despite their level difference. After a moment’s struggle, he eventually put it down, but then he turned to the other [Kappas], and he watched them slaughter the soldiers.

“Why are they so strong? They shouldn’t be this strong!”

Captain Helmut shouted over him as the soldiers began to flee.

“Retreat!”

The remaining platoons rushed out of the city. Back where they came from. Darwyn scowled and followed suit, dragging Jared along so he wouldn’t get left behind.

But right as they reached the road leading away from the village, they came to a halt. A giant figure barred their path. One that was just like the [Kappas] leaping out of the water, but far larger. At least ten foot in height.

[Soucouyant Kappa - Lvl. 121]

“What..?”

Darwyn’s jaw dropped at the sight of the creature. Captain Helmut yelled as he backed up.

“Back away! Back—”

And he paused. The man froze as the [Soucouyant Kappa] pointed at him. His entire body tensed up as Darwyn narrowed his eyes.

“What’s going on?”

And captain Helmut’s body twisted. It contorted and grew bloated. Darwyn recoiled, knowing what came next before the body exploded into a puddle of blood. There were gasps. But the Archdemon didn’t stop there. It pointed at a platoon of soldiers, and all of them grew bloated before bursting as well.

Darwyn backed up, then he heard the giggling. He turned around and saw the swarm of [Kappas] coming at him from behind. He looked back towards the giant [Kappa] and knew it was over. The [Soucouyant Kappa] slowly brought its finger over him.

“This is it..”

He muttered.

And then there was a flash. A streak of golden light shot through the sky and blasted apart the [Soucouyant Kappa]. In an instant, the Archdemon exploded.

Jared blinked as Darwyn looked up. A figure descended from the sky, unleashing arrows down at the [Kappas] encroaching on the soldiers. A flurry of explosions swept over the monsters, wiping them out in an instant.

Darwyn watched as the figure landed. A man with dark blue hair holding a glistening bow. THe veteran soldiers recognized him immediately.

“Y-you’re.. Tyrian the Brightsbane Archer! From the Remembered Order Company!”

“I am. And are you the one in charge of this brigade?”

Tyrian asked as he lowered his bow. Behind him, from the road ahead, Darwyn could hear the rumbling of footfalls. Like an army was approaching.

“I.. am now.”

Darwyn said as he glanced over at where captain Helmut had been.

“What’s going on?”

He asked. Tyrian didn’t give an immediate reply. Instead he cast his gaze over the dead Demons and murmured.

“Seems like we’re starting earlier than we thought we would.”

The Elite Ranked adventurer shook his head and turned around. And behind him, an army revealed itself. Tens of thousands of adventurers marched down the road, heeding his command.

“Adventurers! Sweep the area! Ensure that no Demon escapes! Wipe them out till the very last!”

They roared a reply as Darwyn blinked. He stared on in confusion, and the army of adventurers poured into the village, hunting down the screaming Demons. Their laughter turned from gleeful to that of fear.

“What’s going on? Why is this happening?”

Darwyn asked again. This time. Tyrian turned to him and answered.

“The ritual has begun.”

“What?”

Darwyn stared on, confused. And Jared vocalized that confusion.

“What does that mean?”

Tyrian sighed.

“I’m not sure. But from what I was told, it seems that.. the planes are merging. Throughout the Inoria Empire, the land is turning white. The sky is turning red. Demons are pouring out and spilling into neighboring lands.”

Darwyn dropped his sword, finally understanding what was going on.

“Oh.”

The Elite Ranked adventurer started forward as he finished.

“If the ritual is not stopped, soon the Netherworld and the Mortal Realm will become one.”