"Quick, quick, assemble!"0

"Damn it, hurry up! Evacuate those bystanders! Get them out of here and out of the way!"0

"A Hellgate? How could something like that appear inside the capital?"0

The young squad leader gathered all the available forces in the vicinity. Though he didn't know how much it would help against the slowly rising fissure of molten lava in the air, he pressed on anyway.0

"Sir, where are the Nightblades?" the squad leader asked Edward, who was watching the rising Hellgate. He couldn't resist asking despite his hesitation.0

Everyone knew that, during times of war, the city guards served as protectors in name only. Petty thieves or minor disturbances weren't an issue, but something on the level of a Hellgate was beyond their ability to handle.0

Yet this Nightblade officer, whom he had encountered during the night of Erphine's monstrous outbreak by the inner walls, hadn't summoned his unit. Instead, he had tasked the squad leader with gathering city guards.0

But could these city guards—who were currently chattering nervously and displaying immense fear of the Hellgate—really make a difference?0

The young squad leader, a minor noble, felt that he was cursed. He had only joined the city guard to earn some distinction and polish his credentials, yet he'd already encountered two such disasters. Perhaps, in some...0