Hearing the alarm of the base go off, I put down my drink and glanced at Jean, who looked up at a speaker mounted on the wall.
"We are under attack!!" the voice blared.
"Stronghold 4 is under attack by monsters! Stronghold 1 is also under attack by a second wave! All soldiers, prepare for deployment!"
I stood up calmly. "I'll go to Stronghold 1. You two head to 4."
"Alright," Jean replied without hesitation.
Luna, however, gave me a long look. There was worry in her eyes, maybe doubt. I didn't dwell on it.
"Well, time to take my siblings to their first real fight," I muttered, teleporting straight to our barracks.
Marasuki looked up as I appeared. "You're already here. Everyone's ready to go."
"We're headed to Stronghold 1," I announced. "Marasuki and I will observe only. This is a scouting party sent by the boss, not a full invasion. Don't overthink it, just do your best."
"Yes, Commander!" Sara shouted, her energy cutting through the tension like a sword.
"Alright. Everyone ready?"
"Yes, ma'am!" came the chorus.
"Let's move."
"Huh? You're not teleporting us?" Hendrian asked.
"No," I replied, walking toward the nearest cargo plane. "You're going to ride like the rest of the military."
"What do you want?" the captain snapped as I brushed past him to the cockpit.
"You headed to Stronghold 1?" I asked, ignoring his attitude.
"Evening, Demon General," the pilot said uncertainly.
"Fly us there. We'll drop from the air."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Hey! They don't take orders from you!" the captain barked, stepping in front of me.
I narrowed my eyes at him.
US Marine. The beard gives it away. Too much bravado, not enough brain.
"They do now," I said flatly, pushing past him again.
"Like hell they do!"
"What's the problem, Captain? We're going to the same place," his vice captain interjected, trying to calm him.
"Jim! Shut up."
"We're taking off! Everyone get a seat!" the pilot yelled, shutting down the argument.
Selena leaned over to me as we sat. "Hey, Ren. You think he's going to be a problem?"
"Nah. He's got a big ego, but there are too many eyes on us. Remember—we're under constant surveillance."
"Including the ex-special guest kind?" Selena asked, switching to Narlic.
"Exactly."
"Hey, Ren-sis, you think Lucas will be alright?" Sara asked, glancing nervously at him.
"Huh? Probably. He'll freeze at first, but he'll get better once things start."
"Yo, demon girl with the colorful eyes," a marine across from us called.
I blinked. "What?"
"Why'd you join us?"
"Why not?"
"I heard your team has no combat experience."
"Not in this realm," I replied. "But we won't be much help today anyway."
He stared at me, confused. "Wait, what?"
Selena looked at me. "Your eyes changed when you laughed."
"They do that."
"Brace yourselves!!" the pilot shouted as the entire ship shook.
"What was that?!" Hendrian exclaimed.
"Monsters, idiot demon," a marine muttered.
I stood up and made my way to the cockpit.
"Yo, you okay flying through this?" I asked, looking through the small window at the swarm of harpies and wyverns.
"The guns are holding, but it's dense," the pilot muttered.
"How far are we?"
"Almost above the stronghold."
"Then open the doors. We're going out."
"Ma'am, we're 800 meters in the air—"
"Yeah? Don't humans know how to jump out of planes?"
"We're not equipped for that," the vice captain said quickly.
I sighed. "Fine. I'll clear the air support."
I stepped back from the cockpit, raised my hand, and vanished.
The cold wind screamed past my ears as I reappeared midair, several dozen meters above the cargo plane. Around me, harpies shrieked and dove. Smaller wyverns darted through the clouds like scaled bullets.
I drew Fushi Emo, the rot blade, its sickly green glow slicing through the air. With one clean stroke, I decapitated a wyvern flying too close. Its corpse spiraled downward, colliding with two harpies in its descent.
Another harpy lunged for me. I twisted mid-air and teleported behind it, ramming the rot blade through its spine. A burst of noxious black-green mist erupted from the wound, corroding its wings before it even died.
A wyvern roared as it barreled toward me with terrifying speed. I smirked, swapping to Hou Yao in a flicker of flame, and unleashed a vertical wave of fire that split the beast in two.
I kept teleporting—flickering between targets like a shadow stitched to lightning. With each short-range jump, I struck fast and brutally. My swords were efficient, deadly extensions of thought.
The sky lit up with my sword trails—green rot slashes, flickers of dark energy from Heian Emo, bursts of red-gold flame from Hou Yao, and the occasional glimmer of radiant light from Ors to blind or sear through groups.
A formation of harpies tried flanking me—three on the left, two above. I spun, summoned Hou Yao, and erupted a ring of flame that incinerated two mid-flight. Ors hummed in my hand as I threw it like a javelin—its light cut through the clouds and skewered a wyvern with precision.
Reaching out mentally, I recalled the sword and replaced it with Heian Emo. Shadow tendrils erupted from my body, grabbing two nearby harpies and slamming them into each other. One screeched as it plummeted to the ground, the other torn in half midair.
A final surge of beasts emerged from the clouds, hoping to swarm me. I smiled grimly and activated all four swords at once, floating around me in a blazing halo of elemental death.
With a silent command, they launched outward, streaks of fire, rot, shadow, and light slicing through the swarm. Monsters shrieked and exploded in midair, raining down pieces on the battlefield below.
Within minutes, the immediate airspace around the cargo plane was cleared. Flames, shadow scars, and melting blood painted the clouds.
I reappeared at the rear of the plane.
"The air's mostly clear. You guys can do the rest," I said, casually wiping blood off my face.
The marines, my team—even Marasuki—stared at me, speechless.
"Hey! Move!" I barked, snapping them out of it.
"Sheesh, Ren," Marasuki muttered. "Can't you let someone else do a little work?"
"Normally, I would. But you guys need to learn." I kicked her gently out of the plane.
"What the fuck!!"
"Why'd you do that?!" Lucas shouted, rushing forward.
I kicked him, too.
"AAAHH!"
"They'll survive that height, right?" a marine asked no one in particular.
"Meh," I shrugged and jumped after them.
The wind howled around us as we descended. Sara and Selena showed their training—Sara warping between shadows, Selena blasting incoming harpies with quick-fire shield bursts. Hendrian and Tim flailed a bit, but managed with their aerial maneuvers.
Lucas, however, flailed like a panicked bird. I sighed and teleported him to the ground before he could break something.
I landed softly beside Marasuki, who was observing Selena's descent.
"You don't need to worry. She's a catkin. She'll land on her feet."
"She's doing well," Marasuki said, grinning. "Better than half the marines here."
As the team hit the ground in the inner walls, chaos erupted around them. The monsters were already halfway across the fortress, devouring anything in their way. The monsters still outside the walls were pounding against the magical defenses, the ones that were still working anyway.
"Focus fire! Don't let them reach the top!" I shouted.
Tim unleashed a barrage of ice spikes, impaling half a dozen spiderlings mid-climb. "They're all over the place!"
Sara appeared out of a shadow next to him. "I'll handle the flanks," she said, then disappeared into another pool of darkness, reappearing by a nest of acid hounds.
Selena leapt from the battlements and activated a glowing rune beneath her feet. Mid-air, her daggers spun out, forming a deadly arc of silver and light that sliced through ogres like butter.
Hendrian stayed on the wall, channeling a barrage of explosive symbols into the ground below. Each rune lit up red before detonating with thunderous force, sending monsters flying backward in flaming heaps.
Lucas, now grounded and breathing hard, roared and summoned a ring of flame around his feet. He stomped forward, slamming fire-enhanced fists into the head of a charging ogre. The impact shook the nearby walls.
"Good! Keep pushing!" I called, teleporting beside Sara as she dealt with a beast nearly twice her size.
She narrowly dodged its claws. "Little help?!"
"On it." I summoned Heian Emo, casting a wave of shadow tendrils that tangled the monster's legs, freezing it in place.
Sara struck upward with a vertical slash, cutting deep into its underbelly. Blood sprayed, and the beast collapsed with a deafening groan.
Marasuki, now beside Hendrian, looked down at the shifting tide of battle. "They're adapting."
I nodded grimly. "They're not just beasts. Someone's guiding them."
Selena landed beside me again, panting lightly. "That ogre was tough."