Descent of the Demon Master

—This is Albatross Nine! Respond, Falcon Eight! Respond! Falcon Eight!

Kendrick’s face hardened like a statue as he stared in shock at his walkie-talkie.

Chaotic noises were blasting out of this communication device!

This high-end walkie-talkie supposedly supported more than three channels of simultaneous communication. However, it still couldn't deal with the flood of incoming transmission!

With far too many devices trying to transmit simultaneously, nobody was getting anything through properly to the other side!

‘What the hell is going on here?!’

At least one thing was for certain now. The agent code names and numbers were getting “closer” to the HQ. The initial radio communication might have come from the edges of the forest, but it was getting closer and closer to the center with every passing second!

In that case, what happened to the sentries posted near the edges of the forest?

Kendrick subtly bit his lip. There was no need to even guess. It could mean only one thing if a man yelling into his walkie-talkie suddenly couldn’t do that anymore!

At the very least, that agent must be out of action, unable to continue. Objectively speaking, though… Killed in action seemed most likely!

‘Dammit! I can only pray that they are still alive!’

—This is Alpha!

Kendrick snapped out of his grim thoughts and stared tensely at his walkie-talkie. This transmission had come from the command center.

—All guard personnel, converge on Eagle One’s position right now! I repeat, all personnel, converge on Eagle One’s position! Hurry up!

Kendrick could sense the urgency in that yell. Which made a lot of sense, really.

The command center held far more information than field agents like Kendrick or Wilshere. Even though this forest outwardly looked like any other regular forest, the truth was that this whole area was monitored by CCTV cameras and even spy satellites. And countless booby traps were installed in strategic positions that could be triggered at a moment’s notice.

In short, this place was far closer to being a fortress instead! Even then…

—We're being pushed back! We can't stop them! Retreat! I repeat, retreat! Retreat… What?! No! Don't come! No! Uwaaaaaah!

Kendrick’s expression hardened even more.

‘Where was that just now?’

That last transmission didn't even say which guard post it was coming from. So, Kendrick could only make an educated guess from what he heard previously. There was no doubt that a group of enemies was charging through the forest, but they didn't even need ten minutes to break through over five kilometers of dense foliage and the Round Table agents fighting back!

‘What the hell? Is that even humanly possible?’

Kendrick knew such a thing was impossible for his current level.

Even with zero interference along the way, allowing him to sprint at full power, he’d still not cover five kilometers in ten minutes. Of course, it was possible if the course was an open, flat plain, but this area was a dense forest with ancient trees. He wouldn’t even be able to utilize half of his usual speed.

Producing such a speed would've required every drop of power Kendrick possessed. But a group of enemies was having no issue with maintaining such a speed through a dense forest while fighting off the guards!

Did Hell send its army or something?!

Wilshere urgently asked, his voice trembling. “W-what about us?”

“We move, obviously!” Kendrick yelled, then gritted his teeth.

‘Where was Eagle One, again?’

Kendrick relied on his mental map of the area again, then turned around in the general direction of Eagle One before breaking out into a full-blooded sprint. Wilshere hurriedly chased after him.

‘Goddamn it!’

Even as he ran, Kendrick continued to grit his teeth.

He still couldn’t understand what was happening in this place. Yes, he did figure out that some unknown enemies were attacking them. Although that fact was still hard to believe, Kendrick wasn’t stupid enough to deny it after listening to the radio transmission.

What he couldn’t understand, though, was the enemy’s marching speed.

‘How is this even possible?’

The reason for his inability to understand was simple enough.

Knight Leveaux's order to strengthen the security was excessive enough for these agents to express their dissatisfaction. Such excessive security measures would obviously never be carried out by some random riff-raff. In other words… The people here were Britain's elites. And this whole area was jam-packed with such elite warriors!

Everyone's posts were so close to each other that it led to these loyal agents bitterly complaining about their unreasonable work schedules!

Even if Knight Leveaux had brought France's elite warriors to raid this place, maintaining such a forward momentum would still be impossible. Defeating all these guards blocking their path alone would've taken a long time, after all!

But this…!

—Aaaaahk?! Uwaaahk!

—N-no! Please help me! They are coming! R-run away!

Kendrick could only hear horrifying screams coming from the walkie-talkie now. And he was deeply flustered by how terrified and despairing these voices sounded.

‘Aren’t they supposed to be Great Britain’s proud knights? What gives?!’

These warriors trained tirelessly in various martial art disciplines for decades to protect their mother nation and world peace. Which meant their mental fortitude was incomparably tougher than even the best of the best “regular” soldiers.

So, for them to scream like this… This should not be happening, yet it was!

‘Just what did they see for them to…’

All of these British warriors couldn't have become cowards in the blink of an eye.

Kendrick wasn't blessed with an outstanding mentality that surpassed his comrades. No, he was about the same as everyone. Even so, he was confident of holding back his screams in the final moments of his life.

That should be the general situation for everyone here, too. Yet, they were still displaying such a pathetic side against the incoming enemies?

In that case, it couldn't have been the Brits' problem. No, the issue must be with the enemies!

Just as Kendrick’s thoughts reached that far…!

KA-BOOOOOOOM!

An ear-shredding explosion noise suddenly slammed into Kendrick’s hearing. While maintaining his speed, he turned his head slightly in the direction of that explosion. And then, he saw some things flying up in the air.

Kendrick’s jaw fell in stupefaction.

Something huge was soaring into the night sky enshrouded in the moonless darkness. Only after narrowing his eyes to slits did Kendrick finally realize that object was… a humongous tree!

“Crazy son of a b*tch?!”

A tree with a diameter of at least two meters wide was being tossed up like a little toy! And it wasn't just one tree, either.

‘What the hell is up with this situation?!’

Kendrick was convinced that not even heavy construction machinery could recreate this scene. Knowing how heavy each of those trees weighed, he just couldn’t imagine what… or who was strong enough to produce a gobsmacking event like this!

At least there was a small silver lining in this absurd situation, and that was the location of that madness happened to be quite some distance away from Kendrick’s current…

He suddenly sobered up and clamped his slack mouth up.

‘What the hell? Did I really feel relieved by that?’

What a humiliating thing that was.

To think that a warrior tasked with stopping the enemy invasion felt relieved by the fact that the enemies were still far away from him! This humiliation was something Kendrick had not felt before since he began his journey as a martial artist.

He tightly clenched his teeth.

‘No, that can't be it!'

Kendrick told himself that he was not relieved by the distance. No, his order was to converge and join with Eagle One, not jump into the fray. His relief came from knowing that he could stick to that order faithfully!

Even though he was aware of how nonsensical that excuse was, Kendrick still tried to convince himself by repeating it in his head.

“H-hang on, bro! Wait for me!” Wilshere urgently cried out as he began falling behind.

Kendrick frowned in annoyance and slowed down a little. He chopped down and sliced apart the tangled vines blocking his view with his sword, then leaped forward by stepping on tree stumps. Even after doing all that, Kendrick still couldn't run as fast as he could.

Far too many trees blocked the path for him to run in a straight line. And far too many obstructions underfoot hampered his attempt to reach some sort of speed.

‘This is the fastest I can run without fighting, so how…!'

Just what did the enemies do for them to move at such a high speed?

KA-BOOOOOOOM!

Yet another explosion rocked the forest, and Kendrick reflexively turned his head to look.

‘Bloody hell?!’

The location of trees tossing up had gotten so much closer now. Even at a quick guess, it was clear that the enemies had covered far more ground than Kendrick had.

‘This doesn’t make any sense!’

His brain couldn't keep up with this flood of information any longer. Trying harder to make sense of it only made Kendrick more anxious than ever before! So, he brushed aside the thoughts trying to worm their way into his mind and focused only on one thing. And that was to join up with the rest as quickly as possible!

Once he and Wilshere had joined the others, they…

‘...We what? What will we do after joining up with the rest?’

Kendrick’s trembling eyes shifted to his side. He still couldn’t see anything. This damn forest robbed him of his sight. He was supposed to be one of the defenders of this place, but the place itself conspired to hide the enemy’s presence!

A group of unknown enemies that couldn’t be stopped? Yet, Kendrick and Co. had to stop them regardless? With his own two hands?

Kendrick gritted his teeth even harder while running forward.

“B-bro! Wait for me!”

Kendrick could no longer hear Wilshere’s whining. He feared that slowing down any further would stop him from running altogether. He’d get slower and slower until grinding to a halt.

...All because he didn't want to reach where Eagle One was!

Trying to organize his thoughts was impossible at this point. That didn’t depend on his willpower, after all. So, even as his thoughts messily tangled up in his head, Kendrick continued to run forward.

Eventually, he reached the destination.

Kendrick yelled at the top of his lungs. “Albatross Four! Reporting in!”

His voice subconsciously contained more force than usual, perhaps an instinctive response by his consciousness to dispel the nauseating anxiety clinging doggedly to his heart.

The designated area already was brimming with the Round Table’s British agents. That didn’t mean Kendrick was late, though. Different guard posts had to cover different distances to get here, after all.

Besides… Kendrick couldn’t help but think that being a little late was actually a blessing in disguise.

The atmosphere was gloomy and calm. Despite the large number of people gathering in this spot, the mood was indescribably subdued!

“You! Join the formation up front! Go line up, now!”

Kendrick wasn’t sure who yelled that order at him. His hearing didn’t want to catch any of the words thrown in his way. However, his body instinctively reacted first before his mind could, thanks to years of heeding various commands from superior officers becoming muscle memory.

‘Get into a formation?’

Kendrick scanned the area, which was a large open space right in front of a guard post. Almost one hundred warriors had gathered here to create a defensive line of sorts. They reminded him of a human barricade.

What an exceedingly logical defensive formation this was.

Kendrick was a knight, after all. His job was to block the enemy's advances with his own body or attack the opposition outright. So, standing as a vanguard out in front was only par for the course. The rear would be brought up by mages and priests. Their role was to provide support, after all!

Everything was logical. Oh-so-logical, in fact! Except for the fact that… Every single vanguard looked terrified and anxious out of their mind!

Their state of mind was easy to understand, though. What truly terrified a person was not a strong enemy but one that couldn’t be seen or predicted.

What if you needed to fight but didn’t know who you were supposed to fight? What if you couldn’t predict how the other side would attack you? Such a thing would terrify people more than a stronger enemy.

Because it was the same as not knowing what killed you.

Kendrick's legs trembled subtly just then. Of course he knew.

He knew that orders were absolute. Running away in fear from this place was unthinkable. And he endured harsh training until now to survive difficult situations like this one, didn't he? Even then…!

‘Why am I even protecting this location? What am I doing here?’

He couldn’t even laugh at this situation.

The enemy's intentions were clear enough to guess. Raiding the Round Table's HQ at this exact moment in time could only mean the unknown enemy wanted to hurt the organization's executive members or… Or rescue the Master. The timing matched all too well, didn't it?

In other words, Kendrick was about to risk his life to guard Knight Leveaux and ensure the Master would remain locked up!

‘But, why should I do this?’

He couldn't accept it, never mind understand it! Unfortunately, Kendrick belatedly realized that his body had moved on its own and joined the defensive formation.

Kendrick suddenly recalled hearing about some stuff regarding repeated drills. Such drills weren't supposed to be about soldiers learning to create perfect defensive lines.

The superiors ordered the soldiers to obey them by repeatedly telling them to go to the front or the back. They did this until obedience was ingrained into the body, and a soldier would react even before the brain could process what was what when a new order was issued.

That was what repeated drills were meant to achieve. And now, at this very moment… Kendrick realized that it was all true. Even before he could figure out what was happening, his body had already joined the ranks of the vanguard to stop the enemy's advances!

What kind of nonsensical bullsh*t was this?!

“H-hold on a sec!” Kendrick urgently raised his voice. Unfortunately…

“Here they come!”

Kendrick’s voice was buried underneath a much larger roar. Almost at the same time, the forest before everyone’s eyes began shaking and tumbling visibly.

The seemingly endless forest filled with verdant trees resembled a dark ocean. And this dark ocean was tumbling and roiling as if a massive tsunami wave was crashing in!

That was when…!

KA-BOOOOOOM!

The trees lining up the edge of the forest shattered like rice crackers and scattered everywhere as a deafening explosion rocked the earth.

Kendrick’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Something humongous was walking out from the dust cloud kicked up by the explosion. And this humongous something possessed arms and legs as thick as ancient tree trunks. His torso reminded Kendrick of a marble sculpture. And finally…!

“Ku-waaaaah!”

Finally, Kendrick saw the giant’s pair of crimson eyes! And he witnessed all the pitch-black energy swirling and circling around that monstrous creature!

...And when he saw the Devil of Hell descending on the mortal realm, Kendrick drew the sign of the cross without even realizing that he did.

Oh, dear Father in Heaven…

Please have mercy on your little lamb…!

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