Ch.60Others’ Battles

## Demian

The greatsword tore through flesh and crushed bone as it cut deep.

The enemy’s upper body was sliced diagonally, blood spurting from the severed surface.

Demian exhaled as he kicked away the twitching corpse with its torso splayed to the side.

Around him lay more than a dozen corpses.

Filthy vagrants dressed in rags.

They were no different from madmen.

Mobs who had laughed maniacally while stabbing with spears and swords at people fleeing in terror from the sudden disaster.

Their purpose and identity remained unknown.

Demian’s assigned mission was to hunt these people down throughout the city.

For the magic department students, the main task was to somehow extinguish the fire.

Simultaneously, they needed to evacuate surviving citizens and send the injured to the academy.

It was a task that would be insufficient even with five hands, but with the knights gone to the imperial palace, they had no choice. The students somehow had to manage on their own.

That’s why everyone was scattered throughout the district.

The capital’s soldiers were supposed to be supporting the firefighting and evacuation efforts, but…

Demian looked around.

Bodies of lightly armored soldiers were strewn about.

The soldiers deployed here had already been massacred by the rioters.

Right. There was no way the soldiers could defeat these rioters.

The rioters he had faced were fast and quite strong.

They were at a similar level to his peers at the academy.

In other words, each of them was at the level of a knight-in-training.

The academy’s judgment had been rash.

They thought it was simply riot suppression, but if each one was this capable, it would be too much for other students to handle.

Still, it was somewhat surprising that so many soldiers had died so helplessly.

‘Besides, they’re tougher than I expected…’

The sensation of the greatsword cutting through was strange.

The feeling of cutting through a person was usually similar to slicing butter with a knife, but these were like undercooked chunks of meat.

‘Is it because my weapon changed?’

Demian looked down at his greatsword with curious eyes.

It was the black iron greatsword Haschal had given him that afternoon.

Whatever style she was trying to achieve, the silver plating had peeled off in places, making it look patchy.

“Demian! Are you okay?”

Millia ran toward Demian. Her cheeks were smudged with soot, and she held a bow in her left hand.

To prepare for any situation, first-year students had been ordered to move in groups of at least two.

Millia had chosen Demian without hesitation.

Considering that both were among the top-ranked first-years, having them work together was inefficient, but…

Haschal had told them to stick together as much as possible.

She argued that they would be together after graduation anyway.

So she pushed her logic that it was actually fortunate since it allowed additional members to be assigned to other groups.

“I’ve cleared this area. How about you, Millia?”

“I managed to take down three… but something feels strange.”

Did she deliberately avoid saying “killed”?

Demian looked at Millia anew. Her pale fingertips were trembling slightly.

Well, this was probably Millia’s first time killing someone.

‘But are these really people? For humans, they’re a bit…’

No, it’s too early to jump to conclusions. There are people like Haschal too.

Even among humans, some have unusually tough bodies.

…Though Millia also seemed to sense something off as she tilted her head in confusion.

“Strange how?”

“They were all insane. Even when soldiers’ weapons cut through their bodies, they ignored it and kept charging… and they didn’t die easily.”

Indeed, that was true.

Demian recalled the battle from earlier.

‘They thrust themselves onto my greatsword… charging recklessly.’

Though they did fall dead immediately afterward.

“…They were like trolls. My arrows worked reasonably well, though.”

“Trolls…?”

Lecture content he had heard before flashed through Demian’s mind.

A ferocity that didn’t fear swords.

Bodies unnaturally tough.

Soldiers who couldn’t kill even one rioter despite attacking in groups.

…There was only one answer.

Regenerators.

‘Could it be…’

Demian approached a rioter’s corpse and rummaged through its head.

The ears that should be there were missing.

Instead, there were traces of something cut off on both sides of the crown.

“I knew it…!”

“Demian?”

Millia called his name in confusion.

“These rioters aren’t human, they’re Werebeasts!”

“Werebeasts? What do you mean…”

“If their blood is diluted, they’re hard to distinguish from humans, so they cut off their ears and pretended to be human!”

No wonder the soldiers were massacred.

Thinking their enemies were human, they would have charged with steel weapons.

Then they lost their lives to Werebeasts who charged at them despite being struck by swords.

Without silver-plated weapons, one cannot face Werebeasts.

Silver-plated weapons.

Demian looked down at his own weapon with fresh eyes.

The greatsword with black iron’s characteristic heavy dark luster, its silver plating beginning to peel off, gleaming in the firelight.

The sword Haschal had forcibly given him as a gift.

‘She… knew? How on earth…’

Suspicions swirled in his mind.

It was clear that Haschal knew Werebeasts would attack.

Otherwise, there was no reason for her to prepare a silver weapon at such perfect timing.

But how?

How did she know in advance what even the imperial knights couldn’t predict?

No, if she knew, why didn’t she say anything?

He couldn’t understand. There were only questions and suspicions.

“Really Werebeasts…? Wait! Werebeasts? Then the others are in danger!”

Millia’s face turned deathly pale.

Demian nodded.

Yes. Even with similar skill levels, they couldn’t win if the enemy was a Werebeast.

When they cut each other, only they would fall.

Moreover, there was another problem that Millia hadn’t noticed yet.

These were just low-level rioters. They were like conscripts.

They were just causing random chaos, not looking like the masterminds behind such a systematic attack plan.

There must be commanders. Leaders who incited the rioters and directed the attack.

If the rioters were half-blood Werebeasts.

Then the identity of their leaders…

“Hmm… two of them, I guess…”

From behind, a growling sound echoed.

Millia hurriedly aimed her bow.

Demian put down the rioter’s corpse, gripped his greatsword, and turned around.

Two shadows were approaching them with the flames at their backs.

One was a giant with a wolf’s head on a massive body.

The axe clutched in his right hand glistened with blood.

The young man beside him wasn’t pure-blooded, looking like a forced mixture of human and bear.

He was somewhat smaller than the wolf Werebeast.

He held a long sword in each hand.

“Werebeast warriors…!”

Millia broke out in a cold sweat.

The vague anxiety had become reality.

A pure-blooded wolf Werebeast and a thick-blooded mixed warrior.

Even fighting with all their might, victory would be difficult to guarantee.

“Millia. I need your support.”

Demian stepped forward, gripping his greatsword.

He pushed his suspicions to a corner of his mind. Those were matters to consider later.

Now was the time to focus all consciousness on battle.

At least, thanks to this sword, he could fight.

That much was fortunate.

With the beasts’ roars echoing, the greatsword and axe collided violently.

## Ophelia

At the same time, Ophelia also encountered it.

She had been wandering around reluctantly with Hans, the man assigned to her group.

She slit the throats of attacking vagrants with blades of air and extinguished burning houses by cutting off oxygen.

Though she wasn’t particularly active.

Then, a voice rang out.

“Magic wench…! Well, this is lucky.”

Her footsteps suddenly halted.

A bull walking on two legs was blocking her path, grinning.

Looking over her body unpleasantly while drooling.

With eyes full of disgusting hunger rather than base lust.

“Sigh… I thought the stench was awful. A Werebeast, of all things.”

Ophelia frowned deeply.

A pure-blooded Werebeast—why on earth would such creatures appear in the district?

‘Really. Knights and guards alike, all so incompetent.’

The mana herb in her hand snapped in half.

Drawing in mana, Ophelia prepared herself in earnest, unlike before.

There was no choice.

To face a pure-blooded Werebeast, her usual playful magic wouldn’t be nearly enough.

It was fortunate there was only one eye watching.

“Hey, Hans, was it?”

“…Yes.”

Hans, who had been trembling and sweating, turned to look at Ophelia when she suddenly called him.

He had already sensed death upon seeing the pure-blooded Werebeast.

After all, even if he ran, the creature would be faster.

“What you’re about to see. If you dare speak of it elsewhere, you won’t see the morning sun more than three times. Remember that.”

“What do you…?”

Hans’s words failed him at the sight before his eyes.

A storm of mana raged.

Her red hair, caught in the fierce wind, rose into the air like flames.

An overwhelming amount of mana, at least five times that of the magic department’s top student.

After seven years.

The storm of blades she cast with all her might descended upon the bull Werebeast.

## ???

On the west side of the city, the wall of the Church’s aid station exploded into pieces with a thunderous sound.

Werebeasts impaled with spears of light were flung out and crashed into the alley walls.

They were dead without any chance of regeneration.

Following them, ten Paladins and a young woman walked through the debris.

The Paladins’ armor bore cross markings, and silver holy light swirled above their armor.

They were members of the Church of Elpinel who had been in charge of the aid station.

“Elpinel…”

The woman muttered, clutching the holy symbol around her neck.

She was whiteness incarnate.

Her snow-white hair reached her waist, and a thin golden chain encircled her forehead like a crown.

Behind her, white holy light flickered like feathers.

The white priest’s robe she wore was spotlessly clean, giving her an otherworldly, almost alien presence.

Candidate for sainthood.

Lacy Elmaine Stardolf.

She kissed the holy symbol and continued.

“…I shall destroy heretics, evildoers. Those who are not human.”

With the quiet prayer, brilliant holy light covered an entire district of the city.

Wherever the light touched, flames were extinguished, and Elpinel’s blessing descended upon the remaining people.

“We shall destroy those who are not human!”

The Paladins who had drawn their swords responded in unison.

Singing of the wrath of Elpinel, God of Grace, they advanced eastward.

To destroy all visible enemies.