"Your Majesty, whether they are demons or the Calamity, they are both enemies of humanity. Either one will bring mankind to extinction."

The Grand Archmage beside her remained perfectly calm.

"Ever since we relocated the capital here, we knew this day would eventually come. Activate the grand array. Let the elite of the entire demonic army be buried alongside us for the future of humanity."

"So be it."

The Empress answered calmly.

"For everyone’s future, what is a little sacrifice?"

She turned around as though looking directly at Phield.

"Entrust the flame of hope to the one chosen by destiny."

"He will defeat both the Demon Race and the Calamity."

"That is fate."

The world spun violently.

When Phield finally regained consciousness, he immediately jumped to his feet in excitement.

"Holy shit... Could I actually be..."

Before he could finish muttering to himself, a savage dressed in animal skins beside him began shouting excitedly.

"Awoo! Grrr! I am the one chosen by destiny!"

A Necromancer hidden beneath a black robe let out an eerie laugh.

"Hehehe... Our Necromancer Association is destined to rule the world."

"We pirates aren’t interested in that nonsense. I only want money."

Even the pirates had witnessed the same vision.

"Haha... Somehow I’m not excited anymore."

Phield was speechless.

"My lord, what did all of you see?"

Tisiana looked completely confused.

"After entering, everyone simply stood there in a daze for five seconds."

"I’m curious too."

Rosalia quietly added.

After briefly explaining what had happened, Phield drew his sword.

"Stay alert."

The sound of footsteps splashing through water echoed from every direction.

The sailors lit torches.

The mages produced magical pearls or cast illumination spells to dispel the darkness.

Yet the darkness here was so unbelievably dense that every source of light illuminated no more than twenty paces.

Using their lights, Phield carefully surveyed the surroundings.

All he could see were piles of garbage, rotting corpses impaled completely through, heaps of skulls, and collapsed stone pillars.

"Phield, be careful."

Tisiana spread her wings, intending to dispel the darkness with Holy Light.

Suddenly, her expression changed dramatically.

She looked as though she had encountered a terrifying enemy.

"This darkness isn’t caused by the absence of light."

"It’s a type of Divine Power I’ve never encountered before."

"But I’m certain of one thing."

"It definitely belongs to the Darkness element."

"Darkness... Divine Power?"

"That’s right."

Tisiana nodded solemnly.

"The power of demons."

"Then that confirms the vision we just witnessed."

Phield opened his minimap.

"The demons invaded in overwhelming numbers, and the Empress of the Ancient Moon Empire used a special magic array to wipe them all out here."

The first thing that appeared on the map was a single purple dot.

It was located extremely far away, right at the center of the mausoleum.

"Holy shit!"

Phield nearly jumped.

"A wild Divine Chosen."

"And it’s a type I’ve never seen before."

"A purple marker."

"I’ve never encountered one."

Could it be a Divine Chosen of the Demon Race?

Hopefully a succubus.

After observing the mysterious purple marker, Phield patiently shifted his attention back.

The sight that greeted him nearly stopped his heart.

The entire mausoleum, including the area surrounding him, was densely packed with countless red bat-shaped markers.

Skull icons represented Corrupted creatures.

Those bat-wing symbols could only represent demons.

"My God..."

Phield felt his heart skip a beat.

"Brand new monster markers, and they’re literally everywhere."

"It looks like the Empress didn’t completely wipe them out back then."

"Some of them survived."

Just enough survivors remained so future generations would know that the Empress had been fighting demons.

Phield immediately shouted a warning.

Unfortunately, he was already too late.

A bloodcurdling scream rang out beside him.

Just moments earlier...

"Damn it."

"Why is there water everywhere?"

"It’s making me want to piss."

"You guys keep watch."

"I’m taking a leak."

The pirate captain spat on the ground before walking over to a withered dead tree and beginning to relieve himself.

Several pirates stood nearby, pretending to keep watch.

A cold wind swept through the darkness.

"Which one of you bastards just touched my head?"

The pirate captain felt something brush across the top of his head.

Annoyed, he turned around.

His subordinates all looked equally confused.

"Not me, Captain."

"I don’t want you kicking my ass."

"I swear on my one remaining eye."

"It wasn’t me either."

"Strange..."

The pirate captain frowned before suddenly saying,

"Wait."

"Look up."

One of the pirates immediately raised his torch.

The moment the firelight illuminated the darkness overhead, they froze.

A grayish-purple humanoid creature floated silently in the air as though swimming through invisible water.

A crimson inverted Holy Light symbol glowed upon its forehead.

The torchlight seemed to trigger something.

The creature suddenly opened its crimson eyes.

With savage speed, it dove downward.

It tackled the pirate holding the torch, ripped his heart out with a single claw, and began devouring it on the spot.

"Enemy attack!"

"Form ranks immediately!"

"Watch both the ceiling and the puddles!"

At the same time, Phield’s warning echoed throughout the mausoleum.

"Ah! Demons!"

The pirates screamed in terror.

It was as though the torchlight had become a signal.

Every illuminated area suddenly filled with rapidly moving figures.

Within the darkness, countless pairs of crimson eyes snapped open.

Large numbers of purple demonspawn appeared as though out of thin air, charging toward them in endless waves.

There were simply too many to count.

Only the sea of moving heads could be seen.

"Infantry, form ranks!"

"Protect the archers and mages in the center!"

Phield shouted at the top of his lungs.

When no one responded, he finally remembered...

He hadn’t brought his own soldiers into the ruins.

"Damn it."

"That’s awkward."

"They’re demonspawn."

Farlo identified them instantly.

"Pitiful humans corrupted by demonic energy."

The pirates and bandits became the first to engage the enemy.

With no coordination whatsoever, they relied purely on brute courage, wildly hacking away with swords, axes, and even ridiculous little daggers.

The demonspawn charged forward in a frenzy.

Their claws instantly tore more than a dozen pirates to pieces.

"Help!"

"Our weapons can’t even hurt them!"

"I want my mother!"

"I don’t want treasure anymore!"

The pirates might have been capable of robbing defenseless villagers.

On an actual battlefield, however, they collapsed almost immediately.

While fleeing, many even shoved their own companions aside.

One unfortunate adventurer was stabbed to death by a panicked pirate simply because he blocked the escape route.

"I knew those pieces of trash couldn’t be relied upon."

Riemann finally demonstrated why he was a fleet commander.

"Navy!"

"Form ranks!"

"Marianne!"

"Shelley!"

"Protect both flanks!"

"Everyone, fall back to my position!"

Although the sailors weren’t skilled at fighting on land, they immediately stabilized the frontline after raising their shields and donning leather armor.

They bought everyone precious time to recover.

"Twilight Knights!"

"Form up!"

Farlo roared as she summoned her Divine Artifact.

"For justice!"

"Slaughter every demon!"

A pale slash tore through the darkness.

Dozens of demonspawn were instantly reduced to shattered pieces.

The heavily armored warriors planted their feet firmly, gripping their war hammers.

"What incredible combat power."

Phield nodded inwardly.

He also noticed that Farlo had two companions.

They were most likely Divine Chosen as well.

"Merfolk."

"For the future of the Sea Folk."

Contily, the usually low-profile Divine Chosen, remained dressed in her blue robes as she organized the merfolk into a defensive formation.

"My lord."

Tisiana’s eyes blazed with fighting spirit.

"It’s our turn now."