Chapter 101: Demons Dancing in Chaos, Horn of Counterattack

The emergence of a Purgatory Worm within the city walls signaled that far more formidable demons had arrived, and it served as a grim proclamation: the standard lines of defense had failed. The entire royal capital was now forced into the fray; no one could remain a bystander.

Near the distant Gate of Hell, creatures with blood-red carapaces and horned, massive heads, propelled by short, thick, powerful legs, shook their skulls as they marched from the ramparts into the heart of the city. These were Bull-Demons—fiends possessing terrifying frontal defenses, immense destructive power, and startling speed.

The intensity of the battle escalated, and there was no doubt that the mounting casualties would soon plague this city, now spiraling into chaos.

"Rumble." The ground began to tremor, and the citizens of the capital, still oblivious to the gravity of the situation, looked on in confusion at the buildings swaying and shuddering around them.

"What’s going on?" a street vendor asked his companion, puzzled.

"Who knows? Maybe it’s some heavy war machinery from the kingdom," the companion replied, shaking his head before returning to his hawking. It was a perfect opportunity to turn a profit, especially since the city guards who usually kept them in check were nowhere to be found.

The residents of the capital failed to grasp the severity of the crisis; they felt a profound sense of detachment from the hellish invasion.

Peace had reigned in the capital for too long. To these people, even though alchemical bird-constructs had flown overhead earlier broadcasting news of the invasion, they refused to believe that any demon could pierce through the labyrinth of buildings to reach them.

In truth, most demons lacked the ability to bypass such dense obstacles to reach the inner city, but the Purgatory Worm was one of the few that could.

"Rumble, crack." A building that appeared to be a spire suddenly burst apart. The gargantuan worm erupted from the foundation, pulverizing the structure with effortless destruction, swallowing the people inside in a single gulp, and then leaping high from the ruins.

Mid-air, the Purgatory Worm adjusted its trajectory, slamming down into the crowd of petrified onlookers. Its serrated maw snapped shut, easily grinding the commoners into a pulp of flesh and bone.

Leaving behind a massive crater filled with gore and blood, the worm vanished back into the earth, preparing for its next bloody hunt.

"Aaaah! What, what is happening?!"

"Demons! Demons! How did they get here? The front lines—why didn't the front lines stop them? Run, run for your lives!"

The crowd was consumed by chaos and panic. Only when blood and death manifested before their very eyes did they begin to realize the true horror of their situation.

The frantic masses surged without order or direction. Where the worm had destroyed the path, escape became impossible, and the narrowing corridors led to crushing collisions.

Some fell, and those behind them, devoid of mercy or hesitation, trampled over the bodies of the fallen. The terrified screams of the dying were drowned out by the cacophony of the panicked mob.

Those who fell reached out their hands before losing consciousness, grasping at anything, causing others to trip and repeat the cycle of misery.

Death only fueled the chaos; the stampede intensified the congestion, trapping thousands in the narrow streets, and the scent of blood drew the Purgatory Worm once more...

The earth vibrated. The crowd seemed to sense the impending doom, struggling even more frantically to escape, but the panic only paralyzed them further. They were locked together, hindering one another, and in the next heartbeat, the Purgatory Worm burst from the soil...

The dense throng was torn asunder by the massive beast, and the tightly packed masses were swallowed whole by the colossal maw.

Severed limbs flew, blood sprayed, and this was only the result of the worm’s emergence. When its massive body crashed down, another swathe of people was crushed into paste by its heavy, armored frame.

The street had become a bloody purgatory, and this was but one corner of the capital. The invasion of the Purgatory Worms was spreading throughout the city, moving inward from the Gate of Hell. Buildings collapsed, the ground caved in, and residents were mercilessly devoured.

These semi-elemental demons, composed primarily of fire and earth, could turn elemental to travel freely underground, solidifying only when necessary to burst forth and use their immense physical strength to crush their prey.

They were the natural bane of architecture and defenses. The tragedy escalated as they spread, and closer to the Gate of Hell, the city guards holding the line faced their own new trial.

Adaptive barriers had blocked the Winged Demons, rendering those hellish creatures a temporary non-threat, but the Bull-Demons—a higher tier of hellspawn—had already breached the front lines.

"Hold them! Hold them back! Don't let them break through!"

"It’s no use! The shields can't take it! Even a heavy infantryman loses all ability to resist once struck!"

The soldiers had no effective counter for these rampaging Bull-Demons; their strength was absurd, and even a formal knight could not withstand a direct charge.

These guards, whose strength hovered between high-tier knight apprentices and mid-tier squires, were defenseless against the charging beasts.

When a raging Bull-Demon lowered its armored head and charged like a maddened bull into the ranks, any attempt to stand one's ground was tantamount to suicide.

The broken shields, twisted arms, and corpses with chests caved in and blood streaming from every orifice beneath the collapsed walls were a testament to the fate of those who tried to block them.

Even in heavy armor with a shield, one was powerless. One soldier, clad in full plate, jammed his tower shield into the ground, braced his shoulder against it, and gritted his teeth, facing the oncoming beast.

Behind him, the support squad was evacuating the wounded. If he did not hold the line, those helping the fallen would be crushed into mangled corpses by the frenzied demon.

"Aaaaaaaah!" The soldier let out a roar of primal fear. He knew his fate, yet he could not retreat. Veins bulged on his forehead; the demon was upon him, the horns on its armored brow inches from his shield.

In this final moment, the soldier found a strange calm. Adrenaline flooded his system, washing away the terror, leaving only fury and resolve in his roar.

"Boom!" The Bull-Demon slammed into the thick tower shield. The sturdy metal failed to withstand the sheer force of the charge.

"Crack, clang!" The sound of snapping bone came from the soldier’s own arms; they could not bear the impact, and the force shattered his skeleton.

Almost simultaneously, the sound of metal shearing echoed as the tower shield was snapped in two. The demon’s momentum carried it through the metal, slamming into the soldier’s body.

"Clang!" Metal struck metal. The demon’s armored head smashed into the soldier’s breastplate. The armor buckled just as the shield had, and the soldier was sent flying, his heavy frame weightless as he was launched backward.

"Thud!" He slammed into a wall, bricks crumbling as he left an indentation. Blood spilled from his lips and nostrils.

Perhaps it was the strength of a final, desperate burst; the soldier was "only" left with broken arms, a cracked sternum, and internal hemorrhaging. He had not lost consciousness or died outright—a mercy compared to those who had been torn in half.

"Cough... come again," he spat out a mouthful of blood, a difficult, mocking smile tugging at his lips as he looked at the Bull-Demon, which was shaking its head, momentarily dazed by the impact.

"I’m a tough bastard," he thought, a strange, grim pride surfacing despite the agony. For a common soldier, stopping a Bull-Demon’s charge was indeed a feat worth boasting about.

"Hiss... puff..." The demon shook its head, clearing the daze from its dim-witted brain. It ignored the soldier, turning its gaze instead toward the support squad still evacuating the wounded.

"Click, click." Its short, thick hind legs dug into the ground, kicking up dust—the prelude to another charge. The soldier’s defiance had been in vain.

"Damn it! Come at me, you son of a bitch! Why are you looking there? Come at me!" The soldier’s resolve tightened; he hadn't expected the demon to ignore him entirely.

"No, this can't be!" He struggled to sit up, but his injuries rendered him unable to support his own armor.

His eyes bulged, bloodshot, fixed on the demon preparing to charge the support squad. If he couldn't stop this, what had his sacrifice meant? His final stand would be a joke.

But he could not muster a second burst. His body had reached its limit. He could only watch as the demon accelerated toward the terrified support soldiers.

"Aaaaaah!" The soldier roared in frustration. The demon began its charge, but midway, an arrow trailing a verdant light of magic pierced the soft tissue behind the demon’s head.

The Bull-Demon stumbled, lost its balance, and its massive head slammed into the ground, sliding until it smashed through a nearby house.

The soldier turned his gaze to the rooftop. An Elven Ranger stood there, her longbow still shimmering with residual magic. It was Wenna, an acquaintance of Wang Yu; her arrow had finished the beast.

"Hah!" From another direction, a dwarf clad in absurdly thick armor slammed a hammer into the skull of an oncoming Bull-Demon. A flash of thunderous light erupted; the dwarf was sent flying into a shop, but the demon stopped dead. Its thick cranial armor cracked and then exploded, its brain matter turned to pulp by the impact.

"Haha! That’s the stuff!" The dwarf leaped from the ruins, shouting with glee as he charged toward the other demons ravaging the street.

Across the city, figures emerged from nowhere, dealing with the demons in their own ways. Humans, dwarves, elves, orcs—they had no formation, no discipline, only their own methods of slaughter.

They were the professionals of the capital: mercenaries, adventurers, guild members—all unregistered, yet a vital part of the city’s strength. With the main guard force at the front and the Night Blades unable to intervene, these people—drawn to the capital by wealth, resources, or other reasons—had become the city’s strongest line of defense.

...

"Clip-clop." Horses clad in gold-red armor galloped through the streets. The knights, mages, clerics, and rangers riding them all bore the royal insignia. The Royal Guard had arrived.

Ahead of the cavalry, the ground shook. A Purgatory Worm, drawn by the vitality of these soldiers, burst from the earth and leaped toward the formation.

Without a moment’s hesitation, the horses, unfazed, charged straight at the worm.

"Boom, boom, boom." The mages in the ranks flicked their staves, and massive fireballs materialized in the worm’s path. The explosion forced the creature’s massive body to recoil mid-air.

The next moment, the horses surged beneath the falling worm. The lead knight drew a greatsword as tall as a man, sweeping it in an arc. Douqi surged through the blade, transforming into a brilliant crescent of light that sliced through the worm’s body.

"Boom." The worm’s armored shell was useless; it was cleaved like butter. The two halves of the carcass crashed on either side of the formation. The horses leaped over the crater, the demon having failed to delay the Royal Guard for even a second.

"Academy, test strike, phase one, fire," the lead knight said, sheathing his sword. He glanced through his visor toward the Gate of Hell and pulled out a small crystal prism.

"Acknowledged."

The next instant, a dazzling beam of light erupted from the Stevenson Academy of Magic, piercing the sky and striking the Gate of Hell above the ramparts. A massive explosion swept across the entire wall.

(Fifty thousand words already, without realizing it. How wonderful. Please, leave a comment. Your reading is what gives me the motivation and joy to keep writing, forever and ever. Thank you, hahahahaha.)