The fight between mankind and the Demon Blight had been going on sporadically throughout history. If you went back to the very first war in ancient times and counted up, this would be the fourth such conflict—officially known as the Fourth War of Subjugation.

The first Demon Blight outbreak of the current wave was discovered a little over twenty years ago, deep within the mountains of a newly developing region far to the west. It was known as the Serpent.

This name stemmed from rumored sightings of a giant snake among the residents of a nearby settlement, and with the appearance of this snake, all hell broke loose. Attacks on humans weren’t the only problem. The trees in the forest grew twisted and warped, small animals and insects transformed into monsters, and the land began to rot. Those bitten by the snake died, only for their corpses to rise and attack the settlement at the foot of the mountain.

But reports of these events were disregarded as tall tales and backwoods gossip. Even the Verkle Development Corporation’s newspaper all but ignored them. When they heard that multiple villages had been destroyed, people dismissed it as merely an exaggeration.

The Third War of Subjugation had ended more than four hundred years ago, and many didn’t even believe it was real. They thought the Demon Blight existed only in the tales of wandering minstrels and storytellers.

And so they were late to react.

Only after the mayhem really started to spread did the Holy Knights take action, forced to destroy an entire mountain with a scorched terrain seal. And even this was ultimately treated as mere rumor—or at best, something happening far away that no one needed to worry about. Some laughed it off as overblown hearsay.

By the time they discovered it was all true, it was too late. The Demon Blight had already emerged in multiple locations and begun expanding with blinding speed.

That was how humans lost half of their habitat—and how we ended up here.

***

I could see shadows jumping in the depths of the darkness. This was the distinctive movement of faeries known as fuathan. They were extremely vicious creatures.

Actually, that was something all faeries had in common: They would indiscriminately attack any other living thing in sight. I didn’t know why, but according to Temple scholars, they were like manifestations of each creature’s nightmares. I couldn’t make heads or tails of that, but their appearance and ecology were certainly the stuff of bad dreams.

That’s why I had to dispose of them as quickly as possible, before they slaughtered the rest of the Holy Knights clinging to life in front of us.

Yeah, forget about the goddess for now. Don’t let her distract you.

Right now, I had to focus on one thing: fighting.

“Dotta!”

I pulled a knife from my belt and gripped it with my right hand. The sacred seal on my palm gradually warmed, streaming power into the blade.

“Follow my lead. Where are the faeries densest? We’ll strike there to get the enemy’s attention.”

“Can’t say I’m too excited about this…”

Dotta seemed a little frightened, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me. I had already decided how we would do this. If we wanted to help the Holy Knights retreat, then we were going to have to pull off one hell of a diversion.

“Ten o’clock, one fingerbreadth toward nine.” He groaned, gazing into his spyglass. “And the densest spot seems to be…around thirty-seven steps from here.”

Dotta may have had good night vision, but this feat required more than just his eyesight. He had what you might call a bizarre sixth sense. His fear seemed to have made him incredibly sensitive to the presence of other living creatures, and he was unbelievably accurate in measuring the distance between himself and any such target.

“…Ah, I see.”

Just when I’d finally managed to forget about her, I heard the goddess’s voice.

“The scrawny man has exceptional eyesight.”

What a rude thing to say about Dotta, I thought as she took a step out ahead of me.

“Now, my knight,” she continued, “what is our strategy to win the battle?”

“Uh, Xylo?” said Dotta. “She’s, uh…”

“Huh? Oh…”

I wasn’t sure how to answer as Dotta turned a troubled gaze on me. This was bad. Really bad. A goddess was talking to me. I had to be careful about what I said.

“You mean those puny faeries…?” I began. “Well…”

We shouldn’t use her powers carelessly. I was well aware of that.

“We… We couldn’t possibly borrow your mighty power for such a small task. Just, uh, stand over there and watch over us.”

“Oh my. Modest, aren’t we?” She was clearly pleased. “But there is no need to be shy. You may depend on me. Allow me to show you my might.”

“No, I’m not being shy. I—”

I began searching for the right words to turn her down, but it wouldn’t be so easy.

“Xylo, we’re in trouble,” Dotta said, voice trembling. “One of the faeries noticed us!”

“Dammit,” I cursed. But what the hell? Bring it on.

“What are we gonna do, Xylo?”

“We’re fine.”

I thrust my knife into the air, then swung my arm, launching the weapon straight forward like an arrow. It ripped through the air and struck its target like a bullet.

A brief flash of light illuminated the darkness.

Then an explosive roar.

A massive quantity of heat gushed forth, ripping apart each tree, rock, clump of soil, and fuath in the blast. I could feel the air pressure even at a distance. But this was actually a low-level blast. If necessary, I could unleash enough power to reduce a small house to ash. This time my attack had a blast radius only wide enough to take out something like a carriage.

Incidentally, the blast didn’t come from the knife, but the sacred seal on my palm. It was something I’d used in my previous occupation. All but two of my sacred seals were rendered useless when I was sentenced to be a hero, and this was one of the two I had left.

This seal of heat and light’s official product name was Zatte Finde, which supposedly meant “big candy” in the ancient kingdom’s language. It was a cutting-edge tool used to battle the Demon Blight, and it allowed you to transmit the seal’s power into an object and transform it into a powerful destructive force.

It was kind of like a flashy firecracker you could throw.

“We’ve got their attention now. All according to plan,” I said, feigning calm. Panicking would only cause Dotta to run away.

“I-is everything really working out?”

“Damn right it is.”

It was obvious that the fuathan were in chaos after the blast. In the wake of the sudden strike, they were having a hard time gauging how much of a threat we posed. They were now clearly more focused on us than the soldiers forming a circle.

I glared back at them, already sliding down the slope.

“Dotta, spray ’em with bullets! Once you’re done, run in! Don’t fall behind and don’t forget to bring the goddess!”

Dotta took a short staff out of his belt and held it up at eye level.

“I feel like I’m gonna throw up…,” he said, tightening his grip on the staff. A sacred seal was carved into the weapon.

This thunder staff, an outmoded product named Hilke, was created by the Verkle Development Corporation long ago. According to the sales pitch, its sacred seal gave it the power to unleash bolts of lightning difficult to both dodge and defend against. It took quite a bit of skill to aim, making it only a little better than a crossbow.

And Dotta was no expert.

While he had excellent eyesight and was quick to sense an enemy’s presence, he lacked the talent needed to control sacred seals. But even his limited skill could be of use depending on the situation. Like when a horde of faeries all rushed in to attack at once.

A bolt of lightning flew out from the tip of the staff, accompanied by the sound of cracking metal. At the same time, one of the fuath’s heads went flying, chunks of flesh going every which way and drawing even more of the enemy’s attention.

“Ah! I hit one!” said Dotta, sounding pleased. “Xylo, did you see that?! I hit it!”

“With this many, I’d be more impressed if you missed. Now keep backing me up! And don’t even think about hitting me, or you’re dead!”

I flew through the trees, grazing them as I went, and plunged into the middle of a group of fuathan.

“Out of my way,” I spat, stepping into a marsh of blood, flesh, and filth. After activating my sacred seal, I threw another knife and took out two fuathan at once—drawing their attention much more effectively than any verbal introduction. Another blinding ray of light was followed by an explosion and the grating cries of our enemies—and complaints from Dotta, of course.

“Um, sorry. It takes a ton of effort not to hit you…”

Hmph. Pretty cocky thing to say for someone with zero skill. He couldn’t hit me if he tried.

“Just keep shooting and don’t stop!” I yelled back. He probably heard me.

A few more bolts of lightning soared through the air as I kept running, throwing my knives. Soon we’d made quick work of every last faerie. Kicking burnt hunks of monster flesh out of my way, I called out to the surviving soldiers.

“Hey! You guys still alive?”

There were even less of them now—around ten. Barely even enough to form a circle.

“You’re…”

One of them—so young he still looked like a boy—stared at me. Or rather, he stared at the sacred seal on my neck.

“…You’re one of the penal heroes? What are you doing here…?!”