Under the night sky, an army consisting of ten thousand strong marched toward Denia City. 

They are the third division of the imperial army responsible for guarding the northern region's triangle defense between Denia, Night, and Free city.

A few days ago, they got an order to get ready for battle. Therefore, they were able to advance swiftly upon receiving a signal asking for reinforcement.

Half of them were already on the outer side of Denia, ready to enter whenever needed.

"May God grace you. Long life Empire!"

"Long life Empire."

At the supreme commander's tent, the old general just finished talking to an important guest.

The guest asking, no, ordered his massive army to serve as a cover for a group of knights who moved stealthily from Denia to Musha Highland.

"It is my first time to see a supreme judge," said one of the army commanders.

"They indeed are a rare sight. Seeing the supreme judge must mean that the situation is dire," said the old general. "How is the army?"

"Sir, six thousand strong already arrived," reported the general adjutant.

"Good. Inform soldiers who are still on the way to slow down their advances… Let's enter the city, shall we?"

"Sir, yes, Sir!"

****

"Isn't this bad?"

"Not just bad, Commandant. It's the worst possible outcome."

Inside the city, soldiers were busy evacuating the surrounding area of the city square. Whilst a four-layered encirclement consisting of 500 Knights of Special Forces and 2000 city guards already formed around the circus tent. 

Not so long after the Judgement Unit entered the tent, a massive explosion occurred and shattered the giant tent to ashes.

The fate of the knights trapped inside was unknown. However, nobody had time to worry about them because immediately after that, strange creatures started to appear from the tent's ashes. 

"My beloved adjutant, do you know what that is?"

"No, I don't."

"Useless."

"Indeed I am."

One of those strange creatures, a gigantic horse, charged toward them. Its jet-black body was nearly four meters long. Above his back were hundreds of eyes peeking out in all directions.

"Oi, oi, it charges toward us! Useless adjutant, do something!"

"No, no, no. This useless person can't do anything. Please do something instead, Commandant."

"Tch."

The commandant rushed towards the horse creature. In the final moments, before they crashed, the commandant dodges some steps aside and then performs a clean vertical slash.

The monster cried in agony. Commandant's attack resulted in a very deep wound, but that was not enough to stop the monster.

"Now it's your turn!"

"Troublesome..."

Contrary to his complaints, the right hand was also running towards the monster just like his superior. Then, he jumps and performs acrobatic moves in the air.

[God of War Technique, Sword Styles: 3rd Movement]

In a blink of an eye, dozens of slashes formed on the monster's body, mercilessly taking its life.

The adjutant landed gracefully before finally putting his sword back where it belonged.

"Kya! So cool," mocked the commandant.

"So childish."

From the corpse of the horse creature, a black mist emerged and enveloped its entire body. The mist seemed like strong acid that devoured the monster's body until nothing remained.

"I see. So it's a nightmare."

"Ah! Nightmare you say? So all of this is just my fever dream? I see I see."

The right hand facepalmed. There are a lot of things wrong with his superior statement but he is just too lazy to fix it. 

"That's right. I am not real, they all aren't real either. We are none other than your imagination. So rampage as you please… just remember to not harm our side."

"Kuahaha! Good! It has been so long since I can release all of my frustration.  Let's start with that giant slime!"

Another strange creature is the black slime monster, which varies from three to five meters in size. Its core is twice the size of a basketball while the rest of its body is highly corrosive slime. 

If you want to kill it, you must destroy its core. Most knights had a hard time dealing with it because their attack couldn't reach its core.

Of course, this monster is still no match for our commandant.

"Hiya! Hiya! Hiya! Hiya!"

The Commander's sword swing was so powerful that he only needed a single blow to shatter the slime's core, yet he still struck it over and over again even though the slime was already dead.

"You guys over there, be careful! Don't get too close to that rampaged ogre."

"I heard you!"

After that, the Commander rampages all over the battlefield just like a bloodthirsty ogre.

Of course, the monsters aren't weak. It's just that the commandant is too strong. In reality, for other soldiers, nightmares were challenging opponents.

According to the Adventurer Alliance monster guidebook, nightmares are classified as B-rank monsters. Luckily for them, for some reason, this batch of nightmares was very weakened.

Besides slime and horse creatures, there were also giant crabs, tentacled humanoids, and cicadas. The common thing is their enormous body and pitch black color.

A fierce battle ensued. The adjutant is also getting serious.

[God of War Technique, Sword Style: 2nd Movement]

He created 25 purple swords and slaughtered the nightmares that stood in his way. 

Still, fatigue was starting to build upon him.  His movements became progressively slower and duller.

When his death count reached 10, he stopped to calm his unstable mind and body.

He then observed his surroundings.

A knight tries to stop a horse creature's charge but turns into stone before being crushed to pieces. The slightly stalled horse was then tied up in chains by the other knights. 

No matter how hard the monster struggled, the chains couldn't be released. Until finally it was bombed by artillery and ended its short life.

The slime was the most troublesome. To defeat it, a group of magicians worked together to make a big hole and then bury them alive. If they somehow managed to survive, well, just think about it when the time has come.

The cicadas were the second most troublesome because they can fly away from encirclement. The only option they have is to bombard with artillery as soon as possible, though there is a high possibility of friendly fire. Regardless, it was a sacrifice they were willing to make. 

Another group of knights tried to kill the tentacled monsters. It was like a giant human but instead of a hand or leg, it had a tentacle. Basically, it was the strongest among other creatures in terms of raw strength.

The knights managed to corner that monster but suddenly, a vanguard mysteriously disappeared in the thin air. This makes a big gap in their formation. 

The tentacled creature didn't waste this opportunity and crushed to death two other vanguards who were trying to retreat. 

The surviving knight was in a state of panic. 

"What on the earth..."

The adjutant tried to help but was hindered by the distance. With his exhausted body, it was practically impossible to cover so much distance in an instant.

The tentacled creature begins its counterattack, or it should be. Its enormous body suddenly fell to the ground. A giant hole was created on its back. The culprit was,

"Cody!"

The adjutant who had just arrived shouted his name. He was the Vice Captain of the Judgment Unit, Cody.

His hair became curly while his clothes were torn apart. It's a good thing he survived.

 

"The situation is a bit worrying, eh."

"Glad you're safe. What about the others?"

"Many dead, many badly injured."

Cody pointed his finger, creating the lightning spark in that direction. The lightning pierced empty space before stopping after killing its target, the culprit behind the knight's disappearance. Upon death, the creature revealed itself before finally evaporating into the empty air.

Its body is ten meters long with some large spike on its back. Let's call it a chameleon creature.

"Oh, yeah. Captain is after Blackjack."

"Shouldn't you stop her?"

"She will be fine. There is practically no one who can beat her up unless someone like Estarossa appears."

"Hm, you have a point there-"

"ORDER FROM HEADQUARTER! ALL SOLDIERS ON THE BATTLEFIELD SLOWLY RETREAT! THIRD DIVISION ARMY WILL TAKE OVER FROM HERE! ORDERS FROM HEADQUARTER...."

"Finally, they arrive."

"Huft, let's rest for a bit."

Following the orders, the third division army began to replace exhausted soldiers.

Cody and the Adjutant also retreated towards headquarters. Of course, they didn't forget to warn the bloodthirst ogre who was still going on a rampage.

"Commandant, time for dinner… he doesn't listen. Whatever."

However, at that time,

AAAaAaaAAaaaaAaAAA!!!

The horror scream spread to every corner of Denia, bringing everyone into terror. 

As a result, the encirclement that they were desperately trying to hold down finally collapsed.