The two mercenaries had accepted their fate. The world around them was the very picture of hell. They had gone through hell countless times before, but none of those encounters compared to the carnage before them now.
“What’d I do...to deserve this...?” Olga wheezed, sputtering blood. “Can’t believe...your ugly mug’s...the last thing I’ll get to see.”
“Oh...shut it...you...” Gildo shot back, though his intrepid smile never wavered.
Before long, even stringing words together became too much. A frozen mountain of nearly two hundred monsters loomed next to them. Even in their pain, with blood gushing from their wounds, they would have fought on—but the miasma enveloping the town had severely worn them down, both physically and mentally.
Yet as the two gritted their teeth, determined to take down as many monsters as they could, a blinding flash seared the landscape.
“What?!”
Both mercenaries fell speechless. They had seen such radiance only once before, when three holy mages wielded the most powerful light magic to exterminate rampaging monsters. Dead monsters could be purified in various ways—through prayers from local churches, by ordinary mages, or, in the worst case, by outright incineration. Living monsters, however, were a far greater challenge. It took the best holy mages to eradicate them, and the odds of even one being in town were slim to none.
“Graaaaaaghhh!!!”
As the monsters burned in holy light, caught in their death throes, their screams sounded nothing like those of humans or animals. The horrid noise that would have shaken most people to the core contrasted sharply with the vivid, almost dreamlike particles of light dancing through the air.
Monsters that had barely escaped the light bellowed, baring their fangs at something unseen. Some drooled corrosive saliva that burned through everything it touched, while others emitted a lethal mist. In the nick of time, Olga raised a barrier of ice around herself and Gildo, deflecting a gout of dark-purple flame that reeked of brimstone.
The light weakened for a moment, and the monsters seized their chance. As one, they bounded toward the source of their ire, only to stumble as the already shattered ground rose beneath them. More monsters appeared, unlike any before, and crushed their staggered allies underfoot. Their chilling howls filled the air.
“They...called for backup!” Gildo shouted.
Miasma churned in a writhing tornado. A cavity had opened near the town’s center, and the monsters that had emerged from it were larger than those from the surface. The pulsing veins across their bodies glowed a sinister purple.
With the exorcism’s light gone, the new monsters almost grinned in triumph. Cold sweat ran in rivulets down Gildo’s and Olga’s cheeks. They had never faced foes so powerful, and the pressure bearing down on them was overwhelming.
The hole at the center of the miasma closed as quickly as it had opened. No new monsters would arrive, it seemed, but neither could they rely on another exorcism. The two mercenaries had faced desolation many times since the start of the swarm, yet never so keenly. They had glimpsed hope, only to be plunged deeper into despair than ever before.
Even as they accepted their demise, Gildo and Olga leveled the monsters with ferocious glares, determined to stare down their foes until the bitter end. But the ground shifted again, this time rising around the monsters in the shape of a jar. Its walls seized the flying creatures and pulled them into its depths along with the rest.
Olga gaped at the inconceivable sight. She had faced many battles, but never had she witnessed such an elaborate spell. Its intensity was rivaled only by its precision.
The ground soon leveled out, but the monsters couldn’t move—their legs were sealed in stone. They writhed, struggling to break free, only to topple over pitifully. Those accustomed to flight scrambled even more desperately.
Then the light reappeared, even more powerful than before. It enveloped the monsters, and the world turned white. Gildo and Olga tried to shield their eyes, but the radiance bled through their eyelids.
When the flash faded and they could finally see again, Olga looked around and gulped. “The monsters are...gone?” On the bloodstained streets and among the rubble, only human and animal corpses remained.
“Impossible...” Gildo muttered, staring in blank amazement. Not even the holy mages’ magic had been strong enough to erase the monsters’ corpses. Even if the caster had combined exorcism and purification spells, the result was too extraordinary to believe.
“What happened...?” Olga asked, slowly rising to her feet. Not only could she move, but the miasma had been cleansed from her body, leaving only exhaustion and the ache of her wounds.
Gildo prodded her arm. “Hey, check that out.”
Olga followed his finger, and what she saw took her completely by surprise. A girl lay collapsed under the rubble, dressed in plain but high-quality clothes. Her satiny silver hair rested in a pool of blood.
Immediately, Olga rushed to the girl and pulled her from the debris. Gildo leaned over his companion’s shoulder for a better look.
“She dead?” he asked. “Can’t see any serious wounds on her.”
“No, she has a pulse. I think she’s just unconscious. Her mana seems depleted.”
“For real? Where the hell did she even come from?”
Gildo straightened and scanned the area, but he found no clues. Olga carefully lifted the girl, who was fast asleep and showed no signs of waking anytime soon.
“Who knows?” the female mercenary replied. “At the very least, she wasn’t here before the exorcism’s light appeared.”