On a usual afternoon in Port Lane, nearly a hundred outsiders entered the town.

"Hmm."

The man in the lead, with wide shoulders, looked around the town with his hands behind his back. His gaze soon turned to the cliff bordering the town.

"That's a good place."

"I will escort you."

After the whole group came up to the place where the man pointed, they all nodded. From the rock, which looked like a dragon’s head, you could see the town and the sea in front in a single glance.

"You have selected a good position."

"It is a great position to lead the group."

At his subordinate’s flattery, he didn’t even show any happiness and simply gave them orders. "Set up the camp and gather only the Squadron members in the barracks.”

"Yes!"

"Hey, why aren't you moving? He wants us to set up the camp.”

Two barracks were set up in an instant as the fiends moved busily. When the leader entered the barracks, seventeen fiends followed him in.

"Hmm."

The man sitting on a chair installed in the barracks looked forward and saw ten fiends standing in attention with good posture following military discipline. By comparison, the other seven fiends seemed quite leisurely.

Tsk.

The man clicked his tongue and said, "Did Gu Shi-On mess up his subordinates’ discipline? They’re a mess, starting with their postures.”

“...”

The seven fiends’ eyes trembled when they heard their superior curse at them directly to their faces. But they couldn't growl back as usual. The man who spoke to them sarcastically was Pride, the leader of the Pride Squadron.

‘He’s someone at the level of Gu Shi-On-nim, the leader of our Despair Squadron...’

'No one can stand up to him here.’

‘It's best to stand down at times like this.’

Disregarding the fact that they belonged to different Squadrons, the man in front of them was strong.

"I am sorry."

"We will correct it."

As they glanced to the side, they also stood at attention. Pride then finally nodded contentedly. "Since our Pride Squadron is in charge of this operation, I hope you guys will follow my lead."

"…Yes."

"I understand."

In fact, it was an operation led by the Despair Squadron rather than the Pride Squadron, but they couldn't even say anything. Although the chances of him laying hands on them were low, since they were from different Squadrons, they still didn’t want to risk their lives.

"You guys know what you have to do today, right?”

"Yes."

"Take it out."

The Despair Squadron members hesitated at the order. What he ordered them to take out was something that would be carefully handled even by the Fiend Association. Naturally, it was prohibited for it to be taken outside, and more so for it to be shown.

"You guys are too slow."

When Pride frowned and showed signs of discomfort, one of the fiends eventually pulled out a box. It was a small luxurious box like one that would contain a necklace.

"Hooo..."

When Pride checked the contents, his eyes sparkled. Despite being a leader of a Squadron, it was his first time seeing this thing. Handling this was a mission assigned to the Despair Squadron in the first place.

"So this is the demon jade?"

It was a murky marble as if it contained all the negative energy and chaos in the world. Ironically, the dirty and disgusting marble constantly shook the onlooker's heart.

"It's beautiful."

The Despair Squadron members freaked out when Pride unknowingly grabbed the demon jade.

"Don't touch it! It's dangerous!"

"Hut." He smirked as he spun the marble. "Did you think I was going to get done in by something of this low quality that only affects monsters?"

"T-That's not it, but... It's an order from Citrin-nim. We were told not to touch it except when putting it in."

“…”

Unlike Gu Shi-On, Valencia Citrin was someone even Pride couldn’t treat recklessly. She was an executive of the Fiend Association and an overwhelming powerhouse of the Nine Heavens.

"I was just looking at it for a moment. Just looking." He put the demon jade back in the box, returned it, and asked, "So, what am I supposed to do with this fake demon blood?”

"Implant it into a monster and it’s done. But before that, you must suppress the monster."

"Suppress..."

Pride spun his chair around, crept up the tent of the barracks, and looked at the sea. The monster they were going to subdue today was currently residing in that huge body of water.

"Well, that's why we're here, so don't worry."

"Thank you for your help."

"When is he going to appear?"

"In about three hours…"

"Three hours.” Checking his watch, Pride finally got out of his seat. "Fuze."

"Yes, Squadron Leader."

"Freeze it."

"How many hours should I maintain it?"

"Five." Pride replied by extending five fingers, "For five hours from now, no one can enter the town without my permission."

Conversely, no one could go out either.

***

"Hmm?"

The mailman Popo tilted his head. He tried to leave the town to deliver a letter to the neighboring town, but funnily enough, it seemed that he couldn't leave.

"What? Did I drink too much last night?"

A transparent wall touched his hand, blocking him from going out.

"Hey, Popo. Why aren’t you going out?"

"Henson..."

When the guard Henson approached and asked, Popo explained.

"What? A transparent wall? Haha! Man, you must have drank too much last night."

Hearing the absurd story, Henson approached Popo. But as soon as his rough hand reached over, his expression showed confusion.

"What the hell is this?"

"That's what I want to ask. I have a pile of letters to deliver before lunch today."

Soon after hearing the news, Port Lane's security chief approached Port Lane's Knight Commander.

"A transparent wall?"

"Yes, Sir Trevor. Here it is."

“…” The Knight Commander Trevor touched the transparent wall and nodded. "This side is also blocked...”

"Huh? This side too…? What do you mean?”

"The other side is blocked, too. Not only overland routes but also sea routes are blocked by walls across a certain area. I'm on my way back from checking.”

"What kind of madman did this?”

"The important thing now is not who did this," Trevor murmured with a grave look. "Why? The reason why this occurred is the key."

“...”

Not only humans but horses and dogs couldn’t go out either. It was also impossible to come over from the other side of the wall. The knight and the guard wore stiff expressions when they realized the seriousness of the situation.

"What should we do?”

"Henson, is the town's emergency loudspeaker still functioning?"

"Of course. If you use the loudspeaker built for monsters or pirate invasion, you can spread your message throughout the town."

"Let all the residents know right now to gather in the emergency shelter."

“I understand..."

Saying so, Trevor ran to the lord's residence. It was to protect the lord and his family.

"Argh!"

"Why, why are you doing this?"

However, a scream he heard while passing through the alley made him stop. The subordinate knights reached for their swords.

"Leader."

"We’ll quickly deal with this and go. Come with me."

Trevor led the knights and entered the alleyway. There was a frightened mother holding her young daughter in her arms. The man assumed to be the father had his arms extended and was guarding them.

‘Two opponents.’

He had never seen these men before. They were outsiders. Trevor's thoughts quickly moved.

‘I haven’t been told about these guys. Did they arrive today?’

If so, they may be related to the current situation.

Sssss!

The knights drew their swords and raised their voices.

"Stop moving right now and step away from the resident!"

"Ohhh, the knights are here!"

"God, thank you...”

The couple hugged their daughter with a sigh of relief. In the meantime, the knights approached them closely, pointing their swords at the intruders.

"No weapons. Put your knees on the ground right now, and put your hands on your head."

"We are not responsible for any damage that occurs if you fail to comply with the order."

The two men stayed still until the knights came up very close and then looked at each other.

"They say it’s an order."

"Sseup, it makes me mad. In the first place, we got put in some kind of army-like Squadron, and my fiend life got messed up...” [1]

"What do you want to do?"

"What do you mean? Should we just go along with that bullsh*t?”

As soon as the frowning fiend raised a finger, Trevor shouted, "Get down!"

At the same time, Trevor flew over, grabbed the couple, and rolled into the alley. The knights who had always admired him, also reflexively bent down. Then, they raised their heads and simultaneously turned pale.

"W-What's this...”

The fiend had only raised one finger. But that one light motion neatly cut off all the walls around, as well as the houses.

"They avoided this?"

"Kekeke. How did you get into the Pride Squadron with this level of skill?"

"Shut up. I'm going to do it right this time.”

The moment the angry fiend tried to raise his finger once again, the sound of a drum exploding resounded.

Tooong!

"…What?"

Unable to grasp the situation, the fiend turned his head. But his comrade, who had been giggling a while ago, stuttered.

"You, you..."

He asked his pale-faced fiend comrade. "What's wrong?"

"You, your body...”

"Body?"

As soon as he followed the direction of the other fiend’s finger to his stomach, he was confused.

‘What is this hole?’

There was a hole big enough to fit a basketball, let alone a fist. This hole had appeared in his stomach.

"Sniper?"

He looked at the sky with a blank look on his face. No sniping angles could be seen anywhere. There wasn’t even a single gunshot.

"What the... hell… Uwaack!”

The fiend collapsed forward, vomiting blood, never to rise again. The eyes of his companion, who witnessed the situation from next to him, began to tremble.

‘The Darkmoon Pavillion’s information was correct.’

There was information that the Archmage and the Gray Envoy came up to the Frontier a week ago. They had heard of it a few days ago, too. There was even a comment that said the Archmage and the Gray Envoy’s destination was likely to be Port Lane.

‘The Gray Envoy, he must be the sniper.’

It was a bullet without a sound and without a trace. It was a terrible method of attacking that you could only barely react to when you were constantly on guard. The only person in history that could do such annoying sniping was the Gray Envoy.

‘But even if it’s the Gray Envoy…’

The fiend sped up. He was currently in an alleyway. He began to roam through the alleys at a brisk pace.

'If I move through the alleys with this chaotic movement, it'll be hard to locate me.’

The fiend thought it was a relief that it wasn't him who had been attacked first. Thanks to his comrade’s death, he had found the ‘answer.’

"But..."

Tick, tock, tick, tock.

The sound of an even second hand was like a metronome that unified Gilberto's biorhythm. Gilberto gently closed one of his eyes and stopped breathing.

‘…’

Having witnessed the death of his comrade, the fiend ran through the alley without a break. When the opponent realized that there was a sniper, the chances of another successful sniping would significantly drop.

'You can likely avoid my bullets.’

Click.

The sniper rifle fired a bullet with a strong rotational force toward the fiend.

Crack!

However, the bullet failed to catch up with the fiend’s tremendous speed and pierced the floor of the alley.

"Ha, haha! I avoided it!"

The fiend was delighted but he did not stop moving. He began to feel thrilled when he discovered that his method worked.

‘The Gray Envoy? The 5 Heroes aren't as big of a deal as I thought.’

The moment a twisted smile appeared on his mouth…

Crack!

The bullet flew out of the floor, dug into his side, and came out of his shoulder.

"Ah?"

Why did the bullet come from there? 

The fiend fell to the floor, the sense of injustice in his heart did not allow him to close his eyes.

"You can avoid my bullets a few times, but…" Gilberto was already sitting down, wiping the barrel with a clean cloth. He didn’t even bother looking at the result of his attack. "You can't avoid it forever."

At first, Persistent Pursuit (D) had only been able to chase an enemy 30 meters away. But now, it was one of his prided A-grade skills that could 'forever' chase a target as long as his magic permitted it.

"I only need to hit you once.”

Even if the opponent avoided it thousands or tens of thousands of times, Gilberto would win as long as he managed to hit his enemy once. Gilberto’s eyes sparkled as he searched for the next target.

1. Sseup is the sound of sucking air between your teeth. ☜