On a moonless, windy night, the beacon smoke rose. When torchlight flickered to life in the darkness, it resembled ghostly flames drifting in the wind. Clump after clump of light ignited, forming lines of fire that surged from the edge of the sky like rolling waves.
"Buuuum—"
The deep horn blast made the air tremble, joining the shrill screech of mine carts grinding over rails to play the overture of an imminent battle.
"Aoooh!!!!!" Mysterious light flared in the darkness, like lava spilling down from the clouds. The instant the Magma Demon raised his arms, a molten, blazing orange-red radiance bloomed from his chest.
A heavy fist slammed down. With a bang, a small demon soldier collapsed, and the weapon in his hand flew far away.
The weapon rolled several times across the ground, its sharp edge chipped. In the reflection on its blade, the crowd jolted awake in the dead of night, like helpless larvae struggling on the water's surface in late autumn.
In an instant, the camp erupted into chaos. No one knew which demon was the first to scream, "Enemy attack! Enemy attack! They're here, they're here!!!"
The cry had barely risen before the camp boiled over. Many demons rushed out with their armor only half on, only to see even more panicked companions charging toward the camp gate.
The first demons out heard only an explosion and saw two corpses. Thinking someone had killed their way into the camp, they wanted to notify the commander as quickly as possible.
But the demons who came later saw them rushing outside and assumed the enemy had already broken in. They did not even bother putting on their armor, grabbing weapons and running wherever everyone else ran. In an instant, the entire camp descended into utter confusion.
The commander,