The sky had grown completely dark.
Night had fallen.
A few stars struggled to twinkle through gaps in the clouds, as if they might be swallowed at any moment by the thick fog between the Magic Cloud's rifts. Reilo hovered in midair, gazing down at the ordinary soldiers preparing for battle amid the radiation pollution.
Although they had avoided the core contamination zone, after a day and a night of spreading, the contamination from this fission-grade Radiation Weapon had reached hundreds of kilometers in every direction, seeping several meters into the earth and even contaminating the shallow groundwater.
The contamination was entering the bodies of every living thing in the affected area through food and even through breathing, rapidly altering the genetic factors in their cells.
It was possible that a small number of these creatures might be lucky enough to mutate as a result, not only adapting to land polluted by the laws of radiation but evolving into entirely new species because of the changed environment.
But for the vast majority of living things, this was undoubtedly an extinction-level catastrophe.
Powerful creatures would follow their instincts and flee the danger zone in search of more suitable land, leaving the weaker ones to cling to life.
"Poor, foolish people."
The speaker was Windsor, the Altar Communicator beside Reilo.
As a Grand Duchy Royal Academician, she knew all too well how terrifying radiation pollution was. So, when she saw tens of thousands of lowly soldiers on the ground burning with ignorant fervor, she couldn't help murmuring those words.
Then she looked at Reilo. "After this battle, you may end up bearing the title of Doomsday Butcher. Who knows how many widows you'll create for the duchy, leaving them without their husbands?"
Reilo gathered his thoughts and said nothing.
She still didn't