The Iron Gate Kingdom had been annihilated...
Its entire population had been wiped out. Not a single soul had survived.
Blue Radiance Emperor Lambis stared in shock at the intelligence report in her hand. Beside it lay a plea for aid from Gregory, King of Iron Gate.
In this day and age, simple letters had largely been replaced by magic telephones. With a telephone, the fastest messages could be received at once. Yet not long after receiving King Gregory's distress call, just as Lambis was summoning the council elders and ministers to discuss sending aid, she swiftly received another report: the Iron Gate Kingdom had fallen.
"This speed... is too fast!" Lambis's brows drew tightly together.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Altos, the Blue Radiance Empire's supreme military commander, wore a grave expression. "According to our intelligence agents' investigation and analysis, the evil force that destroyed the Iron Gate Kingdom should have come from the Nightmare Plain. But they were not orcs. They were an exceptionally terrifying kind of monster—fierce and brutal. Wherever they passed, every living thing was destroyed."
"Could this be the Devil Race's doing?" Magnum, the newly appointed council speaker, asked.
Altos shook his head. "According to the message General Sandro sent back, the Devil Race's main force has only just entered the Surface World. They are also concentrated in the Golden Radiance Territory, locked in an all-out confrontation with our allied forces. Their reach cannot possibly extend that far."
Magnum nodded. "Indeed. The Devil Race's focus right now is the decisive battle in the Golden Radiance Territory. They could not be so foolish as to spread the front lines this early. But if those monsters are not from the Devil Race, what are they? And how could they be this terrifying?"
"Those are not the key issues! Your