At that moment, everyone fell silent, as though time itself had stopped throughout the world.
A few seconds later, the blare of horns echoed through the entire city.
"Enemy attack—!"
The sleeping Koester was instantly roused. The Black Nightmare Army rushed out of the camp and surged toward the city gates, while the mages flew into the sky. The pitch-black night was swiftly illuminated by countless torches, revealing the force outside the city that had intended to launch a sneak attack.
Only then did Benjamin and the others finally get a clear look at that force.
There were roughly five or six thousand men, and judging by their attire, quite a few priests seemed to be mixed among them. At that moment, they stood frozen in place, their faces filled with shock and uncertainty. Many soldiers in the front ranks had already fallen. The sparks from the explosions had yet to fade completely, and charred corpses lay scattered across the ground, a scene as devastating as the aftermath of a fire.
—Like the Black Nightmare Army, they too seemed not to have expected this to happen.
"W-what do we do..."
At the Kingdom Army camp, the captain of the cavalry unit that had been prepared for the raid could only turn around in a panic at the sight, looking toward General Pres beside him. Yet General Pres had completely lost his head. Staring at the awakened Koester, his heart was filled with shock and terror.
How was this possible? How could the Black Nightmare Army have discovered their raiding force?
No... this wasn't how it was supposed to go. Their sneak attack couldn't fail! It couldn't be like this... This was already his third failure before His Holiness the Pope. His Holiness would kill him!
These were probably the most