In the capital, after Nox and the group fled the royal academy, things seemed to have cooled down, at least for the demons.
Of course, there were still a few humans left in the city, but they were in deep seclusion, not even daring to come outside to search for food.
A few brave ones had attempted to come out at night; however, they were all captured and dragged to the prison. A few who attempted to run were outrightly killed.
One thing the humans had noticed, though, was that as long as one surrendered, the demons seemed to take them away—maybe inflicting a little harm here and there to satisfy their sadistic urges.
However, if you chose to run, you would be outrightly killed. No one knew what happened to the humans after the demons took them away or what they did with them.
But the majority chose to be captured rather than killed. The rest outrightly escaped, believing that the demons would do sick, unspeakable things to them. They would rather die than become subordinates of those sick creatures.
As for the Big Five, the nobles whose power was only below that of the King of the Vermilion Kingdom, they had fled. When the Order of the Flaming Rose had shown up, they had put up a fight.
It was only when more powerful enemies showed up that they all escaped. Not even experts like them could defeat the demonic army, which naturally had a more powerful build.
The royal castle was still holding firm, but anyone could see it was only a matter of time before it crumbled to the ground. After all, constantly fighting for this long depleted mana at a frightening pace.
And the protective arrays installed required monster cores to keep running.
Due to tensions with neighboring kingdoms like Snowhelm, which had been brewing for years now, the kings had made sure to stock their treasury with high-level monster cores, not to mention the reserves they had prior.
Right now, a thin, transparent barrier was all that separated the demons from overtaking the castle.
In order to conserve energy, Prince Adrian, who was acting as king after his father fled, had deactivated the barrier when the horde was less overwhelming, trusting in the powerful cannon carriages hovering above the castle.
And when the enemy was overwhelming, the barrier would be activated.
But even with this tactic, the royal castle’s stockpile was drying up at a terrifying pace.
Inside the castle walls, the atmosphere was tense.
Guards patrolled the halls with weary expressions. Their armor was battered, and deep circles could be seen under their eyes. Even their breathing felt heavy, as if the weight of the entire kingdom pressed on their shoulders.
In the throne room, Prince Adrian sat slumped on his throne. His once vibrant spiky hair now looked dull, his sharp eyes clouded with fatigue and sagging circles.
"How many cores remain?" he asked in a rough tone, not bothering to clear his throat.
A trembling servant stepped forward. "Only a few thousand high-grade cores remaining, Your Highness... the rest are low to mid-tier... barely enough to keep the castle’s defenses running for another two weeks."
"Two weeks?" Adrian muttered, his knuckles tightening on the throne’s armrest. "We might not last three days at this rate."
The servant lowered his head, unable to offer any comfort.
"Any news from the scouts?" the prince asked.
The hall grew silent.
Finally, one of the royal knights stepped forward. "The demons have pulled back slightly. They’re not attacking as aggressively today. It seems they’ve gotten... comfortable."
The prince’s brow twitched. "Comfortable?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. The streets are crawling with them, but they’re not in a hurry. They’ve captured most of the remaining humans who dared to leave their shelters. Some were killed on the spot, but most were dragged away."
"Dragged away... for what?"
The knight’s jaw clenched. "We don’t know. None have returned."
The prince’s eyes darkened. Captured, but not slaughtered? Taken, but not killed? Something wasn’t adding up.
His thoughts spiraled.
’Is it slavery? Torture? Conversion? What are those beasts plotting?’
"Why do I have the feeling that if these bastards wanted to, they could take over the castle but are only toying with us?"
The knight nodded in agreement. "I feel the same. It’s like they’re waiting for something."
The room fell into heavy silence.
It was at that moment that one of the four children of the king stepped inside. She was a nation-topping beauty who had awakened the priest class and had spent the majority of her life in the Eastern region.
Despite the war around her, it almost appeared as if it didn’t concern her. This was because she was the closest to Prince Adrian, and he had made sure to feed her and their mother.
As for the rest of his two siblings, they had died. One perished on the first day of the invasion, and the fourth, Ainsworth... according to his mother, he was killed by a certain boy from the Western region.
Adrian didn’t really like Ainsworth much because he behaved like their father, who was spineless and weak-willed. He was sure that if Ainsworth were around, he would have fled along with their father.
Instead of holding a grudge against the son of the Mad Dog, the crown prince would rather thank him for disposing of trash.
"Ria, what are you doing here?" Adrian asked with warmth in his eyes.
His sister had insisted on going to the war front to fight, but he repeatedly refused her request.
The last time he rejected her, he wondered what other reason she could have for coming out today.
With a determined expression, she stepped closer, her long white robes embroidered with silver thread swaying lightly as she moved. Her silvery white hair was adorned with delicate crimson moon.
Her pair of enchanting blue eyes locked onto her brother’s with a hint of stubbornness.
"Y—" If he wasn’t so weak, Adrian would have facepalmed by now. He could tell from the look alone what her request would be.
Everyone thought as much as she spoke.
"Brother, I have something to tell you." The girl said. "If we can’t deal with them, why don’t we abandon the castle?"