Without warning, a blood spear materialized behind the captain, aiming for his back.
Fortunately, the young warrior had anticipated the attack.
He intercepted the spear before it could strike.
The battle continued.
Neither side was able to gain a decisive advantage, and the fight gradually turned into a war of attrition.
The Blood Devil soon realized what the humans were trying to do.
They intended to wear him down until reinforcements arrived.
Clicking his tongue in annoyance, he immediately leaped backward.
The captain refused to give him the chance to retreat.
He rushed forward once again, relentlessly closing the distance.
"Damned humans..."
The Blood Devil growled before raising one hand.
"Blood Soldiers."
Around twenty-four crimson warriors emerged from pools of blood.
Surprisingly...
Summoning such a large force didn't seem to exhaust him in the slightest.
The young woman finally completed the spell she had been preparing since the beginning of the battle.
"Explosion Magic!"
Her timing was perfect.
The instant the Blood Soldiers appeared—
BOOM!!
A deafening explosion erupted in their midst.
More than half of them were obliterated before they even had the chance to move.
"Well done."
The captain praised her without taking his eyes off the battlefield.
He immediately rushed toward the remaining soldiers, cutting them down one after another.
The young warrior also fought bravely.
Although he suffered several scratches during the fight...
He eventually eliminated every enemy assigned to him.
However...
The Blood Devil had never expected his summons to kill them.
Their true purpose...
Was merely to buy him time.
Suddenly—
Weapons began appearing out of thin air.
Dozens...
Hundreds...
No...
Thousands.
The young man and the girl instinctively froze.
Even their confidence wavered.
The captain, however, remained calm.
"Raise a defensive barrier."
He spoke without panic.
"And contact the clan. Tell them to send reinforcements immediately."
The girl obeyed at once.
A translucent barrier surrounded the three of them.
Yet she knew...
Against an attack of this scale...
It wouldn't last even thirty seconds.
Thousands of swords, spears, and blades shot toward them like a crimson storm.
The barrier trembled violently.
Cracks spread across its surface.
Twenty-five seconds later—
Crash!
The barrier shattered.
The backlash forced the girl to cough up a mouthful of blood.
But she wasn't afraid of the injury.
She was terrified of the countless weapons now racing straight toward them.
"You've done enough."
The captain stepped forward.
"Fall back."
His expression remained perfectly calm.
Not a trace of fear could be seen on his face.
He slowly raised his sword.
"Sword Storm."
He spun at astonishing speed.
A violent cyclone of sword energy erupted around him.
The incoming weapons were blown away in every direction.
Although the Blood Devil could control every weapon with his mind...
He chose not to continue attacking.
During the assault on the barrier...
He had already sensed numerous groups from the clan rapidly approaching.
Scattering his weapons across the edges of the barrier caused it to collapse completely, returning everyone to the real world.
At last...
The Blood Devil had created the opportunity he needed.
Without hesitation, he retreated.
Destroying the city would have been an easy task for him.
But doing so would only waste an enormous source of fresh blood.
Even if he slaughtered every civilian...
The blood would quickly lose its freshness, ruining its taste.
That alone was reason enough to withdraw.
The human warriors made no attempt to pursue him.
Even if they could catch up...
They were forbidden from revealing their existence to ordinary people by fighting openly in the real world.
The battle had finally come to an end.
Only one casualty remained.
A completely ordinary human.
Haziqa.
Killed within a fraction of a second after being exposed to the Blood Devil's overwhelming aura.
Compared to the catastrophe the Blood Devil could have caused...
Losing a single civilian...
Was nothing short of a miracle.
The captain silently looked toward the place where Haziqa had died.
"Considering the circumstances..."
"We were incredibly fortunate."
Then...
He turned around and left.