-----

In just a flash, more than half of their army was gone.

​​

Abraham Gespudo, who had a lot of experience in the wars he had participated in, seemed baffled by this.

Not even he who made up this whole road with his magicians so the army could march through the forest had realized that such a trap was set.

He could not help but grow incredibly frightened… but also fascinated.

The amount of master over magic and mana needed to even create such an enormous pit and even cover it with the ground as a trap was immense, even more, was the spatial barrier that covered almost their entire army, which was set by two strange figures atop the sky.

Although he was seen as one of the strongest mages within the Kingdom of Aquaria, he still saw himself as a little apprentice who had just started to delve into the arts of magic.

Whatever had created such a trap and such a barrier were beings so strong and amazingly talented in magic that a wise old wizard such as himself could only be seen as a baby in comparison.

Although the war had already started and he even saw how Graham died and then came back from the dead by the grace of Bestellen, he was still barely hanging out, protecting himself with barriers of magic as he glanced at his apprentices being massacred one by one.

Whatever these beings were, whatever they were up to, there was no chance of winning.

Graham was already killed once, even with Bestellen's help, he might die twice.

Abraham was never a fervent believer of Bestellen, and although he recognized the existence of Gods in this world as a fact, he was never fond of them nor he prayed to them.

He was a man of magic and alchemy, he had no business with the church nor any of their insane fanatics, living his own life and striving to reach the pinnacle of magic in this world, Abraham investigated and became a talented alchemist and magician.

Nonetheless, all of that was useless before the authority of the King, even if he held a high position in the Mages Guild, he could only nod like a lowly servant and accept the King's mandate and the extremist church orders.

In exchange for a hefty sum of money, he was employed to the creation of a road for the army to march directly into the center of the Devil Forest, where the half-demon 'Demon King' lived, according to diviner divination.

As he did not want to defy the orders of his King, he accepted such a job, and with the other mages, he slowly managed to shape the devil forest for a large army to march through it.

Of course, it was an incredibly risky Job.

There wasn't a day where he didn't fear for his life.

Although the monsters that roamed the forest were nothing against this powerful magic, he was still inside enemy territory, one false step could cost his life if he were to be detected by the enemy, captured, and killed.

However, against all of his expectations, he never came across any of such enemies, but always felt like something was always watching over him…

When the job was done, he quickly retreated with his team of mages, without a single casualty.

Despite that, he believed that something was up with the enemy and that they were planning to do something within the road he had formed.

However, due to time constraints and because he feared the rage of his superiors that could endanger his research, workshop, and belongings, he kept his mouth shut.

Now, this is the situation that led to such a decision…

"I am really such a fool…" Abraham lamented.

As the war continued, Abraham saw as Albert was sliced in half by an immensely strong Squirrel-kin woman who held a high-ranked Cursed Weapon as her main weapon, leaving him in disbelief over the thought of someone wielding such an Undead-type monster without it trying to kill them or encroach them.

Not in all of his years of research as he found someone with the ability to tame Undead-type monsters, and although he knew by the annals he read that there were certain races of Demons capable of taming certain types of Undead-type monsters, he had never met one for obvious reasons.

Abraham had the spirit and heart of a researcher, and things such as discrimination and racism were his enemies, as he desired to inspect and know about the world and all his wonders, which also included other races such as Demons.

However, due to the circumstances of being a human, such a thing was impossible aside from inspecting corpses, which never netted the same results that would be to inspect a living specimen.

He dreamed for the day where such stupid discrimination laws were abolished, and he could meet other races in friendly terms, to learn their cultures, secrets, and their own research and abilities.

There were many races within the world of Kritias, and many of them held exceptionally unique powers and abilities, especially demons and beast-kin, which were seen as monsters in the church, which dominated the entire Kingdom and all Nations within the continent of Anir's Hands.

"It seems that I will never be able to research anything anymore… My life was such a letdown… There are so many mysteries I wish I could investigate and unravel… But alas, this is the life of a weakling such as me… At the very least, I can comfort myself in the thought that I did everything I could…" he thought, trying to evade any battle ahead as many soldiers had noticed him, firing attacks against him but he used his several magic barriers to defend himself.

However, Abraham quickly realized that some of the soldiers were asking for mercy, and they were actually being… captured and not killed?!

He saw an enormous black spider whose exoskeleton was metallic, a frightful creature.

However, instead of devouring the people, the spider used its threads to wrap those that surrendered, sticking them into her back…

Although it was a terrifying sight to behold, Abraham decided that if he wanted to even survive, that he had to bet it on this, and completely betray his nation and church by surrendering and not fighting to the death.

Abraham swallowed all of his pride as he kneeled before the monsters, demons, and beast-kin, some were still fighting, although many others gathered around assessing the situation.

Seeing such a powerful magician that had just blocked all of their attacks with his magic barriers kneeling in the ground and asking to be held captive was quite baffling.

"Please, forgive my life! I surrender! Make of me your servant… but please, don't take my life!"

The templars, battle popes, and magicians that watched such a respected figure such as Abraham surrender so pathetically could not help but feel furious and enraged.

"You filthy traitor!!!"

"How… Abraham-sama is surrendering?!"

"Wait for a second, if that old man surrenders do we even have a chance to live?!"

"You fools! Surrender at once if you don't want to die!" cried Abraham, as some of his magician apprentices quickly kneeled and surrender, dropping their staves, while others that were too stubborn were quickly slaughtered by the strong forces of the enemy's army.

Amongst the army, a group of pale-skinned women with crimson eyes emerged, their entire bodies and weapons were covered in blood, and their stares seemed to be filled with bloodlust.

"Vampires?!" thought Abraham, amazed by finally being able to meet more extravagant races that couldn't be usually found in the continent.

"Hm… So these are the ones surrendering? I would gladly slaughter them for our lords… But they explicitly said to let alive those that surrendered… Very well then, Charlotte-san, please, take them with you," said one of the 'Vampire' women, who had a smaller size compared to the others but a slim and beautiful figure.

"Gishi! Alright then!" said the enormous spider, startling Abraham once more…

"A monster that can speak?! Unbelievable!" he said, as he was covered in spider thread and thrown into Charlotte's back alongside all those that surrendered.

The 'Vampire' woman who had assessed the surrendered people, glanced at the entangled old man with strangeness in her eyes.

"What's wrong with that old man? He looked at me like a pervert… How disgusting…" she said, as she joined back with her sisters into battle.

The last templars and battle popes remained, using all of their strength to fight back as much as they could…

However, they eventually began to lose more and more men, until they were slaughtered up to the very last.

Alongside this, came the death of Graham's reincarnation by the hands of Veronica, Ervas, and Jason, which ended this war with his cry of agonizing pain as he saw his existence fade away in his eyes…

Abraham was carried back inside of the Igni Kingdom, and thrown inside an underground facility filled with cells made of an incredibly resilient metal that was also enhanced with strong Curse Runes, if any of the people inside were to dare to touch them even so slightly, they would be showered with a rain of curses, which Abraham had seen three times now.

Knowing that it was impossible to escape anymore, the other people seemed to remain in silence, as cold sweat began to drip through their necks.

Abraham had also inspected the walls of the ceilings and had found out that they were strange and incredibly resistant as if any type of magic seemed completely ineffective…

He was left in disbelief, Abraham discovered that he wasn't just in some kind of underground prison… No, the quality of the area was on a completely different level.

"This is… the inside of a dungeon?! Do these demons and beast-kin… have the ability to control dungeons?! This is… this is it! I've finally… reached a place where I can finally investigate to my heart's content!"

Abraham laughed wickedly, as the rest of the prisoners glanced at him with disgusted expressions…

-----