“Dammit… Fucking shit!”

Baltai continued to swear, countless bottles piled up on the table in front of him.

Bang!

“Fucking shit…!”

In the end, he could not control his anger and smashed down on the table. The bottles of alcohol fell to the floor and shattered into pieces.

“Hieek!”

The women serving him became frightened at the sight and began to tremble. His subordinates also slowly sneaked away. Baltai had always been brutal and violent, but it had worsened since a month ago.

He would suddenly burst out into swears while drinking, then proceed to break the neck of his woman servant. He would pace back and forth with a nervous expression and shatter whatever caught his eye.

Today alone, one person was already dead and two were seriously injured.

“You dog shit bastard, I should have killed you then, but because of those moronic assassins…”

Baltai gritted his teeth as he recalled the two assassins from the White Shadow Brothers who died while attempting to kill Duke Pendragon in Leus.

Of course, Baltai himself had fled because of instinctive fear, but if they had succeeded in assassinating the duke in Leus, he would not be in such a predicament right now.

“Should I just bring everyone and kill them…? No. If that causes the imperial forces to come over from the mainland, it will all be over.”

Baltai muttered with eyes full of killing intent, then shook his head helplessly. Everyone knew that Duke Pendragon was heading to the Great Forest after organizing a coalition along with the commander of the 7th imperial regiment.

They belonged under the same banner of the imperial army, so what would happen if Baltai attacked them?

The possibility of success was slim, and even if he succeeded, the imperial army could be dispatched under its pretext. If that happened, everything was over. Moreover, for some reason, Duke Arangis was reluctant to wage an all-out war with the imperial army at the current moment, so if Baltai engaged with Duke Pendragon, Duke Arangis would throw him away without a second thought.

Baltai had already betrayed the empire, so what would happen if Duke Arangis abandoned him as well?

It would be the end of him.

He no longer wanted to be a leader of a bunch of consumable criminals in the demonic army. His ambition was to become a proud lord and establish his own territory, but everything would go up in flames with a single mistake.

“Motherfucker…”

Baltai broke out abusive language once again as he recalled the grim reaper who was on his way right now.

“Captain!”

A subordinate came rushing in.

“What! You motherfucker!”

There was no way the soldier was unaware of Baltai’s recent condition, but he still rushed in and spoke after getting on one knee.

“There is an urgent message! The coalition has formed a garrison, and they have dispatched a scouting party. It is on its way towards us right now! Furthermore, Duke Pendragon is leading the scouting party!”

“What?”

Baltai became shocked. A scouting party out of the blue?

At the same time, another subordinate rushed in.

“C, captain! I just received a letter from the big boss!”

“Huh?”

Baltai became even more flustered at the following news, but he hurriedly snatched up the letter from his subordinate.

“…Huh?”

After silently skimming through the letter, Baltai’s eyes widened. Then, he turned towards the subordinate who had come in first.

“You! You said the coalition sent a scouting party, right? And it is commanded by Duke Pendragon?”

“Yes, captain!”

“How many are in the scouting party?”

“Around a thousand people, ten griffons, and twenty orc warriors!”

“Is that so?”

Baitai muttered while stroking his chin. His eyes and mouth began to twitch once more, and the faces of the subordinates paled in anticipation of what was to come.

“Heu…”

Baltai’s lips opened slightly, and the sound of harsh breaths leaked out.

“S, save me…”

Some women collapsed on the floor while pissing themselves, thinking that he would finally kill all of them.

Baltai’s mouth opened wide.

“Ahahahahahaha! Good! Good! The heavens have not abandoned me yet! Huhahahaha!”

A blank expression appeared on everyone’s face as Baltai exploded into laughter like a madman.

“Kuhahahahaha!”

After laughing for some time, Baltai suddenly stopped. He turned to his subordinates with an expression filled with even more killing intent and madness than ever before.

“Gather everyone.”

“Y, yes?”

One of the officers asked back, not understanding what Baltai meant.

What did he mean, gather everyone? Was he referring to the entire demonic army, consisting of thousands of men?

Baltai shouted at the absent-minded officer.

“Gather everyone, you braindead bastard! Whether they’re injured, dead, or whatever! If they can lift a weapon, tell them to gather!”

“Yes! I got it!”

All the officers stampeded out.

Baltai stared at the officers as they ran out, then slumped back into his chair.

“Kkeuk! Hey, you bitches! Bring me more booze! You two, come here!”

“Ye, yes.”

Women rushed to bring alcohol and snacks, feeling relieved that they got to live another day.

“Keuhk!”

Baltai chugged a dirty bottle, then grabbed the breast of a woman trembling in his arms.

“Ahk!”

The woman burst into a painful groan, and he burst into a chuckle while fondling her breasts.

“Keheheu… There will always be a way, hmm? Alan Pendragon, you’re finished. Kekeuk! Kuhahahaha!”

Baltai burst into a maniacal laughter. The message contained in the letter was brief.

- Arangis. Full force set off for war. Kill Duke Pendragon by any means necessary. All responsibilities will be taken in the name of the Ocean King.

But the simple, short letter contained information that would shake the entire empire.

***

On the third day after leaving the garrison, the large scouting party of more than 1,000 people arrived at the entrance of the region called Assia.

In the local, ancient dialect, Assia was a word that meant ‘blue waves’. The endless forest stretched around the Assia Plateau, where all the southern rivers originated from. The region was as large as the entire Pendragon Duchy.

In addition, it rained for half a year in the Assia Plateau. The waterways that began in the plateau formed deep, rugged valleys and numerous waterfalls, creating the perfect environment of dense trees for animals and monsters to thrive, while making it difficult for humans to access.

However, Raven could not see a single shadow of a monster nearby. He was near the largest and the widest river that flowed around the Great Forest, the Thebesa River.

***

“This is strange.”

Karuta frowned as he looked across the river, which was nearly 300 yard wide. Even though only a single stream of water separated the two sides, there was a huge difference in their appearances.

“Is this how it is supposed to be? The other side looks like a whole different world.”

Raven nodded and replied to Karuta’s question.

“It definitely is strange. This side has been artificially modified by humans for hundreds of years, but the environment across the river is vastly different. It is full of monsters.”

“Keheum, well, why don’t we just cross over with a boat and clean it up?”

“The river appears to be flowing gently on the surface, but the current is very fast in the middle and there are vortexes everywhere. It will be difficult to cross by boat. And more than anything…”

Raven paused, then looked around the river. He continued while pointing his finger towards a particular place in the river.

“Our efforts will be made useless because of those beings.”

Karuta burst into laughter.

“What? Why, do they gobble up humans?”

Raven had pointed towards a swarm of water birds hovering over the river. However, as soon as Karuta finished, something suddenly broke through the surface of the water.

“Keheuk?”

Karuta’s eyes widened with shock.

It was a huge figure that looked to be over 30 feet, even from a distance. Even though it only appeared for a moment, Karuta had clearly spotted its appearance.

A strange monster had broken through the surface of the water without making a sound, then spread its large mouth wide open. The birds had tried to fly away in a flurry, but the monster had swallowed five or six water birds whole.

Fwooosh!

“W, what was that?”

Karuta became flabbergasted and blinked rapidly while looking at the place where the monster suddenly appeared. The monster had appeared for a moment, then disappeared in a blink of an eye after swallowing the birds.

“It is an animal called the crocodile. The humans have built an embankment on this side because of those animals.”

“Crocodile? Keheuk? Does it only live here?”

Raven shrugged in response, and Isla answered instead.

“No, not necessarily. Crocodiles live anywhere near rivers that have warm water all year around, which is relatively common in the South. However, the creature that just appeared is an assiah crocodile, which is considered the biggest of them all. The largest can grow up to 40 feet.”

“Keheuk!”

Karuta burst out into an exclamation.

However, it was not one based on fear.

“The orcs living in these parts must have a blast, hmm? If they don’t have anyone to fight, they can just hunt those creatures. We only have bears and leopards back home.”

Karuta grinned widely, and Raven smirked at the sight.

“I would not. If you get bitten by it, even you will not be able to escape. Besides, once it bites, you will be dragged into the water. A guy like you who can’t even swim will have no chance.”

“Kereuk!”

Karuta smiled in response and slowly raised one of his arms.

“Tsk, then I will just rip its mouth off. That should do it, right?”

“…..”

Raven and Isla closed their mouths after seeing Karuta’s humongous biceps. His muscles were as big as an adult male’s torso, and the large veins gave it the appearance of several snakes crawling over his arms.

If Karuta were bitten by a crocodile, it was probable that he would be able to escape after beating it to death.

“Keuoh! There’s another one over there. Kuhul? How many are there?”

Karuta looked around the Thebesa River and constantly let out shouts of admiration. Now that he had a closer look, he could see dozens of creatures on the bank of the other side. There must have been hundreds including the ones in the river.

“Keheum… Now I see. The scarecrows can’t cross the river because of those creatures, right?”

“That is right. The assiah crocodiles are ferocious creatures, and they attack anything that moves on the surface of the river. Human ships are no exception.”

It was as Isla said. The monsters were definitely a threat, but the crocodiles posed a more immediate issue. The armies of the southern lords had not dared to enter the Great Forest by crossing the river due to the threat of the assiah crocodiles. The creatures could suddenly emerge without any sign from under the dark blue surface of the river, which was around 100 feet deep.

“Anyways, what are we going to do if we can’t cross here?”

“We are downstream of the river, so if we go a little upstream, the water will be shallow and the river will be narrower. We will be able to see where the crocodiles are, which will make it much easier to cross.”

Raven recounted his experience from crossing into the Great Forest when he was a soldier of the demonic army.

“Kuhuuu… Even though it’s your first time here, you seem to know very well.”

Karuta tilted his head in wonder, and Raven inwardly became startled. But he managed to maintain a calm expression and replied.

“Unlike your ignorant self, I studied my share.”

“Ah, come on, why are you like that…”

“Anyways, let’s move, Elkin.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Isla delivered the orders, and the scouting party began to move along the banks in an orderly fashion. Being located right next to the entrance of the Great Forest, the river was fairly quiet, and after moving for two more hours, the width of the river decreased to around 100 yards.

‘I think it was around here.’

Raven looked around while searching his memories, then passed down the orders.

“We will take a short rest here.”

The width of the river had decreased enough, and it was shallow enough to allow for humans to cross. On the flip side, it also meant that monsters could cross over from the forest.

They needed to maintain their caution from now on.

‘We are not in the territory of the monsters yet, but there is nothing wrong with being careful.’

In Raven’s past, the demonic army had not waged war against the monsters in their current location. And at this time, the monster armies should have advanced into the depths of the Great Forest. The demonic army would be stationed in the same place as in the past as well.

‘There is only one thing left to do… I need to head to the demonic army and kill him before the sun goes down.’

Raven trembled involuntarily as he looked forward to tidying up the dreadful relationship from the past. Finally, another piece of the blood-pledged revenge would be resolved.

“Elkin, send the griffons to patrol the area.”

“Yes, my lor…”

Isla started to answer Raven's orders.

Kuuuwaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!

“Hmm?”

Raven and Isla turned their heads in surprise at the huge roar. It resonated throughout the entire area.

Boom! Boom! Boooooom!

Across the river, the tall, dense trees were spreading apart like waves. Soon, something appeared between the tops of the tall trees. Its head was as big as a boulder, and a large horn was sticking out its bald head. It drooled from its mouth, which contained teeth that were each as big as a human body,

A word laced with consternation flowed through Raven’s lips. He recognized the identity of the creature.

“Troll…!”