Allen was deep in slumber.

A voice reaches him from a very close distance.

He can't tell if it was a dream or reality, but it was the voice of a woman.

“Thou wanted to see mine smile… even if thou risk your life…? What stupidity…” A woman wearing a white long gown and a beautiful golden crown on her head said. Her expression cold yet beautiful…

“I heard that no one had seen your smile before, so I wanted to see it.” A frail looking boy wearing leather clothes answered.

“Thou know this place is the castle of the damned. Thee wilt shall throw off to the cliff if thou stay…”

“Life is like a passing thought. It’s fleeting… whether I die or not is up to fate.”

“… …”

--- ---

“……..I seemed to have forgotten something...”

Allen tossed around on the bed, mumbling.

....What is this? I felt like I had a euphoric dream. But was it really a good dream…?

The street lights had dimmed, and it was late in the night. In Camp Leon Kilat, there is always a cool breeze, but at night it becomes a bit chilly.

That should be nothing… I must have dreamt of something meaningless.....

Scooping lightning sleeping beside him, he put it on his chest and started stroking. He wanted to find Ms. Grace but it the camp seemed to be bigger than he had imagined. Was it because of the expansion due to the civilians?

As Allen looked through the crimson moon through the window, lightning, which was snuggling on his chest, sleepily lifted its neck.

“………Purr? Pur, purr?”

“It’s nothing. Sorry, I woke you up.”

Allen apologized as he rubbed Lightning's neck. The golden rodent purred in content and curled up into a ball.

How long had it been since I could relax like this…?

Although for some reason…

This quiet night… seemed to be just an illusion…

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Nah, I’m just hearing things. I should go back to sleep.

But the moment Allen closed his eyes,

Knock! Knock! Knock!

No way, I’m really just hearing things!!

"Uhh, Mayla here. Mister Allen, I apologize for disturbing your rest but we have a problem."

"......"

Ugh, what a headache, Allen huddled his body. Why did I just have to jinx it…

Damn it real! Don’t mess with me!!

“...come in…”

"Sorry for intruding."

“... …”

"Sorry to bother you, Mister Allen. But there is just an emergency and we needed your help."

"It's not a problem at all, Miss Mayla. So how can I help you?"

Looking at Lt. Colonel Mayla Flores who scratched her head embarrassingly trying to explain herself, Allen whose feelings were distorted managed to squeeze out a smile.

“We had a report that monsters seemed to have appeared inside the camp.”

“Monsters…is it?”

“Actually we still haven’t seen any monsters but there were already several confirmed casualties. Eight soldiers and six civilians are confirmed dead.”

“…that is certainly disturbing…”

“That is why Mister Allen. Please help us!” When Lt. Colonel Mayla bowed her head, Allen nonchalantly stood up.

“I’ll see what I can do… ah right, please inform the others about the situation but don’t let them run around.”

What Allen meant by 'them' is, of course, Aileen and the others.

After saying that, Allen transformed into lightning and disappeared.

Inside the room, only Lt. Colonel Mayla was left. With this kind of emergency, anyone would feel anxious but for some reason, Lt. Colonel Mayla was staring at Allen’s former position with sparkling eyes.

Amazing!

Looking at Allen’s ability that looked like teleportation, Lt. Colonel Mayla felt nothing but awed.

--- ---

The crimson moon hung high in the sky, emitting a faint moonlight that covered the ground in a crimson layer that gave it a mysterious yet bloody look.

After the disturbance made by monsters in the day, Camp Leon Kilat had become dark and quiet in the night. And from within the buildings and tents on some streets, there was only the occasional sound of nightly activities.

On the top of one of the tall buildings, a black clothed young man could be seen standing. His eyes, as dark as the night sky, were filled with a cold quietness.

“I can’t see anything…” After a long quietness, the black clothed youth muttered in a soft voice.

This young man was none other than Allen.

After hearing the situation, Allen immediately made his move. Using his [ Enhanced Vision ], he wanted to survey the whole camp from a tall place.

But he couldn’t see anything wrong. The civilians were behaving normally. If not for the accumulating soldiers and their suspicious actions around the whole place, he would think that he was pranked by the Lt. Colonel.

This means that the military was controlling the situation quite well.

At this moment,

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Series of gunshots broke the stillness of the night!

Listening to the sound, Allen slowly turned his head. His gaze shifted to the northwest direction of the camp and his eyes suddenly contracted. There, he could see several soldiers firing their guns at something hideous.

So that’s where you are.

Flash!

--- ---

“Requesting for back up! I repeat! Requesting for back up!” a soldier was shouting on his radio.

“Three down! Sir, three soldiers are down! What should we do?!” A soldier shouted, resulting in the man’s heart tightening.

“Sir, we can’t keep this up any longer!” another called out as he continued firing his rifle.

The man’s forehead was full of perspiration after being frightened by the yells, causing for him to be rooted.

While they were doing their usual rounds, all of a sudden, a soldier beside him was pierced by something unknown and was dragged towards the darkness.

This is really horrifying! This isn’t one of those horror movies and yet… it’s happening! Don’t joke with me!!

The man lost his reason and started firing like a mad man.

“Die you monsters!!!”

The soldier lost his cool and kept on shooting.

However, his ammo wasn’t infinite. In just less than a minute, he already emptied his magazine.

“Hii!!” He tumbled down and fell on his butt. He could see several monster corpses in front of him that looks like a chunk of cheese, filled with bloody holes.

Crack! A sound a branch being stepped resounded. Hearing this, the soldier almost wet his pants as he tried crawling away.

“Kikikiki”

A sound of laughter echoed in the place.

“Kyaaaah!!!”

“Monster!!”

“Run!!”

The moment the monster steeped from the darkness and showed its ugly appearance, the people in the vicinity started screaming while running away. Some tumbled and were stepped on. Some were even kicked and elbowed.

“Unsightly…”

A streak of lightning flashed as the group of monsters collapsed in a cloud of dust along with the ground.

--- ---

The sound of siren echoed all over the place.

“What’s happening…?”

Boom!!

Suddenly a deafening sound of an explosion rang out, causing the ground to slightly tremble and almost made Alicia to lose her balance, fortunately, Flor caught her by the arm.

"Did...monsters attacked...?"

To overcome the sound of the siren resounding all over the place, Aileen raised her voice. Otherwise, her voice wouldn't be heard by the others, who were standing next to her.

"It's a monster attacked."

Lt. Colonel Mayla who was standing behind them also raised her voice.

"In the middle of the night...? Are you serious? Don’t they have curfews?"

“Well, if they really have curfews then that would be amazing… but sadly, they like having nightlife~”

Despite what I said, this is the first-night assault ever since all of this happened. Just what is happening? Lt. Colonel Mayla felt a bad premonition.

“I once heard from Allen that the sixth and the seventh day would be slightly different from the days before it. Maybe this was what he meant…?” At this moment, Aileen suddenly recalled something.

“What kind of difference?”

“I don’t know. He never said any particular details…” Aileen thought for a while.

“…Ah right! If I remember correctly, he said that at the sixth wave, all the monsters would lose their sanity. They would then feel a sudden urge to attack any humans in the surrounding as if they were being controlled. As a sign, all of their eyes would dye in crimson red.”

Hearing Aileen’s words, Lt. Colonel Mayla’s face instantly paled.

If so, then this was the worst possible situation.

“Is what you said real!?”

“Ah maybe. I don’t know, it’s what Allen told me so, maybe…anyway, he said it’s the sixth wave or something and it would just last until dawn….”

“Until dawn! That’s it; all we need to do is to last until dawn!” As if receiving a revelation, Lt. Colonel immediately took her radio and started throwing orders while shouting.

“Ah, actually I’m not quite sure. I only heard it from Allen…”

“No, if it’s what Mister Allen said then I believe it should be true!”

Aileen hesitated but the Lt. seemed to be so sure and full of confidence. What’s happening here?!

Isn’t she too trusty here or something…?

Aileen was speechless. Flor and Alicia on the other hand didn’t care much about it.

--- ---