I watched as a small group of flying fiends, all Tier Two, tried to break into someone's house. A nearby glowstone street lamp provided just enough light to see by. The wood and stone structure was solid, built to withstand the harshness of the Icefall region. However, in the face of Tier Two fiends, it might as well have been cardboard. They could break through it in less than a minute.

Screams rang out from inside the house as the flying fiends tore into it, ripping out stone blocks and chunks of wood. The people inside must not have evacuated yet. Damn. What rotten luck.

I rushed forward and killed two fiends before the group even knew I was upon them. The remaining ones looked in my direction and shrieked, before swarming me. They attacked with fang and claw, which I evaded with ease using [Elusive Mist]. Meanwhile, a fiend died every time I swung my sword.

Soon, the entire group of flying fiends was all dead. Their corpses littered the ground all around me, drenching it in foul smelling black blood. After looking around to ensure there were no more threats, I went over to the house. By some miracle, the door remained intact. I thumped it several times with my fist.

"Anyone alive in there?" I called out. "I'm with the Adventurers Guild!"

I heard a muffled "Thank the gods" before the door opened, revealing a family of four: a husband and wife with their two children. They all looked at me with fear and hope in their eyes. The children clung to their parents' legs.

"Thank you for saving us adventurer!" The husband said.

I shook my head.

"Don't thank me yet." I said. "You're still in danger. Follow me. I'll bring you to the Icefall Adventurers Guild." I looked at their half-ruined house. "It isn't safe here."

The parents looked reluctant, but nodded. They grabbed their children and followed me as I led them towards the Icefall Adventurers Guild. It was one of the safest places I could think of right now, aside from Icefall Manor. Well, there was Icefall Undercity. However, I would leave that up to Lorelei's people. They were the ones in charge of evacuating civilians.

The journey to the Icefall Adventurers Guild was a surreal one. Some parts of the city looked fine, almost as if it were any other night. Others looked ruined and wrecked. Darkness blanketed entire streets, where the demons and fiends had destroyed all the glowstone street lamps.

Thankfully, we encountered no more enemies on the way to the Icefall Adventurers Guild. Good. It had been a little under an hour since I left the north gate. I had spent that entire time hunting the flying demons and fiends that were wreaking havoc throughout Icefall City. Most of them were dead by now. However, the effort tired me out.

Right now, I needed a short breather. Fighting for almost an hour straight left me low on physical stamina and mana.

The Icefall Adventurers Guild was bustling with activity. Adventurers moved to and fro, aiding in the defense of Icefall City. Well, most of them. No doubt some adventurers were hiding somewhere in the city hoping this would all blow over soon.

The remaining adventurers, those not fighting the demons, were charged with evacuating civilians. I watched as a team of adventurers arrived at the same time as me, escorting a large group of civilians. Paladin Charles was their leader.

Unexpected, but not unsurprising. I ordered him and his people to act independently as adventurers. As paladins, it made sense for them to focus on saving people. However, as followers of Tempest, I also knew they preferred to be out there, killing demons.

After handing off the family of four to one of the people in charge of the evacuation, I walked over to Paladin Charles.

"Lord Gabriel." He said, giving me a bow.

"It looks like I made the right call in keeping you here." I said, looking out towards the city.

Paladin Charles nodded, a hint of guilt in his eyes.

"You did." He said. "I owe you an apology, Lord Gabriel. When you told me and my people to remain in Icefall City, I felt disappointed. I thought you kept us here out of fear. I was wrong. For that, I am sorry."

I shook my head.

"No need to apologize." I said. "You weren't wrong. I feared that the demons would attack the city, which is why I wanted you here."

Paladin Charles hesitated, before nodding.

"Do you have any orders for us?" He asked. "Or do you want us to keep doing what we're doing?"

I mulled it over for a moment.

"Eliminate the remaining flying enemies in the city." I said. "Afterwards, split your people into two groups. Send one to the south gate and the other one to the north gate." I gestured to myself. "For the group heading to the south gate, tell them to let Lady Annabelle know that I sent them. She's the one in charge down there."

Paladin Charles straightened up.

"As you command, Lord Gabriel."

I sighed. Break time was over. I needed to head back to the north gate. Damn it. That wasn't nearly long enough. However, needs must. I didn't have the luxury of taking a longer break.

With that, I said farewell to Paladin Charles and headed out.

When I returned to the north gate, I found it in much better condition than before. Most everyone's injuries had been treated, while the dead had been cleared away. I found Andre, Richard, and Leroy standing atop the wall, looking over the battlefield.

"How are things going?" I asked, joining them.

Andre gestured outward.

"See for yourself." He said in a grim voice.

I looked out and grimaced. In the hour I had been gone, the demons and fiends had reached the moat filled with Holy Water. It must have slowed them down, since they hadn't crossed it yet. However, they would soon.

Holy Water, and Holy magic in general, was the bane of all demons. It should've been impossible for them to cross an entire moat filled with Holy Water. At least, under normal circumstances. However, the army of demons and fiends found a way around this.

The stronger ones kept pushing the weaker ones into the moat to build a bridge of bodies. Even as I watched, a hellhound shoved an inferno beast fiend into the moat. The latter resisted, to no avail. When the inferno beast fiend entered the moat, it thrashed about and wailed in pain as the Holy Water ate away at it.

As fucked up as this was, it worked. By this point, corpses filled almost the entire moat, choking it. Soon, the army of demons and fiends would be able to cross it by stepping on the bodies of their comrades. Worst of all, by using the weaker demons and fiends as fodder, only the stronger ones remained.

The House Icefall retainers tried to snipe at them from a distance using spells and the elemental lances. However, for every one demon or fiend that died, another one took its place. Besides, neither the retainers nor the elemental lances could keep this up forever. The former would run out of mana, while the latter needed a steady supply of elemental crystals in order to keep firing.

"Is there anything you need from me?" I asked, looking at Andre.

He started to shake his head, but paused halfway.

"Yes, there is." He said. "We can handle the Tier Two demons and fiends. However, the Tier Three ones are another matter. They're the biggest threat to us. I'd like you to take care of them if they make it up here."

I glanced at the army of demons and fiends, before grinning at Andre.

"You can count on me, Cousin." I said.

Andre gave me a grateful look.

"Thank you, Gabriel." He shook his head with a haunted look in his eyes. "This… This is much worse than I expected."

"Are you regretting your decision to remain here?" I asked.

Andre snorted.

"Of course not. Without me and the warriors from Clan Leone, Icefall City might have already fallen."

While that sounded like hubris, he had a point. If Andre and the Clan Leone warriors hadn't been here to help deal with the flying enemies, everyone guarding the north gate might've been wiped out already.

"I just hadn't expected it to be…" He gestured towards the army of demons and fiends. "… Like this."

I gave his shoulder a brief squeeze.

"I understand."

I went through a similar experience back on Earth, when I cleared my first Gate. It had been a bloody and brutal experience. The monsters inside proved more powerful than we expected. They slaughtered several of my teammates. We cleared the Gate in the end, but few of us survived until the end.

Andre opened his mouth to respond, but a triumphant howl interrupted him. We looked over and saw that a hellhound had managed to cross the moat. The other demons and fiends soon followed suit.

"Warriors of Clan Leone, get into position!" Andre said. "Wizards, keep hitting them with spells!"

Everyone moved to obey his commands. I smiled. Despite the circumstances, my cousin rose up to the challenge in order to lead both the retainers of House Icefall and the warriors of Clan Leone. He was doing a far better job than I would've in his position.

After everyone moved into position, we waited for the army of demons and fiends to assault the walls. We didn't have to wait long. The first ones across the moat headed right towards us without even waiting for their comrades. The first hellhound to cross the moat must have felt confident, since he charged right for the north gate. I tilted my head. Did it intend to ram the gate?

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It turned out that yes, the hellhound intended to ram into the gate. However, this turned out to be a fatal mistake. The hellhound hit the north gate at full speed. However, other than a little shaking, nothing happened. Before the hellhound could recover, several House Icefall retainers sniped it with Water magic.

I sneered. The north gate was reinforced with powerful magic. Even a Tier Three demon would have trouble breaking through it, let alone a Tier Two one like a hellhound. The other demons and fiends realized this, because they approached the north gate with more caution. Not that this helped them. The House Icefall retainers killed them with magic.

This became less effective as more and more demons and fiends crossed the moat. Soon, they swarmed the north gate. The House Icefall retainers, including the ones manning the two elemental lances, thinned their numbers as best they could. However, there were just too many enemies.

While some demons and fiends focused on trying to break down the north gate, others tried to go over them by climbing the walls. The Tier Two demons and fiends made little progress. The walls were too well constructed, and also reinforced with Earth magic. On the other hand, the Tier Three ones had far more success. Their claws managed to find purchase in the wall.

I watched as two groups of hungers, five in each one, climbed the walls. Both groups went for an elemental lance each.

"Leroy!" I shouted. "Defend the western elemental lance!"

He nodded, before running off. I ran towards the eastern elemental lance. While Leroy couldn't kill the hungers, not without a massive amount of luck, he could hold them off for a time. That was all I needed.

"Richard, join Leroy." I heard Andre say as I ran.

I managed to reach the eastern elemental lance before the hungers, and prepared for their arrival. The House Icefall retainers manning it looked fearful, but kept firing it regardless. Unfortunately, the hungers' current position made it impossible for the elemental lance to hit them without damaging the wall.

A few moments later, a hunger climbed onto the battlement. The moment it appeared, I sliced its head in half. It didn't even get a chance to react. The hunger's body tumbled to the ground down below.

The other hungers learned from their comrade's mistake, since they climbed up with more caution. Not that it helped them much. The second hunger to climb up dodged my first attack. However, that was a feint. With the hunger off balance, I pierced through its head with my sword. The same thing happened with the third hunger.

The fourth hunger chose a different approach. Rather than climb over the battlement, it leapt up into the air. This made the hunger easier to deal with, since it couldn't move while in mid-air. I didn't even have to attack it. The elemental lance fired, hitting the hunger at point blank range and turning it into a charred corpse.

After that, nothing happened for a while. However, I didn't relax. I waited for the last hunger to arrive. Unless it climbed back down, it was likely waiting for me to lower my guard.

My caution bore fruit when the hunger scuttled over the battlement all of a sudden, moving faster than anticipated. It rushed towards the House Icefall retainers manning the elemental lance. I dashed forward to intercept it. At first it ignored me altogether. However, when I drew close enough, all of a sudden it pivoted to attack me.

I had anticipated this and used [Lightning Dash] to both avoid the hunger's attack, and to position myself behind it. Without giving the hunger a chance to react, I thrust my sword through its head. The hunger's body twitched, before collapsing onto the ground. Foul black blood oozed from its wound. I wrinkled my nose, before I kicked it off the wall.

After making sure that there weren't any more immediate threats, I rushed over to the western elemental lance to help Leroy and Richard. While they managed to hold their own until now, it was only a matter of time before the hungers over there overwhelmed them.

I resisted the urge to sigh. Tonight was going to be a long night.

After helping Leroy and Richard fight off the hungers at the western elemental lance, I spent the next few hours running back and forth across the wall. Third Tier demons and fiends kept climbing the wall, and I was the only one capable of dealing with them on my own. However, I was just one man.

Sometimes I arrived late, just after a Third Tier demon or fiend tore through a group of our troops. The warriors of Clan Leone fought back as best they could, and sometimes they managed to kill a Third Tier demon by working together. However, most of the time, they could only hold off the enemy until I arrived. At least we had the wall to protect us. Without it, everyone would've already died by this point.

As the fighting dragged on, I grew more and more exhausted. My physical stamina and mana ran low, despite my attempts to preserve both as much as possible. Despite this, I kept pushing myself. If I faltered even for a moment, people lost their lives.

After killing another group of hungers, sustaining a few injuries of my own, I looked for the next threat to deal with. However, someone put their hand on my shoulder a moment later.

"That's enough, Gabriel. Get some rest."

I glanced over and found Andre looking at me with a concerned expression on his face.

"I can't." I said. "Too many enemies to deal with. Need to go."

I tried to pull myself out of Andre's grip, but he held fast.

"Enough!" He gestured to the wall. "Look! There are no more enemies at the moment. Take this opportunity to rest."

I looked over and realized that he was right.

"What?"

Andre gave me a wry grin.

"Your efforts paid off." He said. "The Tier Three demons and fiends stopped climbing the wall."

I stared at him in disbelief. That didn't make sense. Why would they stop climbing the wall if it was working out for them? And then I took a moment to think about it deeper.

No, that wasn't right. Climbing the wall hadn't worked out for the demons. Yes, while some managed to kill several of the defenders, they paid for it with their lives. Demons were among the most selfish beings in existence. While they were willing to sacrifice others to achieve their goals, they weren't willing to sacrifice themselves.

I let out a laugh that was half disbelief and half hysteria. The concerned expression on Andre's face deepened.

"Go rest." He said. "Leave the rest to us. Get some food and water in you."

I nodded and found a spot to sit down. However, when I took a step towards it, my legs faltered and I almost fell over. Thankfully, Andre managed to catch me.

"Thank you, Cousin." I said, giving him a grateful smile.

"I'm sorry," Andre said, "I shouldn't have asked you to shoulder this burden all by yourself."

I shook my head.

"Even if you hadn't asked me, I would've done it anyway. As you said, I'm the only one here who can kill Tier Three demons and fiends on my own."

Andre's expression darkened.

"I will become stronger," he said in a solemn tone, as if swearing a vow, "so you won't have to carry the burden all on your own."

I opened my mouth to respond. However, before I could, the wall shook with such force that I almost fell over again, even with Andre's support. When the shaking subsided, we glanced at each other before we rushed towards the battlement. A needle of fear pierced my heart.

Down below, right next to the gate, stood a behemoth of a fiend. It looked like a bigger and meaner version of a rhino from Earth, except with three horns instead of just one. A layer of thick scales covered its entire body. Its tiny eyes were one of the few exceptions.

A three-horned charger.

Three-horned chargers were Tier Three monsters. They were called such because they had three horns and liked to charge at things. Obvious, really. They liked to charge at trees, at hills, at each other, at traveling caravans, and so on. However, they were tough and difficult to kill. Most people preferred to avoid them, if at all possible. This was easy, since they kept to their own territory.

However, three-horned chargers were native to the southern parts of the Solarian Empire. I had never heard of one appearing this far north. Had someone brought it here? If so, it wasn't difficult to guess why.

The three-horned charger fiend backed up several steps before charging forward. When it hit the north gate, the entire wall shook and I heard the sound of wood cracking.

We needed to kill that thing, and fast. The only reason we managed to survive this long was because of the wall. If the demons and fiends breached the gate, they would overwhelm us with sheer numbers.

The others thought the same. The House Icefall retainers focused all their attacks on the three-horned charger fiend. However, their spells failed to pierce through the three-horned charger fiend's thick scales. Even the elemental lances failed to make much of an impact.

When the three-horned charger fiend backed up to ram the north gate again, both elemental lances attacked it at the same time. Unfortunately, while they managed to scorch the fiend's scales, that was all. It ignored them and charged forward, ramming into the north gate again.

I sighed. Right. My turn. I readied to jump over the battlement. However, before I could, Andre grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

I gestured to the three-horned charger fiend.

"I need to kill that thing before it breaks through the gate." I said.

Andre stared at me in disbelief.

"Are you insane?!" He shouted. "If you go down there, you'll die."

I shrugged, before grinning at him.

"If the north gate falls, I'll die anyway." I said. "At least this way, I can save a few more lives."

Andre's expression turned unsightly.

"No." He said, tightening his grip on me. "I forbid you from killing yourself."

I grinned and waited. When the three-horned charger fiend rammed into the north gate again, shaking the wall, I broke free from Andre's grip. Pushing my body despite my exhaustion, I prepared to leap over the battlement. However, just before I could, someone grabbed me and pulled me back.

Damn it!

"I can't let you do that, Lord Gabriel." A familiar voice said.

I stiffened for a moment, before I turned towards the speaker. It was Paladin Charles.

"Let me deal with this." He said.

Without waiting for my reply, Paladin Charles let go of me and walked over to the edge of the battlement. He raised his hands to the skies, as if beseeching the heavens for aid. It turned out that was exactly what he was doing.

"Oh, Lord Tempest," he intoned, "lend me your strength."

After Paladin Charles finished speaking, he clapped his hands together. When he pulled them apart, a spear made of Holy Magic and Lightning formed in his hands. Or perhaps emerged was a more accurate term. Regardless, Paladin Charles soon held a golden spear with an electric blue shimmer. I stared at it, fascinated.

Paladin Charles lifted the spear and threw it. I watched as it flew through the air, before piercing through one of the three-horned charger fiend's tiny eyes. It let out a roar of pain, before it wobbled on its feet and hit the ground with a loud thud.

Silence fell over the area. Everyone stared at the dead three-horned charger fiend, including the army of demons and fiends. That was it? A powerful enemy, one that I was prepared to die in order to kill, died just like that? I glanced at Paladin Charles. Huh. It turned out that paladins were more powerful than I expected.

"Rest now, Lord Gabriel." Paladin Charles said. "Now that we are here, you have nothing to worry about."

I looked over and realized that a group of paladins had joined us on the wall. Like Paladin Charles, they formed golden spears made of Holy Magic and Lightning, before throwing them at the army of demons and fiends down below. While they were all only at Second Rank, their attacks still packed a punch. Demons and fiends died in droves.

I sagged with relief. Reinforcements had arrived. Perhaps we would make it through this after all. With Paladin Charles here, I didn't have to deal with the Tier Three demons and fiends on my own, even if they found the courage to climb the wall again.

Andre grabbed me by the shoulders and whirled me around to face him. He glared at me, fear and worry in his eyes.

"Don't you ever do that to me again!" He shouted.

I opened my mouth to apologize, but then someone else spoke up first.

"How tedious." A man said. "It looks like I'll have to get involved after all."

The man spoke at a normal volume, yet his voice encompassed the entire battlefield. It was like he was speaking right next to me.

As soon as the man finished speaking, my intuition screamed at me that I was in mortal danger. Without hesitation, I grabbed Andre and Paladin Charles, before using [Lightning Dash] to move away. Less than a second later, I saw a flash of blood red light.

A moment later, I found myself in the air. A part of me realized that a powerful attack had hit the north gate and sent me flying. At least I was alive. If I hadn't moved right away, that attack would've killed me. As for Andre and Paladin Charles, I didn't know what happened to them. I didn't even know if they were alive or dead.

That was all I had time for, before I hit the ground with a thud. I tried to roll with my momentum, to lessen the impact, but got the angle wrong. At best, I mitigated the damage. My left arm broke with a sickening crack, while the rest of my body ended up battered and bruised.

When I stopped rolling, I felt dizzy and disoriented. It took me a moment to clear my mind. I lifted my head and looked in the direction of the north gate. What I saw filled me with despair.

The north gate was gone.

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