A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

"..." Carlogaris understood what those words meant.

Even if a massive army comes, he will still be needed to fight the enemy. Who else but him can step forward?

Nimitzer's ability to fight a single demon using his equipment is already remarkable, but unfortunately, he still cannot replace Carlogaris.

Because only Carlogaris can defeat multiple Bronze Saints.

What should we do?

"Go outside and fight," Nimiter replied without hesitation.

"If we fight outside, we still have a chance to retreat into the city and fight a second battle."

“If we start fighting in the city, we'll be trapping ourselves in a deadly situation,” Nimitra said to Carlogaris.

This is not a battle against some Black Iron army. The city is not a solid backing; on the contrary, it is a place they need to protect carefully.

The idea that one can gain an advantage in the city only applies to wars between Dark Iron races.

“I understand, so how many people should we bring this time?” Carlogaris hesitated for a long time before asking the question.

“I thought you wouldn’t ask.” Nimitzer raised his right eyebrow, his tone slightly surprised.

"It's probably around two thousand people. Anyway, we can't gather more than that. There are only so many people in the whole city."

Despite the demons' attack being a battle that would determine life or death for Horp, the fact that they could only muster two thousand men sounded truly pathetic.

"Two thousand people..." But Carlogaris didn't think it was too few; on the contrary, he thought it was too many.

Of these two thousand people, it's unknown how many will survive.

"No more dawdling, I'll get everyone together soon, you better get ready."

"We'll set off tonight and engage in battle in the morning," Nimitje said, then hurried off to gather manpower.

Why not launch a night raid? Of course, the darkness not only doesn't pose a problem for Bronze-level characters, but it also hinders their performance.

The gap is already huge, so why bother widening it? The advantages gained from the attack don't even outweigh the disadvantages.

---

Even at night, Holp remained brightly lit.

Calogalis and Nimitra stood before the city gate, with two thousand men gathered behind them.

Most of them didn't have much combat experience; they came along entirely voluntarily.

Many people know what they are about to face and feel a little bit of fear.

But they still came, for this brightly lit city.

"Let's go." Nimiter didn't say anything inspiring; he just said it in a very ordinary tone.

Upon hearing this, everyone silently followed them out of the city gate.

At this point, what need is there for encouraging words? No matter how much is said, everyone knows the truth.

Conversations like "We will win!" and "We will all come back alive!" are meaningless.

Two thousand men, hardly an army, slowly advanced through the night, growing further and further away from the light source behind them.

Mixed among the two thousand people were Bray and Dorothea.

The two of them also joined in.

Nimiter knew this, of course, but he didn't care too much—he wouldn't stop anyone who wanted to come.

"Why did you come along too?" Bray looked at Dorothea strangely and whispered to her.

Bray was worried about disturbing others when he spoke; after all, look how serious he is now while marching/it's not good to talk like that.

"Then why did you come?" Dorothea asked in return.

"..." Bray was speechless at her words.

“Aren’t we all trying to see clearly what this era is really like?” Dorothea said slowly, glancing at Bray out of the corner of her eye after she finished speaking.

“Because it’s a ‘diary’,” Bray sighed softly.

Dorothea was absolutely right; he would come here, but he wanted to know what this era was like.

“If you want to see what really happens, you shouldn’t interfere too much, you know?” Dorothea continued.

No matter what they do, they cannot change the actual history that has already unfolded.

However, it will still affect the development here, meaning that the stories they see are different.

"Last time we actually changed the course of the story quite significantly."

“I know.” After saying that, Bray lowered his right eyelid.

He was naturally aware of what he had done in the Western Continent, and how it had changed the unfolding of the story.

“But if you could do it, would you give it up?” Bray asked Dorothea again.

“I’m not like you,” Dorothea shook her head.

If it weren't for Bray, she wouldn't have taken action unless those Bronze-level beings had angered her.

In other words, it was entirely because of Bray's actions that Dorothea was able to save the people of that tiger village.

Dorothea never forgot that she came to read the "diary".

"Really?" Bray said with regret, realizing that only he would do that.

Although Bray isn't some merciful guy who wants to save everyone or the world, he still can't leave those who can be easily saved unattended.

“Although my thoughts are different from yours, your ideas are not unpleasant.” Otherwise, Dorothea wouldn’t have followed Bray to save that village.

As Bray and Dorothea whispered to each other, the group unknowingly moved further and further away from the city.

Time passed second by second.

The rising sun gradually dispelled the surrounding darkness.

The city looks so grand up close, but when you stand back and look at it from a distance, it's not actually as big as you'd imagine.

“Get ready, the battle is about to begin,” Nimitz said, and everyone held their breath. The reason Nimitz said to prepare for battle was simple—he saw the demon in the distance.

Kalogaris and Nimitze, leading their group, advanced silently.

Although the Iron race suffered a severe defeat at the hands of the Bronze race, it does not mean that the Iron race's technology was backward.

Even if resources are scarce, it doesn't mean that nothing can be created.

The mages went to great lengths to create a device that could deceive the senses of ordinary bronze beings.

The device was the sphere that Nimiter held in his hand, which enclosed the iron ring.

Without this device, ambushing the Bronze Age would be an impossible task.

However, this ambush seemed a little different from the usual ones.

"..." A chill ran through Nimiter, and he shivered.

Even though they were some distance apart, Nimitzer still managed to see the mocking looks in the demons' eyes.

"Stop lying in wait! Go straight in!" Nimitz finally realized something was wrong.

That means the other side had already discovered them; they knew their location before they even found them.

"Nimije, what's wrong?" Nimije's order was so sudden that even Carlogaris was caught off guard.

“The enemy has already discovered us; they're just playing us!” Without saying a word, Nimitz loaded the heavy cannon and fired a shot.

"Boom!!!!" The heavy cannon blasted a demon flying in the distance.

"Clang—" This time, including Carlogaris, everyone drew their weapons without hesitation.

Since Nimitar has already launched the attack, there is no need to ask any further questions.

"Do you want to go?" Dorothea glanced at Bray.

"Hmm." Bray simply nodded, without saying much.

With just that one word, Dorothea understood Bray's thoughts.

She sighed helplessly. Bray had already drawn his sword; what else could she say?

---

The encounter unfolded without warning, which is exactly what the word "encounter" means.

At first glance, the number of demons doesn't seem to be more than the number of people behind Kalogaris.

However, the quality is absolutely overwhelming.

These demons come in all shapes and sizes, just as people come in all shapes and sizes.

The battle was completely one-sided, no, it wasn't even one-sided.

It doesn't even qualify as a battle.

Even those with some combat experience, armed with finely crafted weapons, are nothing more than weeds when facing demons.

“How weak. Is it really necessary for us to commit so many troops?” (Demon’s words) A demon picked up a person in front of him, threw him into his mouth, and said while chewing.

"Could you please not talk while you're eating?" (Demon language) The pretty female demon beside him looked at the mountain-sized demon with disdain.

“However, their weapons are really impressive.” The mountain-sized demon said in surprise, pinching a toy-like knife between his fingers.

However, the expression on His face when He said this only made it seem like mockery.

At this point, for some demons, the Black Iron Seed was merely a snack.

Snacks are weapons, or are they just snacks? Just eat them.

"The reason we've committed so much manpower is just for one human," the female demon said, turning her gaze to Carlogaris.

She had no appetite for the Black Iron race; she was only interested in Carlogaris, who was at the forefront of the battle.

"Oh? I'll go and reply to him." The large demon found this somewhat interesting and moved its heavy body closer to Carlogaris.

The female demon was somewhat helpless when she saw the other party run over without saying a word.

"Sizzle—" But just as He was feeling helpless, a chilling sound rang in His ears.

It was the sound of someone being cut in half at the waist.

After the female demon turned around, she saw one of her companions lying in a pool of blood.

"Who is it... (in demonic language)?" The female demon was a little taken aback. Carlogaris was clearly in another direction, so what was going on here?

"Dorothea, what is He saying?"

"I don't know." Dorothea crossed her arms; she couldn't understand the demon language either.

"Don't ask me anymore, I don't understand the language of the Bronze race," she added.

"Looks like you've gained some new fighting power." (Demon's words) The female demon looked at Bray and Dorothea with great interest.

"So I find it very annoying, to be honest, things that others wouldn't understand." The Queen was very displeased.

I think so too...

"You two seem to be having a pleasant chat." This time, the female demon finally couldn't help but speak in the common language, as the other party's ignoring her made her very unhappy.

“Yes.” Bray nodded straightforwardly.

"..." The female demon's expression froze at first, then turned ferocious, her beautiful face ruined by the ferocity.

"It's really ugly." Dorothea frowned as she looked at the other person's ferocious expression.

"It was alright before." Her once pretty face was now distorted and made ugly by her expression, which made Dorothea even more dissatisfied.

She casually flicked her fingers, and a spear that had been thrust at her drew blood from the female demon's chest.

"As expected, I couldn't kill it instantly." Dorothea was a little frustrated, then clenched her five fingers together.

"Clang!" The spear twirled on its own, then pierced the female demon who was trying to launch a counterattack a second time.

The female demon, stabbed by the gun, fell face down and remained motionless.

"Didn't you say you wouldn't do anything?" Bray was speechless. What was this queen trying to do?

"I was annoyed, and I accidentally did it." Dorothea said "accidentally," but she didn't show any remorse.

"But do you really think you can help them deal with these guys?" Dorothea glanced around at the countless demons around her.