“Hey Marcus, do you hear me? Look around you. There’s not much difference between this place and hell; it makes you really think that it’s all for nothing.”

  “Shut your trap.” Marcus prepared himself, walking forward and sizing up his opponent. “Didn’t I tell you not to talk too much in combat?”

  “You seem awfully confident. Folks who achieve too many things on the battlefield always think that they’re more important than they are.”

  “I bet you think that way too, buddy.”

  “Sir Marcus,” Stella ran toward Marcus, tapping him in the back worriedly. “Who are you talking to?”

  “That guy,” Marcus eyed the glowing red eye in the distance. “Old friend of mine.”

  “Old friend of yours?”

  “Uh-huh, though, it doesn’t seem like it’s truly him.”

  Marcus remembered who Simon was. He was, like Marcus, a rough soldier. The two joined the Astrean military during the mass levy for the glorious expedition at the same time. He was such a proud bastard, though.

  Unlike everyone else, Simon always thought that their mission in hell was nonsense. He was unafraid to speak the truth, that they were all just in a convoluted suicide mission, and that none of their sacrifices would mean anything—at all.

  He thought that the world was a lost cause, so consumed by evil that it deserved to be swallowed whole by an even worse version of evil. If Marcus was a negative person, Simon doubled down and was a purebred cynic.

  Yet, Simon fought hard. He always defended Marcus, his squad and platoon mates, and ultimately, Simon died during an important operation that allowed Marcus to live on. Down there, he remembered Simon’s final words.

  “I think dying for you is a worthy reason, buddy. Live strong.”

  There was no way that this was the Simon he knew. That man down there had no lies or deception in his eyes when he died. He was convinced that it was worth dying side-by-side to protect his best friend.

  So who was this creature? Why did he sound like Simon? Why did he even act somewhat like Simon?

  There was only one answer.

  “Seems like these ‘envoys’ you folks are dealing with really are the souls of the damned,” Marcus said. “Specifically, the damned of the glorious expedition.”

  “You mean, your comrades?”

  “I wouldn’t call them my comrades anymore. That thing over there is just a cheap imitation, I think. It’s a malevolent distortion of who he was. That’s what makes them dangerous.”

  “The feeble-minded can only deny what’s in front of him. Whatever, it begins now. I hope you haven’t gone rusty.”

  “Too bad for you, I didn’t,” Marcus replied, smiling at Simon. “I’ll send you back where you belong, dead and at peace.”

  “Sir Marcus!” Stella summoned her sword. “Aberrant undead, incoming. They’re surrounding us!”

  “I entrust you with protecting the horses. I’ll deal with my old friend. You think I can count on you, Stella?”

  Stella’s amethyst eyes stared worriedly at Marcus briefly before she nodded with determination, her soft pink lips curling up into a smile.

  “With how calm you are, I feel like nothing’s ever going to go wrong,” Stella said. “I trust you, Sir Marcus, so I’ll make sure you can count on me.”

  “Of course. You’re the [Saint]. This is your calling; I’m sure you can do it.”

  With a nod, Stella broke from Marcus, facing off against the undead with her sword. A flash of golden light soon washed over the battlefield, and Stella began chanting spell after spell, including her skills.

  Meanwhile, Marcus charged in on his main opponent. The dark envoy had already begun summoning shards of black light, all of them spinning around his blocky body.

  “Are you fired up now? Then come at me, buddy.”

  Stella seriously doubted her previous assessment of this active envoy of death.

  The Yesod-class classification she gave this envoy seemed to be a major underestimation. The level of corruption from the death magic it emanated was so overwhelming that, to her sensitive senses, it was as if the entire region reeked of rotten pungency. She struggled to keep herself composed while fighting the various undead rushing to her.

  She sliced three of them with one swing before turning on her back and slicing another two. The situation was starting to get to her. Luckily, the horses weren’t touched.

  The two of them were now tied to each other, both calmly watching as Stella fought around them. Earlier, she placed the spell [Calm] on the two creatures so that they wouldn’t be panicking about death surrounding them.

  Meanwhile, Stella was starting to struggle. Some of the undead were simply so fast that they could dodge and land hits on her. Keeping them off with her longsword, considering their superior numbers, began to turn harder and harder each passing minute.

  What even is happening?

  I’m too surrounded.

  He needs to take that envoy out.

  Stella gritted her teeth as she pushed herself further and further. Each strike began to kill four, then six, then eight. The corpses of the undead began piling high, crowding out the tiny defense perimeter she created.

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  [Purification Bolts].

  To help herself, Stella summoned sixteen bolts of light around her. It cost her a considerable amount of mana, and it required quite a bit of concentration to control. But she used them expertly, sending them straight into the bodies of the undead in a swirling, circular manner.

  The [Purification Bolts] seemed extremely effective. Each time an undead was hit, they were immediately burned into white particles, as if their bodies were purified of their corruption. Stella therefore realized that she should test something.

  Planting her longsword to the ground, she used [Aura of Faith] and expended a considerable amount of mana, affecting an area equivalent to half a dozen blocks. While doing it, she felt her body heating up, sweat coming down her brows as her magic coursed out of her body.

  I just need to keep going.

  Sir Marcus will finish off that creature, no matter how strong it is.

  All I need to do is hold on here for as long as possible.

  She was worried, internally fearing another near-death experience. She already found herself once defeated by superior numbers, so these kinds of scenarios always worried her.

  But she remembered her training from Marcus. She spent weeks fighting monsters with greater numbers than her using just what she had. While she didn’t grow considerably stronger, she knew she knew more about herself and the options she had.

  This was one of those. Using [Aura of Faith] so blatantly with a large intended area of effect could burn her out enough that she would be put out of action. But she didn’t hesitate at using this tactic.

  And it worked. It worked so, so well. The undead around her began falling in droves, their bodies literally burning from Stella’s Holy Magic-based skill.

  By the time she was done, she had probably expended a good one-third of her mana, on top of the mana she expended earlier while battling them with her sword.

  But, by the end of it, as she uncontrollably fell to her knees, the area around her was cleared. Probably a few hundred to a thousand undead of various ranks were now killed.

  Notifications also began blaring through her system window. She was leveling up, and her stat attributes were improving. She felt a surge of extra power coming out of her, and she managed to stand back up again.

  “He’s right,” Stella said to herself as she looked around the battlefield. “If I fight, I’ll live. All I have to do is to always fight for my life.”

  She looked down at her white-gloved hand, curling it as she felt herself believing in her abilities more.

  “So long as I’m doing it, I’ll get stronger. I can definitely hold out for you, Sir Marcus.”

  [Blink Step.]

  [Blink Step.]

  [Blink Step.]

  As Marcus began teleporting rapidly to charge straight into Simon, the envoy began firing away with its shards of dark light. Surprisingly, the damned bastard was quite accurate.

  Marcus felt himself, for the first time, being struck and hit by his enemy’s attacks. Most importantly, unlike his previous opponents, he wasn’t fully holding back with a fraction of his strength.

  It seemed that this ‘Envoy of Death’ wasn’t something to be trifled with. He wondered how strong a Malkuth-class was if this envoy was a mere Yesod-class according to Stella.

  In any case, a mild, searing pain began to flare out through his body as he was hit again and again by the creature’s attacks. Luckily, Stella’s [Aura of Faith] still affected him, and each time he was hit, the corruption in his body quickly disappeared.

  She was truly a handy investment, Marcus thought. But he had enough of this.

  Marcus began using his rapiers to cut through the swarm of light shards coming his way. He began using [Levitation] coupled with [Blink Step] to speed up faster, almost as if he was flying through the city while dodging and destroying the light shards attacking him.

  It helped well, as Marcus mostly eliminated or dodged every attack Simon sent him.

  “Haven’t you yet understood? Fighting me is pointless. Fighting anyone is pointless. You fought the demon horde too.”

  “Yet you’re still fighting, buddy.”

  “You’re right,” Marcus said, spinning to cut a barrage of light shards. Then, he landed on a rooftop, panting lightly as he looked up at the monster ahead of him. “So what, though? I still want to fight.”

  The light shards Simon summoned froze mid-air, and they began multiplying rapidly, all aimed at Marcus.

  “You should just accept that people will die. You’re here because you can’t accept it. It’s a foolish endeavor. It’s best for this world to end instead.”

  “Then no one will have to die again.”

  Marcus charged onward, using [Blink Step] and [Levitation] again. On the other hand, Simon resumed his attacks. Each light shard seemed more powerful now, as they began letting off powerful blackish explosions around Marcus.

  Instead of stabbing Marcus, it seemed that Simon changed strategy. It seemed like he wanted to blast Marcus out of the sky instead.

  “Bold move, brother,” Marcus laughed as he closed in more and more. “Too bad, I don’t think it’s enough.”

  “Nothing is enough for you. Looks like hell caused some screws to go loose on that head of yours.”

  “I understand, though, just as you probably understand why I’m doing this.”

  “We’re just two miserable dogs fighting for nothing, till this day.”

  Marcus flew high upward. On the other hand, Simon’s voice remained deadly neutral as he sent obsidian shards, now reaching the size of literal lamp poles, in Marcus’ way.

  On the other hand, Marcus readied his rapiers as he activated another set of his skills in case things got rough.

  [Hellfire Aura], [Pinpoint Hardening].

  As Marcus dove straight at the obsidian rock, aiming his rapiers straight at Simon’s glowing red eye, his body began to burn red. Each shard hitting him either burned into a crisp or was blocked by his body.

  He began activating at least a sixth of his mana, protecting his body completely from Simon’s attacks. Then, he channeled the rest into his rapiers, causing them to glow light red.

  It wasn’t his ultimate attack [Absolute Blaze] yet, but Marcus was confident that this would end the battle immediately.

  “You’re right! We’re just two dumb dogs fighting till the end—that’s why there can only be one dog left standing, buddy!”

  “You mad dog and your foolish greed for glory! You’ll never find true satisfaction in this madness you chose! Just die and rest!"

  But, instead of Marcus dying, he sliced Simon with his blades, cutting the floating rock into four clean chunks.

  Marcus sighed lightly as he landed on the rooftop of one of the buildings. Above him, the darkness finally began to taper off, including the obsidian rocks.

  They all dissolved into ashes before landing on the ground.

  “Go back to your well-deserved rest, Simon.”

  Marcus looked down at the rapier in his right hand. It was Simon's blade that Marcus used since his best buddy died.

  It was good that Marcus used it to free Simon from his corruption. But Marcus’s other comrades, who he now found out were resurrected as these distorted nightmares, weren’t.

  “Tch. I have too much crap to clean up.”