Beyond the ridge, I saw shadows flickering red.

Massive bodies, large enough to wrap around the entire ridge.

At a glance, I could see two of them clearly.

Their dark crimson exteriors crackled in places with visible currents of electricity.

– Pioneer: You could call them dragons without wings, maybe... Earth Dragons?

I understood what Pioneer-senior meant with that description.

They were on all fours, walking on the ground—not quite Imugi-like.

The way they moved with their limbs made them resemble dragons more than anything else.

Dragons without wings that looked, in many ways, lacking.

Two dark red shadows visible in the distance.

The number of Skaldmagras that fully entered view was four in total.

The soldiers watching the two Skaldmagras emerging from the Beast Forest had fear in their eyes.

Resellin was staring at me, her gaze intense.

"The trap to perfectly take down the Skaldmagra is complete."

A sigh escaped Resellin’s lips.

"I thought maybe at most two would show up, but the moment four of them appeared for certain... things got a little messy."

Resellin continued.

"We need people to lure them in properly. And I want you to lead and control that group."

"You really just want to make me suffer, don’t you."

At my remark, Resellin puffed up both cheeks.

"Because you’re the only one I can rely on!"

"Got °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° it."

Whether the mercenaries, knights, and soldiers would actually listen to what I said—that was another matter. But since Resellin was in charge of commanding all the mercenaries, she obviously had to stay here.

Yunes wasn’t moving with me. She said once the Skaldmagras were lured into the trap, she’d be part of the mage unit that would unleash their full magic firepower.

I got to my feet. And headed toward the gathering point for the troops.

"Is everyone ready?"

Everyone nodded at my question.

"Let’s finish this quick and go have a drink."

To think someone was talking about booze in a moment where their life was on the line. Honestly, I found that reassuring. People like that—who were a little unhinged—would probably do their jobs properly in a situation like this, compared to those gripped by fear.

To lure the Skaldmagras, we obviously had to face them directly.

Thirty scouts in total.

I was now the captain of the scouting unit.

"I’ll speak comfortably from here on."

This time, I had to take the lead myself.

"You don’t need to worry about making noise with your steps. Skaldmagras are extremely sensitive to sound. No matter how much you try to muffle it, they’ll hear it. So the key point is: lure them successfully with the least possible damage."

I swept my eyes over the scout unit.

"Everyone, move out."

I led the scouts through the brush. The Skaldmagra looked to be around 60 meters tall.

When I spotted them, I pulled out the Binding Scroll and activated the Veil of Secrets. Then I took out the terminal.

[Activating ‘Visographica’.]

[One use has been deducted.]

Each use allowed for 30 minutes of recording.

If it were a short battle, that’d be more than enough—but with monsters of this scale, I still had no sense of how long it might take to bring them down.

Vrrrm—

A blue orb floated up from the terminal screen.

The orb quickly turned transparent.

So it’ll float around for 30 minutes and find its own camera angles. Not bad.

The two Skaldmagras were still motionless.

But it wasn’t like they hadn’t noticed the scout unit.

Each of their heads had four eyes.

All of those eyes were locked onto the scouts.

"Mages and archers. Prepare to fire. But don’t aim to kill. Think of your attacks as just drawing their attention."

These were Resellin’s exact words, repeated as is.

Creak—

One after another, I heard the sound of crossbows being drawn.

Mages holding staffs traced magic circles in midair.

Fwoosh!

The sounds of spellcasting followed.

Having just skimmed through the spellbook, I obviously had no intention of tossing my own spell in the mix.

Thunk!

With a dry snap, sharp arrows flew through the air.

Fire orbs and arrows shattered like dust the moment they struck the Skaldmagras’ bodies.

From what I’d heard, those were Third-Rank spells—

Which meant that at the very least, the Skaldmagra had the strength to neutralize Third-Rank magic.

"Keep attacking as you move."

The scout unit listened to my command well. As the seniors in the Transcendent Gallery had said, the Skaldmagras didn’t recklessly charge in.

They followed us while maintaining a fixed distance.

But the tension remained.

They were named monsters.

There would definitely be parts of them that surpassed my expectations.

Just as I was organizing those thoughts—

KWAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

A Skaldmagra opened its jaws wide.

"......."

Suddenly, all sound in the vicinity vanished.

A hollow silence. A true void where not a single sound could be heard took over the area.

Now I understood what it meant when they said a Skaldmagra devours sound.

Hearing is, naturally, critical in battle. The expressions of the scout unit were painted with confusion.

"......!"

We looked at one another, our mouths moving silently.

Skaldmagra devours sound.

Everyone knew that, but for most, this was their first time experiencing it in person.

Even the Third-Rank knight next to me looked visibly shaken.

Though some tried to move their hands and do something despite the silence smothering the battlefield, the anomalies only continued.

All eight of the Skaldmagra’s eyes turned pitch black in an instant.

Fwaaaaaah—!

At the same time, a thick, ominous Magi burst out from all over the Skaldmagra’s body.

According to the Transcendent Gallery seniors, this phenomenon signaled the manifestation of one of the Skaldmagra’s innate demonic traits.

Their comments came flooding back to me.

– Pioneer: After it devours sound, it’ll unleash a mind-confusion curse. It’s a type that makes you lose your rationality and confuse friend from foe.

– Sword of Light: You won’t be affected too much. You’re already Fourth-Rank or higher and have high mental resistance from skills like Mental Barrier. You’ve also gained resistance to dark-attribute attacks, which includes curses.

– Shrine Maiden: Hawawawa~ and also, if a climber carries the Binding Scroll, that alone offers a major countermeasure against demonic curses~

Maybe because of all that, my mind really was perfectly clear.

– ㅇㅇ): How do we bring back anyone who does get cursed?

ㄴ Absolute Monarch: In large-scale subjugation ops like this, the units are usually instructed to take ‘Nurha’ herbs beforehand. It’s the most reliable countermeasure for mental attacks by demonic beasts.

ㄴ Absolute Monarch: Thanks to the Nurha, most won’t be lured so far as to attack allies.

The senior was right.

Everyone had taken Nurha before deploying.

I’d taken it too, just in case.

ㄴ Absolute Monarch: If someone does get lured into madness, hit them somewhere. The physical pain can jolt them awake if the herb is still in effect. That works for about half.

ㄴ Absolute Monarch: If they still don’t come to, you’ll have to force more of the herb into their mouth.

ㄴ Demon Dragon King: Beltui~ And if that doesn’t work, sometimes you just gotta slice their neck—death is the only way out (≧∇≦)/

I also recalled the Demon Dragon King-senior’s absolutely adorable nuclear option.

ㄴ Sword of Light: If the condition’s that bad, it really is the right call.

ㄴ Demon Dragon King: Beltui~ Hoeeeeeh, I’m so touched that Swordy agrees~ my heart is pounding~

Just as Absolute Monarch-senior said—

Two-thirds were fine.

The problem was the rest.

The ones still sane desperately tried to subdue the cursed soldiers who had suddenly started charging at them like zombies.

I decided to follow Absolute Monarch’s advice to the letter.

I slipped into the scuffle between two struggling soldiers.

One of them, a spear-wielder, was swinging both arms with a rage-twisted face.

This one had lost his mind.

[NPC – Third-Rank Mercenary Dwaite]

Without hesitation, I spread my hand and slapped Dwaite across the cheek.

I could feel the impact clearly, but without any sound, the disconnect felt strangely surreal.

Among the afflicted, about half—around twelve—snapped back to their senses after just a slap.

For those who didn’t, I shoved the herb directly into their mouths.

"Open up."

Ah, right.

Even if I speak, no one can hear anything right now.

I promptly shoved the Nurha into the mouth of a Fourth-Rank knight.

It was basically alternating male and female patients and stuffing Nurha into them one after another.

Thankfully, the soldiers who had regained their senses began helping me.

– Heavenly Demon: Eliminate the source. In the end, you must tear out the root of the chaos. Killing them will also restore the sound they devoured.

Originally, the plan had been to lure the other two visible in the distance into the trap before engaging in full combat.

But the Skaldmagra’s abilities were proving far too disruptive.

One of the Skaldmagra opened its mouth again.

No sound came out, of course, but I could feel something hurtling toward me from the shift in the air’s movement.

A flickering sphere of electric energy formed in the air.

According to Archmage-senior, it was called a Thunder Echo Blast.

He’d even dropped this comment:

– Archmage: Just break through it head-on. Make sure you’re running Body Fortification. Use Sword Aura to neutralize the Echo Blast.

– Archmage: Doesn’t matter what attribute it is—you can slice through any type of Echo Blast. You just need to find the right angle.

I activated Body Fortification.

[Magical Body Enhancement Lv.10 – Skill Activated.]

I raised my sword and swung it down vertically.

The bolt of lightning sparked in vivid blue flame and vanished.

– Gutter Swordsman: Kill it, and the sound it devoured will return.

Alright then.

First, I’ll kill these two right in front of me.