Arsalan, the guard and captain of the city, was supposed to be patrolling as usual. However, he found himself in an unimaginable situation. Surrounding him, soldiers stood at a distance of a hundred meters, all staring at a humanoid female figure in a white dress, standing at the northwestern gate. Around her, within a hundred-meter radius, the ground was littered with headless corpses—men, women, children, elderly—without distinction. The entity remained motionless, and even magical attacks could not approach within a hundred meters of her.

With fear gripping him, Arsalan shouted to the soldiers and elite-level mages around him, all of whom were top-tier warriors, while he himself was at the Lord level."Nobody gets close! We have to wait for Count's reinforcements! Until then, prevent any civilians from approaching the gate!"

The well-trained soldiers, after taking deep breaths, scattered in different directions to carry out their orders. However, some remained frozen, staring at the entity in front of them, fear overriding their military discipline.

"That thing is at least Warlord-level! We should escape through the other gates!""I don't want to die!""We can't defeat it!"

Seeing their morale crumble, Arsalan sheathed his steel sword and shield, moved behind them, and pointed his sword at them."You swore to protect the citizens of this city and the Empire! Either move forward and fight this invading creature, or obey the orders of your superior!"

When the three soldiers in front of him failed to respond, Arsalan's anger flared. A plan sparked in his mind, and without hesitation, he threw the three hesitant soldiers toward the monster.

"Hey, what are you doing?!!!""Have you gone mad?!""Damn you, bastard!"

Ignoring their protests, Arsalan, at his Lord-level strength, effortlessly hurled them through the air toward the creature.

The female-like entity turned her gaze toward the first soldier. Ignoring his screams, his head exploded the moment she looked at him. She then turned to the second, then the third. When her gaze shifted to a fourth, Arsalan had already reached her and hurled his shield forward. The entity effortlessly knocked it aside with such force that it embedded into the ground. She turned to look at him—but his sword was already plunged deep into her heart.

Seeing his attack succeed, Arsalan twisted the blade violently, then, wasting no time, pulled it out and swung for a decapitating strike. With expert precision, he severed her head, sending it flying.

He hesitated for a moment, staring at the lifeless body before him, before being snapped back to reality by the cheers of the soldiers and approaching civilians.

"Hurry to the other gates! These creatures can be killed—you just need to avoid their gaze! Move fast! For the Empire!"

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The soldiers raised their weapons in unison, while the civilians sought to flee. However, the soldiers did not allow them to abandon the city entirely.

"For the Empire!"

Arsalan, knowing he would receive a great reward for this achievement, glanced at the three headless soldiers among the fallen. From a military standpoint, he had the right to execute them on the spot for disobeying orders. Yet, despite everything, he felt guilt for their deaths. However, he had killed a Warlord-level entity and saved many soldiers and citizens in the process.

Just as he was beginning to process the situation, the expressions of those around him darkened in horror. Confused, Arsalan turned around and saw the creature's body melting into a black, tar-like liquid that began to rise.

Not hesitating for even a second, Arsalan unleashed his fastest and strongest sword technique, "Comet Slash." His strikes landed on the tar-like mass—but it regenerated instantly. The black substance solidified, revealing a monstrous, worm-like being with a massive conical mouth. The sight was so horrifying that most of the civilians fainted, while the soldiers, who had been ready to liberate the other gates, now trembled in terror.

Before their eyes, Arsalan, their captain, screamed in agony as he was crushed and consumed within the gaping maw of the black worm.

At none of the city's twelve other gates had such progress been made—none had forced the entity into its true form. Yet, the piles of corpses elsewhere suggested an even grimmer fate.

Meanwhile, deep within the underground vaults of Hazard Castle, a knight in full armor was effortlessly sliced in half, as if he were butter, by the enchanted sword of Count Hazard. His weapon, a legendary blade of hardened steel, inlaid with gold and silver, bore intricate mythical engravings.

Without hesitation, Hazard executed two more Lord-level knights in the same manner before reaching the end of the grand hall. There, he locked eyes with a middle-aged red-haired woman and her two teenage daughters, both standing behind their mother in terror.

The woman, Count's wife and a Lord-level mage, swiftly conjured a magical circle, known as the Laser Flame spell, which could amplify raw magical energy multiple times. However, before she could release it, the spell suddenly turned against her and instantly obliterated her own head.

Satisfied with his mastery over magic, Hazard then shifted his gaze to the two weeping daughters, who knelt beside their mother's corpse. As they sobbed, he evaluated whether they could be of any use to him. He had just slain both their parents, yet within five seconds, he reached a conclusion.

Without a word, he walked past them. The girls, too distraught to react, didn't realize that, in their moment of mourning, they had been frozen solid by ice magic. With a slight gust of wind, their bodies shattered into thousands of pieces.

Hazard then arrived before the massive steel vault door, five meters tall. Summoning his Death Scythe, he effortlessly sliced through it. Inside, he was greeted with an enormous trove of gold and jewels, bringing a satisfied grin to his face. However, his true delight came from the system's notification:

[Gold Source Found][By absorbing the gold into the system, you can gain 1.5 million gold coins.][The commercial city "Gates of the World," a high-value Warlord-level threat, has been conquered.][Obtained: Grand Shining Mithril Treasure Chest]

After absorbing the gold into the system and storing the jewels in his inventory, Hazard was about to relish the thought of the many heroes he had slain in this city. Yet, rather than a smile, his jaw merely twitched, producing an unsettling clicking noise—

A sound that, if heard by a weaker being, would haunt their nightmares forever.