At the sound of the slow march behind the trucks, all the soldiers had a serious face on them. The idea behind it was that they couldn’t just have soldiers in the car, take the first buildings, and wait for the rest because the enemy was not expecting them; they were not even thinking; it was a reaction system, so the moment they engaged with the enemy, it would be a relentless battle, so going all in was the strategy Alon put forward.

Using their spyglasses and scouting at night, they did not see monsters or golems. Edmund’s accounts of the hero were useless, as they differed ‌from before with demon lord soldiers inside the dungeon.

Halfway there, the soldiers felt nervous, as this was the point the scouts were observing the city; now it was unknown territory. From time to time, the camera crew captured the scene with a brief word from the soldiers close to them. That these people were with them with no weapons, asking strange questions and pointing the device to their faces sometimes annoyed some of them but others understood and took this time to say a feel-good word to their families and loved ones, and one of them was Ethan.

‘Have a word to someone at home, corporal?’ Sorth the microphone next to his face.

The cameraman positioned himself to film him while they walked; he was ‌in the open, Egor saw, but because they were still far enough, he just continued to walk forward with confidence in his eyes.

‘Ah, Well… my wife doesn’t know I’m here; she would have gone ‌insane, but if something happens to me, the duchess will take care of her and our child that is on the way.’ He spoke while walking.

‘Any words for her?’ She looked at the camera for a moment.

‘If you see this and I’m by your side, sorry? But if I’m not, well, I love you.’ He looked ‌at the camera.

Sorth made a gesture to the cameramen, and he stopped filming. She smiled for a moment, impressed by how the soldiers had no hesitation on the mission; some complained. She looked at Asher for a moment, but moved forward with everyone.

More time passed, and they ‌got to the city. On the radio, orders were being given to everyone. As the platoons dispersed to get into position, the trucks backed out a little to stay away from the city, and every platoon leader confirmed their position and readiness.

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As the plan suggested, ‌four platoons would assault the city and form the front line, going building by building, while the mortar platoon would stay on at the base until they secured the first buildings and they could move closer and have the entire city on their range.

Egor was positioning himself on the right side of a door while Ethan was on the left side, looking at him. He nodded at him and opened the double door, putting his rifle upfront. He scanned through the crack but didn’t see anything. A tap on the back made him look behind. Kurt gave him a thumbs up; that was the signal to start. He gave a glance over Ethan’s shoulder and saw a squad already entering, so he nodded at Ethan and, with his rifle, started to open one door and enter.

Right behind him, Ethan was pointing his rifle also forward, but to his surprise, everything became brighter. They looked at one another and started to walk forward in different directions toward different doors; behind them, the others followed; but the two that were accompanying were outside, and the cameraman was peaking inside.

The two teams swept the first floor of the building, opening doors as they trained back on the training model that Edmund had built in the back of the duchess mansion; the motions were fluid like water going down a river until the point the two teams faced one another in a room that looked like the front of the building with a larger double door and a set of stairs going up.

Egor looked at Ethan and pointed at the stairs, with Ethan’s team at the front going up the stairs and pointing their rifles up, covering all angles possible. They noticed another double door in the middle of a corridor that led to another set of stairs. Ethan’s team entered the door while Ego’s team passed them and got to the other set of stairs, continuing to go up.

Ego’s team saw another corridor with no stairs at the end of it but the double doors were at the end of the corridor. Going there, they entered quickly and swiftly as they trained before showing a hallway with just three doors to the right side and windows to the left where the walls of the dungeons could be seen and touched because it looked like it was at arm's length.

Entering the first door, Egor saw this smaller corridor opening to a larger room with other doors to the side. His team checked everything quickly and moved to the other rooms, but he noticed that the others were the same. This made him think this building was an inn with better rooms on the higher floors, but he needed Ethan’s opinion to confirm it.

After seeing everything, his team got back and encountered Ethan’s team guarding the corridor and the stairs. Egor nodded at Ethan, who nodded back with a smirk. Egor looked back at Kurt.

‘Kurt, tell 3-6 this building is clear and we are waiting for orders.’ Egor started to walk toward the stairs to the ground floor.

The radio operator stopped and started to contact the platoon leader; even though they were close to one another, now he needed to fine-tune more so that the link would stay up.

‘What was inside there, Ethan?’ Egor looked at the young man while descending the stairs

‘Small rooms with other spaces. I think this was an inn, sir.’ Ethan looked around a bit.

‘That is what I thought, that confirms what Edmund said about this being used by the survivors of the last invasion of the Demon lord as a safe hideout; fairy tales are true after all.’ He laughed a little.

‘Well, good thing those creatures were not here, but that doesn't mean they are not out there.’ Ethan pointed at the larger double door at ground level.