The feeling that something was wrong didn't come from the flame. For the first time since all of this began, it was far too quiet. Not cold, not extinguished… just silent. That bothered me more than any explosion or violent reaction. It was as if it were holding its breath.
Vailor was strangely busy that morning. Not the usual kind of bustle with merchants shouting prices or drunken adventurers arguing over bounties, but a tense, hurried movement. People carrying crates, messengers running, guild members speaking in low voices. News of the joint offensive had spread faster than I expected.
I walked alongside Elara, Vespera, and Liriel, watching everything in silence. None of us seemed truly comfortable with it. It was as if we all knew we were heading toward something we still weren't capable of facing… but no one said it out loud.
"So this is it," Vespera commented, adjusting the bow on her back. "Everyone gearing up, alliances being formed, heroic speeches… and I still miss shots standing still."
"You miss because you shoot without thinking," Elara replied, with her usual dry tone. "Not because you're weak."
"Oh, of course. Thanks for the emotional support."
I let out a brief smile. Too small to ease the tension, but enough to remind me that we were still ourselves. We hadn't yet turned into disposable soldiers in a larger war.
Liriel walked a few steps behind, holding her staff with both hands. Her presence still felt strange to me. A goddess—even a useless one, as she herself said—walking with us as if it were normal. The light magic she could use was powerful, yes, but limited. And I knew that frustrated her more than she admitted.
"Do you feel that?" she suddenly asked.
I stopped walking. "Feel what?"
"The air. It's… heavy. Not like before. This isn't ordinary fear."
Elara closed her eyes for a moment. "My mana isn't flowing properly. It's… irregular. As if something is interfering."
Great. Exactly what I wanted to hear before entering a dungeon commanded by a Demon General.
We continued on to the central guild, where the movement was even more intense. Inside, the main hall was filled with different groups: veteran adventurers, leaders of small guilds, mercenaries hired in haste. And at the center of it all, him.
The elf.
His presence was impossible to ignore. Tall, posture far too calm for someone amid a mobilization of that scale. Silver hair tied back, green eyes attentive, ancient. He spoke with the Guild Master as if discussing something trivial.
"So that's the SS-Class," Vespera murmured. "He doesn't seem… I don't know. Threatening."
"That's exactly what makes him dangerous," Elara replied.
When our gazes met, he smiled faintly and approached, his steps calm.
"Takumi," he said, calling my name without hesitation. "We finally meet properly."
I looked at him. "You know who I am."
"I know many things," he replied. "My name is Aerendyl Vaelthorn. I am the leader of the Elven Guild of Lúmen-Sylvar. And I came because this General cannot be ignored."
There was something in the way he spoke. Not arrogance. Certainty. A certainty I didn't yet have.
"And you think you can defeat him?" I asked.
Aerendyl didn't answer right away. He simply observed me for a few seconds, as if measuring something beyond the physical.
"Not alone," he finally said. "And perhaps… not even together. But we need to try."
That was the most honest thing I'd heard since all of this began.
The rest of the day passed in preparations. We bought supplies, checked equipment, listened to strategies that sounded far too good on paper. I watched Elara trying to conserve mana with every gesture, Vespera practicing shots even knowing she'd miss half of them, Liriel rehearsing spells that probably wouldn't work the way she wanted.
And yet… no one gave up.
At night, we gathered outside the city, near the camp set up for the offensive. Scattered campfires, low voices, the metallic sound of armor being adjusted.
Elara sat beside me. "You're different."
"How so?"
"Quieter. That usually happens when you decide something on your own."
She knew me too well.
"I just… don't know if we're ready."
"We're not," she replied bluntly. "But that's never stopped us before."
Vespera approached soon after, sitting on my other side. "If we die, I just want to say it was your fault for accepting poorly paid quests."
"Good to know."
Liriel stood in front of us, gripping her staff tightly. "If this is the end… I want you to know that walking with you was… interesting."
Coming from her, that was practically a deep emotional declaration.
I looked at the fire. The flame inside me reacted slightly, as if agreeing with something I didn't yet understand.
The dungeon awaited us.
And, for the first time, I was sure of one thing:
it wasn't a matter of winning.
It was a matter of surviving.
And that alone already said everything about what awaited us.