The next five days passed quickly.
Too quickly.
Before I realized it, I could no longer properly distinguish mornings from nights. Everything seemed like one continuous sequence of battles, travel, and destruction.
The Kingdom of Giants was enormous.
Far larger than I had initially imagined.
And the farther we advanced through the lands beyond the castle, the more evident the extent of the devastation caused by the demons became.
Abandoned villages.
Burned fields.
Destroyed towers.
Black marks scattered across the mountains.
The demons had spread across nearly the entire outer territory of the kingdom.
And even so...
They continued avoiding direct confrontation whenever they noticed our presence.
On the morning of the second day, Scarlet and I destroyed another demon camp near a rocky valley.
This time there were fewer enemies.
Around two hundred.
But they were carrying even more corrupted stones.
Liriel and Elara spent most of that day purifying an entire region consumed by demonic corruption.
Liriel's holy energy became so powerful that even the local giants stood silently watching her work in admiration.
Elara used wind magic to spread the purification more quickly across the ruined fields.
Meanwhile, Vespera and Rai'kanna spent nearly the entire day eliminating small groups attempting to escape through the mountains.
The giants began calling them "The Storm Shadows."
Especially after Rai'kanna single-handedly destroyed an entire demonic barricade using draconic strength.
Lyannis remained in charge of coordinating everything through magical communication.
Without her, it probably would have taken us much longer to cover so many different regions.
On the night of the second day, we gathered once again at a small abandoned giant fortress.
The place had been temporarily turned into a support base.
Several giant soldiers rested there while helping survivors rescued from the villages.
I stood studying the map spread across a makeshift table while Scarlet finished cleaning her sword.
"We destroyed at least seven camps today."
She commented.
"And even so, more keep appearing."
Lyannis approached the table.
"That's because the smaller groups are retreating."
"But there are still larger concentrations to the north."
Elara sighed as she sat beside the campfire.
"These bastards are like cockroaches."
Rai'kanna let out a small laugh.
"You say that as if you've never fought demons before."
"Not in these numbers."
Elara replied.
Liriel finished treating several wounded giants before walking over to us.
She looked tired.
Even though she tried to hide it.
"The corruption spreading through the villages is getting worse."
I frowned.
"Worse?"
She slowly nodded.
"The stones continue releasing demonic mana even after the enemies are dead."
Lyannis agreed.
"That means someone designed these things to function over the long term."
Scarlet crossed her arms.
"So..."
"...they intended to slowly destroy the entire kingdom."
I finished.
Silence settled over the group for several seconds.
Then Vespera finally spoke.
"That explains why they're running away."
Everyone looked at her.
"Their mission was probably never to defeat us directly."
She remained calm.
"It was to spread contamination."
That made sense.
And that was exactly what worried me.
The demons were becoming far too intelligent.
The next morning, we set out once again.
The third day was even worse.
We found villages that were completely empty.
No bodies.
No signs of battle.
Only silence.
A strange silence.
As if the residents had simply disappeared.
Rai'kanna stared at one of the ruined houses while slightly frowning.
"This place gives me chills."
Scarlet looked along the empty road.
"I don't like this."
Neither did I.
That feeling of emptiness was worse than facing demons directly.
As we advanced through the mountainous region, Lyannis noticed something unusual.
"There's concentrated mana beneath the ground."
I immediately looked at her.
"Underground?"
She nodded.
Soon afterward, we found tunnels.
Demonic tunnels.
The demons were using underground routes to move between different regions of the kingdom.
That explained how they managed to escape so quickly.
It also explained why they appeared in so many different places at the same time.
We spent hours destroying those passages.
Rai'kanna literally collapsed an entire section of a mountain using brute strength combined with draconic magic.
Scarlet watched in silence before commenting,
"Sometimes I forget you're terrifying too."
Rai'kanna smiled faintly.
"Only sometimes?"
Even in the middle of war, those small moments helped ease the tension.
But it always returned.
On the night of the third day, while we rested beside a frozen lake, I finally managed to speak privately with Durgan through magical communication.
The giant general sounded exhausted.
"So you really are reclaiming our lands..."
"Little by little."
I replied.
"But the demons were far more prepared than we imagined."
Durgan clenched his teeth.
"Cowards."
"Using those stones..."
His voice carried genuine anger.
"Giants have always fought face-to-face."
"They don't."
I looked toward the distant mountains as the icy wind blew.
"That's exactly the difference."
On the fourth day, the battles became more intense.
For the first time, we encountered organized resistance.
Not just ordinary soldiers.
But larger demons.
Commanders.
Creatures far stronger than the others.
Scarlet and I fought an entire group near a destroyed giant bridge.
The draconic flames began flowing much more naturally during combat.
I still didn't have perfect control.
But I no longer wasted mana like before.
Scarlet noticed immediately.
"You're getting faster."
I dodged a heavy strike as I replied,
"I'm getting used to it."
She smiled during the battle.
"Finally."
Meanwhile, Liriel and Elara fought flying creatures near the western mountains.
Elara practically created an entire storm with wind magic to bring the monsters down.
Liriel purified every remaining demonic fragment before it could contaminate the area again.
Vespera and Rai'kanna eliminated a demonic commander who was attempting to escape while carrying several black stones.
When they returned, Vespera threw one of