Around a campfire, ten men clad in armor and weapons rested. At first glance, they looked like the typical adventurers from a medieval world, but if you paid attention, the facade cracked: wristwatches that should not exist, synthetic fiber clothing, and modern designs hidden beneath steel plates.
Those ten men were the heroes summoned to save that world from the Demon King.
"Hey, Natt, you seem distracted..." asked Bruno, a man in his thirties with a messy beard and brown hair. He was the soul of the group.
Natt, a young man with an ordinary appearance, black hair and black eyes, looked away from the fire.
"It's nothing... I just can't believe it. We're about to finish all of this," Natt replied. His eyes unconsciously settled on the group's leader, Arturo. Blond, blue-eyed, charismatic, and handsome.
'He has all the typical traits of a hero,' Natt thought with a trace of bitterness while looking at his reflection in the steel of his sword. 'And I'm just an extra in the group.'
"Don't even tell me about it," Bruno joked with a laugh. "Even though magic and the isekai stuff were awesome at first, I already miss our world. A good pizza and the internet."
No one else paid attention to the conversation. Even though they came from different places, they all shared a modern origin and the camaraderie born from the mission. Natt swept his gaze over his companions until it stopped on another boy. He was good-looking, blond, and green-eyed.
'Dale,' Natt thought. 'Despite being heroic and handsome, he's always given me a bad feeling. There's something about him that...'
"Are you scared about tomorrow?" Bruno interrupted, placing a heavy hand on his shoulder. "Don't tell me you're jealous because Dale and Arturo get all the girls. Cheer up! Once this is over, women will come like bees to honey. They adore heroes."
Natt mentally scolded himself for doubting a companion. He forced a sincere smile.
"I was thinking that tomorrow all of this will end. We'll finally defeat those evil demons and save humanity."
"That's the spirit! We'll wipe them out!" shouted another one of the heroes, raising his cup.
The enthusiasm spread quickly, and soon the campfire turned into a farewell party. Natt looked back at the fire and clenched his fists.
'Yeah... everything will end.'
...
At dawn, the group split into pairs to hunt down the enemy commanders. Arturo and Maximus, the strongest ones, formed the vanguard to directly assault the Demon King, while the others had to clear the path and regroup with them afterward.
"Good thing they paired us together, right, Natt?" Bruno said, resting his mace on his shoulder with a smile.
Natt nodded while gripping the hilt of his sword.
"Come on, man, where did last night's courage go? Cheer up!"
"Sorry... I..."
A tense crackling sound from the bushes interrupted them. Both immediately went on guard. The air turned dense, heavy, and a metallic smell flooded the place.
"Could it be that they discovered us?" Bruno murmured quietly.
Natt did not answer; the smell of blood was too strong. When the bushes shook, both raised their weapons, but froze when they saw who emerged from the shadows.
It was Arturo. But he was destroyed. His left arm was missing, and a horrible open wound crossed his chest all the way to his right eye, which seemed to have been completely lost.
"Shit! What happened, Arturo? Did the Demon King defeat you?" Bruno shouted in panic, running toward him to support him.
Natt stretched out his hand to stop him, but it was too late.
A flash of light tore through the air. First, Bruno's right hand — the one he had extended to help his leader — flew through the air. An instant later, the same gleam pierced his throat from side to side.
A violent spray of blood burst from Bruno's neck. The man fell to his knees, desperately trying to cover the wound while staring in total disbelief at the silhouette slowly emerging from between the trees.
"Wow, this guy really was tough... he even managed to escape for a while. Worthy of being the hero," said a calm and icy voice.
Natt felt his heart freeze. He recognized that voice perfectly.
"Dale!" Natt shouted with a mixture of fury and terror. "Why are you doing this? We're companions!"
Dale did not answer immediately. With a smooth and heartless movement, he drove his sword directly into the chest of the agonizing Arturo, finishing him off without mercy. Then he walked past Bruno's body and stopped in front of Natt.
"I'm sorry, friend. It's nothing personal," Dale said with terrifying calmness.
"You...!"
Natt could not finish the sentence. The world spun violently in the blink of an eye. The last thing he saw was his own decapitated body collapsing onto the ground before Dale, who watched him from above with a faint and cynical smile.
"I already said it's nothing personal. I'm just following orders... No hard feelings, you know?"
....
A deep sigh echoed through the room.
"Damn it, I saw this coming already. It was stupid to summon people from another world to save yours. It was a bad idea to even think about it; technically they're opening the door to another invasion..." muttered the young man angrily while leaning back in his chair and rubbing his eyes in front of the screen. "Shit, ever since the protagonists' arc ended and the summoned heroes' arc started, everything has gone downhill. Anyway, I'll read a few more chapters to see what happens..."
Before clicking to continue, the young man glanced at the clock in the lower corner of the screen. He froze.
"Shit! It's already 4:30 in the morning, I haven't slept at all and, on top of that, I have an exam tomorrow."
He had planned to read a couple of chapters and go to bed when it was still 2:00. Who would have thought that what felt like a sigh would keep him awake until almost dawn?
With resignation, preparing himself to go to bed and praying that curiosity would not keep him tossing and turning awake, he decided to cut things short.
"I'll continue tomorrow," he said to himself.
He turned off the PC and prepared to get up from the chair. But the moment he tried to stand, all strength drained completely from his body. His vision blurred at an alarming speed. He tried to drop himself back into the seat, but his body lost balance and collapsed heavily to one side.
He tried to scream, to let out even the faintest sound in the hope that his parents would hear him from the room next door, but his throat did not respond. Everything turned completely black.