Chapter 269: Escape (4)

Amon put on light armor. Metal plates on his shoulders and arms, and a breastplate over his chest.

Then Amon came out of the tent silently. He bent toward the sleeping guard. Amon took his palm and held it in front of his face, just inches away from his skin. Amon’s palm was covered with his dark shadow.

In his other hand, he held a dagger. Its blade was above the demon’s neck. Amon took a deep breath. ’Let’s do this.’

He covered the demon’s mouth with his palm. The shadow on his hand instantly slid from his palm to cover the demon’s face, concealing his sound.

The demon awoke. He tried to move, but at the same time, Amon cut his neck. The demon trembled and shook his body a few times and died within a minute.

Seeing this, Amon took back his shadow beneath his feet. He glanced at the campfire far away.

Then Amon went back to the same tent where Harvey and Mari’s bodies were. He glanced at them, clenching his teeth. Amon took out one huge glass bottle of fuel. Opening the lid, he poured it on their bodies, then around the room and the fabric of the tent.

Getting outside, he went to the backside of the tents. Then he started to pour the liquid fuel on the tent fabric one by one.

“Wait! Not like this.” Amon stopped and gazed at the forest. He walked toward it and started to throw fuel on the trees. He walked deeper, not caring about the shadowy figure far deep inside the forest.

The path was just behind the tent where Amon and the others were tortured.

After pouring it a few meters away, Amon went back to the camp.

“I have enough fuel. Also, they might wake up by the smell….” Amon tried to think rationally, but thoughts of Mari and Harvey filled his mind.

“Fuck it! I don’t care anymore.”

Amon walked toward different areas from the backside of the tents, near the edge of the forest, pouring liquid fuel on some tents. Not every tent.

—

At the center of the camp, a large campfire burned steadily, its orange flames crackling as sparks rose into the night sky.

Several demon soldiers sat in a loose circle around it instead of patrolling. Helmets were off, weapons leaned casually against crates.

Laughter echoed as they talked about trivial things. Boasting about past battles, mocking each other, complaining about commanders.

“Ha! I’m telling you, that human screamed like a dying pig,” one of them laughed, tossing a stick into the fire.

Another demon snorted. “You say that about every human.”

While everyone were talking one of of notice somthing weird in air. Maybe most of them were relax so didn’t notice.

A third one leaned back, stretching. He sniffed the air slightly and frowned. “Hey… do you smell that?”

“What?” another replied lazily.

“Fuel. And something burning.” he told him seriously.

One of the demons scoffed loudly. “Idiot. There’s fuel right here to keep the campfire going. Of course you smell it.” He nudged the fuel bottle beside them with his foot. “What, you think the fire smells like flowers? We have huge campfire. Of course you smell fire here.”

The group burst into laughter. It was a good joke.

“Hahaha– yeah, yeah.” They laughed.

“Getting paranoid already?”

But then one demon stopped laughing. He noticed something at the edge of the forest side.

His gaze drifted past the fire, toward the edge of the camp.

“…Wait.” he spoke to everyone.

The others noticed the sudden change in his expression. His face was serious.

“What is it?”

He stood up slowly. His eyes narrowed. “At the edge… over there. Look at there everyone.”

The laughter died instantly. Flickers of orange light danced unnaturally in the distance.

Flames. Fiercy flames. A tent was burning.

“No– two tents,” another demon muttered in disbelief.

“Fire!” someone shouted suddenly. “Fire at the edge of the camp!”

The circle exploded into chaos. Demons jumped to their feet, knocking over crates and weapons.

“Extinguish it! Move!” someone yelled.

“Is there a water element user here?!”

“Call a water mage! Hurry!”While some tried to call water mage.

Several soldiers grabbed buckets and ran toward the flames.

But the moment they got closer, their expressions changed from urgency to shock.

The fire wasn’t contained. It was spreading.

Flames crawled along the tent fabric unnaturally fast, leaping from one structure to another as if guided by an unseen hand. The dry cloth and wooden supports caught instantly, the fuel-soaked fabric igniting violently.

Another tent burst into flames. Then another.

“What the hell—?! It should not spread this fast.”

“This isn’t normal!”

Demons began pouring out of their tents, half-awake, confused, shouting in panic.

“What’s going on?!”

“Why is everything on fire?!”

Smoke filled the air rapidly, thick and choking. The orderly camp dissolved into noise. Yelling, coughing, orders overlapping each other.

“Wake everyone up!”

“Protect the supplies!”

“Where are captains?!”

The fire spread deeper, tents collapsing as poles snapped and burning fabric fell inward. Sparks flew wildly, carried by the night wind.

It had become a chaotic night.

And no one noticed the lone shadow slipping away at the edge of the camp.

—

Amon moved throght the hot fire towards the one of the huge tent. Which was not on fire. Most demon were more focus on Extinguish the fire.

Inside the large tent, the air felt different—stale, heavy with importance.

Amon slowed his breathing as he stepped in.

The interior was wide and organized, unlike the rest of the camp. Tables were arranged neatly, covered with documents, rolled maps, and strange mechanical devices etched with runes. Metal frames held crystals that glowed faintly, humming with low energy.

At the center stood a large control panel.

Amon’s eyes narrowed.

A wide, glass-like surface glowed faint blue, forming a circular radar display. Lines pulsed outward in slow waves, scanning the surrounding area.

“So this is how they monitor…” Amon muttered quietly.

He leaned closer, ignoring the pain screaming through his body.

The radar showed the forest clearly. Moving dots flickered at the outer edges. Patrol routes, wandering beasts, anything approaching the camp from outside. The detection range was wide. Too wide.

But something was wrong.

Amon scanned the display again. There were no markers inside the camp. No dots. No signals. Nothing.

“…It doesn’t track internal movement,” he realized.

This system wasn’t designed to monitor their own forces. It was an early-warning device, meant only to detect enemies entering the radar’s range from outside.

Amon was also wandering What if they gave something which track internal movement. Like how human camp had. But then again Demon’s were not as developed as humans when it comes to technology.

Which meant one thing.

Everything happening inside the camp right now, the fire, the chaos, the death.

None of it was being recorded. Amon’s lips curved into a faint, cold smile.

“No wonder they were careless and i was lucky. But I am still shock they do have good machines. Thought they are not that much technology developed.”

He reached into his storage ring and pulled out the last small bottle of fuel. There wasn’t much left. He twisted the cap open silently.

With careful movements, he poured the fuel across the control panel, over the glowing surface, into the joints, along the rune-etched circuits. He splashed the rest over the documents, the maps, and the crystal cores powering the machine.

The smell of fuel filled the tent. Amon didn’t hesitate. He took out the lighter which was with him for nearly month. Whoosh. Flames erupted instantly.

The radar screen shattered with a sharp crack, blue light flickering wildly before dying out. Crystals popped and exploded, sparks flying as the control panel was swallowed by fire.

The heart of their detection system was gone. Amon turned away immediately. He didn’t watch it burn. Slipping out of the tent.

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