Chapter 6
The balance of power in the Frostlands had shifted overnight.
Lilith, still inside her Territory, knew nothing about it.
By morning, everything looked normal.
With the new event underway, her attention stayed fixed on a single question: how to rack up Kill Points as fast as possible.
"The Frostlands just produced another omen," Lilith murmured as she dressed. "The other factions have surely noticed by now. Going after the Frost Sabertooths would be a bad idea for the moment."
That left her with one practical target.
She still had no way to identify her Nemesis, but if it turned out to be the Goblins, wiping them out would net her an extra thousand points.
And if they weren't her Nemesis, it hardly mattered.
She would have to deal with the Frost Sabertooths sooner or later regardless.
"I wonder what the Specters found."
Once Lilith had decided to strike, she'd wasted no time.
While she slept, several Specters had gone out to scout the Goblin tribes.
The Goblins would have tightened their defenses after the plague outbreak, so Lilith had sent only a handful of scouts. A larger force risked tipping them off.
She finished dressing.
The weather was pleasant, so she had returned to one of her lighter outfits: a fitted white blouse, a black pleated skirt, ankle socks, and dark leather shoes.
After fastening the last strap, she stood before the mirror and gave a single turn, satisfied with the result.
Today, she intended to visit the Verdant Forest.
Only two hostile races lived near her Territory, and both were powerful. Even if she destroyed them both, the Kill Points might not be enough to hold her lead for the entire event.
She couldn't afford to ignore the Verdant Forest.
If weaker native races lived there, she could farm points at a fraction of the risk.
I should let Bonnie know first.
Lilith started toward the Portal, opening the System interface as she walked.
The moment the screen appeared, she stopped dead.
Casualty reports filled her vision.
[Your Unit, a Specter, has been slain by a hostile creature.]
[Time of Death: 02:11:40]
[Your Unit, a Wraith, has been slain by a hostile creature.]
[Time of Death: 02:11:45]
[Your Unit...]
This was a minor privilege unlocked when Lilith had advanced her Territory.
Before, the System had only told her that a unit had died. Now it identified the type of undead and logged the exact time of death.
"Just past two in the morning?"
Lilith frowned.
She had issued the scouting order at roughly one. An hour would have been plenty of time for the Specters to reach Goblin territory.
"So the Goblins detected them and killed them before they could report back?"
That alone was troubling.
Goblins were daylight creatures. Specters excelled at concealment and were at their strongest after dark.
For the Goblin guards to wipe out several of them almost simultaneously, they must have held an overwhelming edge in strength or detection.
"Four Specters and one Wraith. That's everyone I sent..."
Lilith stopped.
"No."
There was one more casualty report.
Six undead had died in total—and the final Specter's time of death didn't match the others.
[Your Unit, a Specter, has been slain by a hostile creature.]
[Time of Death: 04:32:34]
Another Specter, dead after four-thirty. Did something happen in the Frostlands?
Her expression tightened.
If Eldran's mission had gone wrong, why had only a single Specter died?
Another explanation occurred to her.
Maybe it escaped with information and was run down on the way back.
The reports had come in overnight, but Lilith had been asleep.
Unless her Territory came under attack or the System issued a channel-wide announcement, ordinary notifications didn't forcibly wake a Lord. Nor did they intrude during combat.
Left unopened, they simply faded from view after a while, like a phone screen dimming on its own.
Before Lilith could close the casualty reports, another alert flashed up.
[Warning! Hostile creatures have entered the auxiliary territory of your Wonder, Necropolis of Echoes!]
Necropolis of Echoes was an Auxiliary Integration Wonder. Its immediate territory overlapped with Lilith's own.
Even combined, though, a Town-tier Territory and a Wonder's domain covered only a fraction of the Blighted Forest.
The forest itself still belonged to Necropolis of Echoes as an auxiliary domain—which meant Lilith received an alert whenever hostile creatures crossed into it.
She grasped the implication at once.
Under normal circumstances, the message would have meant little. The Blighted Forest was enormous; wild creatures wandering through it should have been routine.
But Lilith had never received an intrusion warning before.
For one to arrive now, right on the heels of her scouts being killed, was far too suspicious to brush aside.
Unfortunately, the intruders hadn't entered her core Territory, so she couldn't inspect their profiles remotely.
Her instincts told her something was wrong.
The trip to Bonnie's Territory would have to wait.
Lilith summoned one of the Bone Dragons and ordered it to sweep the edge of the Blighted Forest.
"If you find enemies, signal us immediately."
The Bone Dragon launched into the sky and wheeled northwest.
Lilith watched it vanish beyond the trees, unable to shake her unease.
Varkhul was stationed in the Verdant Forest.
Eldran had gone to investigate the Frostlands.
Only Morwen remained to defend the Territory.
The moment the Bone Dragon departed, Lilith called for her and began mobilizing the undead.
"Morwen, gather every Specter and all the Black Knights currently inside the Territory."
That force should have been enough to handle almost any unexpected threat.
Seven Veteran-ranked combatants.
Nearly three hundred Specters roaming the forest.
And behind them stood Necropolis of Echoes, granting every advantage of fighting on home ground.