Chapter 64
The instant Nysia finished speaking, the griffin loosed a thunderous cry and beat its wings. Its massive body surged skyward like a streak of gold, hurtling after Lilith across the Frostlands.
With the griffin beneath her, Nysia's speed multiplied. The lead Lilith had bought in those first ten seconds evaporated at an alarming rate—nearly halved within moments.
"Damn it."
Lilith's expression tightened. She couldn't keep running like this. At the griffin's current pace, Nysia would catch her within half a minute, and then Lilith would be facing a fully rested Elite-ranked fighter with no way out. She needed to slow the pursuit until she reached Frostbound Bastion.
Keeping the Skeleton Horse at a dead gallop, she gathered Undead Magic in her right hand and swept it toward the snow behind her. Dozens of bone spikes erupted from the frozen ground and shot skyward in a dense barrage, each one carrying Deathblight Curse.
The griffin's enormous wingspan should have made the volley nearly impossible to avoid. Even if Nysia evaded it, the maneuver would cost her time.
Lilith had underestimated them both.
Royal griffins were not wild beasts. They were bred and trained for war, and this one had both formidable strength and an experienced rider. From above, Nysia saw Lilith's every move. She gave a faint, dismissive smile and drew her bow.
An arrow flashed through the air. A shock wave bloomed along its path, sweeping every bone spike out of the space ahead. The griffin never dodged, never slowed—it simply flew through the opening as if Lilith's attack had never existed.
What surprised Lilith even more was the nature of Nysia's power. So far, the knight hadn't used any obvious magic. Every attack relied on raw physical strength, precision, and overwhelming force.
Was this another human combat discipline?
That brief distraction gave Nysia time to draw again. This arrow carried far more power than the earlier shots. Silver light condensed around its head until it looked almost solid, and the pressure rolling off it made Lilith's instincts scream.
"It's over," Nysia said, and released the string.
The arrow became a silver streak, ripping toward Lilith's back with enough force to split the wind around it.
Every hair on Lilith's body stood on end. A direct hit would kill her—and at her current speed, there was no dodging it cleanly.
She decided in an instant. Instead of trying to evade, she twisted around and raised the Severed Claw of the Dragon God before her chest.
The arrow struck the relic.
A deafening explosion rolled across the Frostlands. The impact hurled walls of snow into the air and drove a violent shock through Lilith's arms. Her hands went numb, the skin between her fingers split, and blood ran down her wrists.
The dragon claw was untouched. Only a faint dark-gold glow flickered through the cracks across its surface.
Nysia frowned. She hadn't expected the fleeing Veteran to weather that attack.
Before she could fire again, Lilith rode the force of the impact forward, stealing back a little distance. Still moving, she stored the dragon claw and poured Undead Magic into the snow.
"Try this."
The ground shook. Countless bones burst from beneath the surface and interlocked into a wall more than thirty feet high and several yards thick, dense undead runes crawling across the structure and layering it with defensive magic.
Nysia scoffed. "You're out of ideas."
A wall rooted to the ground couldn't stop a flying mount. She tapped the griffin's neck, and the beast climbed sharply, clearing the barrier without losing speed.
The moment they crested the top, Lilith detonated it.
The entire bone wall exploded behind them. Thousands of splinters filled the sky, wreathed in Deathfire, while Soulfrost Chains erupted among them and lashed at Nysia and the griffin from every direction. Deathfire and frost were Lilith's strongest tools for pinning an enemy down.
Nysia's composure cracked. She moved at once, batting aside the fragments aimed at vital points with rapid sweeps of her bow while the griffin beat its wings and unleashed a violent gust that scattered most of the remaining projectiles.
A few still broke through. Several bone shards raked across the griffin's left wing, slicing through golden feathers and drawing blood.
The beast shrieked in pain, its flight wobbling for a moment—and worse, Deathfire had begun creeping across the damaged feathers.
The wind from its own wings did nothing to smother the unnatural flames.
"Persistent little curse."
Anger flashed in Nysia's eyes. She drew out a pouch of silver powder and scattered it across the wing, and the Deathfire winked out the instant the powder touched it.
A Veteran-ranked fugitive had wounded her Royal Griffin and forced her to burn a specialized countermeasure. The insult exhausted the last of her patience.
Her Elite-ranked aura erupted without restraint. The air itself seemed to thicken under the pressure; even the blizzard slowed around her, as though the wind had struck an invisible wall.
Lilith went pale. The gulf between Veteran and Elite Rank was even vaster than she had just realized. It wasn't just a difference in Attributes—their bodies, their endurance, their command over power existed on another level entirely. Against a true Elite, most of her tricks could only buy seconds.
I need to reach Frostbound Bastion.
She choked down her fear and drove the Skeleton Horse harder.
Behind her, Nysia steadied herself in the saddle and locked onto Lilith once more. The amusement was gone from her face. So was any intention of taking Lilith alive.
"Die."
She drew the bow to its limit. Silver-white fire gathered around the arrow, burning with a sacred radiance made to destroy corruption and undead power.
"Hallowed Flame Arrow."
She released.
The burning arrow crossed the sky like a falling star, aimed squarely at Lilith's back. It carried the full force of an Elite-ranked Royal Knight—far beyond anything Nysia had fired before.
Lilith felt death closing in. She couldn't evade it. She couldn't block it by any ordinary means.
Then the sound of marching feet rolled across the frozen plain ahead, borne on a vast tide of Death-Essence Mana.
Lilith looked toward the horizon.
An undead army was advancing through the snow.
And with the undead army close at hand, she could draw on the power of Sacrifice.
Lilith turned to face the incoming arrow.
This time, she would meet an Elite's full-strength attack head-on.