Chapter 66
The moment Lilith confirmed the command, the Severed Claw of the Dragon God vanished from her hands.
A brutal current of energy flooded into her body, immense and violent enough to threaten to tear her apart from within. She let out a strained breath, but there was no time to dwell on the pain—she bent her entire focus toward guiding and integrating the relic's power.
The sheer volume of it filled her with hope. Unless some unknown prerequisite blocked her advancement, there was more than enough energy here to push her into Elite Rank.
The problem was time. The power within the dragon claw was too vast and turbulent to absorb quickly. Even with the System assisting her, integration would take longer than she'd hoped.
But she was past the point of options. Victory would justify the risk. Failure would kill her.
Lilith left the rest to fate.
Outside the bone shelter, the battle began.
Nysia circled overhead on her griffin, watching the Veteran-ranked undead swarm toward her. There was no fear in her expression—only cold contempt.
"Nothing but fodder."
Her attention drifted toward the shelter where Lilith had vanished. She didn't understand why the Necromancer had thrown so many undead into a battle they couldn't win. A final act of desperation? It was the only explanation that made sense.
The sheer size of the undead army hardened her expression further.
The threat was far greater than she had first assumed—and as a Royal Knight, her mission had already changed.
Recovering the dragon claw still mattered, but she also had to eliminate the Necromancer who had raised this army.
Alive would be preferable; dead was acceptable.
The undead themselves had to be destroyed as well.
This was Stormcrown territory, and she could not allow such a force to fester inside the Empire's borders.
Since Lilith had sent them straight to her, she might as well carve away the Necromancer's army first.
Nysia drew her bow. Silver-white sacred fire gathered along the arrowhead, and she released.
The burning arrow took a Veteran-ranked Black Knight in the chest. The undead warrior had no time to react before sacred flames engulfed its armor and body. For one brief moment it stood as a burning skeleton—then it collapsed into ash.
That was how easily an Elite could slaughter Veterans.
How many living creatures did she butcher to build an army this large?
Nysia kept firing. Arrows fell in rapid succession, each one finding a Veteran-ranked undead with lethal precision. Before her, Lilith's strongest ordinary Units seemed as fragile as wet straw. Six Black Knights fell in little more than ten seconds.
A few dodged direct hits on sheer reflex, but the explosions still shredded their armor and left fractures spreading through their bodies—they wouldn't survive many more near misses.
The Wraith Revenants and Skeleton Taskmasters fared no better. None of them could even reach her.
Her griffin never stopped moving. Every dive and turn kept the undead from closing in, and each beat of its wings threw off violent gusts that hurled attackers away.
Nysia never let her superior Rank make her careless. She kept her distance, changed position constantly, and killed the undead one at a time without ever giving them a chance to strike back.
The battle was utterly one-sided. Lilith's Veterans were numerous, but individually they were far weaker than she was—and Lilith herself had barely escaped Nysia. Her Units could do little more than die to buy their Lord a few precious seconds.
"We can't hold her like this!" Morwen barked.
Eldran and Varkhul exchanged a glance. Neither had a better answer. The three Overlords were stronger than ordinary Veteran-ranked undead, but the difference meant little against an Elite.
Knowing that didn't make them hesitate.
"We use Sacrifice," Morwen said. "As long as we survive, we can keep restoring ourselves and buy Her Majesty more time."
Lilith had just demonstrated the method herself. The three Overlords could imitate it, though each could only sacrifice undead of their own race, and their authority fell far short of Lilith's Empress of the Undead Talent—the restoration would be weaker.
"Attack," Eldran ordered.
The three Overlords reformed the surviving Veterans and launched another coordinated assault.
Nysia noticed the unusual undead leading the charge at once.
She can even summon undead of this caliber?
Her bow moved again, arrows raining into the formation below, each one locked onto a different Veteran-ranked target. Her supply of silver powder was limited—the undead posed no real threat to her, but dragging the battle out would cost more strength and resources than necessary.
She meant to end it quickly.
Throughout the fight, the Goblin High Chieftain, the Goblin Archpriest, and Lucian kept their distance.
None of them lifted a finger to help Nysia.
They wanted the Royal Knight to wear herself down destroying Lilith's forces; only then would they stand a better chance in the contest for the dragon claw.
Had all four Elites attacked together, the Veteran-ranked undead wouldn't have lasted seconds.
Each of them had their own agenda. Nysia was still near full strength. The Goblins effectively fielded two Elite-level combatants between their High Chieftain and Archpriest.
Lucian was in the weakest position. His gaze roved constantly across the undead army, hunting for the single opening that would let him seize the dragon claw.
He would get one chance. If he could snatch the relic and trigger his escape art in the same breath, he might pull it off.
If he failed—even if Nysia let him go, the two Goblins beside him certainly wouldn't.
Yet the longer Lucian stared at the crude bone shelter, the more uneasy he became. He understood what Lilith was attempting.
A mocking smile curved his lips. "She's trying to absorb the dragon claw in the middle of a battle? That woman is insane."
The Goblin Archpriest gave a dry laugh. "Draconic power is violent by nature. Forcing it into her body will tear her apart. She's gambling with her life."
But even recognizing her intent, none of the three moved. Part of it was their desire to bleed Nysia's strength. The rest was simple certainty: Lilith couldn't possibly integrate the relic fast enough to matter. Even an Elite would need months to fully absorb power of that magnitude.
What could a mere Veteran accomplish in minutes?
What none of them realized was that Lilith possessed the Undead Empress Talent.
The Talent was accelerating the entire process.
As the battle outside grew ever more desperate, the aura hidden within the bone shelter continued to climb.