Chapter 68
The three Elites froze mid-charge.
Nysia whipped around toward the bone shelter in shock.
"That presence..."
The terrifying aura was pouring from inside the structure.
From Lilith.
Everyone on the battlefield stared at the shelter as dense Death-Essence Mana rolled outward in waves.
"That's impossible," the Goblin Archpriest whispered.
Lucian's expression turned grim. "She's advanced to Elite Rank."
The pressure intensified, carrying the unmistakable authority of a true Elite.
Every Elite present recognized that pressure at once.
"She was a Tier 8 Veteran minutes ago. How could she advance that quickly?"
"Did she actually absorb the dragon claw?"
"Maybe it was the Undead Legacy."
"No Legacy works that fast."
The Goblin Archpriest's face changed again.
"Wait. That aura... She's Tier 2 Elite."
Lilith hadn't merely crossed into Elite Rank.
The experience and energy she had accumulated had carried her straight from Tier 8 Veteran to Tier 2 Elite.
Crack.
The bone shelter split apart.
A young woman in a black robe stepped silently through the falling fragments. Beneath the shadow of her hood, her Wyrmsight burned gold.
Bitter cold radiated from her body, driving the temperature across the battlefield even lower.
Lilith felt the enormous change in her strength, but there was no joy in her expression.
She looked out across the field.
Her undead army had been wiped out. Only the three exhausted Overlords remained, with Giles still standing beside the shelter.
The result was better than she had feared.
At least the most important members of her forces were still alive.
Lilith turned toward the Elites before her.
Her voice was calm and cold.
"My turn."
She vanished.
Before anyone saw her move, a massive arc of frost swept across the battlefield and cut through the nearest target.
The Goblin Archpriest's body separated at the waist.
No blood spilled. Cold raced through him instantly, freezing both halves solid before they hit the snow.
He hadn't even had time to react.
One attack had killed him.
The remaining Elites threw up their defenses at once. Whatever Lilith had become, none of them could afford to underestimate her now.
"Damn it!"
Nysia acted first.
While the Goblin High Chieftain and Lucian were still processing what had happened, she drew her arming sword and charged Lilith.
Steel met Waltz of Ashes.
Sparks scattered across the snow as Lilith stopped the blade without giving an inch.
She studied Nysia at close range and finally sensed the unusual power hidden within the Royal Knight's body.
"Interesting."
The pressure bearing down on Nysia was not physical.
She was also Tier 2 Elite. In an ordinary battle between equals, she should have been able to trade dozens of blows with Lilith. Even if Lilith held the advantage, she should not have been able to kill Nysia as easily as she had killed the Archpriest.
Yet the moment Nysia met those golden eyes, something inside her recoiled.
Her soul trembled.
Every instinct screamed at her to lower her weapon and flee. Her will to fight was being crushed beneath a presence far older and more dominant than her own.
Nysia understood exactly what she was feeling.
Her face went pale.
"You carry the soul pressure of a dragon!"
Lilith gave no answer.
She knocked Nysia backward with a burst of force, then summoned Soulfrost Chains. The frozen restraints coiled around the Royal Knight's arms, legs, and torso, locking her in place.
Lilith had sensed that Nysia was hiding some secret of her own.
She could investigate it later.
For now, the draconic power within Lilith suppressed Nysia so completely that restraining her took almost no effort.
Lilith turned toward the Goblin High Chieftain.
Aside from Nysia, the remaining Elites had only reached Tier 1. The Archpriest hadn't even been a true Elite without the support of his ritual formation.
Lilith was now Tier 2 Elite.
Killing them would not be difficult.
The Goblin High Chieftain was still reeling from the Archpriest's death when Lilith rushed him. Grief and fury twisted his face as he raised his battle-axe, clearly determined to avenge his companion.
The outcome was never in doubt.
Lilith's first strike severed the axe.
Her second opened a deep wound across his chest.
The third ended his life.
"All that loyalty," Lilith said coldly, "and it still got you killed."
Less than a minute had passed since she emerged from the bone shelter.
In that time, she had killed the Archpriest, restrained Nysia, and slain the Goblin High Chieftain.
Lucian reacted more intelligently.
The moment he realized the battle had turned against him, he fled.
Lilith appeared in front of him without a sound, Waltz of Ashes already descending.
Lucian was injured, but he was still a true Elite.
At their level, unless both sides committed to a fight to the death, anyone who focused entirely on escape had at least a nine-in-ten chance of getting away.
Lucian was no fool like the Goblin Chieftain, blinded by rage.
And vampires excelled at speed.
If he truly wanted to escape, he was confident Lilith couldn't stop him.
Lucian shaped a sword from his own blood and raised it to block the descending scythe.
Waltz of Ashes sheared through it without resistance.
The weapon's Armor Piercing Trait didn't care that the blade was made of blood rather than steel.
The crimson sword split apart.
Blood sprayed across the snow as Lilith's attack tore through Lucian's defense. Before he could recover, she drove a kick into his chest and sent him flying.
He crashed into the snow.
Undead power spread through his body, burning and corroding him from within.
Lucian struggled to rise, unable to comprehend what had just happened.
His blood sword wasn't even a physical weapon.
How had she cut it apart?
A black blade filled his vision.
Terror seized him.
He was going to die.
There was nothing he could do to stop it.
Then a familiar voice rang out across the silent battlefield.
"Your Majesty, please spare him!"