Chapter 169 Settle the scores (5)

A heavy silence fell over the shattered battlefield.

The echoes of the explosions faded, and the screams of the Morveth died down beneath the weight of the destruction. Nothing remained but the whistling of the cold wind as it crept through the shattered trees. Malrik stood his ground, his eyes shifting between the three entities that had appeared before him, anticipating their next move.

Several seconds passed without anyone making a move.

Then, the silence was suddenly broken.

"I thought I let you leave last time... you and your other friend."

The voice was rough and grating, echoing through the trees.

However, the voice had not come from the short creature standing behind his guards, as Malrik had expected but from the slender beast with the wolf-like face and red horns.

The beast’s facial expression did not change after it spoke. It remained standing in place, its red eyes fixed on Malrik.

Before Malrik could answer, the other guard’s mouth opened.

"Why have you returned? Was my warning not enough to deter you from daring to hunt in our lands?"

Its voice was deeper and rougher, like massive boulders grinding against each other deep underground.

Malrik’s gaze hardened, and he felt his heartbeat accelerate.

It wasn’t just the words that stirred unease within him, but the way they were spoken. Despite the differences between the two voices and the bodies they came from, the words carried the same tone—a cold calmness that seemed at odds with the grotesque appearance of the two monsters.

Malrik shifted his gaze to the short blue creature standing behind the guards.

The creature remained perfectly still, its black hair draped over its face, while threads of dark, almost black-blue mana coiled around its body. Its pale lips never moved, yet Malrik understood that it was the one addressing him, using the two guards as its mouthpieces.

Malrik swallowed the wave of nausea that washed over him and painted a cold smile on his face. He ignored the two massive monsters and addressed the creature standing behind them directly.

"I came to say hello..." he said in a mocking tone. "I left last time without bidding you a proper farewell."

"You didn’t leave..." rumbled the massive guard with the chains, its red eyes fixed on Malrik.

"...you fled." the slender guard with the red horns finished the sentence, not missing a beat.

Malrik’s expression did not change, but his eyes kept watching the blue creature.

"And I was very generous to let you escape in peace, settling for just a warning, despite your blatant encroachment on my lands."

The words came from the slender guard’s mouth, while the red eyes embedded in the leader’s arms moved, regarding Malrik with cold curiosity.

"But it seems you’re too stupid to understand a simple warning," the deep voice continued from the shadows, its tone laced with cold contempt.

"You’ve cost me dearly. A significant portion of the herd I’ve spent decades taming and cultivating... destroyed because of you."

The two massive guards had remained motionless until then. Suddenly, both raised their heads, their glowing red eyes fixing on Malrik in perfect unison.

Then they spoke.

"Their voices merged into a single, unnaturally synchronized tone, each word perfectly aligned with the other, sending a cold shiver down Malrik’s spine."

"Therefore, you will pay for your actions... once you become my servant."

Then, at last, the small Morveth moved.

The blue creature slowly raised its arm toward Malrik. In that exact moment, the red eyes embedded in its hands widened, all locking onto him.

The movement came without any warning.

Suddenly, Malrik’s throat constricted. He felt something invisible clamp down on his windpipe, while his chest tightened, leaving him unable to draw a breath.

He tried to inhale, but his lungs wouldn’t respond, as if the very air around him had been rejected.

The pressure intensified in an instant, until he felt his bones being slowly crushed.

It was unlike any magical attack directed at him. Something far stranger was happening, as though reality itself had bent to the creature’s will, denying Malrik even the ability to breathe.

Driven by pure survival instinct, Malrik dashed backward at lightning speed, trying to escape the range of the suffocating aura. At the same time, his mental commands shot out to his souls without hesitation.

Fenrir, the Spider Queen, and the rest of the undead souls lunged toward the blue creature, turning their bodies into a physical barrier between it and their master, while Malrik continued to retreat.

But the small monster didn’t give them a single glance.

The massive guard with purple skin took a step forward.

Its chain-bound arm rose above its head, the muscles bulging until they strained beneath the taut skin. Then, it slammed its fist down into the ground.

BOOOOOOOM!

The forest shook violently.

The muddy and rocky earth shattered beneath the feet of Malrik’s souls, and fissures tore across the battlefield as if a tremendous force had erupted from deep within the earth.

Rocks and debris flew in all directions, while the wave of destruction swept over the advancing wolves and spiders, swallowing them amidst the collapsing ground in an instant.

The surrounding trees trembled, their branches snapping off under the force of the shockwave. Soon, a thick cloud of dust and smoke rose, swallowing the battlefield and obscuring everything within it.

From amidst the rising clouds of smoke and dust, Malrik emerged, retreating through the air with swift, balanced movements, distancing himself from the center of the explosion.

But the massive guard didn’t give him a chance to catch his breath.

The beast tore through the smokescreen, bent down, and dug its fingers into the rocky earth. It uprooted a massive boulder the size of an entire carriage and hurled it at Malrik with all its might.

The boulder hurtled through the air, carrying enough momentum to crush Malrik’s body if it struck him directly.

But before it could reach him... no sound of impact was heard.

Instead, a muffled thud rang out, followed by the sound of shattering, as though the boulder had struck a solid barrier and broken apart against it.

In the next moment, a mysterious purple glow seeped into the gray clouds of smoke.

Purple mana began to swirl in the air, carving a path through the dense dust and dispersing the cloud from its center. As visibility gradually returned, a female figure took shape within the glow, standing exactly where the boulder should have struck.

She was a woman with soft, pale skin and a captivating beauty that looked utterly out of place amidst the forest’s ugliness and the scattered corpses and monsters. She wore an elegant black dress that flowed gracefully around her body, standing in stark contrast to her pale skin. Her long purple hair cascaded behind her like a curtain of dark silk, while her purple eyes shimmered with an alluring coldness.

It was the Demonic Princess, Lilith.

She turned toward Malrik and furrowed her brows slightly, a clear frown marking her beautiful face.

"Really? Do you only remember to summon me when you’re in trouble?"

Malrik was about to answer, but the demoness paused before he could utter a single letter. Her senses picked up on the suffocating aura that was pressing down on the area.

The frown vanished from her face, replaced by a dark smile that gradually widened, while her purple eyes shimmered with strange amusement as she stared at the short, blue-skinned entity.

"It’s been a long time since we last met..." Lilith whispered.

The purple mana shifted around her, coiling in the air like snakes ready to strike.

But the Fallen-rank Morveth did not retreat, nor did it even blink... assuming it had eyes under all that hair in the first place.

Even so, the demoness’s sudden appearance clearly had not been in his calculations.

Lilith’s gaze turned completely toward him, and her provoking smile disappeared for a brief moment before returning even wider.

"Our conversation isn’t over yet. Let me get rid of these insects first."

She cast a fleeting glance at him, then stepped toward the Fallen Morveth. In a flash, she vanished from her spot, only to reappear directly in front of the two guards, a mere few steps separating her from the short entity.

Lilith raised her chin slightly and stared at the short entity with evident interest.

"So, my master finally dragged you into the light. Honestly, I’m impressed; getting a spineless rodent like you to stop trembling in its nest is quite an achievement."

She cast a fleeting glance toward Malrik, a malicious smile gracing her lips, before returning her eyes to the Fallen Morveth.

The Fallen Morveth kept its focus on her, issuing no clear reaction. Even the air between them seemed still as they both continued to size each other up.

Then, the silence was broken by the voice of one of the guards.

"You... how did you manage to reach the Ascended rank so quickly, and even at its peak? You were definitely at the Awakened rank the last time I saw you."

The dark smile on Lilith’s face widened until it became a crazed grin, revealing her sharp fangs. A sadistic glint sparkled in her purple eyes.

"The dead don’t need answers."

The moment the words left her lips, a purple aura erupted from her body, sweeping across the battlefield. It was not ordinary mana in the slightest; it felt dense, feral, and furious, pouring out in successive waves and twisting through the air as if tearing a path right through it. The earth cracked beneath her feet, and dust and smoke were blasted away with every wave, revealing the shattered arena around her.

And in the heart of the purple storm, the space behind her back tore open.

Massive black wings burst from it, leathery like those of a bat, stretching out slowly before unfurling to their full span. They eclipsed a massive area behind Lilith, then beat against the air all at once, sending a violent shockwave sweeping across the ground around her.

From her head, Two gleaming black horns emerged from her head, curving backward with elegant, crown-like symmetry.

The transformation didn’t stop there; it continued.

Mana swirled around the demoness’s body in accelerating vortexes, gradually devouring her black dress. As the fabric faded away, gleaming black armor plates formed in its place, appearing one after another and wrapping around her body until she was completely covered.

The plates locked together with precise alignment, their curved lines following the contours of her body, giving the armor an appearance that was both elegant and terrifyingly solid.

Then, shadows coalesced around her right hand, coiling onto themselves until they took the shape of a weapon.

A long black whip materialized in Lilith’s grasp. Dark metal rings coiled around its length, interspersed with sharp, hooked protrusions resembling fangs. Black blades of varying sizes extended along its sides, while faint purple threads coursed through its segments, weaving through the rings until they converged at its tip, which split into spiked tongues.

The whip slithered across the ground, its flexible segments writhing like a black serpent as its protrusions carved thin grooves into the soil.

Lilith flicked her wrist.

Crack!

The whip lashed through the air like black lightning, spiraling around her before its spiked tip settled over her shoulder.

She raised her purple eyes toward the three entities, a smile spreading across her face.

"I’ve missed this."

The tip of the whip shifted behind her like a snake, rhythmically tapping against the ground as if anticipating its first victim.

"I’m not in a particularly good mood today... so you’d better entertain me."