A graceful, beautiful young woman was slowly emerging from the shadows.
Melina moved with a lightness, speed, and professionalism that was genuinely astonishing. Put her in a set of black soft armor, and she could cosplay the finest assassin in the world on the spot.
Before anyone could even react, the dagger in her hand had already slit across a priest's throat. Blood instantly sprayed out and splashed across the ground.
Melina frowned slightly, glanced at Eleonora and the others nearby, and asked, "Can you still stand?"
Eleonora nodded instinctively.
"Then help out."
With that, Melina kicked a thrusting sword over from beside her foot, then looked back up at Nolan. "What now?"
"Kill them all. Don't leave a single one alive. They've already gone mad. Letting them live would only bring disaster." Nolan's voice was cold and devoid of emotion.
He had already more or less understood that there was not a single normal person among these followers. Even as he spoke, the greatsword in his hand swept out again, cutting several believers who tried to approach into two pieces.
Seeing their priest killed by Nolan did nothing to change the expressions on the followers' faces. On the contrary, it was as if they had been stimulated by something, and they became even more frenzied.
One after another, they let out beast-like roars, brandishing all kinds of weapons and charging madly at Nolan and the others...
The Blood followers here were packed together so densely that there had to be several hundred of them at a rough estimate.
But for Nolan, that was no trouble at all. With the Tarnished at his side, he made short work of them and slaughtered them all.
They might have been insane, but they were not especially strong. Only the priests were somewhat troublesome.
The killing did not last long before the ground was already covered in the corpses of Blood followers.
Nolan removed his helmet, tossed the Dark Moon Greatsword into his spirit ring, and turned his gaze to the woman drenched in blood.
"May I ask who you are, and why you saved us?" the woman asked from where she stood. She looked very weak, but after drinking a flask of Crimson Tears, her complexion had improved noticeably.
Only after the fighting ended did she remember that she still did not know the identity of this savior-like man, even if the one he had saved was only her world.
"Nolan. Nolan Bethel. That is my name." Nolan smiled faintly and answered in a low voice.
The moment he said it, the woman called Eleonora froze, then slowly opened her mouth in disbelief.
To all Tarnished, that name was as thunderous as it was famous. Almost no one failed to recognize the legend and glory it represented, and countless people longed for it.
Innumerable Tarnished, filled with passion and hope, yearned to place themselves under that renowned Lord and become one of his followers.
She was one of them, and her squad had been intercepted on the way from Caelid to Limgrave.
"There isn't much time, so I'll skip the pleasantries and speak plainly."
Ignoring Eleonora's shock, Nolan continued in a solemn voice,
"Then tell me. Are you willing to fight beside me and overthrow the dynasty that has brought endless suffering to the people?"
"With just us?" Eleonora's eyes widened, her pupils tightening slightly as she instinctively turned to look at the companions around her.
There were only a little over thirty people still standing.
It was not that she doubted this Lord's strength, nor his motives. The name of the White Lord's benevolence had already spread throughout the Lands Between.
It was just that going to wage war against a vast dynasty with so pitifully few people sounded utterly absurd, little more than a madman's dream.
Eleonora had seen the strength of those Pureblood Knights for herself. As she was now, she was no match for them at all, and one could imagine how terrifying the Lord of Blood must be.
"Of course it isn't just us. Look down. The brave warriors are right beside us."
Nolan shouted as he spread his arms. Black energy poured endlessly from his body and quickly spread beneath his feet.
That black aura spread from where the hooves touched the ground like a plague, and in the blink of an eye, it engulfed the entire lake of blood.
"Warriors. Awaken from endless darkness. Fight. I shall grant you what you have long desired. True death!"
As Nolan's impassioned cry rang out, the Bloodfolk who had only just fallen began rising to their feet one after another.
The earth began to tremble violently, as if some powerful and mysterious force were awakening.
Rotten arms silently stretched up from beneath the ground and from within the lake, clutching at the surface as though trying to crawl their way out.
A gigantic skeletal arm burst from the water and slammed heavily against the ground with overwhelming force, making the earth quake.
Faced with such a horrifying scene, the Tarnished, who had already been somewhat panicked, became even more terrified.
Their eyes were wide as they looked around uneasily, hearts full of fear and confusion.
Who could have imagined that this King of the Tarnished possessed such a bizarre power, one that allowed him to command the dead to fight for him?
But when their eyes fell on the girl beside them holding a dagger, the questions in their throats were swallowed back down.
Because those Blood priests who had pushed them into a bitter struggle had only one fate before Melina. Instant death. And that girl also gave off an unmistakable air of keep away, as though she was willing to draw close only to that Lord.
Even the attendant at his side was this formidable. One could only sigh in admiration. As expected of a Lord.
What had originally been a force of barely thirty people swelled in an instant to more than a thousand. The scene was spectacular.
Nolan looked over his army and gave a small nod, clearly very satisfied.
It was plain that Mohg had truly worked hard for his dynasty, but all his effort had been built on the suffering of others.
"Now that the army is assembled, it is time to set out. Dead ones, carry your fury of vengeance with you, and wash away your pain with the blood of your enemies."
Mounted on his spectral steed, Nolan raised the Dark Moon Greatsword high and pointed it at the sky. Surging golden frenzy lightning shot upward like the wrath of a god, scattering the layers of heavy blood-red mist hanging all around them.
"The war begins!"
This was already deep within the heart of the Dynasty of Blood. There was no concealing the movement of such a great army, and the golden lightning was as dazzling as the sun, more like a deliberate display of force.
Many of the Dynasty of Blood's people saw this shocking sight, yet very few paid it any mind. Only the knights and nobles stationed high within the Dynasty Mausoleum sensed that something was wrong.
"What happened?" In the Dynasty Mausoleum, Ansbach frowned and asked the knight beside him in confusion.
In his eyes, the flickering golden lightning in the sky was reflected with perfect clarity, and those brilliant flashes stirred an inexplicable sense of familiarity in him.