In the air, high above the dying camp, Lysandra and Mina hovered on their wings, gasping for breath. Their chests heaved after the gargantuan expenditure of mana that had devastated the forest.
Lilith, maintaining an icy calm, reached into her system inventory again and again.
With each movement of her hand, a blue bottle materialized in the air. She threw them precisely to her commanders. Lysandra and Mina caught the flasks in flight, uncorked them with a single jerk of their teeth, and downed the contents in one gulp, feeling the burning power of Morana's elixirs immediately flood their veins, replenishing their energy reserves.
Kala, looking down from above at the chaotic camp mangled by spikes, licked her lips. Her eyes blazed with a destructive red.
"I'm heading in then! Don't leave too little for me!" she cried out, folding her wings and diving down like a bloody hawk.
Lilith saw that Mina and Lysandra still needed a few seconds for full regeneration, and Kala was dropping right into a nest of warriors who were crazed with pain but still dangerous.
"I suppose I'll help her a bit," Lilith murmured.
"Origin Aura!"
A wave of dark, purple light erupted from Lilith's body, covering the entire forest in the blink of an eye. It cost her eighty mana points in a single second, but the effect was devastating.
Below, one of the Werewolf-Heroes, who had somehow survived the hail of ice and the rain of plant attacks, tried to catch his breath. He was only a level 1 hero, but his instincts and racial stats had allowed him to avoid the worst. He looked around with madness in his eyes, wading through the blood of his companions.
As soon as the movements of the plants ceased, he thought he had a chance to escape. Suddenly, something struck the center of the encampment with the force of a meteorite. The roar of the impact dented the earth, kicking up a cloud of dust.
From the center of the crater emerged a gargantuan, maniacal female laugh.
"Come to me! I want to feel your fear!" the demonic silhouette shrieked.
From the dust emerged Kala in her true form - tall, blood-red, with horns slicing the sky and talons dripping with fresh gore. She began to murder with inhuman speed, tearing warriors in half with a single swing of her hand.
The werewolf howled in terror and turned to flee when suddenly the whole world around him went dark. He felt every strand of fur on his body stand on end, and his heart nearly burst under the weight of an unimaginable pressure.
System messages flashed before his eyes:
[You have been attacked by the Origin Aura of a PRIMORDIAL being!]
[Received -16 health points. You receive the STUN effect for 4 seconds!]
Not just him. Almost all the warriors froze in macabre poses. They became living statues, imprisoned within their own bodies by the pure pressure of Lilith's presence.
The werewolf tried to scream, but his jaws felt as if they were cemented shut. He could only watch as, during those four seconds of eternity, Kala's red shadow approached him, wading through corpses.
When the stun effect wore off, he didn't even have time to tense his muscles for a leap.
Kala's demonic hand, hard as iron, struck straight into his chest. With the loud crack of snapping ribs, her fist pierced him through and through, exiting out his back along with pieces of his spine.
The werewolf spat a fountain of blood, looking at the succubus in disbelief. Kala, however, didn't even grant him a glance - her eyes were already fixed on the next victim.
She pulled her hand from his chest, allowing the Hero's dead body to slump into the mud like a bag of trash, and moved further into her dance of death.
***
The scene in the encampment now resembled the porch of hell.
The Heroes, who only a few hours ago were spinning plans of glory and wealth, now stood in the middle of the smoking ruins of their own power.
The Leopard, a commander with nerves of steel, tightened his hands on the hilts of his daggers, watching the rampaging Kala. His face was deathly pale.
"That monster... has the strength of at least a powerful level 2 hero. If we want to slay it, we will pay with the blood of several of us!"
The Tiger leader roared, the veins on his neck bulging with rage. "Enough of this! We must stop her! If she slaughters all our men, what are we supposed to challenge the Demon King with? Our bare hands?!"
The remaining Heroes were close to tears, watching as their elite units turned into a pile of mangled corpses.
"Wait!" shouted the third Hero, nervously looking around the forest. "The ice... and just now that paralyzing mental attack... Does this mean that Necromancer tracked us down? That he is the one attacking us?!"
As if in answer to his words, white, clattering silhouettes emerged from the gloom of the forest, from between the trees.
This was no mindless horde, however. In perfect order marched Skeletal Mages in tattered robes, shielded by warriors with massive bone shields. A moment later, a whistle cut the air as fireballs fired by the undead began to plow the earth between the terrified remnants of the army.
"It really is him! The Demon King has come to us!" the Tiger yelled. Without waiting for the rest, he lunged toward the oncoming wave of bone. "Furious Flame Slash!"
He swung his gigantic axe, and the blade was immediately covered in a roaring, blood-red aura of fire. The blade, over five meters in length, struck the ground with the force of an explosion. Ten skeletal warriors and mages turned into dust and bone fragments in a split second.
"Measly small fry!" the Tiger snorted, wiping ash from his face.
He quickly assessed the situation.
Out of sixteen Heroes, twelve remained. Two had died in the first volley of magic, and another two had been torn to shreds by that red fury still murdering deep in the camp.
Still, they had the qualitative advantage: himself, the Lion, the Leopard, and the two Bear brothers - all at level 2. Their subordinates, though decimated, still fought with a ferocity equal to level 1 heroes.
The Tiger spat and turned toward Kala, who was currently crushing the skull of another warrior.
"Hey, you red bitch!" he yelled arrogantly, raising his axe. "Your fun ends here! You think... "
Suddenly, he felt the temperature around him drop sharply, and from above, a sweet, melodic, yet blood-curdling laugh reached him. From the sky, like a falling purple star, a slender demonic silhouette plummeted.
It struck the ground right in front of the Tiger, kicking up a cloud of dust.
When the smoke cleared, the Heroes saw a woman with majestic purple wings and curved horns. Lilith, in her full demonic form, bathed in a purple aura, straightened up and performed a slight, almost mocking bow.
She smiled, revealing rows of white teeth, and her eyes blazed with destructive magic.
"I'm sorry, big cat," she said in a velvety voice that echoed over the dying. "But I will be your final opponent. Your head will make a rather lovely decoration for my new garden."