The flames were still swirling in the air, creating a blinding shroud, and the Chimera let out a short, triumphant hiss. However, inside that fiery hell, where only charred bones should have remained, something suddenly stirred.
The purple aura, instead of fading, began to pulse with even greater strength, tearing the flames apart from within.
As the Chimera's flames began to thin, a figure appeared before the goblins' eyes that shouldn't have existed. Lilith drifted in the air, her skin not even darkened by the heat.
Right in front of her face, a translucent system notification pulsed, casting a violet glow on her unshakeable features:
[HP -0]
[Passive skill activated: Beginner Anti-Magic (Rank D)]
Effect: Elemental magic of rank D or lower directed against the user is reduced by 99%.
[Result: Attack "Void Fire Blast" has been completely neutralized.]
Both heads of the Chimera froze, their eyes widening in disbelief. The beast, which for centuries had incinerated every intruder, had for the first time met someone upon whom its fire had no effect.
Lilith stretched lazily, brushing a speck of dust from her shoulder as if she had felt only a puff of warm summer wind. She snorted with clear irritation.
"Why, in the hell, does everyone in this forest interrupt me mid-speech?" she asked rhetorically, adjusting the set of her wings. She struck a proud pose, lifting her chin.
"'Mortal beast, your fire is but a spark compared to the darkness carried by my… '" she suddenly cut herself off and laughed shortly, shaking her head in embarrassment.
"No, I give up. I really find it hard to say such things with a straight face. It sounds so cheesy it actually hurts."
The Chimera did not share her sense of humor. The serpent head, serving as a tail, suddenly tensed and fired a wave of dark, dense energy toward Lilith.
This time, the system was not silent.
[WARNING!]
[You have been attacked by Rank C magic: "Gravitational Grip of the Abyss"!]
The magic level exceeds the capabilities of Beginner Anti-Magic.
[Status: Your Agility has been reduced by 40%!]
Lilith suddenly felt as if her limbs had been forged from lead. The air became thick and heavy, and every beat of her wings required gargantuan effort.
"Hooo... a truly powerful skill..." Lilith began, but once again, she failed to finish.
With a 40 percent penalty to her agility, her perception could not keep up with the beast. The Chimera simply vanished from her sight, moving with a speed that was unattainable given Lilith's current debuff. In a split second, the monster materialized above her.
The Chimera's two powerful paws struck from above with a thud resembling thunder.
Lilith went flying down like a fired projectile. She slammed into the ground in the very center of the goblin village, creating a massive crater and kicking up a gigantic cloud of dust that blotted out the sun.
The goblins squeaked in terror, fleeing from the shockwave. In the very center of the rift, Lilith slowly rose to her knees, spitting out sand. A red warning flickered before her eyes:
[HP -30]
"Damn..." she growled, wiping a trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth. "Seriously, this interrupting mid-sentence is becoming annoying."
She beat her wings hard, soaring back into the air and dispersing the dust. Her gaze became cold and focused.
"Alright, enough with the Demon King lines. Time for a real fight!"
Before the Chimera could renew its attack, Lilith reached out her hand and yelled:
"Desperate Blast!"
A powerful wave of condensed air struck the proud beast, which was still hovering high, looking down at Lilith with superiority. The Chimera didn't have time to dodge; the blast was so violent that it threw its massive body back several meters.
The beast flapped its wings desperately to stabilize its flight, but as soon as it regained its balance, its heart froze.
Lilith was no longer below. The Monarch now stood in the air just above the Chimera, towering over it exactly as the beast had done moments before.
She looked down at the monster, and the red glow of her eyes promised only pain.
The Chimera roared with pure, helpless fury, unable to bear the fact that someone dared look down on it from such a position. Lilith only smiled widely, showing her fangs.
"Now it's my turn to interrupt you," she whispered.
Lilith, suspended in the air, opened her eyes wider, and they glowed with a blinding, volcanic red. She took a deep breath, and from her throat came a voice that did not belong to a human, but to the abyss itself.
"Primordial Succubus Monarch Body!" her cry tore through the heavens, answered by the echo of cracking rocks in the ruins.
In a split second, Lilith's silhouette exploded in a column of purple energy. Her horns lengthened and curved back, forming a majestic, dark crown. Her wings grew twofold, their membranes pulsing with vivid, demonic fire.
Her marble skin was covered in a purple, organic armor of scales that overlapped like dragon's plate.
From her hands and feet shot forty-centimeter, amaranthine talons, so sharp that their mere movement sliced the very structure of the air.
A notification flared before her eyes:
[TALENT ACTIVATED: PRIMORDIAL MONARCH BODY]
[ALL STATS DOUBLED!]
[DURATION: 05:00... 04:59...]
The Chimera felt it first - an instinctive, animal fear. It hissed fiercely, trying to use the remnants of its speed advantage to strike before Lilith could stabilize. The beast lunged forward like a streak of shadow, but it struck empty air.
Before the Chimera could blink all three pairs of eyes, Lilith materialized on its right side.
"Over here, little chimera," she whispered with a predatory smile.
She performed a massive spin, and her new, gigantic talons sliced through the beast's flank, tearing out chunks of flesh and tough hide. The Chimera howled, and the force of the impact sent its multi-ton body into a tailspin through the air.
The sky over the goblin settlement became an arena where true hell broke loose.
The Chimera, crazed with pain and humiliation, arched its serpent tail into an unnatural curve. From the reptile's gaping maw shot a "Corrosive Stream of Decay," a steaming liquid that should have melted even the toughest steel.
Lilith, however, didn't even flinch. With a contemptuous smile, she folded her powerful, newly formed wings in front of her, creating a living shield. The caustic acid flowed over the shimmering purple scales like ordinary rain, not leaving even the smallest blemish upon them.
Before the beast could close its mouth, Lilith pushed off from the very density of the air and, in a fraction of a second, found herself before the monster's goat head.
Her fist, reinforced with the power of the Monarch, struck with the roar of thunder. Broken teeth mixed with blood flew from the beast's mouth, and the Chimera's head snapped back under the weight of the destructive force.
The beast, not giving up, opened all three maws, activating "Void Roar."
The air trembled from a soundwave that should have ruptured eardrums and paralyzed every living being within a kilometer; the goblins below squeaked in terror, covering their ears as blood began to flow from their eyes, noses, and ears under the influence of the skill.
Lilith, however, only laughed, her voice cutting through the deafening howl. Thanks to her doubled endurance, this attack seemed like a mere light zephyr that barely scratched her HP pool.
[-5 HP]
With a wild flash in her eye, she replied with an immediate counter. She grabbed the Chimera's lion head by its massive mane and, with an inhuman roar, hurled the beast against the central tower of the ruins.
The structure, which had stood there for millennia, crumbled into dust under the monster's weight, kicking up a cloud of debris. Lilith flew to the ruins of the tower with a smile, when suddenly a shadow shot out from the wreckage. The Chimera used "Shadow Leap," vanishing in one spot and appearing instantly behind Lilith's back with its venomous talons extended.