Chapter 145: What the Queen Carries

"Where did you put her?"

Isolde stood in the rubble with her sword in her hand, silver armor scored and dented, a blood-stained cloak stirring behind her in the cold wind.

She looked every inch the champion she was, and her gaze on Kael was as sharp as the edge of her blade.

He had not hurried to explain. He had taken the Thorn Queen from under her nose at the last moment, almost out of her hands, and he knew exactly how that looked.

He chose to be plain about it.

"Morgwyn is mine now. I’ve sent her to rest."

"Yours?" Surprise broke through the Frostblade’s reserve, and for an instant her face went blank.

Then her brows drew down, and her voice hardened. "Do you have any notion what she is? That woman clawed her way into the highest ranks of the Hollow Legion on cunning and treachery alone.

Dealing with her is like handing a viper your bare hand and trusting it to be grateful. You will only come to harm."

"I appreciate the warning." Kael inclined his head, courteous and unmoved. "But I know what I’m doing. You needn’t trouble yourself."

"You" Isolde drew a breath to press the point.

The ground answered before she could.

A deep rumble rose out of the earth beneath the wall, rattling stone against stone.

A heartbeat later, enormous shapes burst up through the broken ground: great burrowing wyrms, each the size of a dragon, their armored bodies thrashing in the dust.

They flung themselves at the Bulwark’s foundations in blind, bludgeoning fury.

The wall, already battered by hours of siege and the aftershocks of the Frostblade’s duel, could bear no more. It gave way with a roar like the end of the world.

In moments, more than a dozen new breaches yawned along the length of the rampart.

From the height where they stood, Kael could see the Hollow Legion pouring through them, a black tide spilling across the frozen plains behind the wall.

Then, from the far north, a roar rolled across the sky.

It was a sound of such vast, ancient malice that even the veterans on the wall flinched.

The thing that made it had not yet shown itself, but its heat had, a terrible red glow of flame that pierced the blizzard and painted the whole sky above the battlefield the color of a forge.

Every living mind on the Bulwark staggered under its weight.

"Gerathos," Isolde whispered. "The Demon Lord of the Deep Earth."

Her whole body went rigid, and she turned slowly toward the north.

Her eyes seemed to pierce the storm, and Kael saw her face change as she took in the shape that stood waiting on the horizon, roaring its challenge.

She had no time left for him, or for anything else.

She gave him a long, steady look. "She is not a creature that can be leashed with ease," she said, quietly now. "Watch yourself."

Then she sprang into the air and went streaking back toward the thick of the battle.

Kael let out a slow breath once she was gone, and some of the tension drained from his shoulders.

That could have gone worse.

Close by, Lyra stood with her bow lowered, unbonded but unmoved, her loyalty to Ebonreach’s banner unshaken.

He caught her eye and nodded once. He would settle her place in the roster when the dust had cleared.

Then he opened the panel and called up the Thorn Queen’s profile.

Bloodline Tier: Legendary

Level: 97

Constitution ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Strength ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Agility ★★★★★★★★★★★★

Spirit ★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Skills: Hungering Seed (A), Briarpiercer (A), Maw Blossom (S), Overgrowth (S), Bramblebind (S), Crimson Tithe (S), Petalstorm (S), Throttlevine (SS), Thornqueen’s Dominion (SS), Sea of Funeral Blooms (SSS)

Once an ordinary bloodvine, it took root beside the corpse of a fallen god and drank the divine blood that seeped into the earth.

It grew into something no gardener had ever imagined, a vine of boundless potential. Later it joined the Hollow Legion and rose to sit among its sovereigns.

[Status: Gravely weakened. All attributes reduced by 90%.]

Kael’s eyes widened, and a laugh of pure delight escaped him.

"So this is what the top of the Ten looks like."

He read the numbers over again, savoring them. Fifty-four growth stars, a figure that dwarfed almost every Legendary he had ever handled.

Fifty-five was the threshold for a Mythic-grade companion, and she stood a single point short of it. Among all the Legendary bosses in the realm, she was one of the finest ever made.

And the skills.

Two A-rank skills at the base, and every one above them was S-rank or higher. Five S-rank, two SS, and one SSS. Control, healing, devastating area damage, a complete kit with nothing missing but a way to move.

The only gap was mobility, a limit of her nature. Everything else had been built to the highest standard.

Without the battering she had taken from an army of champions, she would never have fallen to him.

Even the Urn, with its legion of spirits, would not have been enough on its own. She was a creature who would not have broken easily at the height of her strength.

For the moment, she was hurt, and he had the advantage of that. She would need time to heal, much as Elara had when he first bound her, before she could fight at her full measure.

He was in no hurry. She was already his.

Even weakened, she stood far above the rest of his roster.

Whatever happened in the rest of the battle, he had already won something extraordinary. To hold one of the Ten Great Bosses in his hand was nothing less than a perfect result.

The respite did not last.

With the Frostblade gone, the dead came rolling across the broken rampart toward him, a tide of ghouls and bone-knights and, among them, higher-ranking horrors of the Legion.

They swept toward Kael, hungry and unrelenting.He answered with a flick of his hand.

Phase Shift.

His body swapped places with Stormwing Sovereign’s, hundreds of meters away, and he landed a heartbeat later beside Elara in the thick of her guard.

She had been watching the battle between the Frostblade and the Thorn Queen with her heart in her throat, knowing how close Kael had been to the fire of it.

The sight of him walking back to her unharmed seemed to lift a weight she had carried all morning.

A real smile came to her face, warm and unguarded, and she stepped close to him without thinking about it, just near enough that their shoulders touched.

At that moment, a bell rang across the sky, deep and final.

[Server-Wide Announcement: The Hollow Legion has arrived in full force. After a series of bloody battles, the Bulwark of Ash has fallen. The Hollow Descent has ended. Rewards have been distributed. Check your accounts."]

[Server-Wide Announcement: Congratulations to player Unrivaled for an outstanding performance in this event 1,270,000 event points earned, MVP title awarded. Rewards: Luck +5, Reputation +70,000, and a Legendary Runeheart Gem.]