Chapter 392: Lysette Takes the Field

Cassian gave an order through his Lord’s Heart at once.

"Katrienne. Bring eleven Blood Emperors and prepare to reinforce Breakwater Isle. Ghost One will leave the sealed area to pick you up."

"Yes, my lord!"

The work of the past two months had brought his permanent Blood Emperor corps to fifteen. Three more Blood Princes had completed the same costly advancement as the first twelve. Emperor essence from the Chalice’s maintained summons, Troop Souls, and the Battle Essence for growth—he had paid for it all.

He had expected no surprises in this battle and left the corps in his Domain. Now twelve would be ready to come, with three remaining at home.

"We still have a day. Deal with the Black Banner first."

With that settled, he patted Nine’s great head.

"Nine, drink some Life Water. Think you can give them another one?"

Her tongue hung out as she panted.

"Have mercy, my lord. I really can’t."

Her last attack had wiped out a million enemy troops and earned him more than a billion Battle Essence. Cassian could hardly help wanting to see it again.

A million was only roughly one ten-thousandth of the Black Banner’s army. Yet the sight had terrified Lords across its ranks.

The Golden Behemoths could not clear such vast areas with one skill, but nothing seemed able to stop them. Hill Kings, Crownward Knights, Bone Dragons, and the other corps lacked their Extreme builds. With all the bonuses strengthening them, however, they still fought more than forty percent above Black Banner troops of the same Quality.

The Five Elements Temple kept firing. Each powerful attack killed tens of thousands.

Under Seren’s command, the Fenwick armies turned toward the two flanks. Even Divine Nation’s ordinary Rare troops could fight a hundred enemies apiece.

Both sides suffered casualties. For every fighter Divine Nation lost, the enemy lost hundreds.

Cassian had no intention of spreading the news about Fivefold Heaven through his army. There was no reason to shake its confidence now.

Ronan Vexley, however, seemed to have received the same report.

"Good news!" His laughter carried across the field. "We’ve received confirmation! Fivefold Heaven’s fleet is on its way to reinforce us. They’ll be here soon!"

His voice rose.

"Hold Cassian here for one day, and victory is ours! Spiritbound Lords—all of you, attack!"

The Black Banner’s morale surged.

Thousands of monstrous figures rushed out from its rear. They ranged from five to twenty meters tall, with shapes that scarcely seemed related to one another. Some had human bodies and canine heads. Others had human faces above the long bodies of serpents.

Every one of them radiated the strength of a high-star Legendary fighter. More than a dozen had presences strong enough to rival the seven Valcrests.

"Spiritbound Lords."

Cassian considered them briefly.

"Dain. Seraphine. They’re yours."

"Got it, Boss!"

Dain licked his lips, excitement flashing in his eyes. With a halberd in each hand and seven or eight layers of Legendary armor covering his body, he charged the strongest of the creatures—a huge crocodilian Lord.

They met head-on.

Halberds struck scaled claws with a crash that sent sparks flying. The giant crocodile staggered backward, its heavy feet tearing up the ground. It retreated ten meters before regaining its balance.

The difference was plain.

Watching Black Banner Lords gasped.

"Lord Velric has Grade-B Aptitude and a Grade-B Warbound Talent! He sacrificed nearly a thousand troops of Rare Quality or above. He’s almost at Mythic strength. How can he lose a direct clash?"

"Then that Crown Warbound Lord must be as strong as a Mythic!"

"I remember that Spiritbound Lord. In the battle for Divine Province, he killed more than a dozen Legendary troops by himself. He’s grown this powerful already?"

Velric roared and charged again.

Dain laughed. His pressure rose even higher.

"Good! Come on!"

Halberd and claw collided again and again. The crocodilian Lord gave ground beneath the blows. A minute later, fear finally appeared in its eyes.

Even the evil spirit possessing that body was beginning to be afraid.

Cassian watched the wider fight.

Apart from their dozen or so strongest fighters, Divine Nation’s Warbound Lords were generally weaker than these Spiritbound enemies. Letting the contest continue would bring casualties he had no desire to take.

He much preferred crushing his enemies.

He turned toward the woman standing behind him on Nine’s back.

"Lys. Help them clear those Spiritbound Lords."

"All right."

Lysette stepped off the Dragon.

The ground lay a thousand meters below. She did not simply let herself fall. Her body accelerated, driving her downward like a shell fired from a cannon.

A fraction of a second later, she struck at nearly ten times the speed of sound.

The earth broke.

Cracks raced across a kilometer of battlefield. One unfortunate Spiritbound Lord was crushed beneath her feet before it could scream.

For a moment, the fighting around the impact stopped. Even Dain faltered in surprise.

What had just fallen out of the sky?

Before anyone could get a clear look, a figure shot from the dust.

Dain could barely follow it. A pale blur crossed from one Spiritbound Lord to the next, changing direction faster than the eye could track. Screams rose in its wake.

Ten seconds later, the figure stopped.

Only then did the watching Lords see her properly.

She was slender and beautiful, a meter and seventy-five centimeters tall. Her eyes were clear and calm. After that violent descent and the slaughter that followed, not a speck of dust marked her clothes.

It was difficult to connect her composed figure with the devastation around her.

A Spiritbound Lord clutched its throat.

A wet, choking sound escaped its mouth.

Then, as though that had been a signal, nearly a hundred bodies burst. Foul blood sprayed from wounds across them, and the monstrous Lords fell dead together.

[Cloudburst Rush]

[Raises movement and attack speed to the maximum the user’s Physique can withstand.]

Over the past few days, Cassian had carefully selected and bought several Grade-A melee Skill Books for Lysette. She had learned Burst Force, Battle Soul, and Cloudburst Rush among them. Combined with Basic Combat at Transcendence, those skills had transformed her strength into terrifying speed and killing power.

Her total attributes remained below Aurelia’s. In pure Physique, however, this Extreme physical Hero far surpassed her.

Lysette’s base Physique had reached six hundred thousand. With every enhancement applied, it rose to one million four hundred thousand. Even Nine’s Mythic Dragon form could not match that raw physical strength.

The comparison with the Labyrinth’s former master was enough. At Level 105, Vaurak had possessed only one million two hundred thousand Physique.

Lysette had both the attributes and the skills to use them. Nearly a hundred enemies with high-star Legendary strength had died in a single rush.

The Lords who witnessed it stared in disbelief.

"Another fighter with Mythic strength?"

"Would even a Mythic kill them that quickly?"

"How many monsters has Divine Province raised in the past half year?"

Some reached the answer faster than others.

"That’s Boss’s fifth Hero, isn’t it?" Seraphine muttered.

Lysette drew a light breath and broke the sound barrier again.

Her next target was the fish-headed Lord fighting Seraphine. It was one of the Black Banner’s strongest Warbound Lords, close to Mythic power. Seraphine had yet to recover from using Seven-Star Release, and the creature had been pressing her back.

"That’s my—"

Before she could finish, its huge head burst into a cloud of blood.

"—opponent."

Seraphine pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Fine."