Inside the sealed nest, it wasn't dark — everything was being lit up by the glowing green mist slowly creeping in. It had already taken over almost two-thirds of the place; only the deepest part was still untouched.
In that safe zone, a group of thirty young demonic beasts and nearly a hundred regular beasts was huddled against the wall, shaking in fear. They were all just tiny cubs, only a few months old.
To the Abyssal Corrupted Wolves, they were all the same, even if the regular beasts were more like animals, only able to help with simple tasks. Everyone's children were raised together from the start, learning to respect each other.
The only thing stopping them from dying was a group of ten wolves positioned at the front. Their bodies were already covered in green lines; they were forcefully absorbing all that poison, stopping it from moving forward.
A bit behind them, a black wolf, covered in blood and missing one of his legs, was staring at those ahead. He was the leader of the demonic beasts.
He let out a soft howl.
Up front, the wolves responded with a faint and painful growl.
Then suddenly...
*BOOM!*
Everything shook. The poison stopped spreading, making the leader's eyes light up.
Outside.
Amid the dust, Niara landed on the ground, now cracked from her surprise attack.
Through the dust, countless figures moved, surrounding her.
Hidden, Darian felt something off about those figures. He searched for the one with the darkest karma, then fully activated his curse. His eyes went unfocused...
At the same time, the assassins recognized Niara. Their eyes didn't waver, nor did they hesitate. In fact, there was a glint of excitement in them.
Even though Niara was now a Summoner, that had only happened less than a week ago. Even the elite among rookies had only barely started using the ring's power during that time. Using the blessing of a Spiritual Guardian was impossible.
Even so, that small boost in power was already enough to crush them — actually, Niara had already been doing that even before she became a Summoner.
But they were confident. Their numbers could make up for the difference in strength in their case. After all, their weapons were the power of absolute killing.
Darian snapped back to reality. He snorted, a deep hatred rising in him.
Silently, the sound of wind slicing through the air echoed.
Niara sighed. Countless sharp and gleaming blades surrounded her, rushing in from all directions.
She slammed her fists together. At the same time, she felt her spiritual root fill with power.
'Push your bloodline to the max. Burn everything without hesitation,' Darian's voice came through.
She nodded. Instantly, her green scales pulsed.
*Buzz*
The entire space around her trembled. Then...
She spread her wings.
The atmosphere changed. The air turned heavy and oppressive. Suddenly, her wings looked like they were on fire.
Black, sinister flames.
Almost twenty assassins were less than three meters away at that moment. The others had moved behind, making sure there was no chance of surviving the first strike.
They didn't back off or flinch. Their daggers lunged forward in perfect sync. There was no way to dodge, and no one could defend against the terrifying rune seals on those blades.
Suddenly, Niara felt something in her chest turn freezing cold. It was a chill that pierced through her scales and into her soul.
No one could see it, but the little slug wasn't colorful and cute anymore. It was pitch black, radiating a suffocating will.
Despite the cold, Niara felt her blood heat up.
All the assassins were already inches away from landing their blows.
But...
It was like a hammer smashed into their souls.
Their eyes shifted. In the center of the Dragoness, they felt like something terrifying and monstrous was hiding there.
Darian's dry voice echoed: 'Wipe them all out…'
"Yes!" she answered, fired up.
*BOOM!*
Her wings slammed hard, causing a blast through the air.
A wave of black power spread out in all directions.
It hit the assassins head-on. The exact moment it touched them, the force behind their deadly attacks vanished.
Like a candle flame getting blown out.
A second later, it hit their bodies...
"NO!"
"AHHHH!"
Screams and agony echoed everywhere.
Those who had struck from the front dropped to the ground screaming. It was like they were literally being burned alive. Their lives were being used as fuel for those demonic flames.
The ones in the back widened their eyes.
Then they locked eyes with that hypnotizing amber gaze staring right at them.
Her wings flapped again.
*Squelch!*
In an instant, one of them exploded into a spray of blood.
Niara had landed a full punch.
She didn't waste the chance. She went after them fast. In seconds, six of them were already gone from this world. Just a bit more than ten were left. They panicked and tried to run.
But...
The little slug's senses were tracking all of them. Niara beat her wings at high speed, chasing them down one by one.
"DEMON!!"
*Squelch!*
None of them even had time to dream about escaping. Darian pointed out where they all were; with her speed, she reached each of them in no time.
It was all over in a few minutes.
She gently flapped her wings and landed in front of the nest. Her scales began to fade. The slug slithered out from under her clothes quickly.
'Let's call this Karmic Flames,' he muttered.
Right then, he took a deep breath...
It wasn't visible to regular people, but around him, all the black karma from the dead moved toward him, getting devoured.
Niara looked to her shoulder, staring at her partner, who had returned to his usual form.
She was breathing heavily, feeling a suffocating kind of euphoria.
His power… it really had completely shut down those blades known for their terrifying lethality.
There are stories about a Summoner and his Spiritual Guardian who fought a bunch of these assassins, driven by pure revenge. They killed them all easily, of course. But the Summoner got seriously injured because he underestimated them and got hit by one of the blades.
Worse — his Spiritual Guardian had three rings, and still wasn't strong enough to block it.
That just showed how scary their attacks could be. Dodging was the only option — nobody could afford to get hit by them.
Too bad these assassins are useless against the Risen. In battles with them, the battlefield always ends up covered in miasma. A normal Mannaz wouldn't last even a minute breathing it before starting to get corrupted.
A Risen with even a hint of intelligence can sense a corrupted presence nearby. For an assassin, the target knowing where you are is a death sentence.
So, they could hardly be useful. Maybe they'd work to kill the weaker, dumber Risen. But even that would be a waste — they'd all die super fast, and their gear probably isn't easy to make.
Darian turned to the cave entrance.
There, he saw a figure slowly coming out. It was the leader of the beasts in his true form, and he looked like hell.
Niara ran up. Darian used his white power, and in an instant, healed all of his wounds.
The beast's eyes widened, surprised. But he quickly shifted into humanoid form.
"Please, they're in bad shape," he said quickly, leading the two inside.
In the back, there were ten wolf-shaped demonic beasts, collapsed and radiating thick poison. Darian purified it all instantly — like magic.
Even Niara was a little spooked.
He could heal wounds, purge poison, corruption… all in seconds. Even if he couldn't deal with the corruption of a Risen Chief, he had still managed to stop the worst from happening. Did he even have limits?