Several days ago, in the underworld.
When Clymene and the five Giant Elders heard a commotion and rushed to the bottomless abyss exit, a huge swarm of subterranean creatures had already threaded their way up through the passage.
Led by Clymene, the group and the five Elders relied on the arrow tower to intercept and kill any underground monsters crawling up from below.
"Damn it! Where were all these friggin' creatures hiding before?"
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"There are way too many of them. No matter how many we kill, it won't make much difference!"
"Yeah, makes you wish we'd brought some of those little spiders along!"
Clymene swung her warhammer, crushing a swath of subterranean monsters before looking up and answering the Elders.
"We can't just move the little spiders on a whim. They have to monitor and protect the teleportation portal!"
"These underground creatures are going berserk, racing topside, which probably means something's gone wrong at Blackstone City."
"Otherwise, Orion must be up to something."
"Think about it, Orion is already a Legendary-level fighter. You really think he's afraid of these crawling vermin?"
Clymene's words hit the five Elders like a cold wake-up call, snapping them out of their panic. In their minds, hordes of monsters had always meant disaster, something straight out of the apocalypse.
"That's right. Orion is our Giants' king. No way he's scared of these worms!"
"So, you're saying our king might've set some kind of bait up there?"
"In that case, do we even need to keep plugging away at these monsters?"
Vargrum, Balgor, and Grendel threw out those questions, and their remarks made Mordak and Zorn ease up a bit, too.
"Look, we were gonna kill underground creatures down here anyway. May as well thin out the herd so our people topside get a bit of relief."
With that, Clymene didn't even turn around. Instead, she swung her weapon faster. The five Giant Elders fell silent but matched her pace, redoubling their own efforts.
Boom!
Elder Grendel was slammed all the way off his feet by a subterranean creature as thick as a milling stone, shaped more or less like a massive snake. The blow caved in Grendel's chest.
By the time Clymene and the other Elders caught on, that mysterious creature had already taken the arrow tower's return fire, but still darted into the passage.
"Grendel, you okay?"
"Eh, I'm fine. Just feel like the energy in my body's draining away."
Grendel got up, touching his sunken, shattered chest as though it didn't hurt at all.
"Clymene, is the gap between Alpha-level and hero level really that big?"
"If I were still in my old form, that hit would've left me dead on the spot!"
Helping Grendel steady himself, Clymene spoke in a serious tone.
"The difference between Alpha-level and hero level is even bigger than you imagine."
"But based on your current power, you guys are on par with the peak of hero level!"
"And when you're in an area thick with death energy, you're even tougher!"
Clymene paused, propping Grendel against the arrow tower to let him recover a bit.
"You should fight around this arrow tower. You'll get early warnings here—makes things easier."
With those words, Clymene strode alone into the horde of monsters, continuing the fight. The five Giant Elders, not being a match for any Alpha-level subterranean creatures, could still depend on Alpha-level Clymene's courage.
She wasn't afraid in the slightest.
––––
Blackstone City, atop the outer walls.
Delilah's face showed no expression, though inside her nerves were on high alert. She knew that butterfly-assassin was still lurking somewhere in her web array, hadn't run off, but she just couldn't pinpoint its location. Stalemated like this, she was growing restless.
Without Delilah overseeing the overall situation—coordinating bloodline warrior reinforcements to weaker defensive spots or areas running low on supplies—the city's defenses could collapse at any moment.
Delilah bit her fingertip, letting a drop of blood drip onto the center of her forehead. This was a method of actively activating her will projection—a "blood ignition" ritual.
Crackle!
A bolt of lightning flashed from Delilah's brow, flooding the surrounding space. With a pop, the shadowy butterfly-assassin was forced out of the void by the transcendent power, its dark form flickering into sight.
But the lightning didn't kill it, because the assassin also wielded a spark of transcendent power. An iridescent butterfly silhouette enveloped the assassin, easily breaking free from Delilah's web array and fleeing outside the city.
"It has Sophia's will projection on it. It's getting away!"
Orion's will projection left these words behind before sinking back into Delilah's forehead. As that supernatural power disappeared, the oppressive tension of their standoff vanished, too, and Delilah exhaled in relief.
"Sound the trumpets. Give our bloodline warriors some backup!"
Standing on a high platform of the wall, Delilah stretched her awareness across the battlefield, surveying the bigger picture. With that, she finally let go of the heavy weight on her heart.
"Send a message to the cavalry. They're to support the cannon fodder troops defending the eastern flank!"
Out of all the fight zones on the field, Dirtclaw's area was faring the worst because it sat outside the arrow towers' coverage.
Once certain dark creatures figured out the limits of those towers, some of the smarter ones chose to attack Dirtclaw's spot. That meant not only did Dirtclaw's group face larger numbers, but also tougher monsters.
After taking stock of the situation, Delilah wove her hands together again and began chanting softly, setting up an illusion. Her taking the initiative suggested that the Stoneheart Horde was gradually gaining the upper hand.
––––
Outside the city walls, Slagor, Twilight Viper, and Lysinthia's support squad was making noticeable progress. Lysinthia infused her petrification ability into Twilight Viper. Strangely, the Viper itself wasn't turned into stone; instead, its defense rocketed upward.
With its boosted defenses, Twilight Viper hardly cared about the Dark Fiend's snapping jaws and claws. It simply coiled around the giant beast's body, binding it in place.
Thundar, who was busy fighting nearby, was no fool. Spotting his chance, he pulled out his taming collar and hurled it straight at the Dark Fiend. It didn't bounce off but instead sank into the creature's body.
At the sight of this, Thundar's face lit up. When he sensed a connection forming between the Dark Fiend and himself, a massive grin spread across his lips.
"Warden Lysinthia, I…I just completed a bond with that huge Dark Fiend. Thank you!"
Lysinthia stood off to the side, staring him down with her jet-black eyes. Only when he nodded repeatedly and confirmed the bond did she instruct Twilight Viper to let go of the Dark Fiend.
"Don't stand there grinning. Slagor and Earthshaker need our help, too."
Her icy voice snapped Thundar out of his joyful daze.