'The Cloaked Demon?'
Balthazar was startled, but nothing rang a bell in his head as he hadn't heard of such a notorious name in the past; it likely had something to do with Batley City specifically. He didn't have the time to think further anyway, as this Cloaked Demoness had already slaughtered half of his men!
"GATHER TOGETHER NOW!" Balthazar roared out loud.
Without hesitation, all the remaining necromancer survivors jumped, dashed, or crawled toward Balthazar at their fastest speed.
Only after they appeared behind the Young-stage Rank 2 zombie did they all release a deep breath of relief. Moments ago, they all felt as if their bodies had frozen within ice prisons due to the sheer fright they had just experienced.
They had never been so terrified. Even the most horrifying zombie or undead they had witnessed in the past wasn't this soul-shuddering; in fact, even the Young-stage Rank 2 zombie in front of them looked downright cute compared to this female demon.
It was a fear born out of the unknown, as they didn't know and couldn't even grasp just what they were facing.
Previously, before they could even comprehend the situation, over ten of their comrades had already fallen. Perhaps they all died while similarly trying to make sense of things, and before they could figure anything out, they had already left their bodies behind.
The current situation was terrifying enough to give them nightmares for decades. Perhaps even witnessing a Rank 4 Master Rank taking action wouldn't be this scary.
The remaining skeleton summons also slowly gathered in front of the Rank 2 zombie and the group. They formed a thick wall between the necromancers and the Cloaked Demoness.
Lyria gave them the time to gather. She had stopped moving after Balthazar yelled out. She figured she might as well finish them all off in one location rather than running around everywhere for their space pouches.
She silently waited, switching her daggers from a forward grip to a reverse grip.
After the necromancers gathered, Balthazar felt some strength returning to his trembling body. He might be, in a sense, the 'strongest' among the necromancers present in this location, but even he hadn't seen when the Cloaked Demoness moved or where she would appear next. She was killing even late-stage Rank 3 warriors in close quarters, and he, who was just a late-stage Rank 3 mage, probably wouldn't even have the time to command his Rank 2 zombie to protect him if she targeted him first.
Balthazar keenly observed the Cloaked Demoness and was amazed by how spectacular this woman's figure was. She was tall, had a thin waist, and possessed incredible curves...
He quickly shook his lustful thoughts away, knowing that if he didn't, he wouldn't even know when he lost his life.
Balthazar released another breath of relief after noticing that the human skeletons had formed a thick wall in front of them. There were at least thirty skeletons; even though they were weak, they possessed massive constitutions. They could at least buy them some time to prepare their spells.
Balthazar took a deep breath and threatened her with a shaky voice, "Y-you... I-I don't know who you are, but y-you should leave before our three Master Ranks kill this city's Rank 4! Y-you... I believe you understand you will only die miserably if our Master Ranks attack you!"
Everyone present on the scene had dismissed the Cloaked Demoness's rank as fake, except Marabeth, who was frozen solid and was probably the only one who accurately knew she was truly a late-stage Rank 1, as she had already seen how young the girl was along with the other two.
On the other side, the necromancers believed this Cloaked Demoness was an early-stage Rank 4. A sole Rank 4 couldn't defeat three Rank 4s, and their necromancer Master Ranks were a lot stronger than normal early-stage Rank 4s—not to mention one of them even had a powerful zombie companion, which effectively made it four Rank 4 necromancers present within the city.
Seeing that there was no response, Balthazar once again threatened her, as there was nothing else he could do. "You! You can't defeat our Master Ranks, not to mention my Young-stage Rank 2 zombie..." He halted, his eyes widening in shock as the Cloaked Demoness suddenly vanished.
Lyria, of course, didn't bother replying. She activated her Whirlwind Sprint along with Hardening and launched herself straight into the mass of human skeletons in front of her.
BANG! CRACK! CRASH!...
Everyone present could only gape widely.
They saw all the skeletons exploding all at once—or perhaps it was one after another, but it happened so fast that to them, it felt as if all of them were destroyed at the exact same time. They only heard a collective noise that sounded like thousands of bones being shattered within a split moment.
Balthazar nearly had a heart attack. The sturdy wall he was relying on couldn't even slow down the Cloaked Demoness enough to make her visible to his eyes!
He panicked and cried out to his zombie in horror, "Gopez!"
The Young-stage Rank 2 zombie took a massive step forward and punched right at the incoming Lyria. It also couldn't clearly see her, but it could calculate the trajectory the skeletons were blowing up from, and it was heading straight toward its master, Balthazar.
"Watch out!" Marabeth and the others cried out in alarm. It was, after all, a Rank 2 Mana Beast that had been turned into a zombie; its defense and strength were even higher than when it was alive. It was an entity that usually required five or more late-stage Rank 3s to take down.
But what happened next completely blew everyone's minds to the point that their brains turned totally blank.
Lyria didn't even flinch. She ducked beneath the massive punch, and in a split second, arrived right at the zombie's defenseless abdomen. She unleashed her Crushing Blow at maximum power and punched.
She had to use her maximum strength and momentum. Although her current Crushing Blow should theoretically be able to destroy a normal, physical-type Young-stage Rank 2 Mana Beast's body, as a zombie, she wasn't entirely confident. Thus, she was already prepared to punch it with her other hand in case she failed to defeat it with a single blow.
But a second strike was no longer needed.
The moment Lyria's fist connected, the entire torso of the Young-stage Rank 2 zombie blew apart into rotten flesh and fragmented bits.
Lyria made sure no blood or flesh landed on her by activating her Absolute Gravity. After her recent level up, her control over this ability had greatly improved. Now, she could create a sort of barrier or force field that pushed things within a set distance away from her. It wasn't an ultimate defense, as the force couldn't be too high or objects would fly too far, but it was more than good enough to block blood and other naturally moving debris.
Everyone who caught a view of the exchange could only gawk in sheer disbelief.
Just how could a physical-type Young-stage Rank 2 zombie blow up from a single punch? Was this even possible?
None of them had ever seen or heard of such an inconceivable thing. Her previous speed was frightening, but the current punch was completely beyond everyone's imagination.
Of course, none of them had seen a Master Rank in action; otherwise, they would know that Lyria's Crushing Blow was technically weaker than a normal Rank 4's punch in terms of raw power. However, her Crushing Blow focused on exploding things from the inside out, so it functioned differently than a standard punch, and that was exactly why the rotting, internally weak zombie blew up so easily.
The moment 'Gopez' exploded, Balthazar's and the other necromancers' eyes widened, and their hearts and souls froze with utter terror.
Lyria's eyes flashed. She swiftly snatched the Mana Core out of midair and then disappeared again.
Following that, it was a clean massacre. All fifteen or so remaining necromancers' heads flew up into the air almost at the exact same time.
The Pierce family could only watch with wide-open eyes in pure disbelief.
Before the necromancers' severed heads could even land on the ground, Lyria had already gathered all their wealth—which basically consisted only of their space pouches. She had zero interest in taking their tier outfits or whatever junk weapons they were holding in their hands. She could create weapons and armor countless times better than those poorly made products, which their creators had crafted halfheartedly without any real passion.
After Lyria was done, she appeared in front of Marabeth almost like a sudden hurricane.
"Madam, watch out!" Dustin cried out in alarm, desperately trying to reach Marabeth. But although he was close, he was nowhere near fast enough.
However, he was completely overreacting.
As Lyria materialized out of nowhere right in front of her, Marabeth nearly had a heart attack and fell straight onto her butt. Lyria was already taller than her, and looking up after falling down, Marabeth suddenly felt that Lyria was the absolute peak of what a woman could be—a subconscious admiration as a fellow woman that she had never experienced before in her life.
Lyria whispered, "Tell Brunhild we are leaving after this." Her voice was incredibly low, meant just for Marabeth to hear. She knew Marabeth had already recognized her, so this was also an indirect warning to her.
Just as Lyria finished speaking, Dustin arrived and attacked. He swung his long staff toward Lyria with massive power.
From Dustin's perspective, such a powerful entity had suddenly materialized right before Marabeth; she absolutely had bad intentions! As the head butler of the Pierce family, it was his sworn responsibility to protect the family head, even by sacrificing his own life if necessary.
Dustin's current action was instinctively driven, and he hadn't given much logical thought to it. Otherwise, he absolutely wouldn't have attacked, as doing so was the same as provoking a demon for unconfirmed reasons.
Without even moving her head to look, Lyria flicked her left index finger at the incoming weapon with ridiculous accuracy, striking right against the body of the staff.
The instant Lyria's index finger touched the staff, the weapon paused for a split second, and then the high-grade Tier 1 staff blasted apart into mere scraps of useless metal.
After destroying the staff, Lyria vanished once again and was no longer seen within the courtyard.
Dustin's hand trembled as he slowly opened his clenched fist, which was still holding the broken grip of his weapon. Though his arm remained completely unharmed, his precious high-grade Tier 1 staff had been reduced to a few scrap pieces.
His pupils narrowed with absolute incredulity and shock. He had seen the Rank 2 zombie blow up, yet his logic had refused to accept it. He had subconsciously thought that perhaps the zombie only looked tough but was actually a weakling used to intimidate them. After all, the zombie hadn't attacked them throughout the battle and only stood beside Balthazar.
However, currently, his own attack—the strike of a late-stage Rank 3 warrior—was discarded with just a casual finger flick, and it had even shattered his oldest weapon partner...
Dustin, at this moment, was utterly dumbstruck in his heart.
He now truly felt just how helpless, hopeless, and completely despairing the necromancers must have been when they faced this Cloaked Demoness.
The difference between them was so overwhelmingly vast that it was an insult to even compare himself to her.
He sighed and checked on Marabeth, who seemed lost in thought for some reason, but was otherwise completely fine.
Now that he had calmed down, Dustin understood that this Cloaked Demoness wasn't trying to harm Marabeth. She was a lifesaver for all of them, and the entire Pierce family should be nothing but grateful to her. However, he had instinctively moved against her, and thanks to his stupidity, he had now lost the old partner he had carried for such a long time.
He sighed with deep regret. At least, thankfully, this powerful woman hadn't taken offense to his reckless action.
"Madam, are you alright?" Dustin asked with concern.
The battle might have only lasted for a brief half-hour or so, yet they had all suffered severe injuries.
Marabeth didn't reply, as she was completely preoccupied with what Lyria had just said.
'What did she mean by "leaving after this"? What does "after this" signify?'
Marabeth pondered deeply; in the end, she couldn't figure it out. She knew it couldn't mean the current elimination of the necromancers in this courtyard. If it did, Lyria would have just said, 'Tell Brunhild we are leaving,' and left it at that.
Marabeth sighed and looked up at the clear sky. She suddenly heard a soft, noticeable booming sound echoing from very far away in the western sky.
It was the clash between the Master Ranks that had been going on for a while now. Since she and her family had been engaged in their own life-or-death struggle, she hadn't had the time to focus on it.
However, now that she focused on that distant sound, and at the same time Lyria's words echoed inside her mind, her eyes couldn't help but snap wide open. Her heart nearly leaped out of her chest, and she stood up straight in absolute shock.
"It cannot be!"