Evolution: From Little Devil to Devil Empress

Chapter 35: Crucible Ranking [14] - Undead

Although Liora watched Lord Embers soar into the sky and lunge at the Two-Headed Devil, she didn’t have the will or the time to intervene.

Following Lord Embers’ cold command, the undead all over the city began to move, rushing toward her.

This was true for even the skeletons of the once-powerful Devils.

Moreover, because these Devils stood on top of the city wall—not far from Liora—they were the first ones to attack her.

A loud whistling sound was heard as a large, muscular skeleton shot toward Liora at full speed.

Although its flesh was gone, based on its appearance, it was clear that this was the Armored Devil—or what remained of him.

With a thunderous bang, the Armored Devil slammed into the place where Liora was standing, raising his hand and punching forward.

The gray flame in his eye sockets flickered as his fist blasted Liora’s head, causing it to burst like a watermelon.

Blood splattered, and her lifeless body fell to the ground.

Yet, only a moment later, both the blood and the body transformed into shadows, which wriggled like tadpoles before blending into the darkness.

The Armored Devil had never been smart to begin with, and now that he had died and been summoned as an undead, his intelligence was even more lacking.

Aside from being able to execute some simple commands, it could be said that he was a mindless puppet.

As such, witnessing the strange scene before him, he became confused, wondering what had just happened and where his target had gone.

Just then, though, the shadow beneath his body squirmed.

Before the Armored Devil could react, Liora’s figure flashed behind him.

A pitch-black, ghostly scythe appeared in her hand, and with a casual wave, it struck directly at his abdomen.

The bones making up the Armored Devil’s body cracked the moment the scythe touched them, and they shattered like fragile glass.

The gray flame in his eyes flickered even more intensely as the scythe passed straight through him—like a sharp knife piercing a piece of paper—cutting him in two.

Even so, he wasn’t dead just yet.

He opened his jaw wide as he pushed against the ground with his hands, launching himself forward, attempting to take a bite out of Liora’s legs.

Fortunately, Liora reacted quickly.

The moment before the Armored Devil’s head reached her, she waved the black scythe again, this time swinging it downwards.

The sharp, gleaming tip penetrated the Armored Devil’s forehead, nailing his head to the ground.

As if a switch had been turned off, the gray flame in his eyes instantly disappeared, while the struggle of his separated body ceased.

This time, he was truly dead.

Unfortunately, Liora didn’t have time to celebrate.

Even though she had slain the Armored Devil in just two moves, the momentary delay had allowed the other powerful Devils to surround her.

Moreover, sensing the beating auras rapidly approaching her, it became clear to her that more enemies—undead—were coming.

But despite the seemingly dangerous situation she found herself in, she didn’t panic.

”Judging from the Armored Devil’s combat power, these undead don’t possess the full strength they had when they were alive.”, she analyzed calmly.

Based on her observations, these undead only retained about half of their original power, meaning that they were considerably weaker.

”If so, dealing with them should not be that difficult.”, Liora whispered, and just like before, her figure vanished, leaving only a phantom where she previously stood.

Taking the initiative, she teleported in front of another Devil and, turning the scythe into a dagger, she embedded it deep into its skull.

With her previous experience, she had already understood that the skull was the undead’s weakness and, unless she destroyed it, they would remain ”alive”.

Continuous cracking sounds echoed as Liora shuttled through the shadows, using every means in her arsenal to shatter the skulls of the undead she met on the way.

Despite the overwhelming number of enemies and the tight space in which she could operate, she surprisingly faced little danger.

Shadow Assimilation allowed her to maneuver through the siege, while the Myriad Devils Armor—now stronger than ever before—made it so that injuring her was nearly impossible.

Even the attacks of the Devils themselves would be unable to penetrate her seemingly invincible defense, much less these—way weaker—undead.

Of course, individual power was never the undead’s biggest strength. Rather, it was their number.

No matter how many undead Liora eliminated, more would soon pop out and take the fallen’s place, continuing the siege.

These undead were summoned using the Devils of the city as materials, and as such, their actual number was unfathomable.

But Liora didn’t mind.

Using the shadows once again, she teleported in front of the elderly Devil and, with a single punch, blasted his skull into pieces.

A hint of strangeness flashed in her crimson eyes, but it quickly disappeared.

With a deep expression, she observed the surrounding battlefield, and after analyzing it, she continued her ruthless attacks.

Her movements carried no sense of urgency as she methodically cleaned up the undead, slowly whittling down their numbers.

However, while Liora was taking her time, another person could no longer afford to wait.

After parrying another of the Two-Headed Devil’s sonic attacks, Lord Embers took the chance to glance at the city, and when he saw Liora’s figure, his eyes burned with anger.

Although he no longer held back and unleashed his full combat power—fighting evenly against the Two-Headed Devil—he was far from satisfied.

His goal had never been to survive. From the very start, his plan was to kill the Two-Headed Devil.

”It seems that I have to use ’that’. I originally wanted to keep it as a trump card against this guy, but now, I can no longer wait.”, he thought, and while suppressing the effects of the uncanny murmurs, his eyes took a deep gray color.

Strange Devil Runes danced in his two palms as he whispered in a low, almost inaudible voice:

”Gather!”

The moment this single word fell, the world around him changed once again.

The gray mist that had engulfed the entire city boiled, and with a swoosh, it swooped toward the undead, integrating into their skeletal forms.

The power of the undead rose as more and more mist poured into them, causing Liora’s expression to change.

But just then, deafening booms sounded one after another.

Many gray runes spread across the undead’s bones, and they—who should have become a threat—suddenly exploded.

Their remains turned into a sea of bones, which gathered in the air right above Liora.

Shrieks, cries, and mournful wails echoed in her ears as she seemed to see countless Devils’ souls merge together.

In fact, not only were their souls merging, but their bodies too.

The countless broken pieces of bones landed one on top of the other and combined, like strange Lego pieces.

When the final bone fell into place, the original undead were all gone.

In their place, a single, twenty-meter-tall monster stood, made exclusively out of bones.

It was humanoid, but dozens of hands of varying lengths extended from each of its sides. In its abdomen, many visages could be seen roaming around, some of which Liora recognized.

Armored Devil... Elderly Devil...

Many recently slain Devils squirmed in the creature’s abdomen, their eyes staring straight toward Liora with undisguised hatred.

In unison, the faces opened their mouths, letting out a high-pitched, terrifying scream.

As if in response, the joints of the undead creature squeaked and its body trembled slightly, before lunging at Liora.