Erebus had been expecting many things to come at them. Perhaps a giant, a modified goliath, something big to fit the tremendous roar and thundering footsteps. For one of the first times in his life, he was thoroughly surprised.

What had come at them was a beastman, one on the small side, too. A full grown male beastman, also one with substantial power, was typically extremely large and muscular. Since they were similar to humans and lacked proficiency in magic, they were able to supplement this deficiency with pure physical prowess. Instead, what stood in front of them was a gangly boy with a weak-looking body and terrible mana flow.

He was an albino, he blended in with the snow almost if it wasn’t for his ruby eyes. His bushy tail swung back and forth pathetically, his ears were lowered submissively.

Erebus wasn’t one to underestimate, though. He was similar in hiding his true strength in a facade of weakness.

Just when Erebus was about to speak, Lilian gasped in surprise and drew back a little. “Betrayer!” she hissed.

“You know him, Lilian?” Vyne asked upon her reaction.

“Of course I know her,” she snapped, irritation seeping into her voice. “She is a member of the clan who tried to overthrow the Great Lion Emperor. Don’t let her current appearance fool you, she’s a master at transformation magic.”

“Great Lion Emperor?” Vyne muttered he wasn’t well-versed in the history of the beastpeople. “The beastmen actually have a culture?”

Lilian opted to ignore the obvious jab at her heritage. “It was back when I worked as in the Emperor’s personal guard, it was quite some time before I became a Demon Lord. I was first establishing myself as a relevant necromancer in those times, and then shortly after she and the band of traitors killed our magnificent Emperor.”

“What’s your name?” Erebus asked in light of this new information. Perhaps he had heard of this girl before from someone in the Dragon Council. Lilian’s words had brought up a certain familiarity in his mind.

The albino beastwoman bowed mockingly. “My name is Ivy, O Great Dragon,” she spoke sarcastically.

“You know me?” Erebus asked curiously. “Not many are able to guess who I am on the first try, actually, no one has.”

Ivy smiled widely. “Of course, I met with the Dragon Council once before. It wasn’t too long after I had betrayed, as the rabbit would like to say, the previous Emperor. The dragon Frize had wished to speak with me about our intentions, I was essentially the diplomat of our small little band of traitorous beastpeople.”

Ah, that’s how. It wasn’t as if he had forgotten her, it was more like she was never relevant enough for him to bother keeping in his memory.

“Is that so? Well, I didn’t come here to talk. And you surely aren’t here to talk either,” Erebus spoke, he didn’t care about the past currently and frankly was just here to fight.

“I figured.” Ivy picked at her nails with a disinterested expression. “Shall we begin then? By the way, I’m not up to fighting all five of you at once, one at a time, please.”

Erebus was about to volunteer when Lilian stepped up, a fire none of them had witnessed burning in her eyes. They were filled with pure contempt and the intent to kill.

“Lord Erebus, please allow me to deal with her.”

Normally he would have declined her, but not even he would hold someone back with such intensity to fight. “You may,” he spoke begrudgingly.

This was really about to be his time to have some fun, you know? Ivy sounded rather powerful and would be a joy to fight with. Erebus withheld his disappointment, though.

In his honest opinion, Lilian would probably not win. Her speciality was the undead, and she would be too proud to fight a battle like this with Untitled’s help. So, she would attempt to duel against Ivy using only her magic, which was significantly weaker and, frankly, she wouldn’t be as skilled as Ivy since she didn’t fight often solely relying on herself.

That wasn’t to say she couldn’t win, of course.

“It’ll be the weak little rabbit? You couldn’t defeat me last time, what makes you think that you can now?” Ivy taunted.

“Please don’t lower yourself even more to the point of using such a childish insult,” Lilian responded, managing to keep her voice from changing despite the ferocity in her eyes.

Ivy didn’t respond for a moment. “Whatever, are we going to fight or are you too scared?”

Her question was met by a flaming ball being shot at where she stood. Ivy narrowly jumped out of the way and rolled in the snow.

Ivy responded by slapping her hand onto the snow, which then promptly changed into a pit underneath Lilian’s feet, sending her plummeting into the earth.

A skeletal hand shot up from the pit and on it Lilian was crouching. She leapt off of the hand and landed on the ground, irritation clear on her face.

Ivy wasted no time and launched her own fireballs at Lilian, who dodged them with amazing agility for being in the snow.

“As expected a rabbit, you’re quick on your feet,” Ivy quipped.

Lilian ignored her and charged towards Ivy, much to the latter’s surprise. She extended her staff and engaged Ivy in close combat. The albino woman clicked her tongue and attempted to put more space between them, as a magician was far better suited for ranged attacks, but Lilian refused to allow such things to occur.

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Ivy created another pit, but this time Lilian reacted fast enough to leap out of the way. But, Ivy’s intention was not to trap Lilian, rather it was to put distance between them once again. Instantly, Ivy shot out ice shards at her, but Lilian managed to avoid all but two which sliced her arm and cheek respectively.

The rabbit hissed a little at the sharp pain, but the wounds quickly healed over leaving only small traces of blood in their wake.

A beastman’s regeneration rate was said to be even faster than the dragon’s.

Lilian activated her necromancy causing pairs of skeletal hands to spring up from the ground, locking a vice-like grip on Ivy’s arms and legs, rendering her incapable of movement.

“Damn.” Ivy raised a mana barrier just as a powerful drill of magic collided with it, that undoubtedly would’ve put a gaping hole in her torso if she hadn’t protected herself. The drill continued to grind through the shield until it burst through, but it had lost nearly all of its power and momentum, so the actual damage Ivy’s body took was minimal.

The skeletal hands that had latched onto Ivy disappeared with a puff of smoke, freeing the woman once again. Since they were a high-tier binding type, there was an extremely short time limit to which they could be summoned.

“Quick thinking,” Vyne said in a slightly appreciative tone. “Ah, maybe I should’ve volunteered instead, such a waste...”

Tear, however, had a completely different mindset and was grateful that she did not even think of offering herself up to fight Ivy. While on the other hand, Erebus was in the same position as Vyne.

Untitled remained silent and watched its Master’s battle with a longing gaze. How he wished to assist her in some manner, his sole purpose of being here was simply to fight in her place.

Lilian, who was able to feel his sadness due to the connection a summoner and the summoned shared, felt a little bad. But, alas, she had to focus wholly on her battle because a single misstep could result in her loss, ultimately, her death.

“Whew,” Ivy let out a tired breath. She hadn’t fought in a very long time, and fighting someone of Lilian’s caliber was a little bit too intense to be called a warm-up.

Her opponent, however, was completely fine, well, that was a slight overstatement. But still, Lilian was in a better condition than Ivy.

Ivy slapped her palms down onto the cold surface of the snow and two small (in comparison to a normal one) wyverns made of ice shot towards Lilian with open mouths full of jagged, sharp teeth.

Lilian moved out of the way of the beast, but the wyverns turned and flew at her. She raised up her staff and two magic circles appeared in the air, two skeletal birds shot out and collided with the wyverns, the four creatures fought for a while before turning into shimmering dust and being blown away in the freezing wind.

As the two women stared each other down with electrifying gazes, a single voice called out, “Could you two cut the dramatics and hurry it up? Some of us are turning into popsicles out here.”

It was Tear who was sandwiched in between Vyne and Erebus in a desperate attempt to share the heat of their bodies. Erebus, being a dragon, had a dangerously high body temperature, and Vyne was extra warmth. Also, this was a wonderful reason to press her body against Erebus’.

Untitled was simply standing with its arms crossed, his cloak blowing in the wind as he watched the duel. He was blissfully unaware of the curses Tear was sending him for his immunity to the chill.

“Shut up, girl,” Ivy spat, momentarily distracted.

Lilian said nothing, instead she seized the opportunity and called upon a rotting serpent that wrapped its limber body around Ivy. The serpent made its way to her neck, snaking its thick body against her thin neck and then it began to tighten.

Ivy’s hands instantly shot up to the serpent as she began to yank on it in a futile endeavor to loosen its death grip. The bones of her neck underwent an extremely unbearable pressure until they finally snapped.

She fell to the ground, the violent twitching of her body indicating that she was still alive even after incurring a broken neck. But Lilian was not so cold-hearted to let her die slowly from asphyxia, besides, who knew if the woman would end up dying or miraculously be saved.

Instead, Lilian created a hammer made of heavy ice and dragged it through the snow. When she stood over the other woman’s body, she raised the massive hammer and swung it down onto Ivy’s face. She could feel the slight resistance before it caved away. With a shattering sound, the ice hammer fell apart, leaving the gruesome sight of Ivy’s battered head.

The blood leaked out into the white snow, tainting the purity with crimson. Lilian turned back to her comrades, her chest heaving.

The lust to kill still shone brightly in her eyes, a certain savagery carved into her attractive face. Lilian had killed many, but never had it been so personally and up-close.

She couldn’t say that it was pleasurably, but it wasn’t a terrible feeling either. Weighing the two, she deemed that it was somewhat enjoyable. Lilian now had a better understanding of Erebus’ crave for battle and Vyne’s sadistic experiments.

However, she kept these newfound emotions inside, she calmly bowed at Erebus. “I have completed my duty. Shall we move on?”