Lyria stayed still without making a single movement, but there was a sharp glint in her blazing eyes, which only made her look even more lethally attractive to all the men present.
The three necromancers, eager and excited, quickly closed the distance in front of Lyria. At the same time, they collectively released their spiritual pressure upon her all at once. Although only a single pressure was truly applied, they didn't care about wasting their mana; they simply wanted Lyria to collapse before them. But sadly for them, nothing happened. Lyria stood straight without any change in expression, acting as if there was absolutely no pressure acting upon her.
Jaylen's hand tightened on his sword, but he couldn't do anything with the seven witches and their skeleton summons blocking his path.
Elianor knew Lyria was very strong and should be able to deal with at least one early-stage Rank 2 opponent in close quarters. However, Lyria was an archer—or at least, she had only ever used archery during their journey to Batley City. Since there were three Rank 2 necromancers charging her, Elianor was incredibly worried for Lyria, who was completely alone.
The three men and seven female necromancers' eyes widened a little in surprise. They hadn't expected Lyria to remain completely unaffected by a Rank 2's pressure despite being just a late-stage Rank 1. However, it wasn't too shocking either; this woman appeared to be a Warrior, so her constitution should naturally be close to that of an early-stage Rank 2 Mage. With some effort, she could indeed resist a mid-stage Rank 2 mage's pressure.
The male necromancer with a pallid complexion laughed, "It seems this one's spirit is quite remarkable. I wonder if your face is just as striking." He raised a hand, reaching out to pull off Lyria's face mask.
He figured that even if his pressure hadn't been able to force Lyria to her knees, it must have still put her in a terrible state. He was certain she was currently using all her strength just to stand straight. He might be a Mage, but his constitution was still quite high due to his training and luck. Despite his confidence, he still secretly circulated his mana to guard himself in case of the unexpected. As a Mage, his mana defense was far tougher than any ordinary Warrior's.
However, before his hand could even reach halfway, it suddenly halted. Instead, his head flew high into the sky. Before his body could even collapse or anyone could fully register what was happening, Lyria continued the sweeping arc of her dagger and cleanly chopped off the other two males' heads as well.
Everyone's eyes widened in absolute shock.
"This bitch!" Vara gritted her teeth in rage and hatred. "Kill her! How dare she kill our men!" she roared.
The other female necromancers were also visibly enraged. They swiftly ordered their human skeletons to attack Lyria, while they themselves immediately began preparing spells.
"Watch out!" Jaylen cried out.
Just as he was about to step forward, Elianor, who was right beside him, blocked him by raising her arm in front of his chest.
Jaylen glared at Elianor in heavy irritation.
He was actually quite displeased with his sister lately—not in a malicious way, but it was like watching a grown woman act like a child and refuse to move.
He had taken a complete break from his own work just to look after his sister, who was currently depressed and heartbroken over a mere love rejection from some boy! He couldn't understand why her 'love' had to be so stupid. Why not just leave the guy and look for someone else who actually appreciated her? There was certainly no shortage of handsome men in Batley City, after all.
Although Jaylen was highly displeased with Elianor's childish behavior, he still stayed by her side; after all, she was his only remaining family member. Yet, that wasn't even the worst part! Even after clear signs of battles began occurring right in their neighborhood, Elianor still stubbornly refused to leave! This really made him feel the sheer helplessness of being a brother. Because of her stubbornness, they had both landed in this current predicament.
Elianor didn't answer her brother's glare and silently watched. She knew exactly how strong those three truly were. Since Lyria had appeared alone, she was either incredibly confident or must have had a plan. If they rushed in recklessly, they wouldn't even know how they died, as all the remaining necromancers were still far too dangerous for them to face.
Lyria noticed the human skeletons staggering toward her. Their speed might be terrifying for mortals, but to a trained Mana Wielder, they were quite slow. She charged straight toward them. As the first few skeletons in front swung their rusted swords at her, she jumped right over their heads with a high, sweeping somersault.
Since her goal was simply to demonstrate to Elianor how a dual-dagger wielder could fight, Lyria kept her stats strictly at a late-stage Rank 1 level. For that reason, all her actions were purely a display of excellent physical body mastery and precise technique. She wouldn't overpower her opponents with superior stats or abilities.
Lyria landed right between the lines of skeletons, and then slipped through the remaining creatures in one fluid movement. It almost seemed as if a dark shadow or a serpent had slithered past, escaping the crowd of skeletons without even brushing against a single one of them.
Everyone present gawked at the display, wondering if the masked girl was actually a ghost who had walked through the skeletons in phantom form; the movement was just that smooth.
Before the necromancers could snap out of their surprise to hurl their spells, Lyria lunged forward in front of a necromancer. She drove her Moon dagger right through the startled woman's throat, killing her instantly. Then, without halting for even a microsecond, she shot toward the next target.
All the necromancers were standing separately across the empty field, not grouped together.
The moment the necromancers realized Lyria had already executed one of their sisters with such terrifying swiftness, their pupils couldn't help but tremble in pure shock.
They finally realized that this masked girl didn't just look fierce; she was a truly lethal warrior who was incredibly skilled in combat!
"Ahh..." They all panicked and started throwing their Tier 1 spells at Lyria.
Bone Arrows were deflected by Lyria's daggers with uncanny precision. Lifesteal spells, which manifested like a dark cloud, were avoided as she rolled away smoothly.
Amidst the barrage of spells, Lyria never paused her advance, keeping up her relentless charge. Within moments, she appeared right in front of her next target.
Before the woman could take even a single step backward in horror, her jaw was penetrated from below by the red dagger, lighting her brain up with fire and killing her in a split second.
Lyria still didn't pause, charging toward the third necromancer almost as if she possessed a mental map prepared inside her head, dictating how to move, where to go, and who the next target was. It was as if the layout of the entire battlefield was completely clear to her, and she didn't even need to pause to think or look around to find where her targets were and what they were doing.
All the remaining necromancers felt cold shivers run down their spines.
Not only was this masked woman extremely skilled and fierce, but her daggers were clearly above Tier 2! This meant they couldn't even block her strikes with their mana defense, as a Tier 2 weapon's sharpness could easily penetrate such defense like a hot knife through mud.
This was one of the scariest things about possessing powerful weapons. Normally, a Mage possessed a much stronger mana defense due to their high Intelligence stat and superior mana control compared to a Warrior; even the mana they imbued into their defenses was stronger than a Warrior's. However, if they were attacked by a sufficiently powerful weapon, all standard defenses became useless, and they could only absorb the strike with their raw constitution. As Mana Wielders, their constitution was indeed high, but that didn't mean they didn't possess fatal weak spots just like any other human. Furthermore, setting Tier 2 weapons aside, even a mid- or high-grade Tier 1 weapon could penetrate their constitution and mana defense if swung with the necessary force.
Vara immediately knew she needed a stronger power to kill this masked woman, as even if she managed to bombard her with Tier 1 spells, the intruder might kill most of her subordinates before dying. This woman was just that creepy, agile, and capable!
So she quickly yelled out, "You all block her for a few moments! I will use an advanced spell scroll!"
She then swiftly pulled out a yellowish scroll and activated it while throwing it in front of her. The scroll opened and floated right in front of her chest; she quickly placed her palm on the center and began channeling her mana into it.
The other necromancers were too spooked by Lyria's abnormal skills and battle sense; thus, they didn't even bother responding to Vara and kept attacking Lyria crazily.
They also commanded their skeletons through telepathy to corner Lyria, while they themselves kept casting their Tier 1 spells at their absolute fastest speed.
Lyria dodged the Spectral Hand spell of the other Rank 3 necromancer woman with a front roll and appeared right in front of her third target. Before that necromancer could cry out or do anything, a swift slash removed her head.
Lyria ignored what Vara was doing and bolted toward the fourth woman—another Rank 2 Mage.
Scrolls were ready-made mana circles or diagrams already printed on the scroll page along with the inscriber's element. Any Mage using a scroll only needed to send their mana into the drawn inscription accordingly. It didn't require much hard work, calculation, or expertise to cast since everything was prepared and ready. The only thing one needed was to be a little careful while passing their mana so they didn't commit any stupid mistakes. After that, they could cast the spell even faster than someone casting it without a scroll at average expertise.
A scroll user could cast any element according to the spell inscribed, without even possessing that element naturally. But one couldn't use scrolls of a higher tier than they were naturally capable of handling, as that required greater mana control and a massive mana pool. Scrolls were just single-use items, yet powerful and incredibly handy for many situations; thus, they were considered trump cards for both Mages and Mystical Knights.
The other Rank 3 necromancer, named Lucretia, gritted her teeth in frustration. She decided to just attack Lyria in close combat since her spells were being deflected or dodged, which was utterly ridiculous, but there was no time to overthink this.
She was still an early-stage Rank 3 Mage; even if her physical stats were far lower than a same-rank Warrior's, they were still way higher than a mere late-stage Rank 1 Warrior's, no matter how much that warrior had trained!
The moment Lucretia found an opportunity, she pushed her spiritual pressure onto Lyria to stop or at least stagger her before charging. However, Lyria swiftly rolled away and dodged the pressure even before it could land on her.
Seeing this, Lucretia and the other necromancers gawked with sheer incredulity.
This was their first time seeing or even hearing that someone could dodge spiritual pressure. Although theoretically it might be possible, realistically it was considered simply impossible, as it not only required extremely quick judgment, agility, timing, and experience, but more importantly, an extremely high battle sense and instinct; even Master Ranks weren't capable of dodging spiritual pressure!
'Just how can this masked woman be so swift and have such a high battle instinct? Just how many battles has this woman fought for her to become so terrifying?!'
Meanwhile, both Elianor and Jaylen were agape with shock as they watched one after another of the frightening necromancers being killed. Despite their massive advantage in ranks, numbers, and even preparation, none of the necromancers—even with their higher ranks—had managed to injure or slow down Lyria even a bit. She was like a cat running everywhere, dodging and killing all in one breath.
Elianor was the one who was most shaken.
She was also a late-stage Rank 1 and a dual-dagger wielder, but she couldn't do even a small fraction of what Lyria was currently performing. In fact, she had never even imagined that a dual-dagger wielder could be so swift, dangerous, and powerful, and at the same time so incredibly difficult to deal with.
Elianor keenly observed how Lyria fought. She saw how, according to the situation, Lyria frequently changed her dagger grip in mid-battle, and how she dodged and deflected attacks by just striking at the corners of the manifested spells to change their trajectories away from her. All of this opened up a whole new world for Elianor.
Perhaps a major reason for such clean kills was due to the daggers being extremely powerful, but even if Elianor possessed those same daggers, she definitely couldn't do a single thing Lyria was doing.
If Elianor were in Lyria's place, she would have wasted too much time just glancing left and right, finding the 'right' opportunity to attack, and scanning for enemies' positions and actions while trying to dodge their attacks whichever way possible. She probably wouldn't even be able to kill a single enemy before dying in no time.
The difference between them was so humongous that Elianor felt like she was watching how a dual-dagger wielder actually fought for the first time, despite being one herself for over a decade.
Elianor also noticed that every action Lyria took possessed future thought and planning. Lyria might not be snapping her head everywhere, but she had a precise idea of where her enemies were and what they were doing. Before an enemy had even moved or attacked, she already knew what to do, where to dodge, where to go, and what to follow up with. Everything was prepared long before Lyria took action, and if her previous plans didn't work or required changes, she would immediately discard her past planning and create an entirely new blueprint of an attack pattern in an instant!
At this moment, Elianor deeply understood that after all these years, she had barely scratched the tip of dagger wielding, or even how to fight as a whole. She realized the terrifying fact that dagger users could actually be a total nightmare for their opponents.
The current Lyria, despite being just at late-stage Rank 1, could even annihilate the entire Eclipse team single-handedly!
Elianor went into a daze as if nothing else mattered, and her focus locked solely onto Lyria's movements and actions. Without her even knowing when, her mana veins started to expand and rapidly head toward the breakthrough point to Rank 2. She was already close, and the constant strain of fighting while getting bullied by the necromancers, combined with receiving such an astonishing display of her own art, had pushed her mana veins to their absolute limits.