Kala sat on the edge of the altar, propping her chin on her hand and tapping her talons against the cold stone out of boredom. Her wings fluttered every few moments in frustration. "How boring..." she sighed heavily. "There's probably a slaughter going on out there, blood flowing in streams, and I have to guard this piece of rock. I'm missing out on all the fun."
She didn't know, however, that just a few meters away, vibrating with tension, Skitter was lurking. Although he was just a small goblin, his Hero soul had unlocked the rare talent [Shadow Walk], allowing him to blend almost completely into the surroundings. Korgath's plan was precise: Skitter was to exploit the chaos of battle, sneak into the heart of the territory, and destroy the altar, ending the Demon King's reign with a single blow.
However, Skitter was at his breaking point. For over thirty minutes, he had been circling the altar looking for a good opening, and for the last five minutes, he had been standing motionless just a few meters from this female Demon, and his mana reserves were approaching zero dangerously fast. He knew that any sudden movement or attempt to attack would immediately cancel his invisibility, exposing him to the gaze of this demonic woman who hadn't stepped an inch away from the altar. He felt backed into a corner.
Now or never, he thought, clenching his hands on the hilts of his poisoned knives.
He began to sneak forward inch by inch, trying not to make a sound. Once he was directly behind Kala's back, the adrenaline rushed to his head, drowning out the last of his reason. He lunged from the shadows, roaring at the top of his lungs: "[ARTERY SLICER]!"
The two daggers danced in the air, cutting through the gloom in a lightning-fast motion aimed straight at the succubus's exposed neck. Kala, however, didn't even flinch. Instead, she merely snorted, performing an almost imperceptible dodge. The blades sliced through the air millimeters from her skin.
"If you want to do a surprise attack, don't scream so loud, you idiot..." she muttered with deep frustration in her voice.
Before Skitter could regain his balance, he felt a powerful impact in his stomach. Kala's foot slammed into his body with the force of a battering ram, knocking the breath from his lungs and sending him flying a dozen meters back. Skitter curled up mid-air, and when he hit the ground, his ribs groaned. He didn't even have time to lift his head before Kala was suddenly over him.
She wasted no time on unnecessary movements. Before Skitter could even think about raising his knives, her powerful leg shot into the air. With a fury that seemed to draw strength from the dark energy of the altar itself, she brought it down straight onto his chest.
The sound of snapping ribs rang out in the silence of the territory like a series of gunshots. The goblin's sternum collapsed under the inhuman pressure, and sharp bone fragments drove deep into his lung tissue. Skitter's eyes flew wide, a choked rattle escaped his mouth, and a fountain of frothy, bright green blood sprayed onto the dirty territorial stone.
"You actually had a good skill; you're just too much of a moron to use it," Kala said, looking down at him with blatant contempt. "For the last few minutes, you've been circling the altar like a stray chasing its own tail, looking for an opening. Did you really think I wouldn't notice the tracks you were leaving on the ground? Only a blind person would miss that."
The goblin tried to babble something, but only blood bubbles emerged from his throat. Seeing this, Kala grimaced with distaste. "I'll shorten your suffering. You wasted my evening anyway."
With one precise movement, she finished the Hero off. When Skitter's body went still, Kala took a deep breath and looked around the area alertly. "Fortunately, that goblin was an idiot..." she whispered to herself, feeling her hands tremble slightly. "If it had been someone who knew how to handle such skills, I don't know if I would have managed to defend the altar."
Sighing with relief, she returned to her post, understanding that Lysandra's warnings about the Heroes' deceptions were not just idle talk.
***
Lilith stood before the three surviving goblins, who were still lingering in their amorous daze. Their gaze, full of almost religious devotion, was fixed on her red eyes, making the interrogation child's play.
"How did you know where my nest was?" Lilith asked, her voice vibrating with a low, threatening tone.
"Map... the great Korgath had a map..." one of them babbled, drool trailing from the corner of his mouth. "Red dot... he told us to go and kill... said you were weak..."
Lysandra listened to these answers, slowly nodding her head. Now all the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place. She understood why this primitive group had dared such a bold attack right after the protection was lifted - they were led by players who had scouting tools that she and Lilith knew nothing about.
Lilith asked them more questions, inquiring about where they came from and the details of their village, when suddenly, right in front of Lilith's face, another system notification flared:
[Kala has killed a Goblin-Hero. Hero Soul +1!]
Lilith's eyes widened sharply. "Another one?" she whispered in disbelief. "Kala just killed one at the altar!"
Lysandra snapped her back straight, her face hardening. "There really were more of them..." she snorted with rage. "They used that fight as a distraction so someone could sneak in from behind. We don't have time! We must return to Kala immediately!"
Lilith nodded, her expression becoming ruthless. She couldn't leave these witnesses alive, and their usefulness had just come to an end. Before the goblins could understand that their "goddess" intended to slay them, Lilith executed three lightning-fast claw slashes.
Sharpness suddenly returned to the monsters' eyes as the cold steel of the talons tore through their throats. They clutched their necks in terror, trying to stem the gushing streams of blood, choking and looking at Lilith with a silent question before their bodies slumped lifelessly to the ground. Messages flashed before the Monarch's eyes:
[You've killed a goblin. Gold +5!]
[You've killed a goblin. Gold +5!]
[You've killed a goblin. Gold +5!]
Lilith didn't even blink, ignoring the measly pittance flowing into her account. Along with Lysandra and Mina, she immediately kicked off the ground, spreading her powerful wings and racing at maximum speed toward the Altar.
***
Three powerful, demonic silhouettes cut through the night sky and landed on the marble floor of the altar with a loud flap of wings. Lilith, Lysandra, and Mina immediately directed their gaze to what was left of Skitter - a shapeless mass of green skin and shattered bones lying in a pool of dark blood.
Lysandra walked up to Kala, who had resumed her previous position on the edge of the altar with unshakable calm. "What happened here?" Lysandra asked in a stern, serious voice, scanning the aftermath.
Kala began to recount the course of the attack in detail. She described the invisible assailant who had lurked in the shadows for over half an hour, and the moment he lunged into a desperate attack on the core of their nest. She mentioned his assassin invisibility skills and how she finally crushed his chest when the tracks on the ground betrayed him.
Listening to this, Lilith felt an icy shiver run down her spine. Her scarlet eyes widened further in disbelief. "These ordinary goblins..." she whispered, looking at Skitter's carcass. "They really caused us this much trouble?"
She realized that if not for Kala's vigilance, her altar - the heart of her entire kingdom - could have been destroyed in seconds, ending her reign before it had properly begun.
Lilith sighed heavily, resting her hand against the cool stone of the altar. "It seems the real game is only just beginning," she muttered to herself, feeling the weight of responsibility for her territory.
She was about to say something more, to praise Kala for her exemplary service, when suddenly a new system notification, pulsing with golden light, flared before her face:
[HERO SOULS DETECTED]
[DO YOU WISH TO SACRIFICE HERO SOULS TO GAIN SKILL POINTS?]