Across the wilderness, raging flames lit up the sky.

Vast sheets of hellfire trapped more than twenty elves within. Countless demons surged forth from the blazing flames, charging the elves without fear of death.

Catherine calmly drew her bow and began loosing arrows.

From her hands burst forth tens of thousands of points of starlight, pinning great swathes of demons to the ground. A massive black panther guarded her side, intercepting arrows and spells from every direction so that Catherine could focus entirely on slaughtering the demons.

𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

The elves accompanying her were all formidable warriors as well. With equally lethal arrows and spells, they boasted combined firepower that could suppress the demonic tide as steadily as a breakwater against the sea.

For the moment, there was no immediate danger, but the hellfire showed no sign of weakening.

Thousands upon thousands of demons had already fallen, but the rate at which new ones poured forth had not slowed in the slightest.

Fatigue was beginning to creep into the elves' movements. If the demons continued surging forth endlessly, they would not be able to hold out much longer.

Caught in such a sudden and desperate predicament, some of the elves began to suspect that this was Ambrose's trap.

One of the elven guards urged Catherine urgently, "Your Majesty, you must leave at once. We've fallen into that lich's trap. He never intended to negotiate. His goal was to assassinate you!"

Catherine herself could not help but feel a trace of doubt. Were the negotiations a lie? Was the true objective was to kill her, the Elven Queen?

The capital of Alkhemia had already been reduced to ruins. With it, the entire kingdom's teleportation network had collapsed. As a result, the elves could not travel directly to Alkhemia via a continental teleportation circle. Instead, they had been forced to teleport to the borderlands and then to advance rapidly using magic.

That route had been arranged by the other party.

As mediator, Ambrose had carefully planned routes for both the desert dwarves and the elves, paths that were supposedly "free of misunderstanding." Catherine had trusted the sincerity he had shown earlier and followed the route without objection.

She had not expected an ambush just as they were nearing their destination.

This was clearly premeditated. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to open a semi-permanent Hellgate at precisely this location.

The Hellgate twisted the surrounding space, preventing Catherine from using teleportation magic to escape. Endless demons poured forth from the infernal flames, steadily grinding down their strength.

Given this context, the ambush certainly seemed to have been deliberately orchestrated.

But she couldn't help feel that something was amiss. Were these low-level demons really sufficient to assassinate her?

Though numerous, most of the attackers were little winged dretches, cowardly demons scarcely taller than dwarves. Their gaunt bodies were no stronger than ordinary beasts; aside from their sharp claws and fangs—and the fact that they could fly—they were barely more dangerous than wild dogs.

Mixed into the group were a few chasme demons, grotesque creatures resembling a fusion of human and fly. They were capable of rudimentary spellcasting, and were cunning and troublesome foes.

At a glance, the elves appeared to be suppressed, but Catherine had yet to fight in earnest. If she were to focus solely on escaping, it would be trivial for her to summon a giant eagle and escape at any moment. These demons could never stop her. She remained only because she was protecting the other elves.

"There's no need to persuade me to leave," Catherine said firmly. "If I were the true target, they wouldn't stop at this. Prepare yourselves. We're breaking through."

She gathered her mana and began a rapid incantation.

The black panther positioned itself tightly behind her, shielding her from the demons' attacks with its body.

Within just a few seconds, deep wounds appeared across the panther's hide, yet it never retreated an inch. It guarded Catherine until her spell was complete.

A translucent magical barrier rapidly unfolded amid the demons. All creatures caught within it froze as if turned to statues.

This was the transmutation spell Time Stop.

Within a large domain, everything except the caster herself was locked in temporal stasis.

A gaping breach immediately appeared within the ranks of the once-surging demon horde.

Points of light flew out from Catherine and sank into the elves' bodies. Normally, only the caster was immune to Time Stop, but Catherine's legendary boon, Selfless Resonance, extended that immunity to her companions.

"Now!"

Catherine mounted the black panther and charged straight into the frozen zone. The elves followed close behind and plunged into the stasis field together.

The immobilized demons could not resist. Elven blades cleaved through flesh, tearing their bodies apart.

Scalding, foul-smelling demon blood sprayed into the air—only to freeze, suspended by the stopped time.

Where the elves passed, a corridor of shattered flesh was left behind.

Demons outside the field tried to intercept them, but the moment they touched the barrier, they too froze in place. Attempting to circle around was futile. They simply could not match the elves' speed.

Catherine led her people out of the encirclement. Just a few hundred more meters, and they would escape the Hellgate's influence and regain the ability to teleport.

But the ambushers were far from finished. As Catherine emerged from the field of temporal stasis, molten magma burst from the ground. Hellfire roared skyward as four towering balor demons climbed out of the lava, blocking her path.

Balors were infamous even in Hell. Massive demons wielding flaming swords and whips, they were embodiments of ancient evil itself. They hurled themselves into battle with hatred and fury, intending on annihilating all foes with their flame.

The instant the four balors appeared, their fiery auras bathed the elves in searing heat in a hundred-meter radius.

A flaming whip lashed out, wrapping tightly around the black panther beneath Catherine.

Its charge was halted. Flames scorched flesh as the beast let out a pained roar.

Catherine twisted in midair, leaping free from the panther's back. Before she even touched the ground, she dismissed the summon, then drew and fired an arrow at the nearest balor.

Starlight condensed upon the arrow. The moment it left the bowstring, it exploded into countless rays that engulfed the demon.

The balor roared in agony. Catherine's shot riddled its body with holes. Its heavy infernal armor tore apart as if it were paper.

Yet the remaining three balors showed no concern for their wounded comrade. Flaming whips cracked toward Catherine in unison.

She was forced to dodge while counterattacking.

The balors, however, had grown cautious. Whenever Catherine fired, they simply teleported away.

Empowered by the Hellgate, their teleportation barely cost any mana, turning these berserkers into assassins.

Catherine attempted to attack the balors several times, but only managed to inflict superficial wounds. She could hold the balors at bay, but the other elves could not endure much longer.

Each balor radiated intense heat, scorching the surroundings and continuously burning everything nearby.

Catherine's magical equipment shielded her from the flames, but the other elves had no such protection. The overlapping fire auras of four balors were unbearable.

Hair began to curl. Faces flushed red. Some weapons grew so hot they were nearly impossible to grip.

Left with no choice, Catherine cast a weather-control transmutation spell to summon a blizzard.

Snow fell steaming before it could reach the ground. Though the spell could not extinguish the balors' flames, the blizzard weakened the fire auras significantly and cloaked the battlefield in dense fog.

Both sides instantly seemed to go blind. Yet within the fog, the balors began to sizzle. Catherine could pinpoint their positions by sound alone.

She drew her bow to its limit and released a brilliant arrow.

This time, she released not a spray of starlight, but a single shot compressed to its absolute extreme.

The magical arrow struck a balor squarely in the head, obliterating half its skull.

The towering demon crashed to the ground. Blinded by the fog, it had failed to teleport away in time.

As Catherine prepared to aim at the next balor, the ground trembled again. More magma surged upward. Three more balors crawled out from the depths.

The overwhelming heat dispersed the fog, turning the battlefield once again into a sea of fire.

Worse still, the field of temporal stasis had vanished. The swarming lesser demons surged back in.

"Your Majesty, don't worry about us. Please leave at once!"

The elves understood that they were dragging their queen down with them. Shame filled their voices.

The demons had been despicable. Their Hellgate ambush not only granted overwhelming terrain advantage but also disrupted spellcasting. Only legends could fight on such a battlefield without impairment.

Given even half an hour of preparation, they would not have been reduced to this state.

But such was war. They could no longer deny that they had become a burden. If this continued, even Catherine would run out of mana.

Looking at the elves who had accepted their deaths, Catherine felt a sharp pang in her chest.

She had come to save other elves, yet all she had done was send more elves to their deaths.

Despair swallowed her. Even though she still had a chance to escape, she no longer wished to. Thanks to her, the elven race was doomed.

As demons closed in and her companions writhed under the heat, Catherine parted her lips, compelled to tell them the truth—at least to let them know why they were dying.

"Everyone, the truth is…"

A balor's scream cut her off.

She turned to see green necromantic energy coiling around the towering demon. Its magma-like flesh cooled, collapsed, and rotted away, leaving behind a half-decayed corpse.

Then, blue soulfire ignited within its empty eye sockets. With a roar, it raised its greatsword and swung it at its former allies.

Catherine recognized the spell instantly: an advanced variant of the necromany spell Finger of Death.

It killed the target, then immediately reanimated it as a zombie.

But balors possessed immense magic resistance. Under normal circumstances, Finger of Death should not have worked on such a demon.

Shocked, Catherine looked skyward. A black-haired youth, bathed in moonlight, sat calmly upon a resplendent throne.

Ambrose's voice echoed from above. "My apologies, Queen Catherine. It seems there were some… issues… with my reception arrangements. Rest assured. I will take care of these unexpected complications."

The demons roared, hurling countless fireballs at the figure in the sky.

Ambrose snapped his fingers. An antimagic field unfolded beneath the throne, instantly annihilating every incoming fireball.

Then, strange rustling noises echoed around the battlefield. The carcasses of the fallen demons began to twitch.

One… two… then countless more. A vast horde of demon corpses rose to their feet, snarling as they lunged at their former comrades.

The simplest zombie-raising spell imaginable, empowered by the Golden Throne, allowed Ambrose to raise tens of thousands of zombies in an instant.

For the first time, the demons found themselves outnumbered.