CHAPTER 581: THE CONQUERED ARMY

Lilith couldn’t help but giggle while watching the different creatures scramble around. She hid among a few tightly growing branches, hiding herself perfectly.

Her faceless expression couldn’t show emotion, but in her heart she was grinning from ear-to-ear. She couldn’t believe her plan worked!

It was quite impossible to kill someone as powerful and cunning as Lucifer. However, Lilith managed to use his narcissistic and controlling personality against him. This was his only actual weakness, yet using it perfectly ended the match before it even began.

Now, all she had to do was wait. It wasn’t easy to summon a dozen people, but the Fallen Angel actually summoned the entire Conquered Army hidden in his wings’ shadows!

"What a dumbass!" Lilith whispered as silent as a fly’s buzzing.

He must’ve used most of his Essence, but keeping them summoned also consumed his reserves rapidly. By Lilith’s judgement, he had maybe an hour or two left before he fully ran dry.

However, she knew full well that hiding in the same place wouldn’t cut it. There was an entire army looking for her. The arena also wasn’t large enough to keep her presence hidden for an hour.

It took them about ten minutes to locate her, and that’s when the real fun began!

An angel glanced into the hole where Lilith hid. Her vacant eyes met the Dreamweaver’s faceless head, and before she realized, multiple spider-like legs pierced her head and body.

The corpse fell out of the trees in a bloody mess, bringing the attention of nearby warriors. They gazed up at the thick foliage and saw a dark gray blur jump between the branches.

They rushed after Lilith with roars, shouts and screams, a cacophony of noise, hailing everyone inside the forest to her location.

As she jumped from one branch to the next, a few strange creatures appeared before her. They looked similar to frogs, but with humanoid hands and maw-like mouths. Their screeches made Lilith’s ears bleed, while their spit could’ve melted metal easily.

She nimbly dashed between their spits and used multiple spider arms to pierce their hearts.

A moment later, only corpses remained behind her. She didn’t even slow to kill anyone getting in her way.

Three angels attacked from above and right, while four demons jumped at her from the left and below. Their emotionless gaze would’ve terrified anyone, yet Lilith simply chuckled and jumped into the air.

All ten of her spider arms blocked her foes’ strikes, while she spun around using her silvery claws to maim and destroy. Multiple limbs flew through the air, and next to them, seven angel and demon heads appeared.

The bloodied body parts rained down on the grass forest floor in a disturbing spectacle. Yet, the Conquered Army continued their hollow march, even if it led to their death.

Lilith fought a few more times before her luck ran out. Overall, she killed about two dozen enemies before a blade slashed her massive form in two.

Soon, her corpse joined the ones she had left behind. However, unlike them, her life didn’t end...

On the forest’s opposite side, Lilith’s body reformed, like nothing had happened. She found a hiding spot again, then waited for time to pass. Moments turned into seconds, seconds turned into minutes, and before she realized... someone found her again!

An armless demon corpse fell out of the trees, marking Lilith’s hiding place... The chase was on once again!

The sound of signaling roars echoed through the forest as the massive dark gray form jumped between branches.

She sank her bloody claws into some strange humanoid wolf-like creature’s neck, then used it as a shield against a dozen incoming attacks. Her ten spider arms were already occupied with blocking another dozen from behind.

Lilith was left immobile as slashes and thrusts rained down on her. However, she didn’t give up...

When only broken fragments remained of her shield, she tossed the giant furry body at the warriors before her. She then jumped straight into the fray, bringing her spider arms with her.

An arm pierced an angel’s throat, while another stabbed through a demon’s heart. The other eight either blocked attacks or pierced the fighters at nonlethal places.

Her claws raked havoc on a group of human-sized creatures who carried an aura of blind bloodlust. They also delivered multiple wounds on her body, and after another second, Lilith’s defense fell apart, leaving the monsters to devour her body.

She awoke in another crevice. A tiny groan echoed from her faceless head as a painful headache blurred her mind.

"It seems I’m running out of time myself..." she whispered after a few deep breaths.

Each ’death’ used lots of Essence from her reserves. Luckily, it seems Bea had attached and supplied her with a steady flow of Essence. She couldn’t have kept fighting otherwise.

It’s been barely twenty minutes since the army’s arrival when her hiding spot was found a third time.

She dashed along sturdy branches while evading most attackers. However, from farther away, loud explosions shook reality.

Lilith dodged the fast projectiles by flipping in the air, and landing on a different branch. It barely slowed her, yet two especially tenacious angels managed to catch up.

Her spider arms spread behind her, keeping both occupied and a moment later overwhelmed. Their wingless corpses fell down in a cloud of white feathers.

The Dreamweaver didn’t lose her momentum, but after more explosions echoed, she needed to slow once again. This time she couldn’t evade all, and instead used her spider arms to stop the projectiles.

The fiery crimson orbs exploded in her face, sending her flying across the arena. Branches bruised her body as she reached out with her claws, trying to find purchase between the tree bark’s groves.

She slowed down eventually, then used the explosion’s remnant momentum to turn around and continue sprinting. Multiple ribs broke in her flight, and Lilith stopped their healing on purpose.

"I’ll die soon anyway... What’s the point in healing them!" As this thought crossed her mind, a demon appeared before her.

Lilith sent multiple arms to kill him, but just before they pierced his heart, a realization dawned on the Dreamweaver. This demon... it was missing an arm!

In her moment of hesitation, the demon stepped forward and literally punched through Lilith’s chest, killing her instantly.

She woke up in another dark, damp place, inside a tree trunk. Lilith’s massive body could barely fit in there, yet she couldn’t care less for her comfort right now. Instead, she mumbled under her breath in a confused and curious voice...

"That demon... I remember cutting off his arm, but not killing him... Why didn’t he regenerate?... Wait! Why didn’t Abaddon regenerate?... I hadn’t even realized while fighting him... Maybe... Maybe they can’t recover outside of Lucifer’s wings?"

Suddenly, Lilith smacked her faceless head with an annoyed groan...

"Oh, you stupid girl! How could I miss something so obvious!... Dammit, I’ve made things easier for him by killing the summons instead of leaving them broken but alive!"

Indeed. While summoned, each creature drained Lucifer’s Essence, but upon dying that drainage would disappear, giving the Fallen Angel a longer time before his reserves ran out!

"Okay... New plan... No more killing!" she said, just as a shadowy creature glanced into the crevice and Lilith sent it reeling, by stabbing her spider arms through its body.

The creature had no proper form, so killing it wouldn’t be easy, anyway. However, it seemed to feel pain just like any other being, which stunned it long enough for the Dreamweaver to escape.

She chuckled while rushing between the branches and evading attacks. Her ten spider arms tore anyone standing in her way to pieces, her claws and even her usually hidden maw doing the same.

However, none of her victims died anymore. They fell heavily onto the grassy ground, roaring and screeching in agony.

Wings, legs, arms and other types of appendages covered the forest floor. Combined with a thick layer of blood, it created a truly horrific scene.

It was even worse with Lilith. Her claws and arms dripping with fresh blood, a maniac laughter echoing all around her, and sometimes her face opening to bite off a limb or two...

She moved with such speed, and delivered so many wounds, one would think this was but a nightmare instead of reality... Sadly, this realization only hit Lucifer when his Essence became fully drained...

The Dreamweaver jumped from branch to branch. She left behind a few hundred moaning victims, yet still a thousand closed in from all around her.

The loud explosions, screams, roars and pained moans washed together into a single background noise. Lilith barely paid them attention...

After running for another few moments though, she heard something else, which brought her confusion... The forest was plunged into pure silence...

She wanted to continue running, believing this might’ve been Lucifer’s trick, yet after a few more seconds, she found nothing... No bodies, no blood, limbs, guts or moaning half-living creatures...

As if everything disappeared all at once...

Even her body became clean, save for the dirt and scrapes she got while rushing through the foliage. It made her wonder...

"How long have I been running again? Since I didn’t need to aim for killing blows, it was much easier to run away... Has it been what? Five, maybe ten minutes?... Did I perhaps overestimate how much Essence Lucifer had?"

Finally, Lilith stopped and waited another few seconds... Nobody came to claim her life...

"Huh... It might be true... Well, I might as well check it out. If worse comes to worse, I might just die again... No big deal..."

With that, the Dreamweaver rushed off and soon found Lucifer in a small clearing. Sweat covered his barely conscious body as he took heavy, pained breaths. His crown of thorns lay a few meters away, while blood dripped from multiple orifices on his face.

His dark crimson eyes suddenly snapped towards Lilith’s tall, voluptuous yet terrifying form. Pure hatred twisted his handsome face as he spat blood on the grass...

"You tricked me... You whore!" He growled, while Lilith chuckled triumphantly...