Chapter 90: The Slaughterhouse
The edge of the ten-mile crater was still hot from the Star-Shatter Cannon’s blast.
Lucifer stood perfectly still. Vexia landed gracefully beside him, her massive, translucent blood-red wings folding tightly against her pale back.
The Sanguine Princess looked out over the staggering, golden expanse of Lucifer’s army.
Thirteen million mortal soldiers stood in flawless, rigid formation. Their armor pulsed with the blinding light of Solaris’s Blessing.
Vexia’s red eyes widened slightly.
She was a Level 65 Epic Blood Sorceress. She commanded an entire subterranean court before the Warlord dropped a sun on her roof.
But even she had never seen a military mobilization of this scale. The sheer, overwhelming discipline of thirteen million humans, completely devoid of the Shadow Madness, was a terrifying testament to Lucifer’s control.
"You did not bring an army," Vexia murmured, her voice losing a fraction of its arrogant edge. "You brought a continent."
"I brought a harvesting crew," Lucifer corrected her smoothly.
He didn’t turn to look at her. His void-swirling eyes scanned the horizon.
The gray Fog of Deceit, burned away by the explosion, was rapidly returning. It rolled over the peaks of the remaining Umbral Ridge like a physical tide, thicker and more oppressive than before.
The death of the World-Eater had shattered the magical equilibrium. The Umbral Plane was actively trying to crush the foreign, holy light radiating from the Grand Army.
Elara and Lyra walked up the steep incline of the crater to meet them.
The Valkyrie’s Mythic Void-Weave armor shifted and rippled, absorbing the ambient gray light. She gripped her violet-flaming spear, her golden eyes immediately locking onto the vampire standing next to her Warlord.
"A Blood Sorceress," Elara stated flatly, her tone dripping with ancient, celestial suspicion. She did not lower her weapon. "You pull monsters from the rubble, Lucifer."
"I pull assets," Lucifer said.
Lyra stepped forward, her silver broadsword resting on her shoulder. The Dawn Saintess looked at Vexia’s pale skin, her fangs, and the residual, dark crimson magic clinging to her torn silk dress.
"She is an entity of absolute corruption," Lyra warned, her blue eyes flashing with holy light. "Her core feeds on the vitality of the living. To bind a creature of the Sanguine Court is to invite a parasite into your fortress."
Vexia scoffed loudly. She rolled her red eyes, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Oh, spare me the self-righteous sermons, glowing girl," Vexia sneered, her tsundere nature flaring instantly. She didn’t back down from the Saintess.
"I am a Royal Princess, not a feral ghoul. I drink from willing thralls, not mud-covered peasants. And I am currently bound by a system contract to your Warlord, so unless you want to challenge his authority, I suggest you lower your sword."
Lyra’s grip tightened on the hilt of her blade, but she looked at Lucifer for confirmation.
"She is the Architect," Lucifer stated smoothly, cutting off the argument before it could escalate. He looked at Elara and Lyra.
"The Citadel of Obsidian is going to be a floating city. It requires a permanent, regenerative defense grid that does not rely solely on my mana or the Void-Core Reactor.
Vexia is going to weave a Sanguine Ward across the entire perimeter."
Elara lowered her spear slightly, processing the tactical advantage. "A blood ward. It will drain the life force of any hostile entity that touches the outer walls."
"And funnel that vitality directly into the city’s infrastructure," Lucifer confirmed. "It makes the fortress self-sustaining during a protracted siege."
He turned his attention back to Vexia.
"But to weave a ward of that magnitude," Lucifer said, his voice dropping to a low, demanding tone. "You require an initial, massive infusion of high-level blood magic to prime the grid."
Vexia nodded slowly, her aristocratic pride returning. "I do. The Sanguine Court used the blood of thousands of pure-blooded nobles to establish our subterranean shields.
To cover a mountain... it will require oceans of high-density vitality. And frankly, Warlord, your thirteen million mortals are too weak.
Their blood is thin. It lacks the magical density necessary for a Mythic-tier ward."
"I am not going to bleed my own army," Lucifer said coldly. He didn’t even consider the option. "I am going to bleed the Umbra."
He pointed his iron gauntlet toward the dense, returning gray fog.
"The death of the World-Eater acted as a beacon," Lucifer explained to his three commanders. "The highest-tier predators in this dimension are currently converging on our position.
They are drawn by the massive spike in raw, unfiltered Void magic released by the explosion."
A deep, guttural, vibrating roar echoed from the thick mist. It was not a single beast. It was a chorus of massive, heavy-class monsters.
The ground beneath the crater edge trembled slightly.
[System Warning: Catastrophic Hostile Swarm Approaching!]
[Entities: Umbral Behemoths (Level 60-70)]
[Quantity: Incalculable. Multiple Boss-Tier signatures detected.]
"They are coming for the carrion," Elara noted, her Twilight wings flaring open. "The dimension is trying to reclaim the energy we just liberated."
"Let them come," Lucifer commanded.
He didn’t order the army to retreat. He had half a million Refined Mana Crystals in his vault, but the Umbral Plane offered something far more valuable. Raw, high-density blood and pure spatial cores.
"Vexia," Lucifer ordered smoothly.
The vampire princess snapped to attention, her red eyes snapping to his void-swirling gaze.
"You need high-density blood to prime the Citadel’s grid," Lucifer stated. "You are going to harvest it right now.
The beasts approaching are Level 60 and above. Their blood is saturated with unshaped spatial magic. It is perfect for a flying fortress."
Vexia’s eyes widened. A fierce, predatory smile broke across her pale face, revealing her razor-sharp fangs. The prospect of mass-harvesting Epic-tier monsters sent a thrill of dark excitement through her ancient veins.
Lucifer tapped his comms rune, connecting to the entire command structure.
"Celeste," Lucifer continued. "Deploy the Phantom Rangers to the high ridges of the crater. Suppressing fire only. Aim for the joints. Immobilize them."
"Yes, Grand Marshal," the High Ranger replied.
Lucifer turned to Lyra. "Saintess. Maintain Solaris’s Blessing at maximum output. Keep the fear off the mortals. If the frontline breaks, you and the Templars are the anvil."
Lyra gripped her silver broadsword. "The Light holds, Lucifer."
He looked at Elara last.
"Valkyrie," Lucifer commanded softly. "You have new armor. Let’s see what it can do."
Elara’s smile was terrifying. She spun her violet-flaming spear, the dark, iridescent scales of her Mythic Void-Weave armor shifting seamlessly with her movements. "I will shatter their lines."
The heavy, rhythmic thudding of massive, multi-limbed beasts grew deafening. The dense gray fog at the edge of the crater violently parted.
They did not look like the insectoid Stalkers or the slithering Leviathans.
The Umbral Behemoths were big, hulking bipeds. They were forged entirely from jagged black Umbral Ore and thick, pulsing purple muscle.
They had no heads, only a massive vertical maw lined with thousands of spinning, grinding stone teeth located entirely in their chests.
They carried weapons forged from ripped-up sections of the invisible spatial highway.
[System Warning: Boss-Tier Swarm Engaged!]
[Enemy: Umbral Behemoth (Level 65 - Heavy Vanguard)]
There were hundreds of them.
"Attack," Lucifer commanded smoothly.
The Behemoths roared, They pushed through the barrage, their massive, tree-trunk-sized legs closing the distance to the crater edge with terrifying speed.
"They are too heavily armored for standard rounds to drop quickly!" Celeste yelled over the deafening cannon fire.
Her Phantom Rangers were firing thousands of arrows, but the golden shafts simply bounced off the thick Umbral Ore plating.
"Elara!" Lucifer barked.
The Eclipse Valkyrie launched herself into the air.
She did not fly over the beasts. She used the Void-Weave armor’s Absolute Spatial Phasing. Elara became a streak of intangible, dark matter.
She shot directly through the center of the first Behemoth’s massive, swinging stone club, ignoring the physical impact entirely.
She rematerialized flawlessly right in front of the beast’s gaping, chest-mounted maw.
Elara drove her violet-flaming spear directly into the spinning stone teeth. The celestial fire detonated inside the monster’s throat, blowing the back of its massive torso completely out.
The Behemoth collapsed, a geyser of purple blood erupting from the fatal wound.
[Boss Eliminated: Umbral Behemoth (Level 65)]
Vexia did not waste a second.
The Sanguine Princess hovered off the edge of the crater, her massive red bat wings beating rapidly. She raised her pale hands, her eyes burning with fierce, crimson magic.
"Sanguine Extraction!" Vexia shrieked.
She didn’t use a subtle spell. She ripped the blood directly out of the massive, fallen Behemoth.
The thick, purple, corrosive blood defying gravity. It shot out of the monster’s corpse in a massive, swirling torrent, flying through the air toward Vexia.
But the vampire did not drink it. She used her Royal Blood Sorcery to instantly purify and condense the raw, volatile Void magic contained within the fluid.
The corrosive purple liquid shifted rapidly in mid-air, turning into a heavy, glowing, perfectly spherical orb of dark crimson blood.
[System: Material Harvested.]
[Item: Condensed Behemoth Blood Core (Mythic Catalyst)]
[Status: Pure Sanguine Energy.]
Vexia grabbed the massive, hovering orb of blood with her magical telekinesis and hurled it backward, straight toward Lucifer.
Lucifer caught the heavy orb with his open Dimensional Vault, storing it instantly.
"One," Lucifer counted smoothly. He kept his void eyes locked on the raging battlefield.
The Warlord had turned a terrifying, high-tier boss rush into an automated slaughterhouse and harvesting operation.
Elara shattered the beasts. Vexia ripped out the blood.
The Sanguine Architect was grinning manically, her hands moving in a blur as she extracted massive, glowing orbs of blood from every Behemoth that fell to the Valkyrie or the cannons.
"Keep them coming, Warlord!" Vexia shouted, high on the massive influx of raw magic. "I need fifty of these to prime the Citadel’s grid! I will bleed this entire mountain dry!"
"You will have a hundred," Lucifer promised coldly.
He drew his ruby-red longsword. The Carnage Core pulsed violently, eager for the blood of gods.
Lucifer didn’t just watch. He activated Zephyr’s Grace and launched himself into the center of the massive, roaring swarm of Behemoths.
The true harvest had begun, and the Warlord intended to leave the Umbral Plane completely empty.