Seraphina smiled gently, her eyes glowing with a proud yet composed glint as she turned to Arthur. Her voice flowed like the wind—light, yet filled with purpose.
"My Domain... is called Sovereign Tempest, my lord."
She raised a hand, and a soft breeze curled around her fingers before spiraling upward, dancing in the air as faint sparks of lightning crackled within the winds.
"It's an elemental sovereign domain — born from my affinity with wind, storm, lightning, and sound. When I awaken it, everything around me changes. The very air obeys me. I become the eye of the storm — calm in the center, but everything beyond that is... chaos."
She took a slow breath, the wind around her gently brushing her hair as if affirming her words.
"Within the domain, my storm-based spells and attacks become much stronger — by about seventy percent, to be exact. That's what I call **Storm Authority**. It's like the wind and thunder themselves want to strike harder for me."
"Then there's **Tempest Barrier** — imagine a swirling shield of violent winds always spinning around me. It cuts down both physical and magical damage by almost half. It's saved me more times than I can count."
She chuckled lightly, then continued, more seriously.
"Enemies inside the domain... they suffer a lot. Their movement slows, projectiles go off-course, and casting spells becomes chaotic. I call that part **Storm Suppression**. The wind doesn't just carry me — it harasses them. It makes sure they feel trapped in a living storm."
Seraphina gave a sly smirk. "Oh, and casters who rely on chanting or voice? Good luck to them. With **Sonic Dissonance**, the thunder and wind in the domain make it almost impossible to focus. It's like trying to chant during a hurricane — words get lost, power slips."
She then slowly floated up an inch, standing mid-air before gently landing again, not even disturbing the grass beneath her.
"And of course... Aerial Sovereignty. Inside the domain, I don't need to walk. I can fly, hover, move freely in any direction. The sky becomes my home."
She then folded her arms and looked at Arthur with a more serious gaze.
Arthur gave a faint smile—one that held more exasperation than amusement—as he watched Seraphina's expression shift with a storm-like pride. Her regal posture, the wind brushing through her hair like a crown of breeze and lightning, made her look every bit like a sovereign born of tempests. Still, her dramatic flourish made him awkwardly rub the back of his neck.
"That's good, Seraphina," he replied, his voice even, carefully skimming over the swelling pride in her words. "Let's get out of here. We've already gotten everything we need."
With that, Arthur turned and led the group out of the ancient vault, its mystical doors slowly sealing shut behind them with a low groan that echoed like a fading gust through stone halls.
As they stepped into the open air, sunlight filtered through the sparse clouds, casting long shadows across the battlefield that had unfolded hours earlier. The once bloodied and broken ground now bore grim order—every goblin and kobold corpse had been meticulously piled into neat rows, as Arthur had instructed before entering the vault.
Without hesitation, Arthur waved his hand, and with a flicker of golden light, the towering piles of monster corpses disappeared into his vast inventory, vanishing one after another like sand drawn into the wind. Only the empty battlefield remained, silent and undisturbed.
His gaze then shifted toward two waiting figures standing calmly at the edge of the ruins—Diana and Kaelira. Both were poised and alert, the latter's emerald eyes scanning the horizon while Diana's expression remained sharp and focused, one hand resting near the hilt of her blade.
"There were no problems, right?" Arthur asked, his voice low and steady. "No movements or anything suspicious?"
Diana stepped forward with a light nod. "None, my lord. As per your command, all assassin units were spread out across the surrounding perimeter. Not a single disturbance or enemy approach was detected. The area is secure."
Arthur nodded approvingly. "Good."
He turned his gaze northward, where a hazy silhouette of distant mountains barely brushed the horizon. The skies were clearer now, the breeze calmer—a deceptive quiet, he knew. His next steps required precision and calculated risk.
"Let's move toward Dark City," he ordered, his tone shifting to that of a commander. "I want to observe their defenses, their formation, their deployment patterns… everything. We'll assess their outer fortifications first—no unnecessary engagement. Once that's done, we'll move toward the kobold's city and do the same."
Diana stepped closer. "My lord, as I mentioned earlier—if we travel an additional three hundred kilometers beyond the vault, we'll be within direct visual range of Dark City's outer defenses. From there, it should be possible to gather a full overview without alerting them to our presence."
Arthur gave a firm nod. "Then let's not waste time. Maintain formation, no stragglers. Diana, Kaelira—you'll lead the forward scouts. Seraphina, stay near the center, conserve your energy in case we need to mobilize your domain. We march at once."
With that, the group moved out—silent and swift—like shadows carried by the wind, heading toward the looming threat of Dark City.
All of them moved like shadows in the night, their presence barely more than a whisper on the wind. Step by step, they traversed the desolate terrain with practiced silence, blending into the natural contours of the land. After a long yet eerily uneventful march, the group finally arrived at the edge of a craggy plateau overlooking the infamous Dark City.
From this vantage point, the full view of the monstrous stronghold unfolded before them like an ominous painting—vast, formidable, and disturbingly well-structured.
Nestled in a valley carved between jagged hills, Dark City was anything but chaotic. Despite its name and monstrous inhabitants, the city bore signs of calculated design and militarized order. Wide avenues ran like arteries through its heart, connecting various sectors: residential clusters, military garrisons, marketplaces, and the massive central structure that loomed like a throne above all—almost certainly the seat of the city lord, Kaldor.
High stone walls circled the city, lined with battlements and guarded towers, each teeming with goblin sentries. Torchlight flickered across the ramparts, creating a web of amber shadows across the blackened walls. Giant iron spikes jutted from the defenses at odd angles, and Arthur could spot strange mechanisms—perhaps traps or siege deterrents—mounted between them. There were magical emplacements too: glowing stones and runes placed in strategic intervals that shimmered with latent energy.
But all of that was merely surface detail. In the silence of the hills, Arthur's eyes narrowed as he watched movement across the ramparts.
Several goblin guards patrolled in the forest lazily, but before any could raise alarm, they collapsed—throats slit, bodies dragged away into the dark. The assassins had already fanned out like ghosts in the mist. The kills were flawless, quick, and bloodless.
Arthur watched calmly as the last of the visible sentries disappeared—none ever realizing they'd been targeted. The efficiency made his skin crawl in a good way. This was power. The kind that moved silently, surgically—and utterly without mercy.
He crossed his arms and let out a quiet hum of appreciation. "So this is the infamous Dark City..."
He smirked faintly, half-impressed, half-amused. "Is this really a city made by monsters? Can monsters actually create something this structured?" he muttered to himself. "I think I underestimated the goblins. Besides their grotesque faces and obsession with chaos... they can apparently build homes too."
A short laugh slipped out of him.
Diana, standing just behind him, smiled slightly. "Yes, my lord. I thought the same when I first laid eyes on it. I expected crude camps and shoddy tents—but this? This is an empire, not a den."
Arthur's eyes sharpened as he continued scanning the city. His gaze drifted over the thousands of goblins swarming the streets and training fields. He could see units patrolling, weapons being sharpened, food distributed. It was not a mindless horde—it was an army. Organized, drilled, and disciplined.
"Their numbers..." he muttered under his breath. " tens of Millions in population. And at least millions of soldiers too, just from what I can see. This city is far bigger than it appeared from the outside."
Then his eyes locked onto the towering black citadel in the city's heart. It rose like a monolith above the sprawl, crowned with jagged obsidian spires and flanked by banners bearing the sigil of the Dark City—a crimson eye painted over a cracked crown.
"That must be it," Arthur whispered. "The city lord's residence. Kaldor's den."
The structure pulsed with a dark, suppressive aura, as though it was watching them even from afar.
Arthur exhaled deeply, then turned his gaze to the city walls once more. The barriers were massive—well-fortified and laced with layered defense mechanisms. Towers equipped with archers and rune artillery lined the perimeter. Magical sentries glowed faintly in regular intervals, and elite goblin guards patrolled every few minutes.
Still, an idea was already forming in his mind. One that made his lips curl into a sharp grin.
He looked over his shoulder toward Diana and Kaelira, both of whom stood silently behind him, waiting for orders.
"We're already here," he said, his tone casual—but with a devilish edge. "It wouldn't feel right to leave without offering our dear city lord Kaldor... a gift, don't you think?"
Kaelira raised a brow, catching the tone in his voice, while Diana smirked knowingly.
Arthur continued, "Diana, how many guards on those city walls could be taken out without raising an alarm? Silently. Precisely."
Diana's expression turned serious. She stepped forward and assessed the walls again with narrowed eyes, her gaze calculating.
"My lord, with the five thousand Gold-rank assassins under my command, we could eliminate tens of thousands of wall sentries and frontline guards—cleanly and quietly," she said firmly. "But we'd need to strike fast, in coordinated waves. After that, however, we'd have to retreat immediately."
Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Because of reinforcements?"
"No, because of what's *inside*," she clarified grimly. "I can already sense several powerful auras deep within the city—monsters that are likely Gold Rank and higher. And more than one of them. If they sense something's wrong, the entire city could mobilize within minutes."
Arthur nodded slowly, his expression unreadable. He turned back to face the city, a storm of strategy already swirling in his mind.
"Hmm... tens of thousands, silently," he echoed, voice low with amusement. "That would be a memorable gift."
And in the distance, behind the quiet laughter of the wind, the storm of retribution slowly began to form.