Chapter 365: The Forest Monster Massacre

Meanwhile, deep within the Calvorn Forest, piles of beast corpses lined the road.

There were countless bodies—around a thousand. Among them were five-meter-tall bears, three-meter-tall black-furred wolves, and various other terrifying monsters.

Of course, the culprit was someone who had been ordered by Elina earlier: Malverna.

"Huff... exhausting, but the results are excellent," Malverna muttered, wiping the nonexistent sweat from her brow.

Killing them had required little effort, but tracking them down had been tiring.

Not all monsters are nocturnal. Some were active during the day, forcing her to locate their nests and wipe them out.

"But..." Malverna lifted her head, staring into the distance. "This is still far from enough. My intuition says there are creatures far stronger than these. They must have already noticed me."

The monsters she’d slain were only low-level. The real rulers of this forest hadn’t even shown themselves yet—and that thought made her pulse quicken.

It had been a long time since she’d fought, and her blood was boiling.

With a swift motion, she shot forward and vanished from view. Moments later, she reappeared roughly eight hundred meters ahead.

Malverna hid behind a tree, her eyes fixed on a massive creature devouring two bears as large as itself.

On closer inspection, the bears were the same species she had killed before.

"A dragon monster?" Malverna raised her eyebrows slightly. "But it doesn’t look like a real dragon."

The monster had two massive legs and stood upright like a human.

Its body, however, was enormous and covered in hard, black scales as strong as a dragon’s.

Two horns jutted from its head, and its face bore a striking resemblance to a dragon.

"Could this be a hybrid dragon? Or something similar?"

Dragons were lustful creatures. It wasn’t impossible that this monster had mated with another species, creating something new.

Though it was only a guess, Malverna felt surprisingly certain.

She didn’t attack immediately, choosing instead to observe it for a moment.

Suddenly, the monster stopped eating. It slowly lifted its head and locked eyes with her.

Roar!

The sound echoed in all directions. Malverna remained unfazed.

As she had expected, the forest’s powerful monsters had noticed her arrival.

Some recoiled at the presence of her terrifying demonic energy, while others seemed indifferent—or even daring, as if challenging her.

The creature before her clearly belonged to the latter group.

Malverna smiled faintly, then gracefully dropped from the tree trunk, landing silently on the ground.

"You ugly monster," she taunted, raising her middle finger. "If you dare, come at me!"

She didn’t fully understand the gesture, but Nolan often used it to mock princes. To her, it felt like the perfect provocation—and it worked.

The monster roared in fury and charged, swinging its massive claws toward her.

Slash!

Malverna easily dodged claws that could have destroyed a ten-meter-tall tree.

"Is that all you’ve got?" She smirked.

Provoked, the monster launched its next attacks, but the result was the same—none of them even scratched her.

"Tsk! Weak monster! Honestly, I didn’t expect the ruler of this forest to be so pathetic. Your strength is only that of a child," Malverna laughed heartily.

But in the next moment, her expression froze. She stared at herself, puzzled. "What’s happening? Why am I like this?"

In the past, she could finish opponents in the blink of an eye. Taunting them? That was never her style.

Yet now, she kept provoking her enemy—something entirely unlike her usual self.

"Damn..." Malverna’s mouth twitched. "It must be Nolan. Because I’ve been following him and studying every move, I’ve become like this."

Still, she had to admit—mocking her enemy was... oddly enjoyable.

Roar!

The monster could no longer contain itself. It opened its mouth, and a blue fireball formed between its jaws.

Whoosh!

It hurled the fireball at Malverna at incredible speed.

Casually, she waved her right hand.

Swing!

The blue fireball ricocheted off, veering to the left, hitting three trees and setting them ablaze.

The monster froze, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

But Malverna had no more patience for games.

She snapped her fingers and said, "Now, let me show you what a real attack looks like."

Buzz!

Fifteen black magic circles appeared in the air. From each circle, reddish-black fireballs shot out, hurtling toward the monster.

The creature’s eyes widened as it tried to dodge—but failed.

Boom!

A massive explosion obliterated everything around it. Black smoke billowed into the sky, spreading throughout the forest.

Ten minutes later, the smoke slowly began to clear, though not entirely.

Malverna saw that the monster was gone. All that remained was a pile of black ash—clearly the remains of its body.

"Black fire is truly terrifying," she muttered, smiling broadly.

She had studied Nolan’s black fire for some time and found it fascinating.

Even someone as powerful as the Singularity of Light could be burned by it.

So, secretly, she had created magic that mimicked it.

Though it was only seventy percent complete, the results were already astonishing.

If Nolan knew she was imitating his black fire, he would surely be impressed, give her a thumbs up, and say,

"As expected of the Demon Empress—your power is incredible!"

"Alright..." Malverna stretched her stiff limbs. "Now it’s time to finish the mission Elina gave me."

With that, she vanished.

Two minutes later, an explosion erupted from a distant point.

Five minutes after that, another blast shook the forest, coming from somewhere else.

This continued throughout the night, until the townspeople of Virella awoke and stepped outside, bewildered.

"What’s going on? Why do I hear explosions from the forest? Am I imagining things?" one of them asked.

"It’s not your imagination—it’s real! I heard it too," another replied.

"Could it be an enemy attack? Or monsters preparing to strike? Or... something else?"

The townspeople continued to speculate about the events in the Calvorn Forest.

Yet only two people knew the truth—Kael and Orwin.

The two stepped out of the house and exchanged a glance.

"Father, could that sound have come from Princess Elina?" Kael asked.

Orwin paused for a moment before shaking his head.

"I don’t know, my son. But it’s possible. Let’s wait until tomorrow. If it was Princess Elina, she would surely explain it to us and to the townspeople."

Kael nodded silently, his expression a mixture of hope and uncertainty.