Lord: Starting from a Goblin Nest

The Ghost Witch’s Magic likely had a limited range, meaning her true body wasn’t far off. When Ron’s group didn’t join the melee, but instead charged straight for her position, the spectral phantom playing its spooky games behind ”Auntie” immediately panicked.

The phantom raked its claws across Polly’s face, then vanished into thin air. But as Sera charged up to the Ghost Witch, a pair of small, pitch-black eyes snapped open!

”What’s happening?!” Sera was frozen in place. No matter how much she struggled, she couldn’t move an inch. ”Damn it, I can’t move!”

”Let her go!” Aive braced her tower shield and slammed her entire body into the Ghost Witch. Clad in Full Body Armor and wielding a tower shield, her charge was so powerful that even a brawny, two-meter-tall monster would have been sent stumbling backward, and it was enough to break Sera free from the spell’s hold.

”You pesky flies!” By now, how could the Ghost Witch not have realized that Ron’s group had never been under Polly’s control? Enraged, she shot several yellowish-green rays from her fingertips, enveloping all six of them and the dragon in her spell!

”You insolent fools, daring to cause trouble at our coven? Not a single one of you is leaving here alive today!”

”Then let’s see what you’ve got!”

Delaford cried out as two Dark Arrows shot from his hiding place. Imbued with Strong Acid Magic, they flew straight for the Ghost Witch’s eyes.

”Ah, thank you for the reminder!” the Ghost Witch cackled. A layer of Magic Armor materialized around her, deflecting Delaford’s arrows. She then unhurriedly crushed a toad in her hand, and a yellowish-green barrier instantly unfurled before her.

”I have you to thank, goblin. Otherwise, I might have forgotten we have a little acid-spitting lizard whelp here, haven’t we?”

The Ghost Witch’s melee prowess was second only to her bizarre and unpredictable Magic. Even facing Ron’s entire party, she showed no fear. She simultaneously cast a barrage of grotesque spells to suppress Ron and Silvia while tangling with Aive and Sera, not losing an inch of ground.

”The warm-up’s over. Time to send you to your deaths!” The Ghost Witch suddenly kicked Sera in the stomach, sending the barbarian flying. ”Come and meet my sister! Say hello for me!”

Seizing the opening where no one could interfere with her Casting, the Ghost Witch summoned a massive Ghost Witch Phantom. This twisted and terrifying creature was unlike her or ”Auntie,” and her power seemed to far surpass that of the sisters, Polly and Sally. The moment it appeared, it launched a frenzied assault on the party!

”Holy crap!” Delaford’s eyes widened. ”What in the world is that thing?!”

Even a goblin could smell the foul, venomous evil radiating from the Phantom!

”Damn it, this monster isn’t a Ghost Witch anymore!” ”Aiksuuri” exclaimed in shock. ”Something like this cannot be allowed to exist in this world!”

”Richthofen Dark Magic—Wither!” Silvia brandished her Walking Stick, using its attached Withering Magic to destroy the mass of thorns the Ghost Witch had summoned. ”Then what is she? I don’t see how she’s any different from the other three.”

”Because she *was* a Ghost Witch!” Until now, the gold dragon had mostly acted as a Caster, applying various buffs to Ron and the others, rather than using his own offensive abilities. ”But don’t you find this monster to be a bit... crazier?”

”Not in the slightest!” Ron said, struggling to smack a Blazing Flame Orb into the Ghost Witch’s face. ”They all seem equally crazy to me!”

”That’s because you’re inexperienced!” ”Aiksuuri” parried a blow from the Phantom with his claws but gained no advantage. ”She has moved beyond the scope of a Ghost Witch and transformed into another kind of creature. We usually call them Demonesses!”

”When faced with a great catastrophe, Ghost Witches may form a powerful coven to channel potent Magic against external threats. But once the danger has passed, these covens usually collapse from within due to infighting. One Ghost Witch will grow far more powerful than her sisters, killing her own kin and absorbing their Magic Power!”

”Driven by the power she has claimed for herself, and by the lonely price of her murderous rampage, the maddened Ghost Witch transforms into a Demoness! She becomes stronger, and even more insane!”

”You monster! Your coven sisters weren’t killed by the backlash from some evil prophecy. You killed them with your own hands, didn’t you?!”

”Gye heh heh heh!” The Ghost Witch—or rather, the Demoness—cackled sinisterly. ”Did one of my two darling daughters tell you that? It seems she actually dared to place her bets on a group of outsiders!”

”But it doesn’t matter. You little whelps are somewhat interesting. You might have actually won against my ordinary sisters. But what a shame... you’ve been played from the very beginning!”

”My children, get them! Mommy wants to turn them all to ash—”

The Night Howling Hounds that had been harassing them from the periphery suddenly went berserk. Heedless of being shattered to pieces, they charged Ron’s group in wave after wave. The party was so busy fending them off that they had no time to interfere with the synchronized chanting of the Demoness and the Ghost Witch Phantom behind her!

’Death Gaze!’ The gold dragon’s heart seized. Realizing she was preparing a fatal blow that could grievously wound Ron and the others, he stopped holding back. His seemingly small, five-meter-long body lunged at the Demoness, sending several hounds flying.

”Oh, little one, what are you trying to do? Spit acid at me?” the Demoness sneered viciously when she saw the Black Young Dragon charge fearlessly before her and open its maw. ”You can’t do a thing. Go and live for another century or two!”

However, when she saw a spark ignite within the Black Dragon’s mouth, the Demoness’s twisted smile froze on her face.

”FWOOSH—”

A torrent of Flame Breath, bright enough to turn night into day, erupted from his mouth, instantly engulfing a twenty-meter cone in front of the ”Black Dragon.” The point-blank blast gave the Demoness no time to dodge, and she was immediately consumed by the scalding judgment.

This single breath of fire was enough to make Giant Spirits bow their heads and give even a Balrog Flame Demon pause. What a magnificent flame! Compared to this, the Fireball Magic so lauded by Mages and Sorcerers was fit for nothing more than lighting a smoke.

The Demoness, who moments before had been suppressing two Mages at once, had no time to react to the flames at all!