"Hello there, my strangely shaped fellow kin."

Rosalia greeted her with a cheerful smile.

The next second, her aura surged wildly, rising higher and higher like a towering mountain.

"I’ve never seen you before. Are you one of Agnes’s new subordinates?" Broken Wing asked in a hoarse voice. "Corruption should be advancing, not waiting."

"Agnes... that person again."

Having heard the name several times already, even Rosalia could not help but grow curious. She blinked twice.

"By the way, why does Agnes want us to wait? It makes no sense at all."

"I don’t know."

Broken Wing was equally confused.

Aren’t you one of Agnes’s people? Why are you asking me?

"Something isn’t right. You carry a strong human scent."

After sniffing twice, Broken Wing’s expression immediately turned puzzled.

"I’ve eaten a lot of humans. Isn’t it normal to smell a little human?" Rosalia suddenly blushed for some reason. She still remembered Phield explaining to her how babies were made. "Haven’t you eaten plenty of humans too? Honestly, I think you look even more human than I do. We’re clearly the same kind."

She pointed at Broken Wing’s face.

Even though half of Broken Wing’s face was missing and she had fly-like wings growing from her back, Rosalia stubbornly insisted that she looked human.

"Heh."

Broken Wing’s eyeballs rolled chaotically inside their sockets. Looking closely, one could see that her pupils had already become insect-like.

She let out a cold laugh.

"If you can pass my test, I will acknowledge you as one of our kind."

"Oh? Let’s hear it."

Rosalia tapped her chin curiously.

Could Corrupted creatures actually have a method for identifying their own kind? Why hadn’t her inheritance mentioned anything like that?

"Blood Mosquitoes. If they fail to kill you during the test, then you’re one of us."

Broken Wing emitted a strange screech.

The insect-transformed villager beside her exploded apart, releasing countless crimson worm-like insects into the air.

"Nice try. I’m smart enough not to fall for that."

Rosalia immediately stood up from the mountain of corpses and drew her greatsword.

A terrifying smile spread across her face.

"Fellow kin, let’s see which one of us is the real predator."

Crunch.

Broken Wing’s arms twisted and snapped apart at horrifying angles.

Two long, razor-sharp bone spikes extended from within.

Corrupted divine power swirled around her body like countless flying insects.

The next instant, her wings vibrated violently as she shot forward at incredible speed.

Her target was Rosalia’s heart.

Clang!

Rosalia might have been slow when it came to movement speed, but her attack speed was another matter entirely.

Her greatsword firmly blocked both bone spikes.

Then she unleashed a savage slash.

The humming blade swept up clouds of dust as it rapidly filled Broken Wing’s vision.

"It missed?"

Rosalia frowned. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Broken Wing had twisted her body into an impossibly strange posture, slipping past the attack.

At the same time, she moved at astonishing speed and appeared behind Rosalia.

"I can see every single one of your movements."

Broken Wing’s voice remained completely emotionless.

"When that Corruption Calamity descended, I fused with the eyes of a Ghost Shadow Mantis."

Her twin spikes, coated in dark purple venom, shot forward with lightning speed.

"The Devouring Star Dragon I fused with shouldn’t be any worse than that."

Rosalia swept her fingers through the air.

A gigantic Corrupted dragon arm burst forth from empty space.

Its enormous attack range slammed down like someone swatting a mosquito, sending Broken Wing, nearby rocks, and piles of corpses flying together.

Violent energy exploded outward.

The overwhelming death aura contained within the dragon claw filled the air with shrieking wails that sounded like countless ghosts screaming in agony.

"Interesting."

Broken Wing tumbled backward through the air for more than ten meters before finally stabilizing herself.

She immediately dodged Rosalia’s pursuit.

"My children, devour her!"

Broken Wing let out a furious scream.

In the next moment, insect-mutated villagers and swarms of disgusting red mosquitoes surged in from all directions.

The insect villagers possessed astonishing third-tier strength.

"Divine Guards? And all of them are third-tier? Being able to produce soldiers yourself really is convenient."

Rosalia showed no fear whatsoever.

As someone capable of devouring lesser enemies, she was far less vulnerable to swarm tactics than most.

Under normal circumstances, when two Divine Chosen of similar strength fought, the one possessing Divine Guards almost always won.

In truth, even Rosalia, despite her ability to consume enemies, would still need to expend considerable divine power dealing with large numbers of weaker foes.

"Third-Tier Divine Skill, Endless Severance!"

Two waves of sword energy surged forth, one after another, like a pair of radiant crescent moons.

Their terrifying power swept through the surrounding insects, annihilating them while tearing apart the terrain itself.

"Third-Tier Divine Skill, Venomous Reversal!"

Broken Wing’s bone spikes became wrapped in layer after layer of dark purple power.

The originally slender spikes expanded into gigantic spiraling lances worthy of a cavalry charge.

Only a flash of purple light could be seen.

Broken Wing somehow found an impossible angle within the gaps of Endless Severance and shot through.

She avoided both the dragon claw and the sword waves before circling behind Rosalia.

Boom!

The massive purple spiral rotated violently through the air.

Its friction against the atmosphere generated piercing sonic booms.

Carrying both venom and Corrupted power, the attack slammed directly into Rosalia’s back and rapidly shattered her divine armor.

Layer after layer of explosions rippled outward.

The ground looked as though it had been struck by a missile.

"A slow and cumbersome warrior-type Divine Chosen. You will become one of my offspring..."

The thought of devouring Rosalia had barely formed in Broken Wing’s mind when she realized something was wrong.

The purple spiral attached to her left arm had not shattered Rosalia’s head as planned.

Only then did she discover, in horror, that her other Divine Skill had been firmly caught by the gigantic dragon claw.

"Now it’s my turn to enjoy myself."

Rosalia looked completely unbothered despite having nearly been pierced through.

With a sudden burst of strength, she grabbed the enormous bone spike lodged through her heart and ripped it out by force.

That spike had originally been formed from Broken Wing’s own arms.

In effect, Rosalia had just torn off one of her hands.

At the same time, the dragon claw tightened and ripped away her remaining arm as well.

The greatsword instantly broke down the severed limbs into streams of blood, using them to repair Rosalia’s damaged heart.

Listening gracefully to Broken Wing’s heart-rending screams, Rosalia smiled faintly.

"If I didn’t trick you a little, how would you ever fall for it?"

"Fighting normally would have been far too exhausting."

Her pursuit ability had always been poor.

Fast opponents like Broken Wing were especially troublesome for her.

"Damn you! Despicable! Aberration!"

Broken Wing screamed endlessly.

"I learned that from my lord."

Rosalia tossed her hair proudly.

"That little trick worked wonderfully on you."

She had deliberately exposed a weakness, lured her enemy in, and then delivered a devastating blow.

Trading injuries like this was an incredibly profitable exchange for her.

Meanwhile, Phield and Ophelia’s corpse army continued imitating the behavior of the rebel undead as they approached Bull Territory.

"Phield... uh, little Phield, say something."

As Ophelia stared at the border fortress towering like a mountain before them, a sense of fear she had not felt in a very long time resurfaced.

"Our operation feels an awful lot like a suicide mission."