Somewhere on Planet Nira, a small planet located in the remote region of the Starforge Galaxy—the galaxy that housed one of the top five academies, Galaxy Academy...
A beautiful woman with long raven-black hair, crimson eyes, and a faintly ominous aura around her walked along a forest path.
As she moved forward, pulses of dark energy emerged from the soles of her feet with each step, spreading in all directions. With every release of this dark pulse, Alicia received information about her surroundings directly within her mind, making it impossible for anything nearby to escape her senses.
She continued deeper into the forest for several minutes when suddenly, she felt something unusual and came to a halt.
Her head turned slightly, and her eyes, which had turned red ever since she had awakened her class— Witch of Darkness, focused on a tall, lush tree nearly twenty meters high.
There was no movement around the tree, nor could she sense any presence, even with her heightened perception. Yet her skill, Dark Pulse revealed to her that someone was lurking in ambush upon the tree.
A faint black light flickered within her eyes, and in the very next instant—
Woosh! Woosh! Woosh! - - - -
Dozens of pitch-black chains materialized around the tree, lashing upward toward its top.
The moment the chains surged, a sharp, ear-piercing shriek reverberated throughout the forest, carrying for hundreds of meters, and a green shadow shot out from behind the branches, launching straight at Alicia.
The green shadow moved with astonishing speed, crossing the sixty-meter distance between them in the blink of an eye.
The sound of air being torn apart echoed as the creature swung a sharp, blade-like arm toward her.
Though its speed was immense and its figure moved like a blur, Alicia had already discerned the attacker's form through her Dark Pulse.
It was a Blade Mantis—an elite monster known for its deadly speed and razor-sharp limbs.
This one was Level 16, five levels higher than her. Yet Alicia's eyes remained indifferent as the mantis's blade slashed toward her throat.
Just as the blade was only a few centimeters from her face, her crimson eyes flared like lanterns in the night, and a dreadful aura poured out from her.
(You have activated skill — Eyes of Abyss)
The instant Alicia used Eyes of Abyss—a spiritual skill that directly implanted deep fear into its target, the monster froze. A suffocating terror swelled within it, paralyzing its body and making it impossible to move even a single finger.
"You know, surprise attacks only work when your target isn't already aware of them," Alicia said calmly, her tone carrying a chilling indifference as chains of darkness coiled tightly around the frozen blade mantis, binding it in place. "If you know your target has already discovered you before you even launched a surprise attack, then instead of stubbornly proceeding with an attack that is no longer a surprise, you should retreat and try again at another time."
As she spoke, the chains of darkness tightened, draining the Blade Mantis of its energy and weakening it further with each passing moment.
The mantis thrashed and struggled desperately, but as its strength was continuously siphoned away, its resistance grew weaker and weaker.
Minutes later, the once-fierce monster was so drained that it could no longer even stand, collapsing to the forest floor still wrapped in chains.
Alicia's expression remained impassive as she drew a plain sword from her storage ring. Walking toward the restrained creature with steady steps, she drove the blade through its head with ease, destroying its brain and killing it instantly.
"Blade Mantises are rare… I doubt I'll find another suitable monster here," Alicia muttered softly, as though thinking aloud, before making up her mind.
She sliced open her palm, allowing her blood to drip onto the corpse of the Blade Mantis.
'Last time, my first subordinate was only a normal elite. But now that the Heart of Darkness has raised my affinity with the darkness element to its peak, I should be able to gain something far stronger…' She glanced at the blood flowing from her hand. 'Even if my title–'The Queen Of The Underworld' is currently locked, its power still lies dormant within my blood. If I supplement my class skill with my blood, It should be doable.'
She walked around the body, letting her blood soak into every part of the fallen monster. Her complexion paled as she continued to bleed, but she did not stop. Only when the corpse was completely drenched in her blood did she finally halt and take out a potion to recover her strength.
While waiting for her vitality to return, she activated another skill, cloaking the area with the power of darkness to conceal both the scent of blood and her own presence, ensuring no one could detect her.
After completing her Eonrift's Trial, Alicia had successfully joined Galaxy Academy, entering directly into the elite class.
However, upon her arrival, she discovered that Azrael had not joined Galaxy Academy this time.
At first, she had been utterly confused.
Suddenly sent back to the past, then experiencing the strange irregularity during the Eonrift's reward ceremony, she had assumed she would eventually find answers to these mysteries by meeting Azrael again. But to her disappointment, she learned he had not come to Galaxy Academy.
Later, however, a realization dawned on her.
If Azrael had not followed the same path as before, then it meant his actions had changed. The only reason she could think of was that he too possessed memories of the future like her and he too had regressed.
If he hadn't, he would have acted the same way as before and joined Galaxy Academy as he had last time.
Although she wasn't sure why he hadn't contacted her, even if he shared the same memories of the future, Alicia was never the type to waste energy pondering things she could not comprehend.
Instead, she simply chose to do what she needed to do and wait until the time came when she would meet him again.
To her, who possessed memories of the future, the academy's lessons were meaningless as in her prime, she had been stronger than even the academy's teachers.
Thus, after joining the Elite Class, she quickly accepted a mission to earn credits while simultaneously pursuing her true objective on Planet Nira: the acquisition of a Rune that would prove useful to her.
Ten minutes later, once the dizziness from her blood loss had subsided, Alicia rose to her feet. She looked down at the blood-soaked corpse of the Blade Mantis and her crimson eyes glowed faintly.
(You have activated your class skill—The Call of the Queen.)
A strange magic circle flared beneath the mantis's body as the blood coating it began to move as if alive.
The monster's flesh and muscle slowly disintegrated, leaving behind only a bare skeleton.
Suddenly, the skeleton twitched, and a deep red soul fire ignited within its hollow eye sockets.
The instant the soul fire came to life, the Blade Mantis skeleton rose, its aura fully restored to level 16, the same as when it was alive.
(Because of the influence of the Queen's blood, the rank of your undead has increased greatly.)
Alicia's lips curved into a slight smile as she read the notification.
Her blood that had soaked the body surged upward, covering the skeleton completely. Slowly, it solidified into a suit of pitch-black armor that encased the undead from head to toe.
Through the narrow slit of the helmet, Alicia could see the soul fire in its eyes blaze with even greater intensity and within seconds, its level surged to 20, and its aura swelled until it was many times more powerful than before.
Looking at the being before her, for the first time since her regression, Alicia felt the same intoxicating thrill she once knew—the thrill of commanding death.
(You have successfully created your first Death Knight.)
Alicia gazed at the armored undead, her eyes gleaming with satisfaction.
'A level 20 Death Knight is strong enough to even challenge epic-rank beings.'
Turning her gaze toward the depths of the forest, she smiled faintly.
'With this, obtaining that Rune will no longer be a problem.'