Chapter 86: The Helmet Comes Off! The Final Boss is a Stunning Elf Queen?!

Clop… clop… clop…

The iron-shod hooves of the skeletal warhorse struck the stone-strewn ground, the beat slow and heavy. Each impact landed like an invisible sledgehammer, striking a fearful rhythm against the ribs of everyone present. The tension that had just begun to dissipate was instantly stretched taut again, threatening to snap.

The Stout Captain jolted as if struck by lightning. He snatched his mountain-cleaving axe from the ground, his corded muscles, which had only just begun to relax, bunching and straining anew. He planted himself at the front of the group, a moving wall of flesh and steel.

But the knuckles gripping the axe handle had gone white, and a film of cold sweat cut clean tracks through the grime and soot caking his face, carving pale ravines of fear. He was a veteran, a man who had spent half his life licking blood from the edge of a blade, and his eyes were sharp. Yet at this moment, every instinct honed over a lifetime of dancing on the blade’s edge screamed at him, a single, frantic alarm bell ringing in his soul: Run.

The knight and the skeletal warhorse moved as one, their center of gravity perfectly aligned, without a single wasted motion. They were not rider and mount, but a single, seamless weapon of slaughter. That pitch-black armor seemed to devour the very light, the curve of each plate possessing a chilling, geometric beauty designed for one purpose and one purpose only: the most efficient deflection of attacks and the harvesting of lives.

“Don’t just stand there, damn it!” the captain’s roar came out as a ragged, distorted bellow, a desperate attempt to drown out the tremor in the depths of his own soul. “This thing… it’s not like that pile of rotten meat from before!”

Facing this monster, who had done nothing more than walk toward them, he felt an unmatched weakness, as if he’d been reduced to a helpless, unarmed child.

Celeste calmly pulled her sister, Selene, behind her, her grip tightening on her staff.

‘What’s this guy’s deal?’ she wondered.

Just moments ago, when the world was turning upside down, he had been watching coldly from a distance. Now that the dust had settled, he was finally making his move, strolling over at a leisurely pace.

‘Is he here to clean up the scraps? Or is he bound by some kind of “Rule 1: Knightly Spirit” and disdains ganging up on people? Hard to say.’Regardless, she had to prepare for the worst. Celeste’s mind raced, cycling through her options.’The `Venti (Trial Card)`? The Song of Grand Ode probably can’t CC a high-speed, heavy-armored unit like this. `Noelle`? She’s pure power, a head-on clash might work, but this opponent doesn’t look like a simple physical type. I’d probably get kited to death. `Barbara (Special Armament Form)`? Hmm, the Sky-Piercing AK-47 should be pretty effective against a moving cavalry target. That’s a solid backup plan.’And then there was the final trump card: the `Zhongli (Trial Card)`.’If this guy is truly as OP as he looks,’she concluded,’then I’ll have to call in the big guns. Let Rex Lapis himself descend and teach this knight a lesson in “order” with a well-placed Planet Befall.’

The Death Knight reined in his mount fifty meters from the convoy. For cavalry, that distance was no different from being face-to-face. The skeletal warhorse beneath him pawed impatiently at the ground, its nostrils flaring to release two streams of gray, death-tinged breath.

The knight himself sat motionless upon the saddle, two pinpricks of scarlet soulfire glowing from within the slits of the helm, sweeping coldly over everyone present. The sheer pressure radiating from his form was so dense, so unwavering, that it seemed to make the very wind in the canyon stagnate.

Su Wan and Xia Lian flanked Celeste, protecting her from the left and right. A chill mist already coiled around Su Wan’s fingertips, her magic ready to be unleashed at a moment’s notice. Xia Lian lowered her stance, nocking an arrow to her shortbow, the tip aimed squarely at the knight’s throat. Selene, having mostly recovered, also raised her shield, planting herself firmly in front of her sister.

The entire canyon fell so silent that a pin dropping would have sounded like a thunderclap. The frantic pounding of their own hearts became the only background noise.

However, the Death Knight’s next action made everyone’s mind go completely blank.

He raised his right hand, sheathed in a pitch-black metal gauntlet.

There was no drawing of a sword.

No incantation.

He simply… reached for his helmet.

Click.

A crisp, mechanical sound echoed in the silence. Accompanied by a subtle hiss of venting air, the heavy helm, so fearsome it could silence a crying child, was slowly lifted away.

There was no expected skeleton.

No rotting flesh.

And certainly no empty void.

Beneath the helmet was a cascade of silver hair, as bright as captured moonlight, carefully tied back. A face of such impossible beauty it seemed to have no place in the mortal realm was exposed to their stunned gazes.

Her skin was a pale, almost translucent white, yet it held the obvious breath of life. She had a high-bridged nose, thin lips with a perfect curve, and a pair of pointed ears, the definitive mark of an elf, which tilted ever so slightly upward.

But the most soul-stirring feature was her eyes.

They were a pair of scarlet irises, the same color as the soulfire that had burned within the helm—cold, sharp, and possessing a depth that felt as if it could see straight through a person’s heart.

A woman?

And a… living elf?!

“Holy… crap…”

The Stout Captain’s mouth hung open wide enough to fit an egg. The mountain-cleaving axe slipped from his grasp and hit the ground with a dull clang. He had lived for half a century and had never seen anyone so… beautiful.

How could this possibly be called a Death Knight?!

Selene, Xia Lian, and Su Wan were equally petrified. Su Wan, in particular, who hailed from a prestigious family and had seen countless beauties and socialites, was reeling. The person before her delivered a shock that went far beyond mere appearance. It was a nobility that felt etched into the very marrow of her bones, a majesty forged by millennia of wind and frost. In that moment, Su Wan felt that all the noble etiquette she had painstakingly practiced since childhood was nothing more than a clumsy duckling attempting to mimic the grace of a swan.

‘Is this… really the enemy?’Ten thousand question marks exploded in Celeste’s mind.’What is this situation? Taking off your helmet for a face reveal before the fight even starts? What kind of new-age psychological warfare is this? Wrecking the enemy’s morale with a pretty face? Hey! That’s a low blow! A total foul!’

Just as everyone’s brain short-circuited, the female knight dismounted with practiced ease. The full-body plate armor, which should have been shockingly heavy, made not a single sound as she landed silently on the ground, her movements elegant and calm.

She tucked her helmet into the crook of her arm, took several long strides toward the convoy, and finally stopped thirty meters away.

Then, before their beyond understanding eyes, she placed her right gauntlet over her chest and performed an impeccable, standard knightly salute—directed straight at Celeste.

“…”

The entire canyon plunged back into a bizarre silence.

Su Wan felt like her brain hadn’t just been fried, but completely vaporized by the outrageousness of the scene. Pink holy light that could heal people to death, a Cleansing Spell that could dismantle abominations—she could, with great effort, attribute all that to Celeste being some kind of freakish, out-of-spec monster.

But now, the enemy’s Final Boss, a polite, cheat-level beautiful elf, was elegantly saluting her teammate?

Had the very fabric of this Domain rotted from its core? Or had she just been opening it wrong this whole time?

“Um…” Celeste, after much hesitation, decided to be the one to break the strange silence. She spoke tentatively, “Hello? May I ask… are you here for a fight, or… to pay a visit?”

The question was very direct, very Celeste.

Hearing it, the corners of the female knight’s cold face seemed to twitch upward. The arc was infinitesimal, but it was like the first crack appearing in a ten-thousand-year-old glacier.

She spoke, her voice as cold and clear as mountain spring water, carrying a peculiar rhythm that entered everyone’s ears distinctly.

“My name is Eldara.”

“I am not your enemy.”

“Not our enemy?” Celeste blinked, her train of thought struggling to keep up. She gestured to the pile of corpses and bone dust still smoking on the other side of the canyon, then pointed to the few necromancers on the ground that Xia Lian had dismantled into spare parts. “Then… these guys aren’t with you?”

Eldara’s gaze swept over the remains, and a flash of undisguised disgust crossed her scarlet eyes. “Those pathetic things that must forsake their very nature as living beings and twist their own souls just to barely touch the power of death? Are they even worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as me?”

Her voice carried a contempt born from absolute self-confidence. “They are nothing but refuse who have desecrated the art of power. I am quite pleased that you cleaned them up.”

That remark finally made things click for Celeste and the others. So this wasn’t a case of undead infighting, but rather the original master looking down on the bootleg apprentices.

Eldara’s gaze remained fixed on Celeste, as if out of everyone present, only she was worthy of her attention.

“I am the captain of the ‘Silent Watch’ Knights, under the command of Her Majesty the Queen of the Silvermoon Forest,” she stated slowly, revealing her identity. “Eldara.”

[Elysian’s Note:

Having a good time with the story?

Every single bit helps immensely:

Thanks a ton for making this journey possible!]