The Highland Pass was a jagged wound in the earth, a narrow corridor of granite and ice that served as the only land route into the heart of Aethelgard. At its narrowest point, the cliffs rose a thousand feet on either side, casting a perpetual shadow over the "Serpent's Throat."
Kaelen stood at the precipice, his thirty-foot obsidian frame coiled around a spire of rock. Beside him, Prime and a legion of fifty Aurelian Scale-Guards waited in absolute silence. They were no longer just warriors; they were extensions of the mountain itself, their black armor camouflaged against the dark basalt.
"They are here," Kaelen rumbled, his voice vibrating through the stone.
From the southern mouth of the pass, a golden light began to bleed through the mountain mist. It wasn't the flickering light of torches. It was a steady, rhythmic pulse that felt like a physical weight.
[WARNING: High-Tier Divine Presence Detected.] [Target Identified: Saint Malphas, the Unyielding (Tier 2 - Living Saint)] [Level: 62] [Status: Vessel of the Silver Flame. Immune to Fear/Dread effects.]
Malphas did not march; he walked with a calm, terrifying certainty. He wore no armor, only a simple white robe that glowed with an internal heat. In his hand, he carried a heavy, iron-bound tome and a morning star made of solid, condensed sunlight. Behind him, a hundred "Flagellants of the Flame" followed, their eyes stitched shut, guided only by the Saint's radiance.
The Gravity of Holiness
As Malphas entered the center of the pass, he stopped. He looked up, his gaze piercing the mist to find Kaelen's golden, slit-pupiled eyes.
"The Abomination of the Deep," Malphas said, his voice carrying without effort. "You have built a nest of shadows and called it a kingdom. You have tricked the weak into worshipping a serpent. But the Sun does not negotiate with the dark. It simply erases it."
Malphas slammed his morning star into the ground.
[Skill Activated by Hostile: Hallowed Ground (Rank A)]
Effect: A 200m radius of "Sanctified Earth." -40% Agility for all Abyss-aligned creatures. Constant Holy Burn damage (100 HP/sec).
Kaelen hissed as the rock beneath his coils turned a searing white. The [Dread Sovereign] aura, which usually crushed the will of his enemies, simply slid off Malphas like water off a duck's back.
"Prime! To the ridges!" Kaelen commanded. "Goblins, trigger the dead-falls!"
From the cliffs above, Gromm's tribe released the lever. Tons of granite, reinforced with Aurelian-Steel spikes, plummeted toward the Saint. It was enough weight to crush a siege engine.
Malphas didn't move. He simply opened his book.
"Let there be light," he whispered.
A dome of white fire erupted around him. The falling rocks didn't just stop; they disintegrated into fine, gray ash before they even touched the shield.