Chapter 787: Act 138 – Breaking the Cocoon V (Surprised?)
The avalanche surged like a raging wave, coming down from the front, but the silver monster had already spread its wings, rapidly vibrating them like a dragonfly before taking off from the ground.
The silver monster lunged directly at her. Freya could see without even needing to calculate that, at the current speed of the avalanche, the opponent would almost certainly be able to avoid it.
In that moment, her thoughts flashed like lightning, and almost instinctively, the young girl made her decision. Golden wings expanded behind her as she too took off from the ground, then suddenly pounced towards the silver monster.
At that moment—
The mocking smile on the featureless face of the silver monster froze, like a crescent moon stretched wide.
“You’re insane!”
It shrieked in panic.
Freya was like a golden meteor crashing into the silver monster mid-air. The monster frantically swung its silver blade, trying to push her away. But she remained undeterred, refusing to dodge, allowing the blade to slice through her lower abdomen—the Wind Queen’s armor was as fragile as a thin layer of paper under such an attack, instantly opening a long gash, rose-colored blood spraying forth—but the young girl slammed into the waist of the silver monster, forcing it back.
Her strength was far inferior to that of her opponent, but at this moment, there was no need for a life-and-death struggle; just a momentary obstruction could decide many things.
“No—”
The ascent of the silver monster faltered slightly, and the avalanche came crashing down, making everything appear as insignificant as dust beneath the unrivaled power of nature. Freya and the silver monster merely flickered in the snow wave and vanished from sight.
…
On the other side of the gorge.
The young knights of the Shattered Sword Order were in a heated battle with the Pale Son. Guided by the battle flag planted by Freya, the knights finally gathered in groups. Their strength was not inferior to that of the monsters and might even surpass them; it was just that the Pale Son had taken the upper hand with ambushes and sheer numbers.
However, as the Shattered Sword Order regrouped, and the giant wolves in the forest lost the command of the silver monster, the tide of battle changed immediately. The knights began to secure the narrow advantageous positions in the gorge, planning to resist the winter wolf’s assault. After both sides suffered considerable losses, the conflict turned from a sudden raid into a stalemate in a positional battle.
This was good news for the humans who had initially found themselves at a disadvantage, but the relentless waves of attacks from the Pale Son kept them constantly on edge. Brendel had already fallen into a coma after being rescued by Arleigh and Nemeses. Though Nemeses wanted to seek out Freya, trapped with others in the heavy encirclement of wolves, she clearly could not escape for the time being.
Xiao Peiluo had brought Rolo and others back from the other side, but their losses were even more severe. Almost everyone was injured, especially after a night of pursuit; even the toughest Crusian man was panting at this moment.
Everyone’s faces showed signs of distress.
But Rolo stared nervously toward the other side of the gorge.
“Did you hear something?” Xiao Peiluo asked immediately, knowing that Rolo, being from the mountain folk, had the keenest senses among all present.
“I think I heard an explosion,” Rolo replied, beads of cold sweat covering his forehead from exhaustion, his eyes dimming, but after listening for a moment, he weakly added.
“Is it reinforcements?” someone shouted.
“That’s unlikely. It’s probably something that the commander did,” Xiao Peiluo shook his head in response.
Nemeses frowned. She knew that Freya had the explosion crystal and that red gemstone ring. Freya had been gone for at least a quarter of an hour now, and there was still no news. The monster hadn’t turned back either. She knew very well the difference in strength between Freya and that monster. Even if Freya activated the Valkyrie mark, dealing with that monster would not be much easier than facing Arleigh or Brendel.
This was not a battle of the same tier of power.
“I think you all should focus on your own well-being first,” Arleigh, covered in blood, sat next to Brendel, panting heavily. The new wounds on him were acquired while rescuing Brendel. If the injuries left by the Pale Son last night were merely a small memento, then he could now claim to have received a one-ton medal.
Arleigh had completely lost his combat capability. If the Shattered Sword Order had to retreat at this moment, he and Brendel would have to be left behind.
Even so, that couldn’t change his nature—still annoyingly difficult.
This guy was as much of a jinx as ever, but this time, the situation did not develop as he expected. Suddenly, a knight in front let out a gasp, and Xiao Peiluo felt something and immediately parted the human wall to step out. He saw a surprising spectacle unfolding in front of everyone.
Those far and near Pale Sons suddenly swayed and halted in their advance, as if drunken, falling one by one to the ground, then emitting black smoke, as if evaporating under the sunlight, gradually turning to ashes, leaving only dark magic crystals in the snow.
This scene was not limited to just one or a group of giant wolves but rather hundreds of Pale Sons collapsing and dissipating into black smoke simultaneously. Such a spectacular sight almost stunned every knight present.
“Indeed, these monsters are all summoned beings,” Xiao Peiluo quickly reacted: “It seems our commander has done something amazing.”
He turned back to look at Nemeses.
But the Lady Knight had no trace of relief on her face; she slowly pulled out her communication crystal, which was dim. It indicated that the side of Freya had failed to light up even after she infused it with mana.
…
However, in the gorge, the communication crystal that Freya had scattered beside a pile of snow was indeed flickering on and off, indicating that someone was trying to connect with the necklace through the web of laws, but unfortunately, the owner of the necklace was not beside it.
Freya struggled to crawl out from the snow on the other side.
She let out a low groan—her physical condition was worse than she had imagined. Her body was covered in bruises and abrasions, and the blood seeping from her abdominal wound had almost stained her armor beneath her armed suit; there was a large dent in her breastplate, with blood constantly oozing from the cracks. Blood was flowing from the corners of her eyes, nose, and mouth.
She coughed a few times, thankful that when the avalanche fell, both she and that monster had been on the upper level, and she was even higher than the monster. However, as both were swept into the snow, she saw with her own eyes that the monster was sucked under rubble and rolling snow, while she managed to escape with her life.
Nevertheless, even so, it was only a temporary reprieve. Freya could feel how gravely she was injured; the fatal wounds came from the impact to her chest and the sword injury to her abdomen, and excessive blood loss made her head spin and her hands and feet cold, especially in such an environment.
What pained the young girl the most was that she realized her pouch containing holy water had been lost in the avalanche.
‘Is this how I die…?’
She turned over, quietly lying in the snow, gazing silently at the sky. She was well aware of how far she was from Nemeses and the others. The Crusians would certainly not make it in time. She felt the cold beginning to numb her body and heart, waves of sleepiness and fatigue washing over her.
‘At least I didn’t fail.’
Freya sighed slightly in her heart. This was the boldest decision and craziest act she had ever made in her life, but ultimately, she was not that person; it was only this time, and the last.
She closed her eyes, and in the pitch darkness, it seemed there were countless points of light gathering, emerging as shadows of the Butche mountains, and then coalescing into the face of that person.
‘Brendel…’
A sense of peace filled Freya’s heart as she quietly waited for that moment to arrive, but heaven did not seem inclined to grant her this honor. Just as she gently closed her eyelids, a light crack was suddenly heard from the snow.
The sound was not loud, but to Freya, it was like thunder. She abruptly opened her eyes and turned her head with difficulty, and indeed saw a dark arm stretching out from beneath the snow.
‘How is this possible…’
Freya silently exclaimed in her heart. There should be no one else beneath the snow other than that monster. Instinctively, she reached for the Lionheart Sword, but the monster reacted more quickly than she did.
With a loud boom, it was as if a tremendous force exploded from beneath the snow. A shadow surged up from the snow pile, enveloping her in a cloud of snowflakes, instantly pinning her down. The silver monster had one hand around Freya’s neck and the other pressing down on the hand holding her sword.
It lowered its head and coldly stared at the human girl who had made it utterly miserable.
Compared to Freya, it could be said to be even more distressed at this moment. It had long since lost its former splendor; one wing behind it was gone, and its mercury-like body was no longer smooth and flawless but riddled with pockmarked wounds. Its originally bright silver skin had dulled to an almost iron-gray color.
Freya had seen this color during the battle last night. When a monster reached such a state, it often chose to extract a person’s life force. This indicated that once it was in such a state, it was likely only a hair’s breadth away from death.
“What a… pity…”
Freya thought weakly. She could noticeably feel her remaining life force slowly draining through the monster’s hand. Earlier, she could still squint and glare at the terrifying creature, but soon she felt it hard to even breathe.
Freya’s breathing gradually quickened.
The silver monster sneered, “Your kind is as cunning as you were thousands of years ago, identical in every way.” It crouched down next to Freya and grabbed her by the neck, as if wanting to enjoy the sight of her suffocating to death from oxygen deprivation.
But just at that moment, the action caused Freya to accidentally knock the stone slab from her pouch onto the ground with a ‘clatter.’ The silver monster paused slightly, seeing the slab, seemingly surprised: “What is this? Wait, this is…”
It instinctively reached out to pick up the stone slab, but just as it released Freya’s sword-hand, the young girl seized the moment and mustered the last of her strength to let out a low shout: “Monster!”
With both hands gripping the sword, she thrust it toward the monster’s abdomen.
The silver monster, whether sensing Freya’s movement or completely unprepared, allowed the sword to plunge directly into its belly. It blinked, lifting its head to look oddly at the human girl before it:
“You don’t actually think this piece of junk can hurt me, do you? Your mortal attacks have no effect on me at all.”
It mockingly patted her cheek lightly: “Foolish.”
Freya’s narrowed eyes contained only burning rage.
She glared at the face of the monster, watching its crescent-like mouth curl into a cold smile, wishing she could kill it in one stroke.
However, the next instant, her plea seemed heard by some unknown deity. Suddenly, the monster’s crescent mouth drooped down.
It was like an expression of extreme pain appeared on its face.
It screamed suddenly and threw Freya away, clutching its wound and retreating wildly. The Lionheart Sword embedded in its abdomen erupted with roaring flames that spread over its entire body through the wound.
“This… is impossible!” the monster howled as it knelt on the ground. “Damn the War Goddess mark… ah ah ah ah!”
The silver monster almost instantly transformed into a fireball, but unfortunately, Freya did not get to enjoy her victory. Just as she was thrown to the ground, a scorching flame started emanating from her heart, engulfing her whole body in immense agony.
But Freya said nothing; her eyes only reflected sheer disbelief.
Because she understood what this meant.
The golden flames had been ignited.
And beside her, the stone slab that had fallen onto the snow erupted with the brightest light at that moment.
…
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