Chapter 792: Act 143 – Breath of Ice (Special Chapter for Catgirl’s Birthday)
(Happy birthday to the little cat~! ??????)
Duke Anlek and his group, led by Kehua, had passed through the central maze while Brendel’s wager was ongoing. The path ahead became increasingly spacious, gradually forming a corridor resembling a cavern inside a mountain. These corridors soared hundreds of feet high, with bases over thirty feet in diameter supporting pillar beams like the ribcage of a giant beast, and looking up, these magnificent columns were embedded in the walls on either side.
The hall was not empty; remnants of a primordial battle extended to this place, filling the vast corridor with skeletons large and small. These bones retained forms as they had in life, as if a brutal conflict had been interrupted by a sudden disaster, freezing all combatants in their final moment. Skeletons occupied the entire space, forcing Anlek and the others to weave through their gaps. He was now bypassing a skeletal figure with wings, clad in half-armor covered in silver feathers, though the once-glorious armor had lost its magical radiance, reduced to a pile of rusted scrap metal.
This was the corpse of a divine servant, a seraph. This golden lineage was completely annihilated in the Battle of Babel, with the few remaining members hiding beyond the elemental borders, vanishing along with the gods. Even now, Vaunte had some lesser divine descendants, but compared to these terrifying and beautiful beings, they were not outstanding among the People of Silver. Duke Anlek noticed the skeletal remains of a giant wolf that fought this seraph. The third segment of the spine behind the skull was notably whitened, a typical feature of the third generation of Dusk Wolves, descendants of Fenrir. They were once imprisoned by the divine, a permanent mark left by chains deeply etched into their bones.
Anlek’s gaze shifted away from the bones, narrowing his eyes:
“What is this place?”
“Contemplation Corridor.”
“And where does it lead?”
“To where you wish to go.”
Anlek turned back, near Dejyar, as the eldest daughter of Echis was shrouded in a jet-black robe, its surface marked with some crimson patterns. The dark fabric made her skin gleam as white as snow, her hood deep enough that only her pointed chin was visible. Yet, those red eyes sparkled coldly from within the shadows, a sharp glimmer readily felt. When Anlek didn’t speak, Kehua pressed her lips together, saying not a word. Since absorbing the fragment of another soul, she had transformed into her present self, devoid of the innocence and purity she once displayed.
Only when Anlek diverted his gaze did the girl show signs of discomfort, frowning slightly.
Anlek faintly sensed that Echis’s eldest daughter hadn’t forgotten everything, especially the demons from the River of Sulfur, who handed her the fragment of her soul and told him that it would make the unruly Kehua obedient. Yet, she displayed neither unruliness nor obedience. Although she became quiet, guiding them out of the maze.
“Lady Kehua.” Anlek thought for a moment, his voice a little hoarse.
Kehua looked at him.
“Do you remember what happened in this war?”
“What concern is that of yours?”
“I merely wish to admire that great war.”
The girl raised her head, surveying the hall with her icy gaze, “This is the site where the subordinates of Mann, the descendants of Fenrir, collided head-on with the seventh legion of seraphs in the Contemplation Corridor; they fought here, as you see.”
“And then?”
“There is no ‘and then.’ The dying Milos activated the central core, and the light of death indiscriminately enveloped the entire battlefield in an instant. I, Mann, and Mel, along with the commander of the third brigade, froze in that moment. The Frost Giants forever lost their father, and the Twilight Legion suffered heavy losses.”
“Central core?”
“It should still be nearby, though you need not worry; it must be severely damaged and should not pose a threat to you anymore.”
Anlek nodded, no longer speaking. Yet, within his calm heart, he felt an unusual surge. He could imagine what kind of war it must have been—Voidbeasts, descendants of Fenrir, seraphs, Frost Giants—those terrifying names from ancient times; in a moment, they were all turned to dust. Even an existence like Kehua was not exempt; this was twilight.
Thinking of this, he could not help but bow his head respectfully.
“Previously, I was rude, Lady Kehua, please forgive me.”
“It’s nothing.”
Kehua’s blood-red gaze under her hood showed no flicker of emotion as she glanced at the human before her, expressionless. However, deep within her eyes flared intense light.
…
Perhaps even Brendel did not know that the central defense core of the Sleeping Deity Temple had such a magnificent past. In his memory, it was merely one of the bosses within the temple, and its strength wasn’t even on par with the battle of the Twilight Twins. That core was located in one of the halls within the central maze. Before players restarted it, it lay silent under dust forever, and even when activated, it would be nothing more.
At that moment, Brendel was fulfilling his wager.
“Wait,” Alorze’s voice was urgent yet melodious as she glared at Brendel, “You are not allowed to use that thing you got previously.”
“So she remembers the Timepiece of Flowing,” Brendel thought, not entirely foolish; he raised his hands in mock surrender. He hadn’t gone mad enough to sacrifice experience for a wager.
“No other items can be used either,” Alorze added.
“You’re being too controlling; is this how you gamble?”
“You’re trying to cheat!” Alorze revealed a pair of sharp fangs, as if she would bite him if he refused. Brendel could only raise his hands in surrender, “Alright, alright, you’re the boss.”
The young female dragon felt proud, believing she had prevented Brendel from cheating. Based on her own abilities, she didn’t think he could outrun her. After all, she was a dragon—one of the mightiest gold dragons—though not as fast as the blue dragon, she certainly wouldn’t lose to a human.
But soon, she realized the major mistake she had made.
The core of the wager lay in navigating through the monster horde, rather than merely comparing who was faster—the young female dragon realized this in despair.
Thousands of breaths of ice, even dragons dared not take lightly. Every time she tried to advance, those scattered activation spells gathered like a wall, blocking her path forward. Alorze naturally did not dare to plunge straight in and could only find a way around. Luckily, Brendel pointed out six pillars they could use to navigate past these spells. Otherwise, the young female dragon would have nearly gone mad.
If she didn’t follow Brendel’s indicated route, she realized that she couldn’t move even a step.
Yet that cunning human was able to slip through the gaps between the monsters each time, and even at such a close distance, only a few chilling rays hit him. To be fair, each of them had a protective enchantment cast by Charles. Those chilling rays hitting Brendel had little effect.
“Damn, this place has a constant dimensional anchor!”
Charles’s exclamation came from who knows where.
In any case, apart from Xi, the remaining human and two dragons felt like crying; the young wizard attendant finally understood why her lord had such a composed expression while seeming amused at her. It turned out he was digging his own grave. However, she couldn’t fathom why her lord would know about the obscure dimensional anchor type spells in this place.
Brendel was chuckling to himself.
Alorze would never understand where the problem lay. In fact, before anyone invaded, the breath of ice was naturally distributed across the entire square. Since it was naturally distributed, the vast number of breaths could not lie evenly across every inch of the ground. And indeed, before being stimulated, most of these activation spells clustered together in groups. It was just that due to their sheer number, it appeared as if they covered the entire square.
This meant that, in fact, there were still one or two fixed paths of entry—
These classic entry routes were also summed up through thousands of failures by previous players; it could take over a thousand failures to outline a rule. And no matter how clever or talented Alorze was, she could not identify the only correct path through the thousands of breaths of ice at a glance. Yet Brendel could, thanks to having information advantages—or one might call it cheating.
He charged ahead along that sole correct route, driven into the cluster of breaths of ice as if he had poked a beehive. Though Brendel managed to keep his speed just right—not too fast, not too slow—almost perfectly matching the reaction speed and shooting distance of the breaths, making them unable to do anything to the fly that passed through them. But have you ever seen an angry swarm of bees?
These breaths of ice were no different; although their reactions were slow, once they sprung into motion, their sheer number became terrifying. Especially as Brendel deliberately disrupted their rhythm, causing them to bunch up behind him.
Countless scattered activation spells turned into chaos behind Brendel. Meanwhile, Alorze, Shi Ta, and Charles followed closely behind him, gritting their teeth, having not found the path through the breaths before they moved. When they began to stir, the breaths became like surging waves; anyone attempting to dive in would likely end up as mere bones.
After advancing a bit further, Alorze could only stop and stomp her feet, “Brendel, you crafty human!” The young female dragon waved her claws, angrily shouting at Brendel’s back.
Brendel pretended not to hear as he rounded the final pillar, tossing two small stones into the nearby clusters of breaths of ice. This action was akin to poking a beehive; the nearby activation spells immediately erupted in fury and pursued him. He turned back, looking at the activation spells that were several distances behind him; apart from a few that had been drawn towards Alorze and Charles, most were guided into the direction opposite him.
If he remembered correctly, there were two exits to the north of the Eternal Oblivion Square, with the eastern exit leading to the central maze. He intended to lure these breaths of ice over there first. However, there was a problem: the two massive activation spells at the exit would be hard to evade at his current speed. Furthermore, after drawing these activation spells over, how would he turn back?
Within the game, this wasn’t impossible, but he was a warrior, not known for agility like a nightingale—this was precisely the difficulty of the entire monster-redirecting technique. However, Brendel knew that the techniques of that era had many flaws, and he personally revised numerous meaningless action paths. For himself, he had confidence; after all, he was a pure class warrior over level one hundred.
Lacking agility, he would compensate with experience.
Glancing back, those breaths of ice clustered closer, but their massive number actually hindered their forward speed. After estimating, he realized that the breaths on either side presented a greater threat to him. In fact, at that moment, several chilling rays shot towards him from the sides. However, Brendel lightly leaped, causing all attacks to miss him, then he swept sideways through the hall, reached the final pillar, looked up, and the eastern exit was within arm’s reach, guarded by two massive activation spells.
They looked like enlarged versions of the breath of ice; each was at least sixty or seventy feet in diameter, surrounded by dazzling blue orbs like orbiting satellites. However, Brendel knew those were their attack methods, so he deliberately avoided them. Regardless, he ultimately had to pass between those two breaths of ice—there was no trick, only relying on Charles.
He immediately sank his consciousness into his mental realm and said, “Charles.”
……
A long line of hooded figures in black robes stopped before an ancient, grand door. The door, made from obsidian, shared the same star pattern typical of this location. At its center, stars circled around a lone star whose position was now reduced to a hollow space. All lifted their heads to gaze upon this towering hundred and twenty-foot giant door, flanked by two skeletal figures, each holding massive ice-blue axes, their heads bowed, their helmets split in two.
“Is this the Frost Giant Guards?” Dejyar’s voice hissed.
Anlek nodded.
“Are we there?”
“Behind this is the Spiral Hall,” Kehua replied coldly.
The duke turned back, seeing the black-robed knights of the Everything Returns Society before him, “Find a way to open this door; others, guard this hall.”
He took a breath, his heart finally stirring; the plan was now in its final stage, and success was within reach. But Anlek suddenly squinted, noticing a dark passage leading from the Contemplation Corridor. He glanced that way and asked, “What direction is that?”
Silence fell over the hall, and no one answered. He had to turn back to Echis’s eldest daughter. She silently glanced at him.
“Eternal Oblivion Square.”
“What is that place?”
“Unknown.” Kehua shook her head, seemingly genuinely unclear.
“Unknown?”
“However, I know that the Mann brothers escaped in that direction. Why, don’t you believe it?” Kehua met Anlek’s gaze with her blood-red eyes, her expression calm, showing no trace of emotion.
Anlek frowned.
“Dejyar,” he commanded, “Take people over there to investigate.”
Kehua seemed unfazed by the command, turning back to quietly regard the obsidian giant door before her.
……
