Chapter 204: Act 138 – First Contact, The Wall of Elements
As Brendel contemplated, Duke Grudin had already snapped his fingers. Immediately, two servants brought forward a wooden box each, cleared the table, and placed the boxes in front of Brendel. They bowed slightly and then retreated.
The Duke stood up and gestured politely to Brendel.
“What is this?” Brendel thought to himself that this guy definitely wouldn’t be giving him anything good. Although he was a viscount, there was no need for Grudin to fawn over him. Moreover, after he had slapped Grudin so thoroughly earlier, it was beyond description that Grudin would come to him like this.
After hesitating for a moment, he nodded to Antinna, signaling her to open the box.
Upon receiving the instruction, the noble lady immediately got up to open the box. At that moment, she was acting as the viscount’s attendant and had to conduct herself with grace, not like someone who had to ask questions about everything as she normally did. However, just after Antinna opened the first box, her movements froze.
From Brendel’s perspective, he could see the noble girl tightly clenching her teeth, managing to hold back a scream.
What happened?
Antinna stood at the wooden box for a long moment, as if under some spell. Brendel saw her throat quivering slightly, almost making a faint clicking sound. The girl took a deep breath and finally turned away.
With a clatter, Romain’s fork fell onto her plate.
Brendel’s expression changed instantly.
Because inside the opened box was a human head—
To be precise, it was the head of the swordsman he had seen before; the swordsman’s eyes were tightly closed, drained of color, and his pale skin looked as if it was covered in a layer of rubber.
Brendel fell silent.
Antinna cautiously glanced at him, holding back, but finally let out a soft breath and opened another box—though the noble girl was close to breaking down inside, she still forced herself to play her role. Her fingers trembled so much that she could barely lift the lid of the box, but she finally managed to calm herself, slowly opening it.
Inside was another head, the severed head of a female elementalist.
Antinna lost all color in her face.
“That woman had a nice scent,” Duke Grudin said with a slight smile, “but a gentleman doesn’t seize another’s pleasure. I’ve heard that chalices made from the skulls of maidens hold fine wine, and I believe the viscount must not have tried it. As for the other one, let’s consider it a gift—”
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone in the hall heard a buzzing sound.
They immediately turned to see Brendel’s sword at his waist vibrating and half leaping out of its sheath, emitting a sharp sound, as if screaming in thirst for blood—his hands pressed on the table, lips tightly pursed, not saying a word, but everyone could feel a cold aura emanating from the young man—
A palpable intent to kill.
The nobles sitting next to Brendel were the first to bear the brunt, their knives and forks clattering to the ground, frozen in terror. The cold aura surged forward, and knights drew their long swords in an attempt to protect Grudin, who wore a smile, seemingly relishing this play with his opponent.
However, the smile quickly froze on his face.
This was because almost everyone present saw a layer of white frost climbing up the table—beginning from in front of Brendel, the silver plates snapped, and the porcelain shattered explosively, the shattered pieces becoming smooth granules or powder—frost surged forward, and in an instant, the tableware on the long table exploded into the air, forming a faint white mist, as if an invisible giant beast was crossing the table, heading straight for Grudin.
The two knights in front of the Duke let out low grunts as their long swords crumbled, and they immediately screamed and covered their eyes, blood seeping between their fingers.
Yet the screams in the hall were far less shocking than the turmoil within everyone’s hearts. Because witnessing this scene, all could only think of one phrase—
Elemental Response.
Even Brendel hadn’t expected to comprehend the meaning of the elements amid such rage; at that moment, he felt his thoughts as if they were in an endless and chilling darkness, the conflict between them harming others, and Grudin’s despicable and cowardly actions had completely crossed the most taboo line in his heart.
Brendel felt sick; yes, it was a feeling born from the depths of his being. He looked at this Duke, clothed in the guise of nobility, yet utterly filthy at its core. The hypocritical smile on his face seemed distorted into an absurd abstract image.
He felt a surge of impulse to eradicate this filth from the world.
But from that boundless rage, Brendel experienced another realization. It was not a cold killing intent; it was peace—space was still, full of anger, yet from this thought emerged another self-reflective thought. This thought cleared the young man’s mind, and he felt as though he could see his own anger from a transcendent perspective and calmly control it.
Or rather, it was as if at that moment there were two Brandels. One was completely enveloped in boundless killing intent, while the other calmly observed this angry Brendel from an outside perspective.
Thus, Brendel discovered he could fully grasp the anger within him.
He felt his power multiplying; this realization blended with the insights from his battle with his grandfather, and Brendel finally touched a firm barrier.
He knew,
That it was the Wall of Elements—
The moment he touched this wall, he felt a few extremely brief phrases rush through his heart: stillness, immobility, stability. Then this wall ruthlessly ejected him back; wanting to break through and discern the elements? Not yet qualified!
Then all the illusions crumbled; the world of his spirit shattered like glass, time instantly restored its flow, pulling him back to reality.
Then Brendel heard a popping sound like frying beans, glass and porcelain shattering before him; the temperature in the hall seemed to drop dozens of degrees, with thick frost forming on the walls.
The first thing Brendel did as he raised his head was place his hand on the silver-plated hilt. Just this one action forced Grudin and the twenty knights behind him to step back in unison, the chairs behind them cracking loudly, bursting into butterfly-like wooden shards.
“Protect me!”
Grudin screamed.
While the knights beside him were in no better condition, they had no choice under the command but to grit their teeth and draw their swords again; awaiting them was Brendel’s seemingly ordinary strike—
With his thumb and index finger positioned on the crossguard, the little finger hooking the hilt, the middle finger, ring finger, and palm controlling the sword’s stability. His wrist swung from left to right, and the elbow and shoulder traced the simplest arc.
White Crow Swordsmanship.
An explosion of force—
No matter how one looked at it, this was the most basic sword technique. It was like the first strike of an entry-level swordsman, the trajectory clear, the intent obvious; even someone with slight experience could easily judge how this strike would come.
Yet none of the twenty mid-tier knights of black iron had the ability to evade it.
That strike seemed to stretch through space, the chilling gleam on the blade sending a deep chill into everyone’s bones. The cold climbed their bodies, and in an instant, frost formed, creating a thick layer of ice.
Element, ice.
Unable to move—
A flash of white light swept by, and twenty heads flew into the air. In that moment, nearly everyone was stunned, no, not just stunned; they were horrified beyond themselves. Chairs and utensils toppled over, and the nobles on either side of the table scrambled back, tightly pressing against the walls—fearing even the cold, as if afraid to get close to that terrifying young man.
Twenty ice sculptures thudded to the ground before them, lifeless corpses. The breath of death displayed so openly before Duke Grudin for the first time. All his life, he had calmly controlled the lives and deaths of others, but at this moment, he finally understood that when life was ruthlessly stifled, the weaker side felt as impotent against fate as a drowning person.
It was a most profound sorrow, humanity’s proud civilization was utterly trampled.
He could no longer bear it; he thought Brendel was at most a mid-tier silver swordsman. This status was merely equal to him, and they could certainly exchange blows to establish dominance.
But now he finally realized how wrong he was; Brendel was no mere silver swordsman. He was a terrifying presence who had touched the edge of elements. No, once the elements awakened, that constituted something beyond humanity.
He now understood that the fellow sitting before him was not someone to be trifled with, but rather a beast that would choose its prey.
Brendel stood forward, his face cold, and with a ‘rip’ the long table was split in two. Others didn’t even see how he acted; they only saw the young man advance, and there was no longer an ounce of obstruction between the Duke and himself.
Brendel remained silent, his hand once again placed upon the hilt.
“I am the lord of the kingdom—!”
Grudin broke down, unable to hold back a wail. He looked around in a panicked manner, hoping to see anyone come to his rescue, but unfortunately, there was no one. Everyone was paralyzed with fear, never expecting a fine banquet would develop into such a situation, or rather, they could never imagine that a being touching the edge of the elements would come to such a remote place.
Brendel walked step by step forward, looking at this guy as if he were a dog.
He let his hand drop, preparing to end the life of this man.
But just then, Brendel felt a hand on his own. He was slightly taken aback, turned around, and saw Xi holding her war lance, her amber eyes looking seriously at him.
“Xi?”
The red-haired girl looked at him and shook her head.
(PS: For students who feel the plot is incoherent, please continue reading. Due to daily update limitations, not everything that needs to be conveyed can be expressed; the answers you seek will appear in later sections.) (To be continued. For more information on what happens next, please log in. More chapters await; support the author, support legitimate reading!)
