Chapter 410: Act 163 – The Foggy Forest
Veronika lifted her head, her aquamarine eyes reflecting the fifteen heads of the Saintly Hydra forming a ring in the pitch-black night sky. Even someone as formidable as this imperial war goddess couldn’t help but hold her breath. The colossal beast above the cloud layer detected the slightest movement in the forest below, its crimson eyes, akin to fresh blood, spotting the tiny human. However, after its fifteen heads twisted serpentinely, only the seventh head remained, rearing high and vaporizing into a cloud in midair.
Attacks rained down from the cloud, countless energy arrows shooting forth, aiming directly at Veronika below. But Brendel cursed under his breath, for the strike area was immensely vast, covering an area of nearly a thousand feet, almost encompassing the entire grove of maple trees.
The sight of over a thousand white energy arrows piercing into the forest was both terrifying and magnificent—a splendid scene for onlookers, but a suffocating one for those caught in the middle, faced with imminent death.
Brendel was no exception, but he instinctively rolled to the side. Immediately, over a dozen arrows, thick as water buckets, pummeled his original standing position, knife-like energy slicing down and scattering the leaves. Gaps of various sizes instantaneously appeared in the grass.
Xi, standing nearby, reacted just as quickly, elegantly dodging the translucent energy currents like a graceful and beautiful female leopard, then moving closer to Brendel.
As the second wave of attacks from the Saintly Hydra could strike at any moment, the two were preparing to flee the perilous location when they heard a furious shout: “Did I grant you permission to leave—?” Among the three, Veronika endured the brunt of the assaults, hundreds of saturated blows almost forming a terrifying white whirlwind in midair. Normally, even those who had transformed their essence wouldn’t escape unscathed, yet to Brendel and Xi’s astonishment, Veronika not only remained unharmed but also had the strength to hold them back.
Brendel couldn’t resist glancing back and saw a sky-blue, transparent barrier had appeared around Veronika. Sharp white energy streams striking it were immediately deflected, dissipating into nothing. Although the transparent barrier flickered, it didn’t seem like it would break anytime soon.
Standing firm against the storm of strikes with her sword in one hand, Veronika’s eyes were aflame with anger, and Brendel swallowed hard, fully aware that he had genuinely angered her this time. Facing an enraged imperial war goddess was not something he relished; as soon as he saw her grip tighten on the sword, he made a sudden leap into a nearby valley.
A beam of white light shot forth from Veronika’s sword, forming a wide sword light spanning several dozen meters. The sword light passed just above the now-prone Brendel and Xi, striking a nearby stream with a thunderous crash, evaporating the water from the riverbed—causing a temporary stop in the creek’s flow before it gradually resumed.
The sheer power of the Saintly Sword was terrifying. Brendel watched the cut-off creek, his scalp prickling. He turned back to see Veronika preparing for her second strike, his heart sinking. Grabbing Xi’s hand decisively, he shouted, “Xi, be ready!” Xi was taken aback, but Brendel had already surged forward. As he burst into motion, Veronika launched her second sword strike; the sword energy barely missed Brendel as he transformed into a continuous black line, vanishing into the forest, while a thunderous crash hit a row of trees.
At that moment, it felt as though a fierce wind swept through the forest, dozens of massive trees that would take ten people to encircle were severed, flung far away, only to crash down afterward.
Seeing her two strikes go astray, Veronika couldn’t help but bite her lip in frustration—she hadn’t lost her composure like this since the Highlands War against the Hazell people. However, that young man repeatedly seeing through her sword techniques left her puzzled; she even began to doubt whether there was some connection between herself and him. Her sword technique, “Celestial Wall,” was a closely guarded secret of the Presco family and one of the rare advanced sword arts in Cruz Empire based on the wind element.
However, using “Sword Barrier—Reflux” required the swordsman to remain stationary. As the aftershocks of the Saintly Hydra’s strikes had yet to dissipate, Veronika could only watch as Brendel escaped. She looked up, wondering how long this giant beast’s assault would last. Although the “Sword Barrier—Reflux” was said to be invincible, that was an exaggerated claim. If the Saintly Hydra truly exerted itself, even this imperial war goddess wouldn’t dare to be so complacent.
But as she looked up, she was slightly startled.
Veronika saw the seventh head of the Saintly Hydra completely disintegrate into countless energy arrows, those white streams scattering midair, and then converging toward her in a point, at that moment resembling a white chrysanthemum blooming in the night sky.
A deadly flower.
Veronika furrowed her brows slightly, unleashing the wind element; the azure light surrounding her thickened further, allowing numerous arrows to pummel against her barrier without result. Still, she found it strange that the Saintly Hydra would split its attack; was it merely to ensure a hit? That seemed unusual, as the creature should have possessed the intelligence of a high-tier magical entity.
This seasoned imperial war goddess instantly became alert, soon realizing that the energy arrows which struck the forest did not dissipate, but rather reformed and gathered together.
Vaporized?
Veronika raised an eyebrow sharply, watching as those converging mists reformed into white knights—she had never seen such knights mounted on tall horses described in any records, and the misty armor did not belong to any formal army of the Vaunte world.
They were neither elves, humans, dwarves, nor even undead.
“What are these?” Veronika sensed that the new wave of attacks from the Saintly Hydra was not energy arrows, but rather these bizarre knights that had reassembled in the forest. She dispelled her protective barrier, watching warily at these newly appeared odd enemies.
…
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Brendel, dragging Xi, halted his charge hundreds of meters away, despite the many obstacles in the forest. Fearing that Veronika or the Saintly Hydra would catch up, he didn’t dare to slack off, quickly surveying the surroundings before heading toward the valley to the south with Xi. In Brendel’s view, with the imperial war goddess blocking their way, returning to the Saintly White Stone was impossible, meaning they could only push forward. Fortunately, the frost tide had passed, and survival in the Black Forest was momentarily manageable.
“Although Antinna is likely to be quite worried,” he thought, yet at this moment, he couldn’t afford to dwell on such concerns.
However, just as Brendel contemplated this, he suddenly heard Otales’s warning: “Be careful!” He looked up to see a long spear piercing through the mist straight toward him. Because the entire process was silent, he nearly collided with it. Startled, he hastily retreated, only to bump into Xi behind him, both letting out muffled grunts. But Brendel couldn’t waste a moment feeling the impact; as he stepped back, he immediately pushed the girl aside, letting the vaporized spear graze past his chest.
Then he saw the foe.
A knight riding a massive four-legged dragon slowly emerged from the mist—this initial impression was somewhat misleading, as it would be better described as a knight on a tall horse forming from the fog. Or perhaps the being itself was composed of mist; it withdrew its spear and cast a blurry gaze at Brendel.
As Brendel stared at the entity, he couldn’t help but shudder—wasn’t there just the Saintly Hydra in the mist? There were also lesser creatures? This was his first thought.
As soon as he turned his thoughts, the knight lifted its spear and lunged. Its attack was fast and fierce, and the mist spear was unique; during the attack, he hardly felt any airflow. This left Brendel quite disoriented. However, he discovered that the opponent wasn’t particularly strong, more in the mid-range commonality, and its greatest weakness seemed to be a lack of agility.
To verify this, Brendel decisively performed a feint, luring the opponent to attack. As expected, the mist knight fell for the bait; Brendel casually grabbed the opponent’s spear—but it was a miss—an incorporeal being! Brendel’s heart raced, but his right hand didn’t hesitate; he unleashed the Earth Sword, piercing the opponent directly.
As a high-level magical sword, the Earth Sword Harlangea didn’t care whether it was an incorporeal being or not; the magic from the sword pierced right into the creature’s heart. The mist knight raised its head and let out a wail before dissipating back into the mist within the forest.
“System: You have repelled the monster Mist Nightmare (partial), gaining 1510 experience points.”
With the pale green text flickering across his retina, Brendel was momentarily taken aback. He bared his teeth; this creature yielded 1510 experience points, nearly as much as a lord-level black wolf. But the opponent was merely a standard monster, not even an elite or lord, and the prompt indicated “repelled Mist Nightmare (partial),” not “killed,” making it similar to undead creatures like zombies; unless eliminated with spells or purification weapons, it would only temporarily lose the ability to act.
At that moment, Otales said, “Young boy, this creature has a familiar aura.”
“A familiar aura?”
“I’ll give you a hint—it’s the Saintly Hydra.”
“Wait!” Brendel suddenly realized, “Lord Otales, are you saying this creature is formed from the mist of the Saintly Hydra?”
“Quick on the uptake.”
“No wonder it’s a Mist Nightmare (partial), and has a self-rebirth property…” This revelation made Brendel involuntarily draw a breath; if it was as Otales suggested, then this creature was certainly not the Saintly Hydra, or rather, the Saintly Hydra was merely one of its forms. In that case, it was indeed some kind of creature living in the mist.
Mist Nightmare—he seemed to have heard that name on the forums, but this monster appeared extraordinarily powerful!
Just then, Xi nudged his hand, signaling him to look at the ground not far away. Brendel was startled and looked over to find that in the direction where the mist knight had dissipated, numerous shadows of human-like figures were beginning to emerge from the mist. More were coming? Brendel instinctively raised the Earth Sword in his hand.
…(To be continued. To find out what happens next, please log in; more chapters await. Support the author and read legally!)
