Chapter 817: Act 166 – The World
The Dark Kehua sneered proudly, but her eyes were filled with unmistakable anger.
In the biting frosty wind, the dark sky thundered, and banners were raised with a howling advance. The metallic dragon head sculpted at the top of the flagpoles reflected a pale cold light under the dim illumination—Milos’s frost giants worshipped the dragon, a tradition since ancient times—a massive dragon helmet gradually came into view. Across the boundless plain, ancient and mighty hymns seemed to resonate from all directions. Brendel looked around, enemies closed in on all sides.
“Ancient souls, bless us to slay our enemies.”
“Blood flows across the land, clearing the path through thorns.”
“In our homeland, the dragon whispers low.”
“Dark clouds shroud, starlight hovers in the universe.”
What unfolded before him felt as if it had emerged from a forgotten history of epochs long past—both desolate and distant. The wide boundless plain, yet it distinctly overlapped a platform suspended above a cylindrical abyss, seeming like a stretched perspective through a wide-angle lens, generating a strange but remarkably reasonable feeling.
Brendel still could not understand why Kehua could so seamlessly integrate into Milos’s domain as if it were her own. In his imagination, the Dark Kehua would have to wield Milos’s domain because even though Milos’s kingdom would suppress all external rules and elements to the utmost, the chaotic power she had just recently awakened was extraordinarily weak, meaning that even if suppressed, she still benefited in reality, and could surely rely on her exceptional combat experience to gain victory.
However, what was happening before him was completely beyond his expectations. The Dark Kehua had indeed summoned Milos’s kingdom, but within this realm, she was not weakened at all; instead, she commanded like a true king, summoning the winds and rains. To Brendel, this was utterly impossible; if she had this capability, why bother leaving herself so vulnerable, even getting injured at his hands? She could have controlled the situation from the outset.
Snow began to fall from the dark sky, the icy rain trickling down Brendel’s slightly pale cheeks, washing over the scars left from his previous encounter with the wolves. The frost giant army sang their battle hymns in the drizzle as Brendel stood motionless, contemplating a breakthrough strategy.
Rising cliffs resembled isolated wolf fangs on the horizon, and Kehua’s expression fell into Brendel’s sight.
“Why is she so angry?” The darkness before Brendel seemed to tear open a bright gap, allowing him to grasp a clue in the unseen. He incredulously raised his head to look at Kehua—she had obliterated herself. Brendel’s heart raced; there was only one possibility—Kehua had erased her own rules, completely extinguishing herself, becoming a part of Milos. Only in this way could she fully integrate into Milos’s realm.
She was no longer the Dark Kehua, but she was not yet Milos.
Brendel suddenly realized who it was—
The waking deity, Sulash.
“She actually had the heart to do that; isn’t this tantamount to coexisting with Milos?” Brendel recalled who had pushed her into such a dire corner—none other than himself. No wonder she had stared at him with such fury and hatred; this kind of animosity had become irreconcilable. Brendel felt utterly helpless, “What is the point of this? It clearly didn’t have to be this desperate. But what can I do now?” The frost giants’ army was closing in, not truly an army from history but a manifestation of the rules within Milos’s kingdom; Kehua was that supreme king, and if she wanted him dead, he had no choice but to die.
This was no longer a conflict between mortals and gods; this was an absolute disparity.
“There should still be a glimmer of hope; let me think.” Under such dire circumstances, Brendel calmed instead, and soon a brilliant idea formed in his mind.
He raised his head, a strange light flickering in his eyes: “Then allow me to give you a chance, daughter of Echis.”
He suddenly dropped the Earth Sword and walked towards the frost giant army.
“What is he doing?” The Dark Kehua was momentarily stunned, her blade-like platinum eyebrows flicking up, “Has he gone mad?”
But she was currently extremely wary of Brendel and would certainly not easily give him an opportunity. Seeing Brendel approaching her direction, she thought for a moment and tightened the formation of the frost giant army even more. She didn’t believe that this army couldn’t stop just one person. With one force bringing down ten, no matter what tricks Brendel had up his sleeve, as long as she gave him no chances, he would only be in vain.
Having made such a significant sacrifice, she would not allow herself to fail again. Caution and care had almost become her instinct; however, being careful and restrained should not have been her character. Brendel had forced a change in her habits, and thinking of this made her incredibly furious.
Brendel watched the frost giant army gathering before him.
If only the Frost Songstress Xina were still available; right now would be the perfect time to deploy her. Although the frost giants’ clan army was one of the legendary armies, they likely wouldn’t withstand such a formidable force. It was a pity that it was all just a fantasy; Sibers had given him a broken Frost Songstress Xina, and he had no idea when it could be repaired.
Sighing, the elongated black crystal on his forehead began to appear faintly—he had to use the Heart of Echis.
Across the vast plain, the howls of wolves echoed long.
The Dark Kehua’s spirit stirred slightly.
She could naturally hear it; that was the sound of wolves, and they were not those inferior beasts; they were her kin, the wolf tribe of dusk. The mournful, elongated howls seemed to foretell the end of the world, where sun, moon, and stars no longer rose, and all returned to chaos, while the wolf pack fed on the world—one of the clans still closest to their mother—the black wolves, along with their alpha.
She looked at Brendel with a complicated expression as he slowly crossed the plain, like a prophet described in a poem, the wolf pack following in tow.
This scene was incredibly bizarre.
As the leader of the monstrous beings in twilight, the foremost among Echis’s twelve daughters, commanding the frost giant army, while the heir of the Dark Dragon, the chosen of Martha, was followed by the wolf pack of dusk. At this moment, the ancient opposing sides seemed to have swapped places, and Kehua felt a vague unease; she sensed that this heralded something.
Those beings born from the brilliant order of the classical age had gradually faded away, turning to dust after brutal wars and disappearing into history. Meanwhile, those of the black iron generation, eroded by dark magic, emerged from thorns, breaking away from ignorance, igniting their own spark in the wasteland. Behind them, the brilliance of the deities faded, replaced by a layer of shadow even she could not penetrate. In a daze, Kehua suddenly felt—defenses had reversed.
Although on the vast plains, compared to the frost giant army, that human man and his wolf pack still seemed a mere drop in the ocean.
The wolf pack was passing through Brendel like a rushing tide.
Brendel ordered them to form a wedge assault formation; the black wolves and their alpha, while far fewer, could not match the combat prowess of the frost giants. He only hoped they could make a breach in the giant formation through their superior charge. Under his command, the wolf pack began to accelerate, and the giant army did the same. The icy rain in the sky grew denser, creating a scene of fierce wind and heavy rain, as both sides prepared to charge in the downpour.
In the next moment, the two armies collided.
The frost giants, averaging over four meters tall, seemed to dwarf the giant wolves that were merely the size of horses compared to them. This was a struggle between wolves and men, both opposing sides inheriting memories from ancient times; they were not meeting for the first time but were ancient adversaries who had battled for nearly ten thousand years. The wolf pack indeed tore a gap through the giants thanks to their speed. However, the outer obsidian leopards evaporated in mere minutes as if vaporized; they couldn’t inflict any harm on the frost giants, while the giants could crush them with a mere wave of their arms.
The rear black wolves began to push in, marking the first casualties among the frost giants; they were knocked back, with some even trampling each other to death due to the dense formation. Yet, despite this, after advancing nearly a hundred meters, the wolf pack fell into a heavy encirclement.
A male wolf came to Brendel’s side, a scar in its eye that marked the last battle in the Loop of Trade Winds, with burn marks on its fur from the battle at Ampere Seale. This male wolf had followed Brendel the longest, and he still remembered the scene of it crossing the Black Forest to come to his side. He stroked its cheek, and the male wolf obediently lay down, allowing Brendel to grasp its mane and mount its back.
Brendel raised the Earth Sword again.
The alpha wolf raised its head and let out a mighty howl.
Brendel looked up; the cliff where Kehua stood was barely a thousand meters away, and even at this distance, he could see the astonishment on her face. Slaughtering her own kin must have been no easier for her, but just the sight of her expression was enough to reveal so much. It was as if Brendel had taken a calming pill, patting the alpha wolf’s neck.
With a roar, man and wolf leaped from the formation.
They reformed the spearhead of the wolf pack, and this spearhead was undeniably sharp; under Brendel’s personal assault, the frost giant formation began to melt like ice. Upon seeing this, Kehua felt an intense surge of anger; that semblance of pity from before vanished without a trace. She furiously ordered the frost giants to focus their attacks on Brendel.
Two frost giants approached from either side; Brendel sensed that he had indeed caught Kehua’s attention. He swung his sword fiercely forward, a faint glow bursting forth—a long-range area attack, a unique ability of warrior-type elements after awakening. Compared to the White Crow Swordsmanship, it was far more powerful, but the cost was much greater. The glow swept across the frost giant line like a crescent moon, showering blood. Several frost giants fell as their pale blue hair quickly turned white and gray, their faces becoming wrinkled and skeletal, dying in an instant—a typical passive effect of the time element—passing. Kehua noticed this detail, and her gaze darkened further.
After Brendel’s attack, disaster was far from over for the frost giants. With a thunderous crash, the Earth Sword resonated with the land, and a line of rock spikes erupted, causing a brutal gore among the nearby frost giants.
This strike nearly exhausted all his strength; even after using it, Brendel found himself panting. Yet the effect was remarkable, as it opened a nearly thirty-meter deep gap in the frost giant formation. He exhaled in relief; these frost giants were not as formidable as he imagined. Since Kehua simulated the rules and merely retained the base strength of the golden lineage, they possessed only about the strength of low to mid-tier gold. For his combat prowess, it wasn’t a significant issue.
His experience grew rapidly, but Brendel was still unsure if it was enough to level up; he had no time to pay attention to his panel. The alpha wolf charged left and right, and Brendel occasionally grabbed the head of an oncoming frost giant, unleashing Bahamut’s blessing, engulfing it in flames and sending it flying. He swung his sword, beheading foes, and fought his way through.
Yet even so, fewer wolves followed him, as the frost giant army seemed endless. Brendel looked up; enemies were closing in from all sides, with no escape route in sight.
The last of the male wolves fell behind him.
The final opportunity was at hand.
Brendel knew what he had to do; he patted the alpha wolf’s neck. The seated wolf was already covered in injuries. “Take me home one last time, buddy,” he whispered. The alpha wolf seemed to understand his murmurs, its gray eyes showing cold indifference, yet suddenly, it turned, letting out a low growl. Brendel felt the scenery around him dissolve, and his body lifted. He understood; the alpha wolf had taken to the air.
Three hundred meters to Kehua.
Brendel felt that the alpha wolf had brought him to the highest point; below him were the heads of the frost giants surging, and the wolf made a whimpering sound, as if to remind him of something. Brendel nodded in understanding, raised the Earth Sword, and with nearly all his strength, he swung from below upwards toward the front.
A brilliant moon cut through the frost giant army.
In an instant, blood and meat went flying.
Then in the next moment.
A long line of rock spikes shot up from the ground, forming a nearly hundred-meter-long path through the frost giants. Brendel leapt from the back of the alpha wolf. The laws of Milos suppressed his elements to only a range beside him, as he couldn’t fly, but this distance was enough. He landed steadily on a rock spike, turning to look back; the alpha wolf was now falling into the encirclement of frost giants.
Brendel barely had time to sigh; he turned and dashed along the spike path toward the cliff where Kehua stood.
Two hundred meters left.
Kehua hadn’t anticipated that even in this situation, Brendel would force his way through a bloody path. Clearly, he possessed only the strength of awakened elements, yet his resilience was remarkable. The distance to her was closing, and in that moment, her initial feelings of shock turned to fury, and she could not help but scream, “Mirkos’s giant dragon, stop him!”
A shriek echoed through the air.
Brendel felt his scalp tingle. He looked up to see two dragons dive toward him, one ahead and one behind. As for where these dragons came from, there was no doubt—within the realm of Milos, it was far too easy to bring forth whatever she desired. But Kehua had clearly lost her sanity; the power within her realm was not infinite; she had already paid too much just to deal with one mortal, making it almost a loss on her part.
Yet Brendel understood the depths of her hatred. Especially in the case of a woman fueled by vengeance, she could be completely irrational.
The air seemed to explode due to the force of the dragon wings. Brendel finally learned how those half-elf riders felt when facing Alorze; it was a wretched feeling of paralyzing fear, the mind going blank. If he could see his own eyes, he would find his pupils darkening from the immense pressure, as if a string stretched too tight were about to snap. Brendel couldn’t help but emit a roar, activating his charge skill at the last moment.
He dashed past the first giant dragon.
Brendel finally sighed in relief; drawing from previous experience, the fear in his heart dissipated somewhat. However, the second giant dragon was already diving into his path, spiraling down. In an instant, it would reach above his head. Brendel knew well that dragons were highly intelligent beasts; after seeing the fate of its companion, it would not easily fall for the same trick twice.
Moreover, he had no cooldown on his charge skill left.
The dragon flapped its wings and started descending. Brendel saw it was a red dragon that pulled a long flame behind as its wings beat, completely evaporating the rainwater in its wake. It screeched past, the scorching heat nearly overwhelming. Brendel had no choice but to activate the Toughness of Trees skill, but even so, the flames washed over him, turning him to ash in an instant.
The Dark Kehua watched the scene, unable to hide her excitement and relief. However, just as she savored her moment of joy, her expression darkened swiftly.
For a moment later, she saw Brendel once again, now appearing behind the red dragon—
That was an illusion; her dragon had been tricked.
The Dark Kehua clenched her fists in rage.
…
