Chapter 180: Azure Fire Burning the Moon, bl**d Stained Royal City (14)
“Howl howl howl——”
The monster’s bizarre and long howl echoed in my ears.
It missed its first attack and immediately switched tactics, launching itself at me with its four unnervingly red claws digging into the ground, its massive body leaping high.
d*mn it…
Crack crack crack!
The ice scythe in my right hand rapidly formed, exhaling a dense white mist, as I braced myself for the monster’s plummeting strike.
Bang——
“Ugh!”
The scythe pierced the center of the beast’s palm. At the same time, I got slapped away, soaring over the flowerbed and rolling on the ground for several circles before finally coming to a stop.
My legs are jelly…
Struggling to get up, I saw the monster still wanted to pursue me. Just then, a wind blade zipped through the air, slicing into it, causing a loud “boom” as it stumbled.
“Don’t lose your focus!” Victoria shouted at me from a distance.
I wasn’t losing focus… I just have no energy left…
My whole body felt weak.
But my mind was racing, filled with anxiety.
We were pretty far from the city outskirts; if we kept fighting while moving the battlefield… who knows how many people would d*e along the way. We had to try to lure it out as quickly as possible… Victoria’s Wind Order might just do the trick.
The monster was hunched over not far away… preparing to attack again.
I shouted at Victoria: “Wind Order! Lead it out of the city!”
“…I’ll give it a try.”
Victoria swiftly sheathed her sword and raised her left palm at the monster.
Boom——
A furious tornado erupted, sweeping half the square in an instant.
In my view, flowers and grass from the flowerbed, broken stone sculptures on the ground, and even the outlines of a few trees in the distant darkness were all lifted and crushed in the swirling dirt like cannonballs, crashing into the buildings further away.
“Whoa——”
I yelled as the gust swept me off my feet.
So powerful…
Dusting myself off and standing back up, I fixed my gaze — the silhouette of the monster struggled in the muddy dust, slowly rising off the ground and ascending into the air.
…Maybe this will work!
I felt a thrill inside, but in the next moment, my smile froze on my face.
“Howl howl howl——”
As if the tornado tore through space, the monster issued a deafening roar, infernal flames blasting into the sky, forming countless scarlet fireballs that flickered and danced in the wind, howling toward Victoria.
The wind came to a halt.
Victoria had to dodge. Her elegant figure danced through the air, evading every incoming fireball. The fireballs disappeared into the darkness behind her —
Boom boom boom boom!
A series of fiery explosions sent tongues of flame shooting up, causing buildings to collapse, while screams and wails blended together as gory bits of flesh flew out of the black smoke, merging into the monster.
My heart sank.
Suddenly, the massive figure of the monster charged out from the still lingering haze, trailing scarlet smoke, and lunged at me once more.
It seemed particularly fixated on me…
I quickly activated Moon Step and backed away, and as soon as I steadied myself, I twisted around and raised my arms to Victoria in a hug-like pose.
“Victoria!”
Victoria shot me a quick glance, her figure hesitating mid-air before she dove down, snatching me off the ground just as the monster reached us, lifting us up into the sky.
“Oof!”
I smacked my face against her shoulder.
Victoria didn’t hold back at all during her descent; the impact left me dizzy, and my nose took another hit with a pang that sent two hot streams out.
Nosebleed…
Bang!
The monster slammed down onto the spot where I had just stood, the dull thud echoing from below.
“Um… we gotta go… distract it!”
Tears in my eyes, I covered my nose, speaking in a muffled tone.
“Howl howl howl——”
The monster let out another terrifying roar from below, its incredible flames shooting into the air as it rapidly approached… Victoria reacted, zipping northward — the direction closest to the city walls.
I glanced back… just as I suspected, the monster was right on our tail.
From the moment the battle began, everything the monster said… its entire demeanor showed it was desperate to finish me off.
I wondered… if it didn’t want to k*ll me, it might just leave the royal city without a second thought.
I had no idea why.
I only knew that it was no longer Teresa.
Teresa was dead. The monster before me had become something else entirely.
It claimed it was… someone’s angel.
…Regardless, I could use this to my advantage, acting as bait while Victoria led the monster out of the city.
“Its target is you.”
“I know.”
The wind howled in my ears, my hair whipping from the back of my head to my face, stinging my cheeks.
“Howl howl howl——”
The monster roared behind us, closing in fast. Fifty meters… forty meters…
I kept my eyes glued to its gruesome form, frantically slapping Victoria’s back.
“Faster! Go faster!”
“It’s gaining on us! It’s gaining!!”
“Shut, up…”
Swish——
Suddenly, a blade of light veered behind us, slicing through the air toward the monster, but it managed to dodge by tilting to the side.
“Ha—huh—”
Victoria’s breaths grew increasingly ragged; I knew she was pushing herself to the limit.
But… the monster behind us seemed to be flying just a bit faster.
“Howl howl howl——”
In an abrupt roar, the monster ignited, a torrent of infernal flames swirling around it, forming colossal fireballs that shone like thousands of tiny suns hanging in the night sky, lighting up the darkness.
Oh hell…
I quickly raised my hand, “Crack crack crack!” as I summoned a huge, thick ice wall behind us. A surge of pressure shot through my arm — this was my first time trying to float such a large mass of ice… it was about my limit.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh——
With a deafening sound, the countless fireballs came hurling toward us.
Boom boom boom boom!!!
The fireballs collided with the ice wall, the scarlet explosions making my scalp tingle, as steam filled the air and a persistent hissing sound echoed from the wall, obscuring my view.
Can’t hold… the ice wall’s cracking…
“Victoria! Get down!”
Bang——!
The massive blocks of ice shattered into countless pieces.
At the same time, a strong sense of weightlessness washed over me.
Victoria didn’t even have time to look back; she must have sensed where the fireballs were coming from, and instinctively began to descend and dodge. It felt like a rollercoaster, the fireballs zooming past us, shooting toward the distant city like a meteor shower, demolishing houses and igniting the ground.
People engulfed in flames screamed as they exploded, turning into a grotesque mix of bl**d and guts, consumed entirely by the monster.
d*mn it… d*mn it!
I struggled to breathe, nearly grinding my teeth to dust.
“Beast——!”
A brilliant blue light erupted around me as I retaliated, conjuring dozens of sharp ice spikes and launching them at the now-very-close monster.
Pffft pffft pffft——
The monster didn’t even flinch, letting the ice spikes pierce its body, the impact only briefly slowing it down before charging at us even faster.
Gurgle gurgle.
I was so hungry…
I could feel drool pooling in my mouth…
My consciousness began to blur… my head throbbed.
The monster was now very close.
I caught sight of its terrifying jaw covered in spikes, opening again, tiny glimmers of red light flickering from the black abyss inside.
