Astrid has always believed that the so-called trump card is a tool to be used at the right mont, rather than sothing to be kept hidden until one’s death, unwilling to reveal it to the world.
Facing a power that might be on par with the Sword of Light, hiding her true strength now would likely lead to her demise without even knowing how she died.
"...Lowering the temperature reduces the activity frequency of elental particles, thereby controlling and restraining substances including gases."
As the ancient incantation was fully chanted, the deep blue brooch on Astrid’s chest radiated a brilliant blue light.
The suddenly lowered temperature effectively slowed the spread of the dark mist.
With the wind-blessed hairband fluttering continuously, the flowing wind also beca strong and orderly, even pushing back the deathly aura and revealing the barren land that had been eroded by it.
Feeling the intense cold around her and the few strands of wind that unintentionally brushed against her cheeks like knives, Lyra couldn’t help but narrow her eyes, her gaze on Astrid inevitably filled with astonishnt.
What... What kind of magic is this...
From the pronunciation of the incantation, it seed like many words had been scrambled and rearranged.
Moreover... Princess Astrid’s voice was also strange...
Could this be another magical language system she hadn’t encountered before?
Her mind briefly caught in a storm, Astrid’s series of special magical incantations shattered Lyra’s newly established understanding of magic.
However, now was clearly not the ti to delve into it. Although the cold wind temporarily suppressed the dark mist, it didn’t stop the deathly aura from spreading inward, nor did it an they were safe.
Lyra had a rough idea of Astrid’s ntal energy reserves. No matter what special magic the other had used, such a powerful effect would require a significant amount of ntal energy as a foundation. Ti was running out.
"Astrid, can you gather the wind in one place?" Lyra asked softly.
Astrid nodded in response, her cold red eyes slightly glowing due to the continuous output of ntal energy.
"Yes."
With this affirmation, Lyra raised her longsword, the dim light at the tip reigniting, dispelling the dense darkness ahead.
"Then let’s try to open a path, just enough to break through."
The attacker’s ntal energy strength and reserves far surpass theirs.
To escape, they needed to concentrate their power at one point, creating a vacuum area temporarily free from the dark mist.
After listening, Astrid slightly nodded, looking at the Sword of Light in Lyra’s hand, which had lost its sword form and was now pure light, like shards of space. She continued chanting the incantation.
"Gather shards of ice, and forge them sharp as storm-born spears!"
As she finished speaking, several sharp ice spikes appeared behind Astrid, roughly estimated to be nearly twenty in number.
The crystal-clear ice was as thick as pillars, with tips as sharp as spears, emitting a faint white mist as they floated.
If this scale of attack were used in a practical combat exercise at the Elizabeth Academy of Magic, Lyra admitted that even she, relying on the Sword of Light, would be turned into a siege.
Princess Astrid... how did she manage such a high-intensity magic release...
The ice spears shot out, the shattered ice elents covering the dark elents in patches, effectively slowing the spread of the dark mist on both sides. Simultaneously, the howling wind predicts the deathly aura ahead.
Having chanted three ancient incantation-based spells in a row, Astrid felt a dull pain in her head. The ruby pendant hanging on her chest flashed red, and a pure white crystal appeared in her hand.
Unlike the rescue-type crystals that could release defensive barriers, this stone contains Astrid’s own ntal energy.
Before entering the mountains, she had preserved a portion of her ntal energy using the Aura Vault to deal with ergencies, and now it was indeed useful.
Separating a strand of ntal energy and infusing it into the spell array, in less than three seconds, a surge of ntal energy poured back into her consciousness.
Astrid’s body trembled for a mont, and her dark leather boots involuntarily took a small step back.
"Now, Lyra," Astrid said.
Hearing this, Lyra injected the remaining ntal energy into the light sword. In an instant, a holy and flawless light enveloped the two within the barrier.
"Astrid, follow ."
Her light pink hair fluttered in the wind, Lyra’s face illuminated by the light, as if coated with a dazzling silver ring, her entire demo becoming sowhat different from usual.
Less confusion and hesitation, more determination and bravery.
Lowering her body’s center of gravity, she charged at an extrely fast speed into the vacuum area Astrid had opened.
From their brief previous contact, Lyra knew that the Sword of Light in her hand had the ability to sever death, and that was enough.
As the light subrged into the darkness, more mist poured down. Lyra looked at the shadows rushing towards them, swung the light sword horizontally, the scorching brightness carrying a wave that split the humanoid forms in two.
Behind, the dense deathly aura was frozen by the frost, firmly blocked two ters away.
Just as Lyra breathed a sigh of relief, she noticed the wind ahead gradually being enveloped by the mist, losing its previous sharp montum.
Princess Astrid’s affinity with the wind elent was far inferior to that of the legendary wind-specialized mage, Countess Carlotta. Even with the hairband, the effect she could exert was quite limited.
Astrid also noticed this, diverting the ntal energy originally intended for wind magic into the ice attribute magic amplified by the deep blue brooch. The temperature in space dropped sharply once again.
The shadows intertwined and layered, the humanoid dark mist that had just been separated by the light sword reford into solid entities, the dripping ink even vaporizing into more dark mist, drifting towards the two enveloped in darkness.
This ti, for so reason, their speed was faster than before, so fast that the ice elents hadn’t yet successfully frozen them, and the dark mist, like locusts flying over a field, broke through the ntal energy’s blockade.
Lyra clenched the sword hilt with all her might, using light magic to protect herself and Astrid.
Then, almost instinctively, she thrust the sharp sword tip into the ground.
In that instant, a dazzling halo burst from the sword tip, the light refracted by the sword like ripples on water, continuously spreading waves across the grass.
This strike didn’t use any ntal energy, even the action was subconscious, as if the Sword of Light in her hand was guiding her on how to use it correctly.
However, seeing the shadows disintegrate inch by inch under the halo and the mist rapidly dissolving as if encountering a nesis, Lyra barely managed to relax.
She glanced back at Astrid, ensuring the other was unhard, and continued walking along the opened escape route.
"With pure dark elents staining the dusk, annihilate life, nourish death..."
Within the dark mist, a crisp female voice echoed from all directions.
Hearing this, Lyra imdiately tensed her muscles, trying to locate the source of the voice, while Astrid, holding the girl’s hand, paused her steps, her red eyes flashing with a complex expression.
English? In this era, is there soone else besides her who can read Elders Speech?
For a mont, Astrid felt a sense of nostalgia, as if hearing her native language in a foreign world.
But the next second, this nostalgia was replaced by an overwhelming sense of suffocation.
From what she knew, currently only ancient humans could fully read Elder’s Speech, and those who had survived the cataclysmic events from ancient tis to the present were likely no ordinary individuals.
If the likely ancient human, Gemini, was the Spellcreator, then what about this person now showing clear hostility towards them?
Just as the ancient incantation ended, the dark mist surged again, the aura of despair the open area where Lyra and Astrid stood.
.......
Outside the barrier, the dark-haired girl standing among the withered grass felt life fading within the dark mist. She remained motionless, her chest not even rising, like a statue standing there.
The sword that should have belonged to Moserria, the brooch worn by Grace, now appeared on two ordinary humans.
Moreover... that silver-haired, red-eyed woman can speak the sa language as her...
Who exactly is she?
After a while, a dazzling light pierced through the thick mist, and the already nominal defense barrier shattered like an eggshell.
Looking at the dispersing darkness before her, the girl didn’t show much emotion, only slowly raising her hand, gazing at the thin mist on her fingertips.
To let two such weak ants break through the Death’s Domain, although mainly due to that troubleso Sword of Light, but no matter how you look at it, she had already weakened to this extent.
How pathetic... Brennild...
Awakening from a great dream, only to fall into this state.
"Hmm... hah..."
Heavy breathing echoed through the forest, the nearly exhausted Lyra felt like she was about to be drained by the sword in her hand.
Five minutes ago, as the dark curtain fell, Astrid took out several bottles of potions with different effects from the ruby, using the chaotic elental reactions between them to successfully suppress the mist’s spread.
Seizing this opportunity, Lyra poured all her energy into the Sword of Light.
Simultaneously, the light elents stored in the potion react with the sword, ultimately forming a scorching light path through the darkness with ntal energy as the guide.
Upon contact with the moonlight, the dark mist could no longer maintain its form, and the shadows crumbled.
This battle had almost drained Lyra’s physical and ntal energy. If not for her willpower, she might not even be able to stand now.
Right... Princess Astrid...
Lyra turned her head to search for Astrid, only to see a red-eyed woman with silver hair standing with a staff, her eyes firmly fixed ahead.
In the place where the flowers and grass had been withered, Astrid saw the unfamiliar woman wrapped in layers of night.
"You can understand my language, can’t you?"
Brennild slowly spoke, her gaze falling on the tal ornant on Astrid’s chest.
Hearing this dark-haired woman, shrouded in dark aura, speaking in standard English, Astrid gathered her thoughts, which had beco sowhat chaotic due to excessive ntal energy use.
It seed this person was the one who had just chanted the ancient incantation and was the mastermind behind the dark mist attack.
"It’s not very polite to ask questions without saying anything first."
Astrid replied in English, her red eyes calmly fixed on Brennild across from her.
Although they spoke the sa language, Astrid felt no joy of eting, only deep wariness.
Not only did the other use Elder’s Speech as the primary ans of casting spells, but she could also fluently express the aning of sentences. This alone was enough to make her vigilant.
Was she, like Gemini, also an ancient human?
Hearing Astrid’s response, Brennild’s curiosity grew even more intense, though she didn’t show much on the surface, only silently gazing at Astrid before slowly raising her arm.
"If you don’t want to speak, I’ll see for myself."
As she finished speaking, thick dark mist surged from Brennild’s palm, twisting into the shape of a long, scaled dark snake, which shot out suddenly.
Lyra instinctively raised her sword to block this attack for Astrid, but the previous battle had drained too much of her energy, her movents and reactions were half a beat slower, and the dim Sword of Light didn’t shine with enough light to defend as she willed.
Seeing this, Astrid quickly chanted a spell to strengthen the transparent ice armor on her body.
However, the dark snake seed unbound by the laws, piercing through the ice armor upon contact and entering her body.
"Astrid?"
Hearing Lyra’s anxious voice, Astrid suddenly felt her heart tighten. The next second, specks of dark mist seeped out from her hair.
Simultaneously, Brennild’s pupils contracted suddenly, her previously calm face now showing a noticeable change.
"This aura is... Mother?"
"How is this possible..."
The life that should have been withered under this wisp of dark mist now stands unhard before her, without even a trace of actual damage.
And if the other hadn’t perished from this strike, Brennild, with her current strength, couldn’t possibly probe the mories.
Feeling the dark mist naturally repelled by her spirit, quickly disappearing without a trace, Astrid removed her hand from her chest, looking at the unfamiliar woman almost blending into the night.
Brennild felt her mind in chaos, the ntal backlash from the dissipating dark mist stimulated her rationality.
Who exactly is she... why does she carry Her aura...
Seeing Brennild clutching her forehead, her pale arm exposed, Lyra used the last bit of strength to ignite the Sword of Light in her hand, the once moon-like brightness now reduced to a faint glow like a firefly.
Gently exhaling, Lyra suppressed the kindness in her heart, turned her wrist, and pointed the sword tip at the stiffened Brennild.
"Astrid..."
She groaned, seeking Astrid’s opinion, but before Astrid could respond, she saw Brennild fall backward.
The dense shadows at this mont were like a deep pool, Brennild sinking into it, allowing the darkness to engulf her body.
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