Chapter 171: The Duke's Daughter Is Incredible
The Second Prince narrowed his eyes and raised his head, sensing the intense pressure bearing down from above the cloud layer.
"What is that?"
Within the clouds, sothing seed to be writhing and churning, sending wave after wave of force rippling through the air!
It twisted back and forth through the air, surrounded by dense white currents flowing all around it.
The clouds obscured its form, and the wind in the vicinity ca to a stop.
Dike stood beside the Second Prince, and even he himself sensed that sothing was wrong.
Having spent years in the Extre Northern Ice Plains, Dike had long since grown accustod to the cold—but this kind of weather stirred in him an inexplicable sense of unease and dread.
He stood beside the Second Prince and said respectfully:
"Your Highness... perhaps we should conclude the investigation here for today?"
This had already crossed into the territory of an abnormal situation.
The Northern Frontier, where wind and snow raged year-round, had gone completely still.
He needed to get back imdiately and report this to the General.
Yet the Second Prince did not respond to him.
As though noticing sothing, the Second Prince turned his gaze toward the group of Knights still conducting their investigation.
All of a sudden, he snapped his eyes wide open.
"Don't go near there!"
The Second Prince's voice rang out loudly, and the Knights who had approached the ruined temple and were about to go inside couldn't help but turn their heads.
But then, in an instant, their bodies went rigid.
As though a pair of enormous eyes, hidden within the still air, were watching their backs.
In the silence, the only thing they could hear was that distant voice carrying toward them.
"Run..."
BOOM—!!!
A thunderous roar, riding a storm, swept down from the sky!
A massive, blinding arc of light cut through the air—as though a tempest had descended upon the mortal world.
Carrying devastating force, it carved open the snowfield across the entire frozen plain, surging directly toward every last person atop the ruins.
In that split second, Dike swiftly grabbed the staff at his waist and raised it.
The staff instantly radiated a dazzling brilliance.
【Glory's Shelter】
An enormous energy barrier surged upward—as though inlaid with countless shining gems, flickering with a blinding radiance.
Yet before that savage force, it looked incomparably fragile.
A terrifying sight unfolded before the 2 of them.
The storm raged, carrying a horrifying oppressive force, devouring everything in its path.
Even that seemingly sturdy barrier trembled on the verge of collapse within the storm's fury.
In the end, a crack split across the barrier.
A single crrrack— rang out.
Like glass shattering apart, it could no longer withstand the surging tempest.
Dike was hurled back several hundred ters by the shockwave, slamming hard into an ice wall, and imdiately lost consciousness.
Only the Second Prince remained, still standing where he had been.
Without his noticing, pitch-black streaks had crept across his face one by one.
The storm had not managed to shake his body. Around him, several thorned vines had erupted from the earth, binding him tightly in place.
When the storm finally dissipated, he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood and dropped to one knee.
Grievous injuries...
And that was rely from being caught in the periphery of that terrifying attack—even with the barrier having absorbed a considerable portion of the force.
He had still sustained wounds this severe.
The Second Prince stared at the scene before him in absolute shock.
Everything around him had vanished entirely.
The seemingly derelict temple ruins, the Knights who had been scattered around them—as though swept away by the wind, everything had dissolved and dispersed beneath that staggering storm.
What in the world was that?
He snapped his head up to look, his gaze rising to the sky.
And he saw it clearly—its true form.
It looked like a... enormous, serpentine creature.
Its claws appeared even more powerful and massive than a dragon's, clutching a mass of pitch-black stormclouds, and gradually, it revealed its head.
A single, pitch-black, enormous skull.
Black as stormclouds, it seed to bear 2 antennae at the top of its head.
Its ink-black body rolled and churned endlessly through the cloud layer.
"...A serpent?"
The Second Prince stared wide-eyed, gazing up at the sky in terror.
That enormous creature, capable of weaving freely through the heavens.
It was absolutely not sothing a human could defeat.
It absolutely could not be a re serpent either.
Suddenly, its head moved.
As though sensing sothing, those great eyes—like 2 blazing lanterns—turned to look in one direction.
With a surge of its body, it dove back into the cloud layer.
The dark clouds gradually dispersed, and the weather began to recover.
Feeling the ice and snow fall upon him once more, the Second Prince finally stirred.
He dropped onto the ground and gulped down breath after breath of air in great heaving gasps.
For the first ti, he felt the sensation of death spreading through his heart.
That feeling had drawn so impossibly close to him.
"...Greed, are you still there?"
"What on earth was that just now?"
Under his questioning, Yem's voice ca through, trembling faintly.
"That was...a Calamity."
The Second Prince froze on the spot.
A Calamity?
What in the world was that?
"Don't ask any more."
"Don't let it find you. Don't. provoke it."
Yem's voice gradually fell silent.
The Second Prince stood motionless.
He raised his head again, looking toward the sky.
Toward the direction that terrifying creature had looked as it departed.
"The Pallid Mage Society..."
***
【2nd-Tier Magic: Water Curtain】
Layer upon layer of Magic Formations surged up around Erika, mingling with the surrounding wind and snow.
Like ripples of water flowing outward, they spread from Erika's body in every direction.
Splashhhh......
A stream of clear spring water descended from the air, like dancing liquid in motion, gathering at Erika's side and gradually forming a small vortex that enveloped her within.
Hmmmmm......
As the water mist grew thicker and thicker, Erika within the Water Curtain beca increasingly blurred.
Suddenly, the water mist surged outward all at once, enshrouding the entire Water Curtain.
Inside the barrier of water, every part of her body felt as though it had been washed over and over by flowing currents.
Erika kept her eyes closed, letting the water vapor drift around her without moving an inch.
"Not bad."
Beside her, Alia stood at her side, a Lollipop tucked in her mouth.
She watched Erika quietly and gave a satisfied nod.
"It looks like your control over your own Magic Power has improved a few degrees more."
The Water Curtain held for a while before gradually dissipating into the wind and snow.
Erika's expression remained unchanged. She opened her eyes and smiled politely at Alia:
"Thank you."
Today's Magic practice had concluded, and she settled onto a nearby step and began to rest.
But her expression had taken on a few shades of worry.
The Second Prince had rushed all the way from the Royal Capital for no other reason than to investigate the Demon incident.
This much she understood clearly.
Though Erika didn't know whether that Second Prince would manage to uncover anything, she felt a certain unease.
After all, that Demon had been summoned by Professor Viktor.
"Woooo—"
All at once, an alarm blared out, and Erika raised her head sharply.
Having been in the Northern Frontier all these days, she had never once heard an alarm this urgent.
"What's happening?"
Alia stood beside her, speaking calmly.
"When an alarm like this sounds, it generally signals 1 of 2 things."
"A Savage Beast invasion, or so kind of Natural Disaster about to occur."
Erika nodded in sudden understanding.
Yet the 2 most powerful factions among the Savage Beasts had both been nearly wiped out.
And what remained of the Savage Beasts had long since ceased to pose any aningful threat.
So then...
"A Natural Disaster?"
"No."
Alia stretched out her hand, feeling the air around her—where, without anyone noticing, the wind had already gone completely still.
She raised her head, her gaze fixed directly on the sky above, at the terrifying creature that had already exposed the better half of its body.
"I'm afraid it's sothing far worse than that."
Suddenly, deep within Erika's heart, sothing sank.
As though sothing was calling out to her in wave after wave.
She raised her palm.
As though answering so summons.
In the center of her hand, a current of air rose of its own accord.
Erika lifted her head as well, and looked up at the sky.
That terrifying creature, which had revealed the better half of its body, had exposed a pair of eyes as enormous as lightbulbs.
"!"
Erika understood perfectly.
The gaze of that terrifying creature—was directed straight at her.
Then, suddenly, it withdrew its gaze.
Its body rolled back and forth through the cloud layer, sending surges of force rippling outward in wave after wave.
In an instant, it raised its head and let out a roar toward the heavens!
"Aooooo—!!!"
Like a dragon's cry, the sound rang out across the entire Territory.
And then she simply raised her head, looking up at the sky.
The staggering wind began to blow again.
And this ti, the biting cold carried with it a slicing, knife-like edge.
***
Vladimir stood draped in his fur coat at the summit of a snow-covered mountain.
Feeling the biting, dangerous cold that swept around him, he raised one hand, pulled the Cigar from between his lips, and took a deep, fierce drag.
Hssss...
Behind him stood several Mage-soldiers clad in white robes.
Vladimir didn't turn around, and said plainly:
"All assembled?"
"More or less."
The person behind him reported.
Vladimir raised his head, gazing at the enormous creature in the sky.
The massive serpentine creature twisted and writhed continuously, radiating an incomparable oppressive force.
The wind howled around him, sending the fur coat at his back billowing.
A sharp pain spread across his cheek. He reached up and touched his face.
A streak of blood ca away on his hand.
Even the wind carried force this terrifying.
Faced with an existence this horrifying, Vladimir showed not the slightest trace of panic—and actually laughed.
"In all my years, I've never laid eyes on anything like this."
"It's gotta be sothing only the Gods could've made."
He took another fierce drag from the Cigar and then hurled it into the snow, stamping down on it hard with his foot.
"Too bad I don't believe in Gods."
"Tell the others—every child, every elder, and every woman in the Territory who can't fight, get them all moved over to the Northern Frontier side."
Ever since the Delin Family changed hands, with Kavra working back and forth as a political diator between the sides, relations between the Pallid Mage Society and the Northern Frontier Knights had eased sowhat.
And now, they had no choice but to seek the shelter of those Northern Frontier Knights.
"Oh right, and that girl Erika too."
"She's Livi's child—she absolutely cannot be allowed to take part in this battle."
Hearing those words, the people behind him grew anxious.
"General, then what about you?"
If he could avoid a fight, he definitely had no desire to co to blows with sothing like this.
"If this thing can communicate, maybe there's still sothing to talk about."
Unfortunately, it ca with ill intent.
That creature was clearly heading straight for the Pallid Mage Society.
A gust of icy wind howled past, laden with flying snow, and the biting cold made his cheeks sting fiercely red.
He furrowed his brow tightly, his gaze fixed hard on the distant sky.
Its colossal body churned through the air, dark scales flickering with a malevolent gleam. Its eyes surged like a raging tempest, as though intent on devouring and grinding everything to nothing.
"If I leave, who's going to cover your retreat?"
Vladimir broke into a grin, his smile carrying within it a touch of madness.
"Even if I die, I've still gotta tear a few strips of hide off this worm."
His voice echoed in the wind, filled with an unyielding courage.
The cold wind howled, snowflakes swirled, and the ferocious, raging snowstorm swept up violently at his back.
His white hair whipped in the wind like a banner, flying high.
He gripped tightly the massive ice battleaxe that had manifested on his gauntlet, frosty cold radiating from the axe blade, until even the air around it had condensed into Ice Crystals.
Wind and snow intertwined, cold air pervading everything, and a tense atmosphere saturated the air.
In this mont, he stood like a God of War—cold, and utterly fearless.
Vladimir Lebedev
—Lv47
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