Chapter 39
A great feat!
A great feat!
A straight, silver body raced across the snowy field.
The lower half was that of a metallic horse, while the upper half wore silver armor. The knight, taking the form of a centaur, instantly shaped his right arm into a lance.
[Hand it over now! How dare you vile worshippers of evil gods covet my treasure! That item will become my Immortality!]
"Tch."
The blue-haired woman, Kirna, clicked her tongue sharply while bracing herself on the ground.
"'Frozen Ice,' I call upon you!"
A massive ice barrier erupted between her and Aurelius. He didn’t stop—instead, he accelerated, his four legs pounding faster.
[You think such pitiful tricks can hold me?!]
Crash!
The silver lance, weighted by his colossal metallic frame, collided with the ice wall. The barrier shattered instantly. Kirna screamed.
"He’s insane! Completely deranged!"
After their attacks finally stripped away his gilded exterior, they discovered his true body was forged entirely of frost steel—an almost inconceivable revelation. Though they’d succeeded in stealing the designated box from the pile he carried, the Goldin clansman transformed into a centaur the moment he noticed the theft, pursuing them with maddened fury.
"Are we close yet? I’m going to die here! I’m dying!"
The brown-haired man, Luthum, shouted back,
"Hold on a little longer! We’ll find a way!"
"Easy for you to say! Hey! Felm! Do something!"
[You worms are powerless!]
Aurelius roared as he raised his lance and charged across the snowfield.
"I’m ready."
Felm stomped his foot, and shadows writhed beneath the galloping centaur’s hooves. Tendrils of darkness coiled around Aurelius’ ankles and yanked downward. Though not overwhelmingly strong, the force was enough to destabilize his full-speed charge.
The silver centaur knight crashed to the ground. Kirna whooped.
"Nice one, Felm! I’ll smother you in kisses later! ‘Frozen Ice!’"
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Four ice pillars erupted around Aurelius as he tried to rise. Blue light surged from their bases, weaving across the ground to trap him within a glowing boundary.
"Freeze solid!"
The temperature inside the domain plummeted. The extreme cold of Frozen Ice’s power infiltrated Aurelius’ body. White frost crawled over his silver frame, and his once-fluid joints locked rigid.
Aurelius clashed his metallic teeth and snarled:
[You think this parlor trick matters?!]
He amplified his control over his metallic form. His current body’s size was limited only by the scarcity of frost steel—his core could effortlessly command far greater masses.
Boom!
His supposedly frozen hind legs kicked violently, propelling him beyond the boundary in an instant. He thrust his lance toward Kirna.
[I’ll slaughter you first, you nuisance!]
The lance’s tip hurtled unerringly toward her heart. Kirna shrieked:
"Why me?! Why always me?! Kyaaaaaa!"
"Now! Duck!"
Kirna dropped flat as a pale larva burst from the snow behind her. The Gut Worm spat a concentrated stream of acid it had hoarded underground.
Sssssss—
[Gaaaaaaah!]
Aurelius, who hadn’t uttered a sound until now, writhed in agony. Luthum smirked at the effectiveness of their prepared countermeasure.
"Did you really think we’d face a Goldin clansman unprepared? We knew you were the caravan leader. Idiot."
Gut Worms were creatures that secreted metal-melting acid as a defense mechanism. For Goldin, whose bodies dulled pain, the corrosive substance induced excruciating sensory overload—making these worms their most despised natural enemy.
"Can’t you hurry?! I almost died!"
Kirna glared at Luthum, who scratched his head and retracted his earlier taunt.
"You know Gut Worms can’t produce this much acid naturally. They don’t even live in cold regions. Controlling one like this isn’t exactly easy!"
"Stop making pathetic excuses. You’re useless."
Both the Gut Worm and Luthum drooped their heads at her sharp words.
"That’s too harsh..."
[Grrrr...]
Aurelius’ once-ornate silver helmet had melted into a shapeless mass. Goldin’s pain-resistant biology made them uniquely vulnerable to the Gut Worm’s sensory assault.
Kirna grinned down at his twitching form.
"Hey. Luthum."
"Yeah? What?"
"Tell that worm to spit more acid. It’s barely squirming now."
She wanted to see the Goldin thrash more violently across the snow.
"It’s acid, not spit, and it can’t produce more freely in this cold. If you want him dead, just extract the core—"
"Shut up and make it happen!"
"Fine..."
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
—Graaaaaaaaah!!!
A colossal corrupted giant stormed across the snowfield. Kirna’s eyes widened.
"What the hell is that?! No one mentioned this! Luthum! Fix this! Do it well and I’ll kiss you too!"
Luthum replied swiftly:
"To kill that, we’d need to recall all the minions we sent to slaughter the survivors! Still okay with that?!"
"We’re about to die here! Just do it! And where the hell is Phirum?! That lunatic! Felm, cover me! I’ll hold it off! ‘Frozen Ice!’"
A white ice wall surged upward. The Corrupted Giant stomped the ground, then soared over the barrier with avian grace despite its bulk, landing elegantly before bellowing at the cultists:
—Graaaaaaaaah!!!
As the trio scrambled, the giant charged. Its fist descended to crush them—
"Shadows! Now!"
"Got it."
Crash!
The fist obliterated empty ground. The cultists reappeared from a nearby tree’s shadow.
"Haa! Thought I was dead! Luthum! How far are the Snow Bats and Kapels?!"
"They’ll arrive soon!"
—Graaaaaaaaah!!!
The giant roared upon spotting them.
"Luthum! Felm!"
"Ready!"
"Here."
Kirna rolled up her sleeves, baring her teeth in a grin.
"Buy me time—I’m unleashing something big!"
—Graaaaaaaaah!!!
When I arrived, the battle between the Corrupted Giant and the cultists was raging.
Dozens of Snow Bats harried the giant, clawing its skin, while a score of Kapels pummeled its lower body.
"Raging" wasn’t accurate—the outnumbered giant was being mercilessly pummeled. It flailed in futile resistance as the agile monsters dodged its strikes.
I hid behind a tree and whispered to Dakhia:
"Can you move?"
"One moment."
Dakhia stepped out of my arms, stood firmly, and smiled.
"I’m fine now."
Peeking around the trunk, she assessed the situation and whispered:
"Shouldn’t we help? It looks pitiful."
"I want to, but..."
I pointed to a spot where Aurelius’ gilded exterior lay stripped away. Dakhia nodded in understanding.
"Makes sense. But if this continues, the giant will be destroyed."
Fighting alongside the giant before Aurelius would be as good as confessing, "I’m an evil god worshipper!"
"Let’s observe. Aurelius seems about to act."
"Understood."
Dakhia plopped down beside me just as Aurelius sprang up, roaring:
[You damned cultists!!! I’ll slaughter every last one of you!!!]
He’d never been this enraged. Transforming into a silver centaur, he charged across the snowfield, his arm morphing into a lance aimed at three figures—undoubtedly the cultists Phirum had mentioned.
The blue-haired woman grimaced.
"Why’s he healed so fast?! Someone stop him! He’s charging straight at me! Save this for the giant!"
"I’ll try!"
Luthum waved his hand, diverting some Snow Bats from the giant to intercept. Aurelius, fury incarnate, accelerated. His left arm dissolved, molten metal surging across his lance.
[Die!!!]
The lance obliterated the bats in a spray of gore. As the cultists turned to face him, the Corrupted Giant abandoned defense and hurled something toward my hiding spot.
Crash!
A mangled Snow Bat corpse smacked into the tree beside me.
Why...?
‘Kill!’
Mother’s urgent voice. I rummaged through the bloody pulp and pulled out a bronze metal necklace—Aurelius’ fourth relic.
So they hid the stolen relic on a Snow Bat.
—Graaaaaaah...
The giant, now riddled with wounds from its reckless charge, bellowed with grim satisfaction. Its gaze met mine.
It trusted me.
This time...
"Mother, your relic. I return it to you now."
‘Kill!’
Dark green light flowed from the necklace into Mother’s hands and me.
[Divinity: 13,379]
Ten thousand divinity.
To awaken new power or strengthen the existing.
—Graaaaaaah...
The giant’s roars weakened.
Gripping Mother’s hand, I declared:
"Mother, this time I’ll enhance an existing power."
‘Kill!’
Which one?
"The power I’ll strengthen is…”
