NOVEL NEXT B1 | Chapter 72
Ashley
Alright. So I don’t know what the hell is happening anymore.
I glance back at the entire fucking death march following me consisting of three mini bosses and a few hundred other monsters, many of whom are elites, and others change out for different monsters every now and then. Mostly from other monsters killing them and taking their place.
The kobold lord is still focused on me while avoiding attacks from the drachne lord, who is focused on him seemingly blaming him for destroying its nest. Meanwhile some other mini boss called an alpha dracoraptor seems to see the drachne lord as its lunch and is chasing the massive spider. Making for a very bizarre sight.
But no matter what, the kobold lord doesn’t stop chasing me.
And it’s infuriating.
What’s next, some mini boss dra-
Actually, it’s best not to jinx it.
“I can at least say that you’re carrying the name of Chaos well,” Chaos comments, sounding just as bemused as I am. Albeit with more than a little worry in his voice.
My eyebrow twitches at that irritating comment. But I don’t say a word to him in response.
I just continue fleeing for my life. Slowly using up my mana all the way till I’m at just about two-fifths of my capacity remaining.
Ever since hitting half of my capacity, I started using mana less and less while trying to focus solely on just dodging. Even taking hits and using up some of my health just to avoid using more of my mana.
No matter what I do though, the death march just continues to grow larger. And larger. And larger.
Endlessly deadlier.
And I can’t find a good place to stop and hide. Because every place I try to hide or lose them in so far has merely ended up destroyed with the monsters in it joining the chase.
Which isn’t even considering the drachne nest that was destroyed, leading to its lord joining the chase.
I’d rather not bring in any more mini bosses by accident.
I grit my teeth as I continue flying, dodging one attack after another from the kobold lord. Briefly wondering when the hell that bastard is gonna run out of mana himself. Since he’s both attacking me and blocking the drachne lord’s attacks.
But he hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down.
At this point there’s only one thing I can think of doing.
I look at my skills before focusing on one in particular.
{Frigid Tempest Call – Allows the user to summon forth a tempest of ice and wind using twenty-five percent of their mana. The more mana is used in the attack, the stronger the attack.}
Then, after a brief pause, I go ahead and unlock two skills branching from it. Each one empowering that root skill by a good amount. At least, judging by the descriptions of the skills.
{Frigid Temperatures – Further decreases the temperature of the Frigid Tempest summoned through Frigid Tempest Call by a significant margin.}
{Torrential Winds – Further increases the power of the winds within the Frigid Tempest summoned through Frigid Tempest Call by a significant margin.}
But right when I’m about to finally use Frigid Tempest Call as a last resort, I hear a strange warping sound. And right after that, I hear a familiar voice call out from behind me.
“Ashley! I’m here!”
My eyes widen as I turn around mid-air to see someone I was not expecting to see. Not that I was expecting to see anyone at all.
I feel so shocked by the sight of Blake floating in the air behind me that I stop flapping my wings for a second, leading to me falling a little and getting hit by a destruction mana bolt that tears a chunk out of my leg.
How far have I gone on this damned death march for us to meet?!
Not long ago
Blake doesn’t waste any time after seeing the screen showing Ashley’s chase. He leaves a connector portal behind inside of his little cavern before teleporting outside of it and immediately flying through the air in the direction that he sees Ashley starting to round the volcano from. Albeit from the edge of the domain and nowhere near the volcano itself.
He wasn’t able to check the livestream recently because of his own problems with the kobold lord nearby him. When the thing nearly killed him, leaving him teleporting back to his cavern before falling unconscious.
And the first thing he sees after waking up?
His beloved twin sister fleeing from a massive death march of monsters and mini bosses. Having already turned a large part of the Unique Domain into pure chaos.
Blake grits his teeth hard as he flies through the air using wind magic. One of his many top-grade mana manipulation skills.
And along his flight, he proceeds to ignore every last monster in the way. Even occasionally teleporting to shorten the distance a bit and lose the monsters on his trail.
Fortunately for him, he’s already largely recovered from his unsuccessful hunt. So he doesn’t encounter many issues.
All the way till he reaches Ashley and immediately calls out, “Ashley! I’m here!”
Startling her in the process and leading to her getting injured. But Blake is prepared for that and quickly teleports to her and uses a healing spell on her leg using life magic, restoring the wound without costing any of her health in the process.
An act that causes even more surprise to show from her as she sucks in a breath.
Blake gives a sad smile before he turns to look at the mini bosses that are starting to catch up a bit now that he’s forced her to stop. Then he turns back to her again and asks, “Do you have a way to distract them?”
She looks confused for a second, likely because of his sudden arrival, then she eventually purses her lips for a few seconds and nods her head.
“Then do it,” he says with a nod of his own. “And my apologies in advance.”
His last statement seems to confuse her for a moment, but she quickly closes her eyes, just flapping her wings as she focuses on opening her mouth and beginning to chant. Startling him for a moment. Just a moment, though, since he almost immediately moves up to her and hugs her from behind while wrapping the two of them in a spatial cocoon. A process that takes over an entire minute to finish.
And during the start of that minute, he just listens to the chant his twin is speaking.
“I call upon the frigid tempests of the north, wrought with ice and snow, wind and storm. Bring the wrath of nature down on my foes and turn this land into a manifestation of Winter.”
Blake’s eyes widen a little bit as he recognizes the chant as the one belonging to the enforcer Ashley had killed during the council meeting. The chant his ability requires him to call out. Or skill, rather.
And the moment she finishes the chant, wind begins to blow all around them, sending any of the attacks that were moving their way off course. Then the temperature rapidly starts to drop, and the monsters down below start slowing down and focusing on sending attacks, finally getting closer to them. Specifically the kobold lord.
Blake shivers as he feels the frigid cold of the air around them mixed with the wind, only to see water and rain beginning to appear alongside clouds the moment Ashley’s eyes open with a vivid blue glow to them. A glow that mixes in with the crimson light already shining from her eyes, along with the fading and reappearing crimson veins running through her body from one of her other skills.
Her eyes turn to look at him as he has his chin over her shoulder from behind in their hug, and he can tell that she is incredibly surprised and looks conflicted about his current position. Like she doesn’t feel uncomfortable but feels uncomfortable because she’s not uncomfortable.
Like she believes she should feel uncomfortable but isn’t.
That sight makes a wave of both sadness and relief fill Blake, but he doesn’t focus on those feelings at all.
He turns his attention to the winds and clouds, the snow and rain, ice and cold all around them. To the rapid surge it’s doing outwards, with the two of them at the eye of the storm, where no damage is being received. Other than the cold.
And through the tempest he can see the skill devastating numerous monsters down below, freezing many of them and killing them with ease. The sole exception being the mini bosses who simply dig in and react in their own ways. With the drachne lord sealing itself up in a cocoon, the kobold lord placing multiple layers of destruction mana barriers around itself, and the alpha dracoraptor just attacking back to counter the part of the tempest sent towards it.
The tempest continues raging, turning the area of barren wasteland into a frozen wasteland instead. Truly proving the power of the skill taken from the Tempest Enforcer.
But the tempest slowly begins to die down after nearly an entire minute has passed. All the way till it vanishes entirely, leaving nothing behind but the frozen corpses of monsters, the snow and ice of the newly formed frozen wasteland, and the reemerging mini bosses. None of whom look pleased with Blake’s twin.
Despite their displeasure, they all take a few moments to shake off the effects of Ashley’s attack, following which they need more time to prepare their own attacks.
And right as waves of crimson silk, bolts of destruction mana, and black flames from the dracoraptor begin flying towards them, with Ashley having fallen limp in Blake’s arms, his spatial cocoon finally wraps around the two of them.
Then he and his twin vanish from the area to reappear within his cavern, far away from the mini bosses.
Outside of their range of senses, much less their attack range.
Blake and his twin collapse onto the ground with his sister lying unconscious on top of him, and Blake feeling like he’ll be joining her any second now as his mana is now at rock bottom.
But right before he does, he hears Etheria whisper in his mind, “Good job.”
Then everything goes dark.