An army of twenty centaur-like ice golems led the way, their massive forms gracefully navigating the treacherous path of black, toxic soil. Towering at almost 3 meters in height, each golems wielded icy weapons in place of hands, ready to react to any threat. Through secret methods, these rank 1 ice golems emanated a potent and constant stream of intense cold energy. As they advanced, their chilling radiance enveloped the vile toxicity of the land, covering the once hostile terrain with a carpet of hoarfrost.
Behind the ice golem formation, there loomed a 3 meter tall wolf-shaped creature, its icy hide resembling that of a shark, covered with wolf fur-like armor of ice. The bluish-white wolf displayed a unique amalgamation of features, sporting a shark-like head, gills, fins, and tail, yet retaining the core features of a wolf throughout the rest of its body. This massive construct of ice fused with the lower half of Katyusha, her icy-white upper body is fully exposed atop its nape.
As a member of Twin Helix who specialized in large-scale devastation, her very presence is a saturation attack. Her radiation output surpasses that of all other hunters in the group, and when she unleashes it to its fullest potential, she puts another layer of hoarfrost trail behind her wake, which effectively blocks the lethal radiation of the environment. Curiously, unlike the path of hoarfrost that her ice golem left behind, hers matches the ambient temperature, allowing the convoy to follow her without repercussions.
Her pale blue eyes reflected the oncoming group of zombie hounds, eerie creatures with two sets of mouths, towering bodies standing at two meters tall, and rib cages protruding from their torsos. Sinister bone spikes adorned their forms, imbued with potent corpse poison that could dissolve any living matter it touched.
Unfortunately for the zombie hounds, Katyusha’s army of golems are immune to their poison. Even if they entered a melee, her golem wouldn’t be in a disadvantage.
As the zombie hounds attempted to obstruct Katyusha’s advance, she’s already one step ahead. Her finger traced intricate patterns in the air, conjuring pale blue arcane runes while taking out multiple catalysts from her dimensional storage. Bluish crystals, liquids, and powders materialized before her, forming an array of components for her magic spells.
In this state of augmentation through a golem physique, Katyusha’s spell activation sequence had reached unparalleled speed, significantly faster than her typical spellcasting speed. Her proficiency and mastery over ice-path magic spells allowed her to prepare and execute her spells with great efficiency.
“Rank 1 ice-path magic spell, [Hibernal Blossom Deluge]!”
The catalysts that once floated around Katyusha dissolved into a mesmerizing pale blue light, converging into a single luminous ball. She firmly clasped the radiant sphere, holding it telepathically above her head where it swiftly transformed into a pale blue spear adorned with icy thorns. With a graceful throwing motion, Katyusha unleashed the magical ice spear, propelling it with precision and force towards the encroaching pack of zombie hounds.
The torrent of icy energy cascaded down in a linear direction, it resembles a blizzard of frozen blossom, leaving a mesmerizing trail of delicate petals swirling and dancing through the air. Each petal carries a cold aura of elegance and beauty, leaving an ethereal spectacle. The spear of thorns, upon contact, burst into an explosion of frost wind, encasing the group of zombie hounds in a display of icy bloom of hoarfrost carried by hibernal winds.
The end result was a twelve meter diameter flowery cage of ice, its beauty contrasting with the deadly coldness it exuded. The temperature within the icy cage dropped so dramatically that the zombie hound’s cell lost all structural integrity, they literally turned into ice sculptures. Even if a high-rank necromancer is present, they wouldn’t be able to recycle these corpses.
Since they were hit while in motion, some of them do not get transmuted into ice sculpture immediately. Two of them were able to evade the main explosion, only a thin layer of hoarfrost coating their rotten bodies, barely slowing down their advances.
Naturally, if Katyusha used another spell, the surviving zombie hounds wouldn’t even get close before being obliterated. However, doing so would put a strain on Katyusha's spell resources.
With a telepathic command, two of the twenty ice cavalry accelerate, separating themselves from the main group, both of which had already transformed their weapon-limbs into a lance-and-shield and a greatsword-and-shield. These ice golems are not the ones being used during the battle with the greenskins. Traces of Hydrium Hardwater Crystal are used to create this generation of golems, allowing them to possess structural integrity infinitely close to rank 2.
This means the ‘pilot’ of the golem, the Spectral Souls, can abuse the mortal shell without having to worry about its destruction. And so, the two advancing golem broke the sound barrier through sheer physical acceleration. It takes less than two seconds for them to reach the surviving zombie hounds.
Boom! There was no complicated method involved. The armored train-like momentum of the ice golems was sufficient to completely splatter the zombie hounds. However, it also shattered their shield-limbs.
It can’t be helped, their entire being is not made by Hydrium Hardwater Crystal, thus not having complete rank 2 durability. If they are, Katyusha might not be able to control so many of them at the same time.
The golems quickly returned after completing their objective, but not towards the arrowhead formation, but towards a spot close to Katyusha. As her creations, the golems could absorb her radiation for nourishment. Moments after being in proximity of Katyusha, their destroyed shield-limbs began regenerating at a visible speed and they have already gone back to full health.
< The Corpse Mother has already detected us. It has gathered its minions to block us from progressing this area. > When her golems returned to their original position, the winter lady received telepathic messages from Sumire. < I need you to nuke the area. Don’t worry about not being able to kill the Corpse Mother in one hit, Kenji has regained full combat capability so he’ll be dispatching her after you wounded her off. >
Katyusha did not answer but she prepared another set of spell catalysts while beginning her spell activation sequence.
It should be obvious from her name, the Corpse Mother is a necro-path lifeform. It refers to a pregnant creature of various species, mostly enslavement-path lifeforms when they were alive, being murdered in the most gruesome way. The indignance and resentment of the creature and its unborn child is the greatest catalyst for it to turn into a Corpse Mother. And so, although it is considered as rank 1 entity, it is on a completely different level compared to the zombie hounds.
From the intel provided by the scouts, the Corpse Mother this time around is a spider creature who have been murdered and eaten by the Darkshroud Formic Lord, its unusable body parts thrown away into the garbage dump which is this very necro-path resource point.
When the said Corpse Mother is visible in Katyusha’s cold eyes, Katyusha is also in the sight of the creature. Dozens, perhaps hundreds of corpse-spiders, each the size of a dog are swarming towards the convoy with their eight little legs. Some contain corpse poison, some are glowing with sickly yellow pus sack on their backs, while others have bone carapace. Each of these variants are dangerous in their own right, but the one who generates the most threat is the Corpse Mother itself.
The main body is larger than the typical medium-class beast, having a height of 4 meter tall and almost 10 meter long. The characteristics of a necro-path creature is seething from its being, such as a rotting body oozing sickly yellow-red puss, and the bone spikes armor made from the corpses of various creatures.
Specializing in wide area devastation, most of Katyusha’s methods are area-of-effect. If she used an AoE spell, then the damage potential would be scattered so she’s unable to kill the Corpse Mother in one hit. Using multiple AoE spells would be extremely wasteful, but her single-target spells wouldn’t be enough to cause damage towards the undead beast.
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However, killing it wouldn’t be her problem. She just needed to weaken it.
“Corpse Mother…” She whispered with malicious intent. “Your and your children’s malevolent resentment would be a great present to the captain…”
Her eyes shone in pale blue light as multiple spell circles weaving around her person.
“[Double Widen: Frosty Expanse], [Double Damage: Arctic Destruction], [Double Maximize: Glacial Cataclysm]...” With augmentation methods being stacked on top of each other, the spell’s radiation becomes so strong that the air itself starts freezing, and snow begins to fall around her presence. “Rank 1 ice-path killer move, [Hibernal Blossom Deluge]!”
It was as if the previous scene was replicated. However, the intensity of the spell is magnified manifold. Instead of a spear of icy thorns, what Katyusha produced is a missile of icy thorns. Not only the size, the thorns were extremely detailed that one could see the runes carved onto its surface. With a throwing gesture, Katyusha unleashed the ice missile the size of a tree trunk towards the incoming Corpse Mother.
BOOM! The speed of which the missile traveled was augmented, and therefore, the undead beasts were unable to react. A flower of ice frost bloomed with the Corpse Mother in the center. The temperature in the core of the explosion reached -1200C, it was so cold that time itself is slowing down.
Naturally, the undead beast’s size and sheer power is stronger than the average. Much like Katyusha being an outlier amongst rank 1 Hunters, the Corpse Mother is very much so. Even after receiving a direct explosion of ice, the undead beast’s negative life still hangs on a thread.
In the first place, this preemptive strike isn’t designed to kill the Corpse Mother. But to weaken and slow it down.
Swoosh! An object flying through the air at the speed of sound originated from behind her. It was too fast for the undead beast who had frozen in place to dodge. Then, there was an explosion of raw, unadulterated force as the Corpse Mother’s frozen body pushed back as if it was hit by a train, the icy cage shattered into a splendor of frost burst and snow wind.
Katyusha was surprised at the attack’s damage. As far as she was concerned, there was nobody in this group that possessed this level of destructive power. In terms of raw damage towards a single target, it was significantly higher than hers.
When she took a glance at the source of the attack, she quickly understood.
In the first carriage, there was Kenji whose body had transformed, covered by the black nanom armor. On his hand, there’s a black, high-tech multi-string longbow even taller than his body. As if recovering from the damage he did to himself, his person is currently producing a trail of silvery dust, the broken nanoms that couldn’t endure his martial arts.
‘[Kinetic Artillery]? The captain has decided to unleash Kenji’s full potential!’ She was fully aware of what the captain had been doing to Kenji. The man in question does not cultivate any of the weapon paths, but that does not mean he couldn’t use any weapon. The fact that he was able to infuse his strength-path martial arts into a bow-propelled spear meant he has used his full capabilities.
She hasn’t heard anything from the captain since her last transmission to go ‘all out’, but to unseal Kenji’s limitation meant she has determined this mission to be more than what meets the eye. ‘Can it be… she has suffered intense karmic retaliation in her extradimensional expedition?’
Katyusha squinted her eyes towards the dark expanse with suspicion. ‘It’s unfortunate since karmic luck isn’t something that can be spoken easily unless I want to suffer the negative consequences.’ Although her six senses could not provide proof of her suspicion, her seventh, one that is related to the perception of danger, could feel something is on the horizon. ‘Can it be that she’d already deducted the danger that I’ll be facing and thus, kept quiet to ensure the karmic retaliation did not get worse?’
Nevertheless, Katyusha couldn’t afford to be distracted in this situation. The telepathic thought expenditure of controlling an army of twenty ice golems is obscenely high. If she thinks other non-essential matters too much, that would be similar to squandering the limited resources that she currently has.
She quickly focused back on the matters at hand.
Just because the Corpse Mother is dead, doesn’t mean her children are. The dog-sized corpse-spiders are barely having the power of rank 0 creatures, but the sheer number of them would obstruct or delay the main convoy if they get too close. Although 40% of them have been killed by the fallout of Katyusha’s spell, there are still a lot of them.
However, Katyusha didn’t have to perform special action to get rid of this threat. She lets her army and herself pass through the field of corpse-spiders, and they are all frozen in its place. Her radiation output is simply too intense. Even if there are some number of them that could defend against her radiation, the cavalry would dispatch them quickly, not allowing Katyusha to slow down at all.
…
Inside one of the carriages that held the apprentices.
< Your Majesty… > Mordred could hear Asmodeus’ voice whispering in his ears as he meditated silently. < We are at a crossroad of destiny. >
Mordred opened his eyes, scanning the interior of the carriage which was filled with apprentices. Some were shivering in fear, some tried to converse amongst themselves for distraction from the outside world, some were expecting to see the battle ahead, while a small portion acted indifferent and meditated like Morded.
Since the carriages are not big enough to carry Desir along, the wyvern slave was brought with a cargo carriage somewhere in the back of the formation. As of now, Mordred is isolated from everyone he knew because he is fully aware that his negative karmic luck will invite disaster. To ‘save’ the ones he cares about, he puts them away from harm’s way by putting them as far away from him as possible.
< A fate checkpoint? > Mordred inquired, his expression turned serious.
< You are about to face a dangerous situation, but I’m sure you’ll get through this. > Asmodeus did not confirm nor deny his conjecture, instead giving him another layer of cryptic prophecy.
‘Tch’, Mordred clicked his tongue in annoyance.
No amount of preparation would be enough to deal with a sudden burst of karmic retaliation.
Although he had been ‘meditating’ quietly, he’s actually been employing sound-path methods to wiretap the official Hunter’s communication. Sound-path is all about vibration and waves, and the waves generated by official Hunters during their telepathic communication have constantly been listened to and decoded by Mordred.
He is completely aware of what's going on outside the carriage.
As of now, the situation is still under control. All of his senses, which include the ones that dictate the perception of danger, could not provide proof of Asmodeus’ suspicion. Nevertheless, that would just point out how incredibly potent her [Sudden Inspiration] is.
< At this point, wouldn’t you be able to tell me what’s on the horizon? >
Silence was the answer to Mordred’s question, but the Demon King eventually gave him a direct instruction after a while, < Move fourteen centimeter to the left, hug your body, protect your ears and eyes with your hands. >
Taken aback for a split second, Mordred obeyed without hesitation, pushing himself to the left and even disrupting the hushed conversations of the other apprentices.
As the said apprentice was about to protest in retaliation, an inexplicable event unfolded. Light seemed to vanish from the carriage, plunging it into an unnatural darkness that defies science. The shadowy veil blocked not only vision, but also hearing, sense of touch, and other senses, sending a shiver down their spines.
Time seemed distorted in this strange realm of darkness, leaving everyone bewildered and disoriented. After an unknown amount of time, the unnatural darkness lifted, revealing a devastating sight. Morded found himself lying on the frozen black soil, his clothing caked with the blood of humans and other creature’s blood. He is surrounded by wreckage and the lifeless, mutilated bodies of his fellow apprentices, as well as dismembered corpses of humanoid black ant-like creatures.
The deafening echoes of screams and the chaotic symphony of battle filled the air, pulling Mordred’s attention away from himself. Upon the realization that the carriage had been ambushed, he knew for a fact that this is what Asmodeus had warned him about. The formation has been broken, and most of the visible carriages are in shambles. It seems like the hunters tried to perform a defensive formation with the carriage as a wall, but during the moment of darkness, their intent was thwarted by the ant creatures.
As he moved to aid a groaning apprentice who had barely survived the ambush but had his arm mutilated, the ground near his carriage’s wreckage erupted. A hole had been torn in the toxic soil, and from it emerged a swarm of 1-meter tall black ants, their numbers seemingly able to overwhelm the official Hunters. Seeing the hunters and their beast slaves are busy with their own fight, the gravity of the situation sent a chill down Mordred’s spine, but it did not paralyze him with fear. Instead, his killing intent soared as he swiftly reached for the revolver holstered on his thigh.