That didn't stop him from sending a few forces ahead to do what demons do best, sowing discord. Of course, someone had taken the bait. They had been hesitant at first but soon came to willingness after realizing the number of forces the Demons had on their side, as well as...other factors in the mix.
Since that time, they had slowly moved forward, taking over a few counties and duchies, their advance not slowing down.
Yet, something out of his expectations had occurred a few hours ago. One of the few Power Jewels he had procured had been used, only for its user to die a few seconds later. The protector he had sent forward to placate one of his pieces had fallen. This meant some problems had occurred. For them to be forced to use the Power Jewel and still die meant they had come across a powerful enemy.
He was already waiting for his messengers to return after establishing a line of communication, but the event made him begin taking his mission seriously. Losing a Power Jewel, as well as its user was a very big loss, and he did not enjoy taking losses.
He called forth his lieutenants as he gave the order for the Demon Legion to start moving once more, increasing their speed towards the lone kingdom in the north.
Chapter 95 - The feeling of an EPIC skill
We arrived back to the Frozen Kingdom after half a day. The ride back in the carriage was interesting, to say the least, as the Princess continued to exceed my expectations of just how much trust she placed on me because of her unique skill. She said she would do anything, and I believed her. With such a person in place, the issues dealing with the kingdom would be taken care of with ease.
The procession of carriages and wagons went inside as citizens welcomed back their Ice Princess with vigor. I talked with Adelaide about the events after this, and she was confident that nothing even remotely dangerous would happen now that she set foot back here.
Even the person scheming in the back would be crippled for a while after they lost such a big piece. She would be meeting the King after I left, a powerhouse that I was interested in seeing sometime soon.
But I was itching to test out my new skills on powerful opponents, so after escorting the Princess to the Snowy Peak and seeing all the guards surrounding the manor, I flew out and made my way over to the Skypeak Nest. It was time for me to have fun with that EPIC beast I ran away from more than a week back.
My speed with [Flight] continued to increase as I learned and activated more support skills, but I was using it for its function of keeping me in the air as I used [ Regal Archer's Eyes] and [Instant Transfer] in conjunction to disappear and appear a few miles away. Using flight at its maximum speed would get me across the same distance, but not as fast as the instantaneous movement.
I thought back to the other rank S skills I received from the dead mercenaries earlier today as I flashed towards the beast's Nest. The ones that I didn't see myself actively using but I still learned nonetheless were [Ricocheting Shield], [Bear's Fighting Style], and [Archer's Gamble]. The more useful ones were two support skills, [Lion's Heart], and [Speedster] that increased my speed and damage even further
The remaining four were two offensive skills and two standard ones that I liked. The offensive ones were [Smouldering Sword Strike] and [Earthen Spears], with the ones I called standard being [Thought Acceleration- The speed of your thought processing is raised significantly] and [Crisis Avoidance- A few extra seconds are given to you as you sense incoming danger].
The last two skills were great, especially [Thought Acceleration] that seemed like one of the best rank S skills I've received so far. I knew it wasn't all-powerful, as the person who had it previously fell under my attacks, but it was still a great supplement. Many decisions and thoughts could be made rapidly in a short time span with this skill, allowing me to assess many things quickly before moving forward.
I soon arrived near the towering Skypeak Nest and looked to the prowling beasts below. The goal today was to fully enjoy the usage of the new EPIC skill that I gained. With the excitement that I couldn't contain, I landed on the floating landmass, equipped the EPIC ranked [Kingslayer] sword, and cast [Corrupted Sword Saint's Incarnation].
---
A powerful beast was slumbering not too far from the outer fringes of the Skypeak Nest. Ever since it felt the frequent killings of its brethren a few days ago, it had remained in the periphery of the nest waiting for those cowards that only dared to bully those weaker than them.
Days had passed with no intrusion as it thought about heading back inland where the concentration of essence was much denser. It looked like it wouldn't leave in disappointment as its red eyes opened because of the new vibrations it could feel on the earth.
An expression of glee appeared on its ferocious body as it rose up to be larger than six meters, its disproportionate limbs flinging around its sides. It went forward to see if it was the same intruder that ran away from it last time.
It slowly inched forward so as to not scare the coward away again, and came to a surprising sight of a larger figure swinging around a dark red sword at extreme speeds. The figure was more than seven meters large, with a face that had a dark red horn pointing to the skies and a body fully covered in armor. It let out ripples of power as the sword that should have been heavy in his hands moved around like a feather, smashing into the surrounding beings and causing them to explode in a mass of flesh and gore.
The EPIC beast watching this was angered as it let out a howl and went forward at full speed to clash with this intruder.
BOOM!
As if he knew it was coming, a sword met its outstretched claws as a thundering voice came out from the large swordsman.
"Haha, you're finally here again. Let's go!"
The battle started off rapidly as the two figures clashed. [Enfeeble] was casted right away as the snowy beast felt its power weaken. The beast that was proud of the speed and defenses it had trained all these years found its strikes being met with the sword every time, its claws feeling pain and cracks after every clash.
The being in front of it seemed to be letting out purely physical attacks, with shockwaves exploding after every point of contact. The large figure was moving gracefully with the sword, meeting every single attack the beast threw with extreme precision, so it casted its innate ability, [Iceberg], to end the fight as soon as possible.
VOOM!
A resounding horn that seemed to signal an arrival could be heard as a tremendous landmass filled with a deadly collection of ice elements appeared above them. The iceberg was more than 30 meters long and covered the entirety of their sight as the beast wrapped its large body around the large swordsman and held him down.
BOOM!
A tremendous impact that shook the entire Skypeak Nest occurred as the iceberg smashed into the ground.
"Haha!"
A laugh could be heard as the beast felt the body it was holding down slip away the moment before its attack hit, making it furious. He clawed out of the jagged spears of ice from the fallen iceberg and found the figure mockingly laughing above it, safe and sound.
The 8-meter long incarnation remained suspended in the air, defying the laws of gravity as the body became more and more solid as the red light spread throughout the skies before deadly words could be heard from it.
"Alright, that's enough playing around for now."
The beast's body was shining as it prepared to go all out against the intruder, and it seemed like its opponent was doing the same. A green runic circle appeared as another powerful presence came out of it, and multiple cracks that let out deadly power of flames and lightning formed in the skies.
Neither was backing down as a brand new [Iceberg] appeared high in the skies. The corrupted incarnation looked up to the falling landmass and pointed its large blade up, the body becoming enveloped in red light as the Dark Slayer Sword Style was activated.
While a dark red light spread out in the skies above, a menacing green was spreading throughout the ground as the Plague Bearer triggered [Defiler]
onto the surrounding bodies of beasts. The bodies unnaturally began rising as they turned a deadly shade of green, all turning into furious runs towards the EPIC beast.
The humongous incarnation shining in a red light jumped from the ground, leaving behind a crater as it rotated in a spectacular dance, spinning rapidly in the air as the figure smashed into the falling Iceberg.
BOOM!
Chunks of solid ice flew out as the large iceberg was clearly cut in half, its two portions falling on the ground below where a battle continued with a monstrosity belching out poisonous breaths towards the EPIC beast. It tried maneuvering from the snaking lines of flames and lightning as well as the poisonous beast and was becoming slowly overwhelmed.
It howled defiantly as it looked up to see its attack sliced apart, and could only see the figure of the large swordsman rushing towards it, the sword in hand already pointing towards its chest.
BOOM!
The impact of the large body smashing into the ground resounded, as the pained howl of a beast rang out. The red sword had pierced all the way through to the back of his chest, going even further to pierce into the ground. Strength began leaving its body as it could feel deadly power from the sword ravaging all his being.
It didn't help at all that the poisonous beast was commanding the bodies of its dead brethren to continue exploding and cause more virulent poison to pierce into its hardened skin armor and leave its deadly attacks on it too.
HOWL!
It struggled at the sword that nailed it to the ground and tried to move out, but it was unsuccessful. The struggles gradually became less and less as ragged breaths came out. It watched the large figure of the solid swordsman with the horn rising from his head continue to pull its fists up and smash them into its body. The tremendous strength of the strikes was purely physical damage that was causing searing pain wherever they landed.
The combination of a giant figure with a sword, roiling snakes of flames and lightning, as well as a poisonous monstrosity slowly dwindled the life force of the EPIC ranked beast until it could no longer move.
Silence prevailed as the body of Noah surrounded by the sword saint's incarnation looked further into the Skypeak Nest. Multiple powerful auras in no way less than the beast he just took down had become active at the center of the Nest and were making their way here.
The large incarnation could be seen devilishly smiling as it reached out to the body of the dead beast, and then flashed away into nothingness. Three tremendously powerful auras arrived not too long after, but the only thing that met them was a poisonous battlefield with the mangled body of their brethren.
Chapter 96 - The King in the North
King Roark Belmont.
The powerful figure that led the Frozen Kingdom into prosperity. Or so many people thought. Roark was overlooking the lands beneath him as he stood in the highest castle of the King's Crown peak. He thought of the memory of his dear wife as his aged eyes moved with longing.
'Annalise...do you know how much I want to be with you right now? So many things are happening, and I don't know how to pass through them. Where is your wisdom when I need it the most?'
A sigh could be heard as the powerful bearded man stretched. He was getting old, but still had the same power of LEGENDARY rank.
The thing that caused him the most stress was overseeing every single department to make sure things continued to go smoothly in the kingdom. But resources continued to dwindle with every passing day as the war raged on.
What tired him even more were the soldiers he was taking away from their families, with many of them never able to see their loved ones again.
'When does it all stop Annalise?"
The grand man seemed lost as he continued to gaze below. He thought about the only person that seemed to be lifting some of the weight and helping with the stabilization of the kingdom. It was at this moment that he heard the sound of footsteps that were very familiar
'Speak of the devil.'
The father smiled as he turned around and found his daughter entering the terrace. He looked fondly at this girl that didn't always show emotion on her face, but he knew how much she cared.
"Your trip was a success?"
"Relatively, Father. Although not without extreme complications."
Roark's face changed as he heard this. She was back here safe and sound with no commotion being caused. What could have happened? His face became cloudy as he asked,
"What went wrong?"
"On the way back here, there was an ambush waiting for me that consisted of an EPIC ranked powerhouse and a collection of rank S. Here is a memory stone that was able to capture the faces of these ambushers."
King Roark's face had become dark as he caught the Memory Stone that could record and replay a scene when a certain amount of mana was put in.
"A Shadow Guard that was lucky enough not to be noticed took this at the risk of their lives. Can you recognize the people on there?"
Her voice seemed to be getting colder and colder as she spoke, bordering on the line of disrespect that nobody should cross with their father. But King Roark was sullen as he saw the recording of a woman under the command of a special someone. He looked at the blank face of his daughter and was glad she was safe and sound as he asked,
"How did you make it out? And...what happened to the attackers?"
"If I told you a prince in shining armor appeared to save the life of the princess and kill those that wished her harm, would you believe me?"
The exchange between father and daughter stalled after this, with the daughter proceeding forward.
"When I was 11 years old, I came to you and told you that I didn't feel comfortable with how my own brother stared at me. You brushed it off as the ramblings of a child and told me to be more approachable."
Adelaide walked as she stood near her father, overlooking the buildings below them as she continued.
"When I was 15 years old, I began hiring even more guards to escort me after I was almost kidnapped. You allowed this and gave me more power as you didn't want that to ever happen again. I told you who the mastermind that orchestrated this whole act was, yet you did not believe me."
Her gaze turned from the buildings back to her father, the same voice ringing out.
"The years after that, I continued to protect myself and rarely left the kingdom, and here we are today. I am telling you once again. My own older brother, your son, orchestrated all of this to get his hands on me. I wonder what you will choose to do now, Father."
Silence pervaded the area as those that stood at the peak echelons of the Frozen Kingdom stood next to each other. A sense of anger and betrayal could be felt from the icy face of Adelaide as she laid out her grievances to someone who should have been her biggest protector. King Roark was looking down in sadness, his eyes not being able to meet the person next to him.
"He is my son."
The words were difficult to start, but he began anyway. "My firstborn son, and I thought he would change in time. I promised him the kingdom in the hopes of it. I also did my best to give you everything you wanted."
He gave a tired look to his daughter as he said this. "Under the veil of a thriving kingdom, the house that leads it is fractured with stupidity and unneeded conflicts. When was the last time you went to see your younger brother?"
Adelaide turned away after hearing this question. She recalled the face of someone she had hoped would stand with her at one point. "He was the biggest loss I have ever taken. Someone that I thought would be worth helping, and he too let me down."
"A horrible son, a calculating daughter, and another son that could never choose what he wanted to be."
A difficult decision seemed to have been made in the mind of the King, as he raised his chest up and commanded with a powerful voice.
"Very well, convene a Grand Assembly."
The tone was powerful, one that could not be questioned. The girl by his side bowed after she heard this.
"Yes, Fa
ther."
---
A commotion was occurring in the four floating peaks as the relevant people got word that a Grand Assembly was convening in a few days. Nobles panicked as they began preparing the moment they received notice, fearfully questioning what had prompted such an abrupt call for an assembly.
In a large manor at the center of Summit Peak, an extravagant prince was fuming with a face full of anger. He had made a bet and lost terribly. He thought the chance was too sweet to pass up, that his opponent would never make such a mistake like this in the first place. But it was actually a trap? She had played him?
"Haha, Hahaha!"
Rueful laughs came out as his head was raised up furiously. "Who? Who exactly did you whore yourself out to? Which powerful helper did you find for yourself, little lamb?"
He wondered about the defeat he had faced as his face regained its calm and he pondered. A setback was a setback, he would get over it. What he did from now would define how his plans continue to unfold. He could feel the communication medallion he received from a few special beings that had been ringing for a while. He moved around the room as he shifted from moods of pondering to rage.
The area was filled with anger and malice as the man paced back and forth. He felt as if a knife was closing in on his neck, and he did not know where it was coming from. She and everyone else in this kingdom had no idea of the things he was doing to keep them safe. They didn't understand now, but they would all come to be grateful in the future. As for this knife pressing down? Hmph, let's see just how sharp you are.
Chapter 97 - A storm in the making
I was still relishing the excitement of moving in an 8-meter tall body as I floated a few miles away from Skypeak Nest.
The three powerful presences were most likely some of the powerful EPIC ranked beasts that almost always stayed in the center of the nest. I was told that a possible reason the beasts continue to stay in the nest was due to the deterrent of the powerful individual that was the king of the Frozen Kingdom.
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