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Chapter 89

Fuck.

Ian cursed, furrowing his brow as he kicked the chest of the creature and leaped backward.

"Argh... Ahhhhh—!"

A storm of cold fury began to whirl from the Legion Commander\'s body. The Whirling Barrier that momentarily held back the cold was torn apart.

Ice flowers bloomed on Ian\'s body as he rolled on the ground, still grimacing but looking up at the Legion Commander who roared and stood up, pulling out a massive battle hammer from his back.

...So he resorts to that after all.

A bitter smile crossed Ian\'s lips. In the game, the Legion Commander\'s battle phase was divided into three stages: unarmed immediately after being released from the seal, then drawing twin swords from his waist to unleash Frost Blades and the Shockwave in the second phase, and finally, this battle hammer.

With the storm of cold surrounding him, the hammer slowed the movements of any approaching player, delivering a simple yet difficult to counteract powerful pattern. A direct hit from that hammer meant instant death. Judging by the size of the battle hammer, the outcome seemed unlikely to change even now that it had become a reality.

Thud.

The Legion Commander took a forceful step forward. Ian, trying to stand, realized his legs weren\'t moving freely. Frost had spread over his combat boots, greaves, and even the surface of the gloves he was standing on. A belated chill was transmitted.

Damn it, really.

As Ian vigorously shook off the ice forming on his limbs, the Legion Commander suddenly turned his gaze aside. His eyes blazed with anger.

Swoosh!

Because Charlotte was charging at him, attempting to divert the Legion Commander\'s attention. But the situation was different from before.

"Stop!" Ian shouted, but it was clear Charlotte wouldn\'t hear him properly. She had already entered the swirling storm of ice around the Legion Commander.

Crack—

Her charge slowed down bit by bit as her body began to freeze over, not just the surface of her armor, but ice also formed on her black fur.

"Ah— Ahhhhh—!" Charlotte roared as she continued her charge, breaking the ice covering her.

She fights as if she wants to die.

Despite his thoughts, Ian was relentlessly casting the Glacier Wall. The Legion Commander was raising the battle hammer above his head, and Charlotte seemed to have no intention of retreating or dodging. It was likely she also knew that was no longer possible. If the Legion Commander brought down his hammer, the next moment, what remained would be nothing but frozen pieces of what was once called Charlotte.

Crackling.

Ian extended his hand between Charlotte and the Legion Commander. A thick ice barrier began to rise instantly. But it seemed there wasn\'t enough time for it to rise fully to protect Charlotte from the blow.

Swoosh!

With a sudden silver mass surging forward, Ian realized he wasn\'t the only one who thought Charlotte would die in this manner.

Woosh.

The battle hammer powerfully swung down and shattered the still-rising Glacier Wall as it fell. Thesaya catching and throwing Charlotte happened almost simultaneously. During this process, the momentarily slowed Thesaya was grazed by the hammer as it broke through the barrier and fell.

Swoosh!

The Shockwave burst from the hammer as it hit the ground, powerful enough to smash the entangled vampire fairy against the floor once and scatter her to the wall, showing more than enough force.

Crack—

A terrible sound erupted from Thesaya, who seemed embedded in the wall.

"Thesa...?!" Charlotte, who had also been slammed into the wall but only suffered minor shocks, finally opened her eyes wide.

Thesaya, stuck in the wall, slid down in a tattered state. The blood splatters that flew in all directions, unlike usual, didn\'t immediately converge back to her but just flowed down. Without further ado, Charlotte rushed toward Thesaya. She knew well that Thesaya had just saved her life.

Charlotte slid to a halt and picked up Thesaya. Thesaya was in a horrific state, with all her bones crushed and her flesh burst open. She seemed unconscious, barely twitching when Charlotte held her.

"Damn it..."

Charlotte sighed, drawing a dagger from her waistband. Without hesitation, she cut her own palm and let the blood drip into Thesaya\'s crushed lips. She knew that Thesaya would not die from such wounds. Time was all she needed to return to her original form. But this was a matter of debt.

To Charlotte, a beastfolk who had lived her life being treated as a demon, the real demons, especially a fairy who was practically an enemy, were abhorrent. Yet, she couldn\'t just leave Thesaya to die after owing her life to her. Thesaya\'s crushed neck quivered, but it was just an unconscious reflex. Her consciousness had not returned. Even if it had, with her eyes burst and her body crushed, there was no way to express it differently.

Then, behind her, an unbearable heat lit up the area like broad daylight.

Charlotte turned around, her eyes widening at the sight. The Legion Commander, having swung his hammer down once more, and Ian\'s sword, narrowly avoiding the hammer, was emitting endless streams of bright yellow flames.

The Flame Tide, clashing with the Legion Commander\'s storm of cold, turned into a swirling Flame Storm instead. Ian\'s face, standing in the midst of it, was as expressionless as usual, but his gaze at the Legion Commander was more menacing than ever.

The chilling cold that had frozen the arena was now completely replaced by heat.

Charlotte, her eyes wide, picked up Thesaya and leaped away as the wave of fire approached them. She hid behind the farthest pillar from the Legion Commander and Ian, peeking over the pillar to survey the battlefield. It was no longer her place to interfere.

Ian allowing the Flame Storm to rage wildly, with flames swirling around his sword, launched into action.

***

I can\'t believe this works.

Contrary to his expressionless face staring down the Legion Commander, Ian was internally surprised. The Flame Tide he had improvised to neutralize the storm of cold was having a greater effect than anticipated. Instead of just neutralizing the cold, it had evolved into a Flame Storm. The flames swirling around his sword were no different, appearing as if he was holding a sword of fire along with the Wind Blades.

I couldn\'t get it right before.

Ian had attempted something similar before, trying to add flames to Wind Blades or Whirling Barrier, hoping to make the flames stick. But back then, either the wind dispersed the explosion, or the flames fizzled out, leading him to abandon further attempts. However, the Flame Tide was different.

Was it a lack of firepower? Or is the nature of the flames different?

It might have been due to the difference in the amount of magical power in the spells. Either way, it didn\'t really matter to him.

"Surprised, bastard?" Ian, facing the Legion Commander\'s raging eyes, thrust his sword toward the creature\'s exposed eye sockets.

Swoosh!

The flames on the sword\'s blade devoured the cold emitting from the Legion Commander\'s body, burning fiercely. The fluctuating light in his eyes shattered, and the sword blade penetrated the Legion Commander\'s eye sockets. His resistance was not of concern now. Drawing the battle hammer was proof enough that the Legion Commander\'s life force was dwindling.

“Ahhhhhh—” A pained scream erupted from the Legion Commander. This time, Ian did not let his guard down. The blade embedded deep in the creature\'s eye sockets glowed red.

Boom!

A bright yellow flame burst forth like an explosion. It was the Fire Beam imbued with chaotic power. Instead of exiting through the back of the Legion Commander\'s head, the flames spread inside his body, burning him alive from within.

Swoosh.

The Legion Commander\'s agape mouth emitted no scream, just flames flickering like a tongue. The constant cold emanating from the Legion Commander\'s body was no longer perceptible. Ian poured out every last flicker of flame.

Sizzle.

The flames died down, scattering numerous sparks into the air as the fire that had been swirling with the storm of cold shattered in all directions. What remained was the glowing red Sword of Judgement and smoke rising from all the Legion Commander\'s orifices.

With a metallic clang, the battle hammer dropped from the Legion Commander\'s grasp. The body of the Legion Commander, standing until then, tilted forward like a falling log as Ian swiftly retreated backward, rolling on the ground.

With a thud, the Legion Commander fell.

Ian, still holding his still-hot Sword of Judgement, approached the fallen foe and lifted his sword with both hands.

Crack, crack!

With two decisive strikes, Ian beheaded the Legion Commander, feeling as if he were chopping down a massive tree.

Finally, the head of the Legion Commander was completely severed. A burst of blue magical power sprayed from the corpse, extinguishing the floating embers and evaporating, leaving a chilling cold that licked Ian\'s entire body and then dispersed.

Panting, Ian straightened up after holding his breath. With all the sparks extinguished, the surrounding darkness deepened, and a quest completion window popped up in the middle of his vision, followed by a level-up notification.

After nearly a year and a half in this world, he had finally gained a level, marking his entry into the realm of mastering higher-level magic—a domain he had to abandon in the game. However, Ian wasn\'t enveloped in great joy or exhilaration.

Silently catching his breath and closing his eyes, he focused all his attention on listening, wary of the giant legion\'s reaction to their leader\'s death in this damned world. Fortunately, no sounds of giants roaring or footsteps reached him, only his pulsing heartbeat and the breathing of the beastfolk hiding behind a pillar.

“Phew...”

Finally, Ian stumbled a bit. The strain of maintaining Concentration for so long and the depletion of his Mana finally caught up with him. In the game, leveling up would have restored his Health and Mana to a certain extent, but now, he only felt an intense fatigue.

"It\'s over. Come out," Ian called out, stumbling forward. As if waiting for the invitation, Charlotte\'s tall and sturdy silhouette appeared.

Her low voice followed.

"Ian, about earlier—"

"You tried to save me. I know. How\'s Thesa?"

"...She seems to be recovering. Still unconscious, though."

Ian sensed the worry in Charlotte\'s subdued voice, a stark contrast to her usual cold demeanor toward Thesaya. Perhaps some affection had formed.

"Alright. We\'ll set up camp. She needs to recover... and I\'m at my limit." Saying so, Ian reached into his pocket dimension, causing a pile of large tomes to tumble out, along with branches he had collected earlier for fuel.

With a whoosh, Ian threw a fireball at the tomes, engulfing the Giant Queen\'s research notes, which would have been invaluable to any scholar or mage, in flames. He then pulled out a sealed container from the pocket dimension, along with blankets, bandages, and preserved food, handing them roughly to Charlotte.

As Charlotte covered Thesaya with a blanket, she spoke.

"I\'ll take the first watch. Rest, Ian."

"Wake me if that door opens or if you hear anything approaching."

"Will do."

Despite having much to ponder, Ian was too exhausted to think. Contrary to his instructions to be awakened, he fell asleep almost immediately, plunging into a dream of endlessly falling into the abyss.

***

Ian woke silently to the cool, damp air and dim darkness, feeling the warmth of the campfire still lingering. Surprisingly, his condition wasn\'t bad; his mind was clear, his body felt refreshed, and the aftereffects of Mana depletion were gone.

Is this thanks to leveling up...?

Perhaps the immediate recovery of Health and Mana in the game now took some time in this reality. Either way, it wasn\'t bad news, especially since they were still inside the underground ruins.

"You\'re awake," Charlotte\'s voice came, surprisingly still alert though her orange eyes were smeared with fatigue.

"How long did I sleep?"

"A few hours... maybe more. Honestly, I have no idea." Charlotte answered slowly.

Ian, with a small smile, added his blanket over hers.

"Sleep. I\'ll wake you in half a day."

"Alright...." Charlotte lay down, and her breathing soon steadied.

Impressive that she held out this long.

Ian added more wood and books to the fading fire. The fuel was almost gone. He wondered if it was safe to light a fire underground, but there seemed to be no issue with ventilation, indicating some sort of air circulation system in place, unseen on the surface.

“...” Ian checked on Thesaya, who was nearly back to her original form except for the reddish marks around her mouth, likely from Charlotte feeding her blood.

No immediate danger of her going berserk upon waking, then.

Nodding to himself, Ian picked up a water bottle and some dried meat from the ground. Despite his recovered Health, eating was necessary. Mechanically moving his jaw, Ian glanced at the fallen body of the Legion Commander.

The corpse of the ancient giant, freshly awakened from its long slumber only to face death, still seemed unreal upon a second look. Indeed, everything since entering this underground palace felt like a surreal memory.

How could anyone have predicted this...?

Reflecting on it, Charlotte\'s label of him as a king slayer wasn\'t entirely off the mark. The ancient giant kingdom had, in effect, been utterly obliterated. Ian chewed over memories from the game, recalling the phantoms enveloped in madness swarming toward the Northern Barrier.

Perhaps it wasn\'t the Queen losing control that caused this.

It was possible he hadn\'t known the Queen had absorbed a demon, or conversely, a rebellion of the demon sealed within her had succeeded. Either way, with Ian having killed both the Queen and the demon, a massive battle like before might not occur again. This also implied that the future awaiting the North could change.

Time will tell.

Ian rose, having finished his meal. It was time to attend to the tasks he had put off.