Icard’s raid group finally arrived.
Icard, Eric, and Redd, the red-haired boy from their three-man squad, rushed straight toward Albert’s position, while the green haired one with Reya had landed violently amidst the chaotic battlers.
Wester’s gaze snapped to Icard, sharpening instantly. He clicked his tongue and let out a low harrumph.
"In the end, I underestimated you again," Wester muttered.
His grip on the spawn weakened.
Then the creature flailed violently, stomping the ground with its massive claws, its head snapping from side to side as it roared without direction, no longer attacking with purpose.
Albert pushed himself upright quickly, regrouping beside the two incarnations who had just driven the spawn back.
One was Eric, his fists engulfed in fla.
The other was an unfamiliar incarnation whose legs burned with fire as well.
Albert panted, steadying his breathing after the close call.
"This one looks pretty strong," Redd muttered.
"Yeah," Eric said grimly. "It reminds of the chieftain I saw before. That thing was terrifying."
Wester clenched his fist, reinforcing the invisible leash on the spawn. Its movents slowed and its rage dulled, but only temporarily.
"I really thought those five would wipe you all out," Wester said, a crooked smile spreading across his face. "I buffed them all to D rank but you even took out the other one from Gyantar’s group. I was sure he would catch you off guard."
"His na was Lucas," Icard said flatly. "And he’s dead."
Wester scoffed. "Right. He was supposed to lead you into a nest with high-grade spawns. And sohow, you survived."
"Yeah, we did" Icard replied, shifting his stance.
He raised his hamr, frost creeping along its surface.
"Tch."
Wester clicked his tongue again.
He clenched his fists, dark purplish energy swelling subtly around his hands.
At the sa ti, the faint glow on the spawn’s head flickered violently before vanishing completely.
Then next, the spawn snapped.
Its eyes widened, awareness flooding back in as it threw its head back and roared, no longer restrained.
Albert and the others stiffened as it locked onto them.
Eric’s fists flared brighter. Redd’s legs ignited fully. Albert’s energy spiraled violently around his body.
Without hesitation, the spawn pounced.
At the sa instant, Wester’s aura surged.
Icard felt it imdiately.
’He released control and pulled the power back to himself.’
It made sense. Controlling sothing like that would take a lot of focus.
The air vibrated as Wester crouched slightly...then vanished.
He crossed the distance in an instant.
Wester’s hand shot forward, sharpened by compressed dark purplish energy, aid straight for Icard’s face.
Icard reacted on instinct.
He twisted aside and swung his hamr in the sa motion.
The hamr slamd into Wester with a heavy, frost-laden impact.
Ice exploded outward, a sharp burst of cold that cracked the ground beneath them.
But Wester’s energy surged in response, shredding the frost apart midair.
Wester caught the hamr and the impact echoed sharply.
Icard barely had ti to react. He followed up imdiately.
He ford an ice shard in his free hand and drove it forward at point-blank range.
Wester caught that too.
The shard shattered instantly, fragnts scattering as Wester’s grip tightened, one hand still clamped firmly around the hamr’s shaft.
Then Wester moved.
He seized Icard by the face and hurled him away.
Icard crashed through the ruins across the street, stone and debris exploding outward as his body tore through weakened walls. He skidded across broken rubble before slamming to a halt.
"Damn it," Icard muttered, coughing from the impact.
He staggered to his feet, his grip trembling slightly as he struggled to steady the frost hamr.
Pain pulsed through his arms and shoulders, with the impact still ringing through his bones.
He wiped blood from his mouth and stepped forward again.
But Wester did not give him ti.
A blast of dark purplish energy tore through the air.
Icard raised his hamr just in ti.
The impact rattled his entire body, forcing him back several steps as frost and energy collided violently.
Wester was already moving again.
His speed and strength were far beyond normal human limits.
This would have been overwhelming.
But Icard narrowed his eyes. It would have only been a bigger problem if he had not raised his attributes.
But even then, he was still struggling to keep up.
Icard clenched his jaws and twisted aside.
Wester’s strike tore through the space where Icard had just been standing. The ground ruptured with a violent crack, stone bursting upward as dark purplish energy carved a shallow trench through it.
Icard barely had ti to breathe.
He steadied his footing and swung back imdiately, pouring more mana into the strike.
Wester grinned.
He focused his power, compressing it into the tips of his fingers until it sharpened like a blade. He drove it forward.
The energy pierced straight through the hamr.
The frost shattered instantly, fragnts exploding outward in a burst of ice and mist.
Wester laughed.
"You were a problem," he said. "I don’t know where you crawled out from, but I’m starting to feel like I’m wasting my effort on you."
They were too close to disengage.
Icard abandoned the broken hamr and switched instantly to Snow Vine, forming a sword-length icicle in his grip. He stepped in, eting Wester head-on.
Their strikes clashed at close range.
Icard blocked, parried, and slipped past blows that would have shattered bone. He found an opening and drove his blade into Wester’s chest, flooding it with mana.
Nothing.
The force was swallowed, cancelled out completely, as if Wester’s energy rejected him outright. It felt like striking a solid wall of pressure.
Wester exhaled sharply.
"Let show you what real power is."
His energy surged violently, spiraling tighter as he released it point-blank.
Icard crossed both arms in front of his chest and head just in ti.
The blast detonated.
He was launched backward, skidding across the ground, tumbling uncontrollably through loose stone and debris.
He forced himself upright before the montum could fully take him, boots carving deep lines as he slid to a halt.
He coughed, more blood splattering onto the ground as he dropped to one knee.
Pain rippled through his body. Every muscle scread and his bones felt displaced and rattled, like they had been shaken loose.
But he did not lower his guard. Wester was already advancing.
Icard reforged the icicle in his hand, thickening it and reinforcing its mana integrity. Frost crept along his arm as he prepared for another exchange.
The impact from before had scattered his body. His breathing was uneven. His limbs felt sluggish, like they were lagging behind his thoughts.
Still, he forced himself to stand.
All of this was expected.
’I have to use Regelation. But I cannot activate it while moving like this.’
His body throbbed with every step.
’Heh. All that attribute elevation, and I am still getting pushed back.’
Even with most attributes E grade, Wester was still beyond him.
His presence felt closer to the drone’s D grade. Maybe even higher.
That pressure was becoming quite a lot.
Wester walked toward him calmly, almost lazily, boots crunching over broken stone. His posture was relaxed, confident, like the fight had already been decided.
"Do not waste my ti," Wester muttered. "I have better things to do."
Dark purplish energy spiraled violently around his hands, compressing further and further.
"You are becoming annoying," he said coldly. "So just die."
Then the blast followed. There was no ti to dodge.
[Attribute Activation:] [Regelation (Third Floor)]
Icard braced himself, activating Regelation to force his body to repair against the incoming damage.
But instead, a violent explosion erupted.
Icard’s eyes widened.
The attack never reached him. Instead, soone stepped in front of him and parried it.
He looked before him.
Eric.
The blast had detonated against Eric’s raised arms, fire flaring wildly as he was forced back several steps, boots gouging into the ground.
"Albert told to back you up," Eric said, panting heavily. "But then, I didn’t expect this guy to be this strong."
The force had been insane. Even Eric was struggling to stay upright.
Icard dropped to one knee again.
"I just need a minute," he said, breathing raggedly.
White frost spread rapidly across his skin, creeping up his arms and shoulders.
The air filled with sharp cracking sounds, like ice forming under pressure, as Regelation took hold in earnest.
The fight had already been drawn away from the main battlefield, up the street into a partially leveled area littered with broken walls and shattered stone.
Far behind them, the main battle still raged.
Reya and the others were locked in combat with Wester’s followers, flashes of energy lighting the streets as the chaos continued.
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