Nox stood quietly in the middle of the frozen battlefield, surrounded by the glowing spirits of the corrupted dragons the Ice Monarch had just slain.
But unlike before, he didn't fuse them into a single champion.
Instead, his mind sparked with a new idea, and he quickly scanned around the battlefield, noting about 150 dead Scourge Dragons.
'I only need…' Nox paused in his thoughts and did a quick calculation in his head. 'I only need 138.'
Nox's current taming space was 3/71, the three slots occupied by the Supre Spirit Wolf, Mushrooms Man, and the Dreadfiend Tyrant, which had remained in the taming space all this while.
His plan was to fuse two Scourge Dragons together to fill up one slot each, bringing the total spirit Scourge Dragons to 68.
With this plan in mind, Nox activated his subclass.
Nox raised a hand.
And then the transformation process began. After so minutes of the air warping and twisting, it was over.
The spectral dragons shuddered as if receiving an order.
The 68 spirits hovered around him, restless, their ghostly forms twitching in the air. Their bodies were translucent and still looked monstrous, but they seed to recognize Nox as their new master.
"Go," he said calmly, his voice steady and cold. "Hunt. Kill every Scourge beast you find. Feed experience points!"
The spirits howled, their cries echoing as they turned away from him and began to fly, slither, and glide deeper into the forest. They disappeared one after the other into the mist, heading in different directions.
Nox watched them for a mont, then turned and ran deeper into the forest himself. His boots kicked up frozen leaves and frost-covered grass. The deeper he went, the colder it beca. The air was heavy. Silent. Only the sound of his breath and the crunch of his steps broke the stillness.
Above, snow began to fall slowly, covering the trees in a soft white sheet.
'I guess if I want to reach the red zone, I have to use Divine Velocity.'
---
anwhile, back on the city walls, the frost from the battle had not yet lted.
Guards were still standing at their posts, though many were injured or exhausted. So were helping civilians get to safety. Others kept watching the skies, afraid more beasts would co.
Then suddenly—
BOOM!
A pulse of energy rolled across the top of the wall. It was soft but powerful, like a giant heartbeat in the air.
A tall figure appeared on the battlents, dressed in long blue robes that shimred like dragon scales under moonlight. His face was calm, wise, and lined with age. His eyes glowed with golden light.
It was an elder Ice Dragon, a high-ranking mber of the Supre Dragon Court.
Gasps broke out from the guards.
One of them dropped to his knees out of fear.
The Elder Dragon looked over the wall slowly, scanning the destruction—the cracked stones, the broken ice, the scorch marks, the bodies of corrupted dragons. The other seven Elder Dragons had all returned to their kingdoms of origin, and naturally, as a Frost Dragon, he chose to remain here in Frostpire.
He had been fighting in another section of the wall and had witnessed Nox's one-sided massacre.
"What happened here?" he asked, his voice low but strong, carrying through the air like a spell.
No one answered at first.
Then, a young guard stepped forward. His armor was scorched, and blood ran down the side of his face, but he still stood straight.
"Sir," the guard said, saluting. "We were under attack. A large group of Scourge Dragons broke through the western gate."
The elder didn't move. He just watched him.
"But then soone stepped in," the guard continued. "A boy. From the tournant. Kawl of Frostpire."
At that, the elder blinked.
"Kawl?"
"Yes, sir. He fought like… like nothing I've ever seen. He killed them faster than we could even react. And his ice control was sothing else. It almost seed as if the Ice Monarch himself was fighting on the battlefield."
The Elder Frost Dragon frowned and turned his head slightly.
"Where did he go?"
"We're not sure. But we think he went into the forest."
The elder fell quiet for a mont.
The snow blew around him gently. His robes fluttered in the wind. Then he turned his gaze to the sky.
"I warned them," he muttered to himself. "I told them the boy was too calm. Too collected. That Dracos and he are hiding sothing."
The Elder Dragon then looked at the guard before shifting his gaze to the other part of the wall where Drake, Zara, and the rest of the Frostpire team were fending off the Scourge Dragons.
'Could that kid be the hybrid that Inferno lad found in the forest? It makes no sense—just when he showed up, a hybrid also appeared inside the ancient forests very close to the city.'
'If not for this sudden Scourge attack, we would have gotten our answers.' The Frost Monarch clenched his fist. He seed to be contemplating within himself before eventually dashing into the forest as well.
---
Back in the forest, Nox deactivated Divine Velocity, pausing on top of a frozen ridge.
Below him, he saw a deep valley, half-covered in fog. Strange black crystals were sticking out of the ground like claws. A sickly red mist rose from cracks in the earth.
Suddenly, Nox felt a jolt in his head.
---
[Ding! One of your spirits has slain a Scourge Dragon: 10,000 EXP]
[Ding! One of your spirits has slain a Scourge Dragon: 10,000 EXP]
[Ding! One of your spirits has slain a Scourge Dragon: 8,000 EXP]
[Ding! One of your spirits has slain a Scourge Dragon: 10,000 EXP]
[Ding! One of your spirits has slain a Scourge Dragon: 10,000 EXP]
[Ding! Another has fallen: 16,000 EXP]
---
He smirked.
"Good," he said. "Keep going."
He could feel their souls through the bond. They were still hunting, and soon another ssage popped up on his retina.
[Ding! You've leveled up!]
[You have reached Level 73]
Nox advanced further again a mont later.
The deeper he went, the more twisted everything beca. Trees looked half-dead. So were covered in black vines that pulsed like veins. He passed more dead Scourge beasts—bodies already frozen and shattered.
But these weren't his kills.
They had been struck down by the only person who had headed here before him.
Nox narrowed his eyes.
"Dracos?" he whispered.
Maybe. Or maybe sothing worse.
He stepped forward, and before he could move any further, countless ssages flooded his retina.
[Ding! Your spirit has died]
[Ding! Your spirit has died]
[Ding! Your spirit has died]
[Ding! Your spirit has died]
[Ding! Your spirit has died]
[Ding! Your spirit has died]
"Huh… what's happening?" Nox paused in his tracks with a dumbfounded expression on his face.
Reviews
All reviews (0)