Chapter 348: Downpour (04)

--This Chapter is written in Mia’s POV--

The air felt painfully cold.

My whole body burned from within as the [White Queen Of The Snow Hunt] skill drained my mana, scorching my veins.

The snow from my Beastification drained the energy of Champions and monsters in the area, but the skill demanded too much, and I couldn’t keep it up for more than five minutes.

Still, I refused to deactivate the skill or drop my Beastification.

The man who had put Ellie and the other girls into a coma appeared from within the forest.

Beside him was an angel girl whose faint blue wings glowed with an ethereal, peaceful light.

To stand a chance, I’d need all the power I had.

Turner ran toward them, holding back a scream of pain as he clutched the shoulder where his arm used to be.

Mia: "Hah...! Hah...!"

I had pushed myself to the limits of my Beastification. Even with the [White Queen Of The Snow Hunt] active, I felt like I could lose my mind at any moment.

Perhaps I already had.

Erik: "You were one of the women who invaded Ceres’ Building... That must mean Maya’s brother is nearby?"

His voice was flat, but no matter how low it was, my ears picked up on his words as if they were shouts.

Looking at him, my fists clenched even after my nails tore into my palms.

A warm tear welled up in my right eye, but just like the air that met my frigid breath, it froze into a hailstone.

Turner: "That’s right..."

As the man approached Erik, blades extended from a rectangular steel plate on the angel’s forearm, forming a round shield.

At the same time, the angel reached for her scabbard.

Erik raised his hand, and the angel hesitantly took a single step back.

Turner: "Help me out with her... And I’ll teach you how to use the book... It’s a powerful relic..."

The mercenary, seemingly convinced that his bet had paid off, wore a smirk that disappeared when Erik frowned.

A distinct smell of fear hovered over Turner.

Erik: "You mean that book?"

Erik pointed his finger toward me, and the mercenary’s face flashed with hope as he turned to confirm it.

His expression changed and contorted as he saw the frozen black book shatter into thousands of shards in my hand.

I would’ve loved to give the book to Beatrice, but it was better destroyed than in their hands.

Turner: "No! Do you have any idea how much that shit is worth!?"

I spat out the arm I had ripped from him.

Its disgusting taste still lingered on my tongue.

Mia: "Right now? Even a dumb beastwoman like me can tell it’s probably zero."

The ice shards fell to the ground, and the piling snow rapidly buried them alongside Turner’s arm.

Turner: "I’ve got more badges. If you help me kill her, we can both make it to the next phase and work together."

Erik closed his eyes for a second, seemingly considering the mercenary’s words.

They were true, but the desperate cadence he spoke with made it sound like made-up fantasies.

Erik: "It annoys me how badly you’ve evaluated the situation."

He pushed Turner away with one hand, keeping it pressed against the mercenary’s chest.

I heard Turner’s heartbeat stop for a brief moment before it started rising uncontrollably.

Erik: "First, she can escape me whenever she pleases. I lack the means to kill her at the moment..."

We stared each other down for a second.

My instincts screamed for me to run, but thanks to the [White Queen Of The Snow Hunt], I still had enough sanity to plant my feet on the ground and stop my trembling fists.

Erik: "Second, I’d prefer her master owe me a favor over anything you might have to offer."

Turner took a hesitant step back, but Erik stepped forward as soon as he got out of his reach.

Erik: "Third, killing you is much easier."

He pulled his arm back.

Turner: "W-Wait! I can teach you about the badges! You can control every Champion in this Divine Event-"

Erik’s entire hand pierced through Turner’s chest without any semblance of resistance, as if flesh and bones were water and dust.

The mercenary fell on his back, dead.

Erik had his heart and torn pieces of cloth in his hand, but after taking the badges from the fabric, he let the rest fall to the ground.

Erik: "It’s more than enough. Tell your master I let you have the rest."

He shook the blood off his hands before adjusting his glasses.

Slowly, he turned his face away from me, toward the direction I was picking up another familiar scent from.

Erik: "Unless you want to owe me a favor, too?"

I heard loud booms as massive trees fell one after the other behind Erik.

In the blink of an eye, a gigantic figure leaped above us, casting a shadow over the entire area.

At the cave’s entrance, a massive blue wolf with golden fur lay with its paws stretched forward, growling.

Hidden by the wolf’s fur was a small woman whose hair was equally golden.

Maya: "Sure. I spent too much time on something else, so... I’d appreciate the help."

With a bright, slightly proud smile plastered over her face, she patted the beast she mounted on.

Erik: "It would seem so. Do I dare ask how you tamed it?"

I thought Miwen was exaggerating when he told me about the wolf he ran into, but seeing it for myself...

The beast had a scent that reminded me of Elizabeth. It felt dangerous and ancient.

Though not quite, it felt almost as old as the Merchant.

??????: "I’m sorry to interrupt, but... That book... It housed something bad."

Looking tense, the angel waiting beside Erik took out the sword from her scabbard.

The snow before my feet had turned black, and a thick fog of the same color swirled in the air.

The black smoke rose until it was taller than me. Its shape slowly changed to resemble a winged man.

The skies above darkened, and the pouring rain intensified. Even my snow couldn’t compete anymore.

Maya: "H-Hey! Good boy? Stay...!"

The blue wolf stood, and I stepped away from the smoke.

A second later, its face finally took form.

??????: "It’s a demon!"

The angel snapped her wings, launching herself at the man who appeared from the smoke.

She slashed him a dozen times in a second, but every time, the winged man stopped her.

Demon: "...I’m the Rain Demon Alkztaer. I thank you for freeing me from my prison, and I offer you my services."

His deep voice resonated within me, as if his fingers were reaching for my heart.

He effortlessly captured the angel with his tail, and with a palm resting against his chest, he bowed to me.

Erik: "Let her go."

Alkztaer had wrapped his tail around the angel’s neck, and even with both hands, she couldn’t free herself.

Erik grabbed his tail and tried snapping it like a rope, but it didn’t work. For a moment, I saw a glimpse of surprise in Erik’s eyes.

The demon instantly turned to him, and while Erik blocked its punch, he was sent flying into the woods.

It was the first time I had seen someone push him back, and I failed to hold back an instinctive, scoffing smirk.

However, it was short-lived, as Erik stood a moment later, barely scratched.

Alkztaer: "Oh? Less feeble than I thought, but... What about her?"

The demon tightened his tail’s grip on the angel.

As her sword fell to the ground, the wolf Maya rode on leaped toward him, splitting the demon in half.

Alkztaer’s lower body melted into a puddle, and even his upper body, still being chewed on by the wolf, followed suit.

The cold black rain kept pouring down, but its color slowly changed to a faint musk green.

Water streamed from the puddles on the ground, converging in the air until it had once again taken the shape of the demon.

Alkztaer: "You’ve prepared such a lovely banquet to welcome me, my Lady. It’s so unfortunate that someone let this beast in."

While he spoke, his loud laughter resonated from multiple directions.

There were more than ten copies of Alkztaer surrounding us, and while one spoke, the others laughed.

My nose didn’t pick up any difference in their scents, and their voices sounded the same to my ears, but they all seemed to act independently and slightly differently.

Mia: "...Wasn’t that the effect of the pink water?"

I thought they were just like the illusions Turner created, but the rain wasn’t pink like the water he used to create the fake Miwens.

It wasn’t like the green rain was an illusion either.

I tried to lift my leg, only for my feet to glue to the ground.

No matter how much strength I put into it, even when I tried pulling my legs with my hands, it just wouldn’t move.

The angel was in a similar bad spot, lying on the ground, unable to flap her wings.

Even Maya seemed stuck to the blue wolf.

Erik could still move, but when he pulled the angel from the ground, her wings bled, and she screamed in pain.

She healed herself quickly with her magic, but once Erik let her rest on his shoulder, she seemed to get stuck to him.

Carrying her on his shoulders, Erik stopped to stare at the battle between the wolf and the unending copies of Alkztaer.

The green raindrops turned into green spears that missed the wolf and stabbed the ground.

Despite the beast having to fight the green water like us, it still moved incredibly fast and dodged the downpour to slash Alkztaer’s copies one after another.

I counted twelve copies in total at any given moment, but they were destroyed and reformed too fast for my mind to process.

At the same time, I was worried about Maya.

The wolf was dragging her at such an insane speed that she had spirals in her eyes, and while that beast could probably take a direct hit from Alkztaer’s spears, Maya could not.

It felt like their chaotic battle was an unending standstill, but as if to make things even messier, a bloody red moon appeared between the black, rainy clouds.

Daytime in this world seemed shorter compared to Earth, but...

Mia: "It’s too soon to be night..."

The moon began to bleed, and from the blood waterfall it spilled, yet another figure appeared.

A woman with striking red hair, pale skin, and an unamused look in her eyes stepped from within the torrent of blood.

The jungle was supposed to be blazing hot, and the day incredibly bright, yet...

Darkness crept in from all directions, and the air felt unusually colder.

My snow felt much more comfortable.