Chapter 101: Clash of Incantations [Part 2]

The air suddenly chilled down, dropping the heat surrounding them at an incredible speed.

The frost, surging like a horizontal tornado, forced its way from Celeste’s hand and traveled directly toward the Treant.

Having some cool air extinguish the flames on its body would normally have been quite good for the massive tree, but it tried to retreat to escape the spell, which had enough power to crystallize its entire body and shatter it instantly.

Even before the spell touched it, its branches and roots had already started to freeze. Having lost its speed, there was no longer any time to escape.

At that time to its rescue, another spell came at the last second.

With Sable’s voice casting the spell like a whisper, the ground split open again, and vibrant, lush green vines rose to form a wide net in front of the Treant.

The frost tornado crashed directly into this giant net, instantly freezing every vine and shattering it.

But the vines just kept coming without stopping, instantly replacing those that shattered and fell to the ground as ice fragments, keeping the plant wall standing.

Raising her hand, Celeste chanted again. "...By the footprint of frozen time, let the blood of the world turn to frost. Unravel, glacial calamity."

A second frost tornado materialized and rushed to join the first, doubling its force and beginning to destroy all the vines much faster.

To counter her, Sable also chanted the spell again, doubling the number of vines to hold the wall and endure the assault.

Titus and Corvo just waited near Celeste, watching their surroundings.

At this moment, they didn’t have much to do, as the fight had suddenly turned into a clash of chanted spells.

They could only watch the area to pinpoint the location of Sable Thorn’s body while protecting Celeste from any sneak attack.

Every time Sable cast the spell, she changed her location so fast that the two Shadows were never able to find her during the process.

Meanwhile, a little ahead, Rowena kept burning down the whole forest.

Soon, there wouldn’t be much space left for the 12th Trial Witch to hide or escape, and she would eventually have to reveal herself.

Celeste kept chanting the same spell for the third and fourth time, never giving the enemy a moment of rest while keeping Sable busy to give Rowena more time to finish her destruction job.

At last, as if she had simply given up, Sable was the first one to stop defending her Shadow. The frost tornadoes finally pierced through the vine walls and struck the tree standing behind them.

It took only a single second for the massive tree to freeze completely into an ice statue, not even having the time to escape or defend itself.

"Corvo, return to Rowena’s side and tell her Sable is planning something," Celeste said coldly, finally deactivating her spell.

She was sure Sable wasn’t the type to let her Shadow die like that, so there had to be a reason why she suddenly stopped protecting him.

Corvo just nodded and started to rush toward his Lady’s side.

Titus, having already turned his twin swords back into a giant shield, asked in a calm voice while looking at the completely frozen tree, "Should I shatter it?"

It looked dead in that state, and its frozen branches had even begun to break apart on their own. However, Treants were known for their incredible life force, so it was hard to believe it was completely dead.

Celeste shook her head. "Let’s return to where the children are."

Magna and Renna were currently the most vulnerable, so protecting them was their highest priority.

—

’Hey hey, are they casting some nuclear weapons outside?’ Magna thought as the tremors he could feel grew even stronger over time.

He could clearly see the rising flames outside the ice dome they were in. Just by looking at them from the inside, he could picture the hellish state of the battlefield outside.

Too bad he was still unable to move his body, but the yellow mist around him had started to clear, as Magna had already absorbed most of the mana sustaining it. Only a few more minutes, and it would be gone completely.

"My grandmother looks like she’s burning down the whole place," Renna said with concern, watching the outside as well.

She was also tracking the condition of the frost dome surrounding them, which was holding up remarkably well against the heat, showing no signs of melting or cracking.

"Too bad it will also destroy the golden sunberry farm," she let out a sigh, as it was a massive loss for anyone.

She had been too flustered worrying about Magna earlier to remember to tell Celeste about the farm.

Not that they could have done anything anyway even if they knew.

They were currently occupied with protecting their lives, in no position to worry about wealth or riches.

Though hearing her murmur, Magna suddenly felt an incredible pain rise in his chest. ’Damn. The farm. My loot...’

When he thought of all those mana fruits burning to ash, he wanted to run outside and stop them himself.

With all those resources, he was sure he could trigger Gaia’s options lots of times. He would gain so much more power.

"Hm?" A small movement caught Renna’s eye as she turned to look at Magna. "Did you just move?"

Looking at his face, she could swear his expression had shifted slightly.

Looking at the yellow mist, she could also see that it had greatly diminished. What had been a thick layer covering his entire body a moment ago was now so thin that a single gust of wind could blow it away.

’Is the spell losing it’s effect? ’ While thinking at that moment, her gaze shifted again as a cracking sound came from the frost dome.

A small section of the ice, which had not melted or cracked until now, started to fracture, soon breaking down to form a wide opening.

Suddenly, the scorching hot air from the outside flooded inside, brushing against her face.

"Who’s there?" She immediately raised her guard, positioning herself in front of Magna as she thought it was an enemy, until she saw the figures slowly approaching.

"Grandmother? Lady Celeste?" She greeted them with a mixture of surprise and relief.

"My dear," Rowena called out warmly, approaching with quick steps.

She didn’t look angry in the slightest, as she looked at Renna, she gave her a tight hug, her face filled only with worry.

"Sorry for causing trouble," Renna whispered with guilt in her voice.

"No, no, my dear," Rowena pulled back, looking directly into her eyes. "We were already planning to attack this place anyway. Nothing has changed."

While offering her words of comfort, her eyes caught sight of Magna’s body. "What happened to him?"

Though he didn’t look as bad as a while ago, his flesh was still aging, sloughing off, and regenerating, a sight quite disgusting even to watch.

"He is under the spell of the Faceless Witch," Renna said, her voice still heavy with guilt.

Rowena raised an eyebrow hearing that, stepping closer to inspect him more carefully. "Under her spell? Why do I actually see two spells affecting him right now?"