Chapter 867: Former Home of the Theresis Clan

Only after Riezel walked out of the limestone cavern did he finally understand why this place had become the homeland of the Theresis Clan.

Apparently, the limestone cavern was not the entirety of the clan’s territory, since it was merely one part of it.

Led by Yanivette, Riezel left the cavern and stepped onto a frozen plain.

"Here is...?"

As soon as he saw the icy expanse before him, Riezel froze.

In his vision, the frozen plain was not particularly large, roughly the size of a small village, yet countless buildings stood upon it.

They were all ice houses, crystal-clear and translucent, giving the entire settlement a strangely beautiful appearance. Scattered around the ice houses were abandoned tools, furniture, carts, bundles of straw, and rusted iron utensils.

From those remnants, it was easy to imagine that this had once been a place that, while never bustling, had still been warm and full of life.

Riezel even spotted several areas resembling sheep pens.

They had probably once housed beasts unique to the northern regions, whether ordinary animals or perhaps monsters. Now, however, they had all fallen into ruin, with not a single living creature left inside.

Naturally, there was no trace of anyone within the ice houses either, leaving the entire snow-covered village completely abandoned.

As Yanivette looked upon the frozen village, a faint trace of nostalgia and remembrance appeared within her cold golden eyes.

Yet those feelings only lingered for a brief moment.

It was as though she had already severed all attachment to this place, for without another glance, she walked toward the village.

Riezel walked beside Yanivette, and no one would have guessed that the two had been locked in a fierce battle only moments earlier.

"Where’d all the people who lived here go?"

While casually looking around, Riezel asked the question as though it were nothing important.

"They’re gone," Yanivette replied calmly. "When the kingdom of Zynia was officially renamed the queendom of Theresis and conquered every powerful tribe throughout the northern lands, this ancient clan also left the homeland where it had lived and prospered for countless years. They traveled to Urvashi and became an indispensable part of this nation."

"I see..." Riezel nodded slowly. "So the Theresis Clan already merged into this country a long time ago. It’s not just the royal family that’s descended from them?"

"You could say that..." Yanivette remained as indifferent as ever. "However, the purest bloodline undoubtedly belongs to the royal family. Even if the other branches still exist, after centuries of intermarriage and diluted bloodlines, they can no longer truly be called descendants of the Theresis Clan."

"If you put it that way, then the royal family probably isn’t all that different..."

Riezel smiled faintly.

"The Theresis Clan used to be the Reinnail Clan’s vassals back during the ancient magic civilization. Even if their bloodline wasn’t as exceptional as the Reinnails’, it definitely wasn’t some ordinary lineage."

"Otherwise, there’s no way they could’ve been the only ones left after the ancient magic civilization got wiped out."

"But after all these years, the Theresis Clan’s bloodline had gotten a whole lot thinner too. By the time the Theresis Tribe’s saintess became the queendom’s first-generation queen, she was pretty much the clan’s last masterpiece."

"After the first-generation queen died from illness, the Theresis Clan pretty much disappeared too."

"And that’s what slowly caused this nation to fall apart, right?"

Hearing Riezel’s words, Yanivette glanced at him.

"You know quite a lot..." Yanivette spoke coldly. "Reinnail... What a familiar and ancient name. Unfortunately, almost no one remains who still remembers that great clan of heroes."

"And?" Riezel ignored her remark and continued. "Why’d we come here?"

By now, he had already realized that this place was probably another separate dimension, much like the Hidden Land.

The difference was that the Hidden Land was vast beyond imagination, while this place was comparatively tiny, only large enough to contain a single village capable of supporting, at most, a few thousand inhabitants.

Unlike the Hidden Land, however, this place was not completely isolated from the outside world and had always remained connected to it.

Otherwise, the people of Zynia would never have found this place in the past and met the saintess of the Theresis Clan, which had been known as the Theresis Tribe at the time and was now known as the royal family of Theresis. Likewise, they themselves would never have been able to enter this abandoned homeland.

And the whirlpool beneath the glacier was undoubtedly the entrance connecting the outside world to this place.

However, Riezel did not believe that the entrance had appeared by coincidence.

Something had definitely caused it to emerge beneath the glacier.

And that something could not have been him.

It could only have been Chloria—or rather, Yanivette.

Just as he had expected...

"As my vessel drew closer and closer to Urvashi, the consciousness sleeping within the girl’s body gradually awakened and quickly grasped the current situation."

Yanivette spoke without the slightest ripple in her voice.

"Once I understood the queendom’s current condition, I also realized that this nation once again needed my strength."

"So I guided the girl, subtly influencing her while she remained unconscious, and led her to the nearest passage."

"Because there is something here that I must retrieve, I must come here."

In other words, regardless of Chloria’s original reason for leaving, she would ultimately have come here—to the former homeland of the Theresis Clan.

"...So everything I did was for nothing?"

Riezel sighed helplessly.

Had he known things would turn out this way, why had he rushed over in such a panic to save Chloria?

She had not encountered an accident at all.

She had been deliberately guided here.

Needless to say, his desperate rescue attempt had been completely unnecessary.

"Not entirely."

Yanivette glanced at Riezel again.

"Without you, the girl’s consciousness might truly have disappeared under those circumstances. Even if I had awakened afterward, restoring a body that had already lost its life would have required paying a considerable price."

"I had already prepared myself to remain within my clan’s homeland for quite some time, slowly recovering the power I would have expended."

"Who would have thought that you could directly awaken the girl’s consciousness and resurrect this lifeless body?"

As she spoke, Yanivette’s gaze toward Riezel became far more meaningful.

"Hm, that didn’t appear to be ordinary magic. What kind of power did you use to accomplish such a thing?"

Instead of answering, Riezel met her gaze directly and narrowed his eyes.

"So, the reason you attacked me the second you woke up... was because of that?"

Riezel’s question was answered with a cold sneer.

"I merely wished to subdue you, make you obedient, and uncover the answers to my doubts."

Yanivette said it as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

In her eyes, strength was truth, and those with greater power had the right to dominate everything that belonged to those who were weaker.

Such was the law of the world.

Just as she had said earlier, the victor claimed everything, while the loser lost everything—that was the law of the grasslands, and it was also the law of the snowfields.

Evidently, that was the creed Yanivette believed in and the philosophy she upheld.

It was obvious that this woman admired strength to an extreme—or rather, she revered power above all else.

Because of that, she had attacked Riezel without a word, firmly believing that as long as she defeated him, she would obtain everything she wished to know.

Before she understood Riezel’s true strength—or more accurately, before she realized that he possessed the ability to stand against her—she had not even been willing to exchange a single unnecessary sentence with him.

How overbearing.

How domineering.

After realizing all that, Riezel genuinely wanted to beat this woman up again and show her exactly how the world worked.

"I really wanna beat the crap outta you..."

Riezel voiced his thoughts with complete honesty.

Instead of becoming angry, Yanivette’s lips curved into a faint smile.

"I also wish to fight you again and let you witness my true power."

Even though she spoke with a battle-hungry tone that hardly suited a woman, a trace of regret appeared in Yanivette’s voice.

"But without my inherited sword, I cannot fully display the strength I possessed in my prime. Fighting you in my current state would neither satisfy me nor bring me anything but humiliation."

"If you wish to battle me, wait until I reclaim the sword and recover my full power."

"When that time comes, I also wish to witness the full extent of your strength."

Yanivette had already realized that Riezel had not fought with everything he had during their previous battle.

He had been completely at ease.

And precisely because he had been so relaxed, it was obvious that he still possessed far greater power than he had ever revealed.

Such a fact both surprised and delighted Yanivette.

She was surprised because the man before her was clearly so young, yet he possessed such overwhelming strength.

Even without having regained her peak power or wielding her inherited sword, she was still far stronger than an ordinary Sword Saint. With her current strength, she might no longer have been invincible as she once was, but she was still powerful enough to roam throughout Theresis without suffering defeat.

Yet before this young man, strength of that level seemed no different from that of a child—powerless and fragile.

A powerhouse like this, even during the age of the ancient magic civilization, probably hadn’t had many equals.

After realizing that, Yanivette genuinely felt happy.

There had only ever been two things she truly loved in her life.

The first was leading her nation and her people across every corner of the Akasha Continent, conquering all lands, and achieving eternal glory.

The second was crossing swords with powerful opponents.

Unfortunately, she had accomplished neither.

There was no need to explain the first.

As for the second, during her prime, Yanivette had never encountered anyone truly capable of matching her.

No.

People who could fight her certainly existed, but there simply wasn’t anyone capable of forcing her to use her full strength.

But now, in the absurdly young man before her, Yanivette saw that possibility.

He was a true powerhouse.

A true rival.

Honestly, even if she recovered her full strength and returned to her peak condition, whether she could actually defeat him remained unknown.

That uncertainty ignited the fighting spirit deep within Yanivette’s heart.

"I have long sought a warrior capable of defeating me, yet my wish has never been fulfilled."

"But you... possess that possibility."

"Do not disappoint me, Riezel Brynhart."

For the first time, Yanivette’s voice was no longer so cold. Instead, there was a hint of genuine happiness in it.

"If you can defeat me at my peak, then you shall obtain everything."

With that, Yanivette increased her pace and strode forward without waiting for Riezel’s response.

’What the hell... so she’s actually a battle maniac?’

For a moment, Riezel was left speechless.

Still, he could understand how Yanivette felt.

After all, wasn’t he the same?

He had always longed for adventure, sought thrills, and taken great interest in powerful opponents worthy of drawing out his full strength.

It could only be said that the two of them were more alike than either cared to admit.

’Now this is getting interesting...’

A smile appeared on Riezel’s face.

Although there were still many unanswered questions, who cared?

Since Yanivette had already said that defeating her at her peak would give him every answer, then that was exactly what he would do. As long as he defeated her, everything he wanted to know would naturally be revealed.

Maybe the only question was just how powerful this mysterious woman had been at the height of her strength.

If the power she had displayed earlier was already at Level 8, then what level had she reached in her prime?

The pinnacle of Level 8?

The absolute limit of Level 8?

Or perhaps... Level 9?

"Inherited sword..."

Hearing Yanivette repeatedly mention those words, Riezel could not help but recall a sword as cold as eternal ice wielded by Ice Maiden—the one she had called her nation’s national artifact.

During this period, Riezel had also gathered a great deal of information about Theresis and learned something.

Within the royal family of this northern superpower, not only was there an inherited swordsmanship like Jinas’s War King Sword Style, but there also existed an inherited sword.

It was said to have been the sword of the first-generation queen and possessed unimaginable power. It might even have surpassed every ancient relic, every modern mystical artifact, and every magic weapon within Theresis, leaving anyone who heard of it astonished.

After the first-generation queen passed away from illness, the sword had been passed down through the royal family for generations.

Yet no one had ever been able to wield it.

Many members of the royal family throughout history had attempted to claim it, but without exception, the instant they grasped its hilt, they were frozen into ice statues.

Hence, after several centuries, the sword’s symbolic significance had far surpassed its practical use, and the people of Theresis regarded it as the nation’s greatest treasure.

It was precisely that sword that the people of the queendom referred to as the national artifact.

’The sword Yanivette keeps talking about... that’s Theresis’s national artifact, isn’t it?’

Riezel’s eyes flickered.

’But why did Theresis’s national artifact end up in Ice Maiden’s hands?’

’Did she get the national artifact and become the first person since the first-generation queen to actually use it?’

’If that’s the case... who the hell is she, really?’

Riezel already had a rough idea of the answer.

’Looks like we’ll be seeing each other again real soon.’

Murmuring those words, Riezel quickened his pace and once again caught up to Yanivette.

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[A bonus Chapter for reaching 400 Power Stones]

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