Chapter 81: An SSS-Rank Hero Can’t Bring Herself to Strike! Frostfall Turns the Tide of Battle!

Chapter 81: Chapter 81: An SSS-Rank Hero Can’t Bring Herself to Strike! Frostfall Turns the Tide of Battle!

Vira finally couldn’t hold back any longer.

She let out an emotionless shriek and spread the five fingers of her left hand. Hundreds of light blades materialized around her.

[Holy Light Featherblade!]

Three hundred and sixty light blades erupted outward in every direction, indiscriminately attacking everything around her.

Ophelia twisted in midair, folding her dragon wings to protect her front.

The light blades struck the wings formed from Dragonflame, sending showers of sparks flying.

However, three blades still slipped through the gaps in her defense and struck her body.

-8,040!

-8,980!

-8,210!

Ophelia lowered her head and stared blankly at the three glowing wounds on her arm.

For a long moment, she didn’t move.

"Ophelia! Watch out!"

John’s voice came from behind her.

He had noticed the confusion in her eyes.

But her opponent was Vira, a modified Boss.

She was even more powerful than an ordinary Lord-Class Boss.

Ophelia suddenly raised her head and instinctively turned sideways.

An attack whistled past her ear.

It smashed an entire section of the crystal wall behind her, demonstrating just how merciless her opponent was.

The next instant, Vira stopped hesitating.

[Light-Shadow Transposition] activated.

Her figure faded into the light and instantly reappeared directly beneath the vaulted ceiling of the main hall.

The crystal dome shattered before her as easily as paper, and a beam of white light shot straight into the sky.

Ophelia let out an angry roar and beat her dragon wings with all her strength.

Her purple-golden figure immediately pursued the streak of white light, bursting through the shattered dome.

"Wait——"

John reached out, trying to stop her.

But the two moved too quickly. Before he could even finish speaking, a massive hole had already been torn through the temple ceiling, with crystal fragments still raining down.

Bladeborne struggled to his feet and looked up at the enormous hole in the ceiling. The corner of his mouth twitched.

"Ophelia... Has she lost her mind?"

"We don’t have wings."

Arno stood up and brushed the dust from his hands, looking toward the sky beyond the shattered ceiling.

John quickly forced himself to calm down.

He ran to the temple entrance and looked outside.

The entire sky had already become a battlefield of two contrasting colors.

Water-blue light and purple light repeatedly collided and separated in midair.

The purple light plunged downward from high above, while the water-blue light surged upward to meet it.

The two streaks of light became entangled in a fierce battle approximately two hundred meters above the ground.

John frowned as he watched.

Although Ophelia had an SSS-grade status panel, Vira’s HP and Defense were simply too high.

On top of that, the Heavenly Nail Resonance passive continuously restored her HP.

And Ophelia still couldn’t bring herself to fight ruthlessly.

If they continued trading blows like this, defeat was only a matter of time.

High above, Ophelia was still calling Vira’s name repeatedly.

Her sword continued to deviate from its intended targets.

Dragonflame gathered and dispersed, then gathered again.

No matter what, she simply couldn’t bring herself to strike a vital point on that familiar water-blue figure.

But every response she received was a merciless sweep of Vira’s wings.

[Wings of Judgment!]

The enormous crystal wings slammed toward Ophelia’s chest.

Ophelia hurriedly raised her arm to block the attack, but the impact sent her flying backward.

A mouthful of dragon blood sprayed across the clouds.

-18,600!

A substantial portion of Ophelia’s HP disappeared.

She tumbled through the air several times before finally managing to stabilize herself.

The excruciating pain surging through her body finally brought her back to her senses.

Suspended in midair, Ophelia stared intently at the pair of pure white eyes across from her.

There was no emotion in those eyes.

No recognition of her.

No older sister.

No memories of their arguments.

No guilt.

Nothing.

She finally accepted the truth.

The creature standing before her was a sanctified monster wearing Vira’s face.

If they didn’t take action immediately, they would undoubtedly lose.

Ophelia slowly wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth.

The last glimmer of hope in her eyes faded away.

Her expression gradually turned cold.

At that moment, a cool, clear voice sounded in John’s mind.

"My Lord."

It was Ophelia’s mental link.

"Her speed is roughly equal to mine. I can’t completely suppress her in the air."

"But I can force her down to low altitude. I’ll only have a split second."

"Find a way to restrain her during that moment."

John’s spirits immediately lifted.

He turned toward Bladeborne and Arno.

"Did you hear that?"

Bladeborne held his longsword horizontally before his chest, silver-white sword energy slowly circulating along its blade.

"One split second at low altitude is more than enough."

Arno raised his head beneath his hood and spun his curved blade once between his fingers.

He didn’t answer immediately.

He was clearly hesitating.

Vira had been his apprentice, the girl he had personally raised and trained.

And now, he was supposed to attack her?

Arno’s Adam’s apple moved slightly as he closed his eyes.

But he wasn’t Ophelia.

From the very beginning, he had understood that the creature before them was no longer Vira.

Every additional moment of hesitation meant failing Ophelia.

When he opened his eyes again, the last trace of uncertainty had been suppressed.

Only a calm, deathly stillness remained in his gaze.

"As long as she stops moving..."

He murmured.

"I can do it."

John nodded.

With a flip of his right hand, icy-blue magical runes appeared in his palm.

"I’ll handle the crowd control."

John was already rapidly scrolling through his skill list.

"The moment she comes down, I’ll activate it. Watch for the right opportunity."

He made his decision immediately and learned [Frostfall] on the spot.

This skill dealt almost no direct damage.

Almost all of its magical power was concentrated into its slowing effect and area of coverage.

Icy-blue particles of light peeled away from the surrounding air, gathering in his palm and forming a swirling miniature blizzard.

He didn’t release it immediately.

Instead, he continued channeling mana, steadily building up its power.

With a 1,024-fold charging multiplier, both the skill’s slowing effect and its area of coverage were amplified to their absolute limits.

The icy-blue blizzard in his palm grew increasingly dense, while its radius continued expanding outward in successive rings.

But John kept it firmly contained, patiently waiting for the right moment.

High above, the purple and water-blue lights collided violently once again.

This time, Ophelia didn’t retreat.

She folded her dragon wings and swept past Vira at close range.

Her dragonbone rapier slashed three times across Vira’s crystal wings.

Immediately afterward, her left hand shot forward and grabbed the base of Vira’s left wing, her fingers digging into the gaps between the crystalline feathers.

"Get DOWN!"

Ophelia beat her dragon wings with all her strength, dragging Vira toward the ground.

Vira’s Holy Light Featherblade attacks repeatedly blasted into Ophelia’s back at point-blank range.

Every single hit dealt more than 5,000 damage.

Ophelia’s HP visibly plummeted.

But she gritted her teeth and refused to let go, forcibly dragging Vira from an altitude of three hundred meters down to one hundred meters.

Eighty meters.

Sixty meters.

Forty meters.

Vira finally managed to wrench herself free of Ophelia’s grip.

She immediately beat her wings, preparing to ascend again.

"NOW!"

The icy-blue magical formation that John had been charging in his palm suddenly exploded.

[Frostfall!]

Centered on Vira, a blizzard with a radius of over a hundred meters erupted out of thin air.

Countless ice crystals, carried by freezing currents of air, swept upward and engulfed the entire low-altitude area, transforming it into a vast blue-white frozen domain.

Vira’s wings, which had just begun to rise, were immediately covered in a thick layer of ice.

Her movement speed plummeted by 90%, while her attack speed was reduced by 70%.

She could barely move, inch by inch, as though trapped inside a block of ice.

-13,021!

-13,106!

-13,501!

Although this damage was nothing compared to the combined damage output of their other offensive skills, that wasn’t John’s objective.

The slowing effect was what mattered.

Vira’s attempt to ascend was forcibly interrupted.

Her entire body was pinned in midair, approximately thirty meters above the ground.

Her wings were encased in thick layers of ice, so heavy that she could no longer raise them.

"Attack!"

Bladeborne pushed off the ground with both feet, transforming into a streak of silver-white lightning as he shot into the sky.

[Holy Light Charge!]