Frostfire Legacy

Faeloria gritted her teeth.

Three of the four enemies before her were almost at the same level as her. If they fought as is, then, no matter how hard she fought back, only defeat awaited her.

"O' World Tree!"

But of course, that was if she was "alone."

At her words, the roots that stopped chasing her at the entrance before started to swarm through the narrow passage, breaking it, and expanding the path forcefully! Like live tentacles, the roots flooded the space behind Faeloria, moving as if to keep the enemies in check.

"Dispose of me?" Faeloria scoffed, putting aside the matter of how her sister was alive. "You're not even qualified to test me!"

In a fight against numbers, taking the initiative was the only way to survive. Without delay, Faeloria pulled her bow's string taut. As she did, just like earlier, a magical arrow appeared, already raging with mana like a hungry beast.

*WHOOSH!*

And of course, her first target wasn't the strongest among the group, but rather, the opposite. The weakest link, who also happened to be the support of their impromptu team, Chronalisa!

The arrow flew, drawing a light streak across the open air, heading straight toward Chrona's face. The projectile was too fast for her to react, much less dodge, ensuring her elimination!

"Oops! That's dangerous, missy~!"

"...!"

But to Faeloria's surprise, the half-elemental woman managed to catch her arrow, and with a casual motion, made it dissipate into the air, doing no damage at all.

"This one doesn't seem like she wants to play..." She muttered, pouting with a finger against her lower lip. "Well, I guess I'll just play with you, whether you like it or not~!"

Right as she finished her monologue, something flashed within Faeloria's view. By reflex, she bent backward, watching as the flashing object brushed against her cheeks, opening a light, bleeding cut.

The flashing objects followed a parabolic path, like a boomerang, and returned to the half-elemental woman's finger, spinning rapidly on her finger.

Faeloria caught sight of the weapon and quickly realized what it was. A circular blade, with the outer edge sharp enough to cut someone on touch, with staggered teeth like a saw. It was a modified chakram!

"Oh~? You dodged it! Amazing~!" The woman cheered, jumping in excitement. "Then, what about this~?!"

The same as before, without any preparatory motion whatsoever, Faeloria could only see flashes approaching her from all directions. "Psychokinesis?!" she grunted, before raising her bow and calling. "World Tree's Roots! Become a shield and protect me!"

As if understanding her words, the squirming tentacle-like roots started to move, and quickly surrounded Faeloria, creating an impeccable wall. At the same time, she pulled the bow once more but didn't simply load one arrow.

"Drilgrail's Bow Skill: Thousand Meteors!"

What appeared wasn't just a single arrow, but a large one that even covered Faeloria's entire arm with a golden glow.

*SWOOP!*

As she let go of the bowstring, the light flew straight up, reaching for the dark skies. The giant arrow accelerated even after it left the bow, before—

*BOOM!*

—The arrow exploded, turning into thousands of smaller fragments, like bright dots of gold in the darkness of space. It was a beautiful sight... Only if the stars stayed in their rightful place in the sky.

Like an upset torrent, the thousands of fragments started to fall, gaining speed via a mystic force besides gravity. The dots soon approached, their size increasing by eating up the mana present in their surroundings until each fragment was as large as a house!

"Aha~! This is dangerous~!" The elemental woman commented, her face covered with a wide smile despite their predicament—as if she wasn't even worried.

A moment later, the reason why she was relaxed finally came to light. "Devour everything, Schied." A casual voice muttered without a hint of excitement or worry.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

But right then, the darkness of space squirmed, before...

*PLOP!*

It devoured all of the glowing, gigantic fragments of Faeloria's attack!

She quickly realized that the space around her wasn't actually the darkness of outer space, but rather, simply turned dark due to the "something" that blocked out all light.

"That is...!" Of course, Faeloria quickly identified what it was.

An ancient spirit that was said to be the dark elf race's guardian since the dawn of mana, the Shadow Spirit King—Scheid!

"SELENE!" But Faeloria's face wasn't filled with fear, facing a being that was comparable to a god, but instead, was colored in worry. "You do know what the price is to employ the Spirit King's service, right?!"

"... Of course." But the dark elf, Selene, answered flatly, her emotions remaining unperturbed. "Scheid asks for live sacrifice whenever I renew the contract. Last time, it was... A thousand? I forgot."

"...!"

Hearing her half sister talk about killing thousands of lives, innocent or not, without batting an eye made her feel her blood turn colder than ice. The Selene before her was not the Selene she knew anymore...

"You—"

*RUMBLE!* *RUMBLE!*

And just as she was about to say a word or two in disdain, the roots that were protecting her started to release scary noises as if they were about to be destroyed!

*CRACK!*

And a few seconds later, her fear became reality. The World Tree's roots, supposed to be near-indestructible, were torn down like an old, rotten tree!

"Heh! Forgetting about me, you bitch?!" And from the fragments of the broken roots, a figure rushed forward, jumping close to Faeloria's body—within melee range!

'Too fast!'

The enemy had already come within attacking range, so it was way too late to try and gain distance. Instead, she quickly activated the protective barriers of her armor—the Golden Apple's Breastplate—and hoped for the best.

*BAM!*

A simple punch rang through the thin protective barrier, but the impact of the hit felt like it messed with her internal organs. Blood rushed up her throat, but she quickly pushed it back!

"You look so fierce, and you're using such a feminine martial art, Soft Fist?!" She grumbled as she drew her bow, shooting at him from point-blank range.

The arrow flew straight toward the Satyr Man's face, completely undodgeable!

"RAGH!"

But as if he wasn't even scared of it, he stepped forward and caught the arrow with his teeth! The arrow's momentum was lost, inflicting absolutely no damage to the enemy at all!

"Kuh!"

Still, the slight delay that he offered for trying to block the attack allowed Faeloria to remove the roots around her and use them to attack the goat man relentlessly.

"Hah! Too weak!!!"

But as if the roots were nothing but paper mache, the man was destroying them so easily, taking one step forward after another.

Faeloria frowned as she assessed the situation. The man had caught her already, making it hard to shake him off. The half-elemental woman was watching the situation with a smile, neither cheering nor booing at the man.

As for Selene, she wasn't even watching, looking further into the distance—toward where the World Tree was located.

"That thing's a hindrance..." she whispered under her breath. "Solara, go and cut down that stupid tree."

The half-elemental woman turned her head toward Selene in a flash, her smile becoming even crazier than before. "Oh, I'm allowed to do that?! Yeeey~!" She cheered, jumping in place.

"Then, since Kaz is playing here, I'll go over there now~!"

And after saying her piece, with a light jump, her figure vanished. No, to be exact, her body was converted into a photon and moved to the target space at the speed of light!

Faeloria, who was keeping an eye over their movements, saw this and ground her teeth once more. 'Crazy! If they all work together, then...!' Just trying to run away from the Satyr Man—Kaz—already had her hands full!

After overseeing the figure of Solara, Selene turned her cold gaze back to where Faeloria was, watching over her as if the battle had nothing to do with her.

"Stop running, you fucking bitch!!!"

Since Faeloria kept on moving, Kaz was already nearing the end of his ropes. His face was turning as red as a tomato from anger, and the muscles in his legs started to bulge to more than twice their usual size.

"I SAID—!"

*BOOM!*

He kicked off the ground, sending himself forward at blinding speeds, and landed a punch against the barrier protecting Faeloria.

"STOP RUNNING!"

*BAM!*

His punch continued toward her face unhindered after shattering the barrier, landing squarely against Faeloria's cheeks.

"...!"

She tried to follow through with the punch, minimizing the damage, but the swing of his fist was way faster than her head turning. In the end, only a quarter of the force was dispersed, as her entire body flew across the empty space, only stopping after hitting a random floating meteor.

"Agh...!"

Faeloria coughed out blood, her vision blurring from the impact, shaking her head. 'I... need to move.' She thought, but her body refused to follow. She was stunned!

Of course, just because she was teetering close to turning unconscious, she took a deep breath and bit her lips—the opposite side to where she got punched.

The pain temporarily made her return to her senses, but she was still a step too late.

Right before her face, another fist was incoming!