Chapter 49

Sovereign of Bitter Cold

GRAAH! KEH! CHUH! ARRAAH!

SKREEE!

In her hazy consciousness, she heard noises she could not make sense of. Vibrations shook her entire body.

Seraphia felt bewildered, as though she were dreaming.

The faint noises gradually grew clearer. It did not take her long to realize they were the roars and shrieks of monsters.

Her mind and body were still heavy and dazed. The frigid mountain air quickly roused her clouded senses. Then the warmth of the body pressed against her brought her back to reality in an instant.

Her eyes flew open, and she quickly realized someone was carrying her on their back. A large, firm, broad back.

'Sir Kai...?'

Kai was fighting the monster legion with Seraphia on his back. Each step he took sent a heavy tremor through the snowy ground. His ragged breaths rose in hot, white clouds.

Red blood blanketed the snowy landscape. Countless monster corpses had piled up to form another mountain.

The sounds of another battle reached her from afar. She turned her gaze toward them and saw Adrian locked in a fierce struggle with the lycanthrope.

A black wolf and a wolf-man.

The two beasts tore into one another, inflicting wound after wound as their bitter struggle continued. The thunderous booms she had been hearing were the sounds of their repeated clashes.

Her view spun as Kai moved swiftly. When she could see them again, the lycanthrope looked somewhat exhausted. His movements were growing slower than before, and Adrian's attacks were carving ever-deeper wounds into him.

At last, terror seized the lycanthrope, his eyes wavering.

The lycanthrope abruptly turned his back. Hurling his massive body down the snowy mountainside, he began a desperate flight.

"Huh...?"

Adrian's voice rose in momentary disbelief.

Seraphia could not see his face from here, but she could tell. Adrian was flustered.

At this rate... it looked as though the lycanthrope would escape.

She had to use her power. It was the only way to catch the fleeing lycanthrope. Yet she could not easily summon the courage.

She bit down hard on her lower lip.

What was there to agonize over? What was she afraid of?

All she had done was faint like an idiot. Far from being any help, she had only needed rescuing!

Crushed beneath the madness of the lycanthrope's lust, she had been unable to do a thing. Was she going to do... nothing again?

She was scared. Terrified. She wanted to run away, to hide.

But surely Adrian and Kai had been scared too. Surely fighting the lycanthrope had frightened them as well.

When the lycanthrope had seized Kai, he must have wanted to run. When Adrian had faced it, he must have wanted to hide.

Yet neither of them had run away. They had not hidden. They had stood and fought.

Now it was Seraphia's turn to fight.

They could not let the lycanthrope escape. It was the leader that assembled the monster legion. If they let it leave alive, it would threaten the county again someday, better prepared than it was now.

And then Adrian and Kai would not be enough to stop it. Even sacrificing the soldiers of Whitewolf Castle would not stop it.

Everyone would die.

So she had to do it.

She had no choice.

Even if the price was death.

* * *

Seraphia's red eyes ordinarily looked just like rubies. Not now.

Those red eyes had turned pure white, cold and merciless as though carved from ice.

KEEEEEEN!

With an eerie sound, inky trails of cold rose from her entire body.

Kai, who was carrying her, gave a startled shudder. He hurried to stop her, but his body promptly went rigid.

He had not been granted permission.

No one.

No one here was permitted to move.

The inky trails of cold spreading in every direction gathered together and rose. As pure-white light shimmered in the air, white frost rapidly blanketed the ground.

Every living creature froze in place. Not just Kai and me, but the monster legion spread across the mountain, and even the fleeing lycanthrope.

This was what it meant to be a Sovereign.

One of the six beings the Emperor had acknowledged, rather than raised or slaughtered.

A Sovereign stood on an entirely different level, beyond any comparison with a mere legion commander.

The ice-covered world no longer made a sound.

Absolute silence swallowed everything. The air froze, growing so heavy and cold that breathing became impossible.

Even the wind brushing over the snow froze to a standstill. Frigid frost rose all around, particles of ice blossoming like flowers.

One of the six Sovereigns serving the Emperor.

The Allied Army’s Greatest Enemy.

The witch who had taken the Hero Ian's left arm.

Nightmares from my previous life began flooding my mind at random.

Horrific screams. Cries of agony.

My past self, forced to watch helplessly.

My vision was blurred and swimming, yet I could see each of their faces with vivid clarity.

Begging to be saved, pleading that they did not want to die, crying out in unbearable pain. Some died buried in ice. Others died with their limbs torn apart and blood gushing out.

I... could do nothing but watch the tragedy unfold.

CRACK! CRACKLE! CRAAACK!

My entire body had been rigid, just as it was now. I could do nothing.

Crushed by fear and terror, helpless and stupid... I could only watch as people, comrades, and operatives died.

And even now, I could do nothing. I could only tremble before the overwhelming terror the Sovereign of Bitter Cold inspired, a terror on an entirely different level.

◆Player's Will[EX] resists the immeasurable terror!

◆Player's Will[EX] resists the unfathomable nightmare!

◆Player's Will[EX] resists the incomprehensible fear!

.

.

.

Player's Will[EX] resisted ceaselessly, but to no avail. The terror of that day, the nightmares of that day, and my fear of the Sovereign of Bitter Cold kept surging up, binding me.

Ian's ability, Player's Will[EX], did not provide complete immunity. It only granted immunity to effects that exceeded my mental fortitude.

In other words, Player's Will[EX] activated only once an effect surpassed the limits of what my mind could endure. All it was doing now was keeping my mind from collapsing on the spot.

That meant... it had been the same for Ian.

He, too, could only endure as much as his mental fortitude allowed.

Facing the Sovereign of the Abyss, The Inexplicable Terror of the Unknown, Ian had been just as afraid. He had trembled in terror just like us, and fallen into despair just like us.

Even so, Ian had overcome it. He had not broken.

Because he could not afford to. If he broke, so would the heroes who trusted and followed him, and everyone on the continent.

Ian, the Hero and Supreme Commander of the allied army.

He had once said something to me.

["Endure it, Adrian. If you falter, who can the special task force's operatives put their faith in?"]

A member of the special task force under the allied army's Operations Command. Chief of Covert Operations in the special warfare unit.

That was undeniably my past, my previous life.

But it would no longer be my future.

Never again. Never again!

I would not let the nightmare of that day repeat itself.

Fear and terror were theirs to bear now.

Now it was my turn to become their nightmare.

I ground my teeth. When that was not enough, I bit hard into my cheek. Still not enough, so I bit my tongue.

I would not suppress the pain.

The sharp tang of blood and maddening pain slowly but surely drove out the fear and terror that had consumed me.

* * *

Seraphia had used her power. By the time Kai realized it, it was already too late.

Ice flowers had sprung up all around. They continued to blossom, gradually spreading farther.

Their hauntingly beautiful petals were so deadly that the slightest brush could kill.

Then Seraphia reached out her hand, and death seeped into beauty.

By the time Kai came to his senses, the entire monster legion had become statues. All those monsters that had covered the mountain were now gruesome, wretched corpses.

No blood flowed. Everything was frozen still.

Kai's head froze, his breathing growing labored. His frozen hands and feet had gone numb. No matter how much aura he summoned, he could not move.

The lycanthrope, too, stood frozen in place. The cold spreading from his legs swiftly climbed through his entire body. A thin layer of frost settled over his thick fur and skin, and ice crystals grew with each passing instant, completely sealing his movements.

His bodily fluids froze in an instant, bursting his steel-like muscles. His blood froze just as swiftly, tearing every one of his tough blood vessels apart.

The eyes that had gleamed with rage and madness were now consumed by terror.

Ironically, however, it was not terror of Seraphia.

"Struggling won't do you any good."

A voice rang out suddenly. Kai's gaze was frozen in place, leaving him unable to see the speaker.

But it was unmistakably Adrian's voice.

'H-how...?'

Shock filled Kai's eyes.

Of course, he knew Adrian had withstood the Gelu Drake's Ice Breath. But this... this was different.

The bitter cold Seraphia radiated was on an entirely different level from Ice Breath. It was no exaggeration to say that the Gelu Drake's Ice Breath was practically warm compared to this.

Kai was only alive because he was within the space Seraphia was protecting. Otherwise, he would have frozen to death long ago. Even within that protected space, he could not move.

Yet Adrian...

"Even the Sovereign of Beasts feared the Sovereign of Bitter Cold."

The lycanthrope's terror-filled eyes widened, as though asking how Adrian knew that.

At last, Adrian slowly came into view.

His skin was already frozen pale. No vapor escaped his lips, as though he was not breathing. His lungs had frozen.

That was the price of leaving the space Seraphia protected and setting foot into the domain of bitter cold.

Even so, his gaze did not waver. As though sustaining his body through transcendent will and pushing beyond his limits, he forced himself forward.

Finally reaching the lycanthrope, Adrian extended a hand. His fingertips were frozen, cracked, and bluish. His face was tightly contorted, as though he was in horrific pain.

Yet with an indomitable will to overcome even that agony, he seized the lycanthrope's heart.

Then he smiled.

"If you can, pass a message to the Sovereign of Beasts for me."

He was like a savage beast steeped in black hatred.

"Tell that bastard I'll be coming to devour his heart soon, too!"

Adrian ripped out the lycanthrope's heart. Bright-red blood sprayed out, froze instantly, and fell to the ground.

"Hahahahahahaha!!!"

Adrian's booming laughter rang out. Hearing the resentment and madness entwined within it, Kai could not help recoiling in horror.

* * *

It happened the moment I tore out the lycanthrope's heart.

◆You have defeated the lycanthrope!

◆You have gained 107,506 combat experience!

◆You have leveled up!

◆You have leveled up!

◆You have leveled up!

◆You have leveled up!

Translucent messages filled my vision. They confirmed beyond doubt that the lycanthrope was dead, finally allowing me to relax.

And as expected of the Legion Commander of Beasts, the experience reward was staggering.

I had earned roughly eight thousand experience for slaying the Gelu Drake. This time, I had earned over a hundred thousand. Clearly, it had not been made Legion Commander of Beasts for nothing.

Lastly, there was the lycanthrope's heart in my hand.

This was no ordinary lycanthrope heart. The lycanthrope had already submitted to the Sovereign of Beasts and become the Legion Commander of Beasts. In other words, it had been granted the Sovereign of Beasts' Authority and power.

The genetic material imprinted in this heart belonged to none other than the Sovereign of Beasts, who possessed the genetic material of nearly every living creature on the continent.

In a sense, that genetic material was even more powerful than a dragon's. And some of it was imprinted right here, in the heart of the lycanthrope, the Legion Commander of Beasts.

But once it lost its vitality, I would not be able to obtain any genetic material. It was already frozen by the bitter cold, so I did not have much time left.

Without delay, I brought the lycanthrope's heart to my mouth.

CRUNCH!

It felt as though I was eating a lump of ice rather than a heart. I could not feel any vitality from it at all.

Perhaps it was thanks to the lycanthrope's tenacious life force, but thankfully, the heart had not lost all its vitality.

Even so, there was little time left. I swiftly stuffed the lycanthrope's heart into my mouth.

And just as I chewed and swallowed the last piece...

◆WOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!!!

An exuberant message appeared before my eyes.