togophonebook Chapter 144 - 142 - Fire and Earth II
Chapter 144 - 142 - Fire and Earth II
The Ice Lord turned toward me questioningly.
Meanwhile, in the arena...
Marinta stood amidst the sea of flames.
Calm.
Far too calm.
There wasn’t the slightest trace of tension on her face.
Instead...
She was watching the stone beasts as though waiting for something.
Suddenly...
She raised her right hand.
Then...
Slowly clenched it shut.
In the next moment...
The hellhounds stopped attacking.
All of them retreated at once.
"What?"
One of the Lords behind me whispered in surprise.
As for the Lord of Solid Earth...
He burst into loud laughter.
"You’ve finally surrendered?!"
But...
Marinta’s smile widened.
Then she said calmly:
"Who told you... that fire exists only to burn?"
Suddenly...
The bodies of the stone beasts began turning red.
Then...
The cracks between them started glowing.
The Earth Lord’s eyes widened.
"The heat?!"
He whispered.
And in the next instant...
BOOOOOOOOOOM...!!
The arena exploded with dozens of consecutive blasts.
The hellhounds that had fallen earlier...
Hadn’t disappeared.
Instead...
They had left molten lava clinging inside the bodies of the stone beasts.
And now...
The rocks themselves had become explosive grounds.
"Every summoned creature... no matter how insignificant..."
The Lady of the Third Flame spoke calmly.
"Possesses a simple spirit core."
She raised her hand once more.
Suddenly...
Numerous explosions thundered violently throughout the arena.
BOOOOOM...
BOOOOOOM...
The stone beasts shattered one after another.
Rocks flew everywhere.
And the gigantic bodies...
Collapsed across the arena like fragile statues.
"Whether it’s a stone beast with a massive body..."
She continued.
"Or a hellhound with a soft body..."
She pointed toward the falling monsters.
Then said with a faint smile:
"Target their spirit... and they’re finished."
Only moments passed...
Before every stone beast collapsed lifelessly onto the arena floor.
Completely destroyed.
Suddenly...
A heavy laugh erupted from the Lord of Solid Earth.
A deep laugh...
Like boulders grinding against one another.
"Clever girl..."
His voice thundered loudly.
"Let me teach you a lesson."
Suddenly...
Thousands of small rocks surged from the ground.
They spun around one another rapidly.
Then...
The stone beasts began reforming.
An arm...
A head...
Then entire bodies.
Within moments...
Hundreds of monsters stood once more.
"If explosions are what’s needed to destroy my monsters’ cores..."
The Lord declared confidently.
"Then I have bad news for you."
His smile widened.
"Because you cannot find the core."
Meanwhile...
The woman remained calm.
Her sharp eyes...
Held no concern whatsoever.
Instead...
There was mockery in them.
She chuckled softly.
Then whispered:
"I have bad news for you as well."
Suddenly...
More than a thousand hellhounds burst from the lava fissures.
A massive howl filled the arena.
And in an instant...
The battle ignited once more.
But...
This time, I noticed it immediately.
More than half the hounds...
Didn’t charge toward the stone beasts.
Instead...
They rushed directly toward the Earth Lord himself.
"A good move."
The Ice Lord whispered with a faint smile.
"While the fewer and slower stone beasts are occupied..."
He continued, narrowing his eyes:
"Half the hounds are attacking the exposed Lord with no defense."
In the arena...
The northern Lord’s smile finally disappeared.
He quickly raised his stone staff.
BOOOOM...
Massive stone walls rose around him.
But...
The hounds didn’t stop.
Some leapt over the walls.
Some crashed into them and exploded.
And others...
Actually made it through.
"You damned pests...!"
The Lord snarled angrily.
In the next moment...
The arena exploded with flames once again.
The Flame Lady wasn’t relying only on the hounds...
She sent blazing fire toward the Lord himself.
The protective stone walls around him tightened...
Becoming more like a stone mesh.
Every beast that crashed into it...
Was impaled by spikes extending from the wall.
But the Flame Lady noticed immediately.
"If my beasts cannot pass through..."
Her voice echoed from afar.
"Then what about my flames?"
A massive fireball surged toward the rock.
It passed through the wall-like mesh...
BOOOOOOM...!
The explosion inside the stone defense was enormous.
Suddenly...
Numerous stone beasts leapt from behind the woman.
These monsters looked different...
More like dogs...
But brown in color...
With long necks and elongated heads.
Their heads were covered in stone armor for protection...
Even their necks.
Meanwhile, their bodies rippled with skin resembling that of snakes.
The beasts charged toward the woman.
Their numbers were large...
And their speed even greater.
Even the agile hellhounds...
Were slower than those creatures.
The woman’s steps accelerated...
Avoiding the attacks.
She barely dodged strike after strike.
The monstrous claws...
Slammed into the ground, creating huge craters with every hit.
"What terrifying monsters."
I said with genuine admiration.
"Mutants."
The Ice Lord answered.
"They are beasts from the north. It’s said a sixth-rank Lord called the Alchemist altered their composition."
He narrowed his eyes slightly before continuing:
"Creatures that consume little accumulation... yet produce overwhelming offensive power."
"So that’s how it is."
I whispered.
Their numbers weren’t especially large...
Less than a hundred.
But they were fast...
Strong...
And more importantly...
When hundreds of hellhounds rushed toward them...
The attacks had absolutely no effect.
Suddenly...
The Lady of the Third Flame leapt upward.
Dodging numerous monsters.
She raised her right hand...
And over a hundred hellhounds surged forward.
The instant they approached...
The beasts exploded.
The blast thundered loudly.
Then...
The mutated monsters leapt out of the explosion...
Completely unharmed.
"Haaah..."
I muttered inwardly.
"How the hell were they unaffected?!"
I clicked my tongue in disbelief.
The Stone Lord remained within the walls.
No one knew whether he had been injured by the previous explosion or not...
But his hundred beasts...
Were slaughtering the hounds at a terrifying pace.
And giving the Lady of the Third Flame a genuinely difficult time.
"These damned beasts."
The woman snarled angrily.
Then leapt into the air.
Beneath her feet...
Flames exploded upward, carrying her into the sky.
Immediately...
The volcanic terrain she had created in the arena became less dominant.
Then suddenly...
The stone walls shattered apart.
The Stone Lord stood there...
A rocky armor covering his body, brown and gleaming like diamond.
He extended both hands toward the ground.
Suddenly...
All the volcanic cracks across the arena were extinguished.
"So you fled to the sky."
The Stone Lord mocked.
"Your land no longer belongs to you."
He raised his head toward her...
His eyes narrowing confidently.
"You elemental earth manipulators... always need direct contact with the ground."
Suddenly, the flames in the woman’s hair rose higher.
"Enough playing around."
She said angrily.
She extended both hands...
Then...
A crimson spear appeared.
At its tip...
Burned a white flame.
The Unique Predictor identified the spear as an Ancient Weapon.
{ Twin Blaze Spear }
The instant the spear appeared...
The atmosphere grew heavy.
The Stone Lord’s mockery vanished.
He stood ready.
Meanwhile...
The woman bent her body midair...
Preparing to dive like a hawk.
In an instant...
Red flames erupted from the spear and wrapped around her entire body.
Surrounding her like a sharp, overwhelming aura.
Then...
The Lady of the Second Flame descended.
Like a crimson arrow...
A blazing meteor falling toward the earth.
A massive crater formed...
And the sound exploded violently.
From within the dust...
The woman shot toward the mutated beasts.
SWOOOOOSH...!
One strike...
A head flew away.
Before it even hit the ground...
The woman’s movement rippled like an invisible crimson thread.
She severed the heads of ten monsters in an instant.
Then continued charging forward.
The audience stood frozen in silence.
Even the monsters themselves...
Couldn’t perceive the fast-moving woman tearing through them.
Suddenly...
The final head was severed.
Dozens of stone pillars surged upward.
They surrounded the Lord once more.
The woman’s eyes focused intensely.
She extended the spear to her side.
Suddenly...
It lengthened...
And widened.
She raised it overhead.
A thunderous sound exploded.
The ground cracked apart once again...
And countless volcanic fissures erupted.
Volcanic flames surged from the earth.
They wrapped around the raised spear.
The woman leaned her body backward.
She continued gathering power.
The flaming strands continued forming.
Suddenly...
The enormous spear became completely engulfed in blazing fire.
At the same time...
The Stone Lord’s wall...
Now over ten meters tall...
Encased him like an egg.
"Earth Cleaver!"
The woman screamed.
She brought down her gigantic spear toward the Lord and his defense.
SWOOOOOOOOOSH...!
Then...
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The explosion was colossal.
Dust swallowed the arena.
The arena walls trembled violently from the strike.
My eyes narrowed in shock.
"What kind of attack is that?!"
I cursed inwardly.
The dust cleared.
A massive trail of flame stretched from the woman all the way to the Lord.
His defensive walls...
Had been completely split apart and pierced through.
And on the ground...
The Stone Lord lay unconscious.
A gigantic vertical wound extended from the bottom of his body to the top.
Meanwhile...
The Lady of the Second Flame remained standing.
Her spear pointed toward the ground.
And the white flame above it...
Still burned with terrifying calmness.
Silence filled the arena for several moments.
Until...
The stands finally exploded into cheers.
"Monster!"
One of the Lords shouted.
"She split his entire defense apart!"
"What absurd offensive power is this?!"
Even the Ice Lord...
Was silently watching.
His white eyes narrowed in concentration.
"As expected."
He finally whispered.
"The second rank of the Southern Volcano Sect... is not just a title."
I remained silent...
Because only one thought existed inside my mind.
"If I were hit by that attack... how would I stop it?"
I replayed the scene inside my head once more.
Her speed...
Her piercing power...
The white flames...
And that cursed spear that sliced through a rocky defense of that size as though it were paper.
My eyes narrowed.
"Blocking it directly is impossible."
I whispered inwardly.
Even the silver spears...
Probably wouldn’t be enough.
That attack...
Wasn’t merely piercing power.
It was total momentum...
Speed...
Heat...
And monstrous accumulated force compressed into a single point.
"If I try stopping it with my black sword..."
I whispered.
"Either it breaks... or I do."
Beside me...
The Ice Lord turned toward me.
"You seem to be thinking seriously."
He said calmly.
I didn’t answer immediately.
My eyes remained fixed on the arena.
The Lady of the Second Flame was slowly leaving.
Her spear had vanished.
But...
The image of that attack remained burned into my mind.
"Could you stop that attack?"
I suddenly asked.
The Ice Lord smiled faintly.
"Perhaps."
He answered simply.
I turned toward him.
"Perhaps?"
He laughed lightly.
"At our level... there is no absolute defense."
He said while looking back toward the arena.
"Everything depends on timing... accumulation... elemental compatibility... and even mental state."
He paused briefly.
Then added:
"Some attacks... are not blocked."
My eyes narrowed further.
"Then?"
"You evade them."
He whispered.
I stayed silent.
But I realized something important.
Since the beginning of the tournament...
I had always been thinking about how to break my opponent’s defense.
But now...
For the first time...
I had begun thinking about how to survive.