Chapter 68

Chapter 41: Duke’s Instruction (Part 2)

If I didn’t do something soon, I would lose.

The massive ice hammer was just moments away. There was no time to think; I could only exert all my strength to drive the power of order.

In an instant, my entire body was enveloped in a faint blue glow.

Black hair danced around me, and even my pupils turned a deep blue.

The next moment, the power of order surged forth like a tidal wave.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Countless thick ice columns rapidly rose from the ground beneath my feet, colliding with those used by the Duke to trap me. The sound of ice crashing against ice echoed endlessly, and ice fragments hit my face.

The incoming ice hammer was immediately halted, shattering two columns before its momentum significantly decreased.

I felt a sense of relief, then immediately raised my arm, extending it forward.

My palm opened.

I took a breath.

Boom—!!

Thick ice mist exploded from my palm and throughout my body. The huge ice hammer in front of me couldn’t even resist for a moment and was instantly sent flying by the terrifying impact.

The ice mist showed no sign of weakening, freezing a fan-shaped area dozens of meters ahead. Numerous ice cones, as tall as one or two people, sprouted from the ground, resembling blooming ice lotuses.

The scene was rendered breathtakingly beautiful.

A chilling white mist escaped from my mouth, and the blue light in my eyes gradually faded.

Hearing the commotion among the hunters nearby, my heart skipped a beat.

Damn, I was too hasty and lost control!

Is Duke Scarlajid okay?

“Uncle Duke!”

“How terrible… such talent…”

Voices came from above.

Without much thought, I jumped backward, leaping nearly ten meters high. At the same moment, the Duke descended from the sky.

Peng!

Ice crystals scattered everywhere where I had stood moments ago.

“But that’s such a waste, it’s sheer nonsense. Are you treating me like some fearsome wild beast?”

After landing safely, I let out a sigh of relief, feeling slightly relieved.

He wasn’t hurt, thank goodness.

“Why?” the Duke said with amusement upon seeing my expression, “Are you worried about me? Thinking that this will force me into a corner?”

He put down his giant hammer.

“Are you underestimating me?”

“…No.”

I watched him warily, constantly gauging the distance between us and guarding against his strange, sudden charges.

Clearly, the Duke saw through my thoughts, pacing back and forth in front of me to confuse my judgment while continuously imparting advice.

“You’re not too unfamiliar with using your power of order, but your methods are lacking. You rely solely on brute force. If you encounter second-rate or third-rate enemies, that’s fine, but if you face top-tier ones, your fighting style will deplete your energy much faster than theirs. In that case, losing is just a matter of time.”

“I’ll tell you something else. Originally, in our family, the person with the highest affinity for the frost order was neither me nor Lafayette, but my youngest daughter Peyelo… She belongs to the rare category of geniuses, and you clearly surpass her.”

“In this aspect, I’m not even on par with Lafayette, at best I’m second-rate, but even combining Peyelo, Lafayette, and Pasifal, the three of them together can’t match me… Miss Silvija, do you know why?”

“…Experience?”

“That’s part of it, but more importantly… it’s technique.”

“Watch closely how I use second-rate affinity to defeat first-rate opponents.”

The Duke stopped walking.

He threw down his hammer and raised his intact arm, clenching it in mid-air.

Crack! Crack! Snap!

Countless ice crystals suddenly appeared in the air, then, as if pulled by some force, flew toward the Duke’s palm, faster and faster.

The sound of compression was grating.

Whoosh—

Freezing cold air spilled from the gathered ice crystals, quickly enveloping the Duke’s entire arm.

It seemed even the air was frozen solid.

I could feel that suffocating cold, colder than my own Frost World.

The ice crystals were compressed and deformed in the Duke’s palm, finally forming a massive ice sword.

He tightly gripped the giant sword.

Unlike the previous ice hammer, this ice sword was quite dark, a vivid azure visible to the naked eye, clearly not the usual ice color. As the white fog swirling around the blade grew denser, its color deepened, soon turning into a dazzling deep blue.

All of this happened in just two seconds.

Duke Scarlajid exhaled, giving me a slight smile.

“Moon Step.”

Whoosh—

That light yet eerie step appeared again. The Duke’s figure instantly slid over more than ten meters, appearing right in front of me.

The giant sword in his hand emitted thick white smoke, held high.

…Attacking head-on without any preparation? Are you underestimating me?

Snap, snap, snap.

With a flick of my hand, a thick ice wall, twice my height, rose up between the giant sword and me.

At the same moment, my body crouched, and my right foot

Taking a step forward, I raised my right fist as if to strike.

“Haha.” The Duke’s laughter startled me suddenly.

In the next moment, the sound of ice shattering rang out beside my ear.

Everything happened in an instant. The once resilient ice wall crumbled like paper under the giant sword’s touch.

I widened my eyes.

What… What’s going on?!

“Don’t space out!”

The giant sword changed its blade direction the moment it broke through the ice wall, turning the slash into a strike, emitting a hissing sound like a snake’s tongue, and came at me face-on.

I could only lift my arm, but the defense was too hasty. My arm couldn’t fully absorb the force, and the giant sword struck my shoulder directly.

The immense force sent me flying.

My body instantly lost control, thrown about seven or eight meters away, spinning several times before landing.

“Ouch!”

After rolling several times, the bun on my head loosened, black hair slipped down my cheeks, landing on the ground covered in dust.

I became dirty all over.

Dizzy, I struggled to my feet, gently brushed off the dust from my clothes, then rubbed my sore left shoulder, making a grimace.

I could feel that the Duke had held back at the last moment, but this blow still left me disoriented.

“Never underestimate any move of your enemy; not knowing means danger. Now you have died once.”

As soon as the Duke finished speaking, Lady Catherine’s angry roar echoed from afar.

“Scaliger! What are you doing?!”

We both shivered.

I was chilled. The white smoke entwined around the giant sword inevitably touched me, and its temperature gave me a chill.

My heart was filled with shock.

How cold can it be…

Looking closely, the ice sword in the Duke’s hand seemed to have turned bluer.

“This sword is made of extremely cold ice. It’s even more indestructible than steel. The sharpness of such ice blades exceeds imagination. Your ice walls are completely inadequate. Be careful.”

While saying this, the Duke glanced at Lady Catherine, waving his hand to reassure her.

But he suddenly charged again with a strange gait, using the giant sword like a hammer, sweeping horizontally towards me.

The air roared at that moment.

A surprise attack!

With the experience from before, I dared not use ice walls for defense again. I slightly bent my legs and jumped straight over his head.

The giant sword swept past my feet, the white smoke brushing over my soles, the terrifying cold made me tremble involuntarily, but I didn’t dare stop, kicking towards the Duke’s head.

The Duke easily dodged by leaning backward, switching the giant sword to his left hand, and suddenly lifting it up.

White mist blew my hair into disarray.

Bam!

An ice pillar rising beneath my feet propelled me higher into the sky.

“Huh, ice formed in mid-air actually has such strong thrust. Not simple at all.”

The Duke’s exclamation came from below. I knew he was waiting for me to land, so I immediately built an ice platform on one side, flipping my body and pushing off forcefully toward a distant spot.

Then I looked back at the Duke.

“Interesting.”

The Duke met my gaze and charged directly toward where I landed.

No way you get away with this!

Bang—bang—bang!

I made three consecutive changes in direction in the air, quickly deviating from the Duke’s charge, putting considerable distance between us.

Ha, now you can’t catch me anymore!

Sure enough, the Duke stopped.

I laughed triumphantly.

This distance was safe. Next, I needed to counterattack… There was no way to defend against that giant sword, so I had to think of another approach.

I pondered how to win him while adjusting my posture in mid-air, waiting for the impact upon landing.

Suddenly, I saw the Duke grin.

In the next moment, the strange steps appeared again.

Swoosh—swoosh!

Two consecutive glides, the Duke appeared just before I landed.

“Wait! Don’t hit me!” I frantically hugged my head.

“Second time.”

Bam.

Someone flicked my forehead.

There was no expected impact. Instead, my petite body was embraced.

“At any time, you cannot let your guard down because you never know what your enemy is thinking. Your thoughts might already be anticipated by the other side. So relaxing means handing your life over to the enemy. This time, you lost due to lack of experience.”

The Duke’s voice was magnetic, somehow making people feel secure.

“Look, my talent falls far short of yours, yet so far, you’ve been the one expending energy. The order power I used to create this giant sword is probably less than a tenth of what you used. I can make countless such weapons, but you? How many more times can you use your area-of-effect attacks?”

I timidly looked up, finding him looking at me with a gentle expression.

He gently set me down.

“How about we call it a day today?”

“Mm…”

I shyly nodded at him.

Then I waved my little hand.

“Haa!”

Frost mist erupted again.

Hmph, never relax your guard, you said.