Chapter 208

Chapter 180: Azure Flames Burn the Moon, Blood Dyes the Royal City, Fourteen

“Owwooo—”

The monster’s long and eerie roar echoed in my ears.

It missed its first attack and immediately changed its method of attack. Its four red claws dug into the ground, propelling its massive body high into the air as it lunged towards me.

Damn it…

Click click click!

An ice scythe rapidly formed in my right hand, trailing thick white mist as it met the monster’s descending strike.

Bang—

“Ugh!”

The scythe pierced the monster’s palm. At the same time, I was slapped away by its palm, tumbling over a flower bed before crashing to the ground and rolling several times before finally stopping.

My legs are weak…

Struggling to my feet, I see that the monster wants to pursue me again. In the next moment, a wind blade slices through the air, striking the monster and sending it staggering back with a “boom.”

“Don’t get distracted!” Victoria shouted from nearby.

But I wasn’t distracted… I just don’t have the energy…

I feel completely drained.

But I’m very anxious, my mind racing.

This place is far from the city walls. If we keep fighting while moving… who knows how many people will die along the way. So I must lure it out as quickly as possible… Victoria’s Wind Order might work.

The monster crouches nearby… It’s preparing to attack again.

I shout to Victoria, “Wind Order! Lead it out of the city!”

“…I’ll try.”

Victoria quickly sheathes her sword and raises her left palm towards the monster.

Boom—

A raging tornado sweeps across half the square in an instant.

In my vision, the flowers and grass in the flower beds, the shattered stone statues on the ground, and even the outlines of a few trees in the distance, are all lifted up, crushed, and then flung back like cannonballs, smashing into buildings further away.

“Aah—”

I scream, being thrown off balance by the wind’s aftereffects.

So strong…

Quickly brushing off the dust and standing up again, I look closely— The monster’s figure struggles in the dust and dirt, slowly rising from the ground and ascending into the sky.

…Maybe this will work!

I feel a surge of joy, but in the next moment, the smile on my face freezes.

“Owwooo—”

From within the tearing space tornado, the monster suddenly lets out a deafening roar, flames shooting up to the sky, forming countless scarlet fireballs that sway and flicker in the wind, hurtling towards Victoria.

The wind stops.

Victoria can only dodge. Her graceful figure seems to be dancing, avoiding all the incoming fireballs. The fireballs vanish into the darkness behind her—

Boom boom boom boom boom!

Intense explosions send waves of blazing flames, countless buildings collapse at once, cries of pain and screams fill the air, and bloodied substances fly out of the black smoke, entering the monster’s body.

My heart sinks.

Suddenly, the monster’s massive figure charges out of the still-rising smoke, trailing crimson smoke, and rushes towards me again.

It seems particularly fixated on me…

I immediately step back using Moon Step, and upon stabilizing, I twist my body, raise my head, and extend my arm towards Victoria in the sky, gesturing to hug her.

“Victoria!”

Victoria glances at me, her figure pausing mid-air, emitting a shrill screech as she dives down. Just before the monster reaches me, she grabs me from the ground and lifts us both high into the air.

“Woah!”

My face hits her shoulder.

When Victoria dived, she didn’t hold back. This impact leaves me dizzy and disoriented, my nose hurting again, followed by a painful burning sensation, and then two hot streams gush out.

I’m bleeding from the nose…

Thud!

The monster crashes onto the ground where I was standing moments ago, a dull thud coming from below.

“Mmm… Let’s go… Lure it away!”

I say, tears welling in my eyes and my voice muffled as I speak through my hand covering my nose.

“Owwooo—”

The monstrous figure let out another bone-chilling howl, carrying a shocking surge of flames as it rose into the air and rapidly approached us… Victoria reacted instantly, holding me tightly as she swiftly darted northward—the direction closest to the city walls.

I glanced back… As expected, just as I had thought, the monster was chasing us.

Ever since the battle began, the monster’s words and its attitude made it clear that it urgently wanted to kill me.

I wondered… If not for wanting to kill me, perhaps this monster would have left the royal city.

I didn’t know why.

All I knew was that it was likely no longer Teresa.

Teresa was already dead. And the monster in front of me was something else.

It said it was… someone’s angel.

… Regardless, I could now take advantage of this situation, using myself as bait to lead the monster out of the city with Victoria.

“Its target is you.”

“I know.”

The wind roared past my ears, hair whipping from the back of my head to the front, stinging my cheeks.

“Grrr—”

The monster behind us roared, constantly closing the distance. Fifty meters… forty meters…

I kept my eyes fixed on its grotesque body while frantically pounding Victoria’s back.

“Move faster! Move even faster!”

“It’s catching up! It’s catching up—”

“Shut… up…”

Whoosh—

A sudden sword light transformed into a massive wind blade aimed at the back, barely dodged by the monster.

“Huff— huff—”

Victoria’s breathing grew more labored; I knew she was giving her all.

Yet… the monster behind us seemed to be flying faster than her.

“Grrr—”

Suddenly, the monster let out another roar, and torrents of infernal flames ignited around it, coalescing into countless enormous fireballs, resembling countless small suns hanging in the night sky, illuminating the darkness.

Damn you…

I immediately raised my hand, forming a huge, thick ice wall behind us, an overwhelming pressure instantly transmitted through my arms—I was attempting to levitate such a large block of ice for the first time… almost reaching my limit.

Swoosh swoosh swoosh—

伴随着刺耳的破空声，铺天盖地的火球呼啸而来。

Boom boom boom!!

Fireballs crashed into the ice wall, the crimson explosions making my scalp tingle, steam弥漫之间，冰墙上不断传来“嗤嗤嗤”的声响，视线被蒸汽弥漫。

挡不住…冰墙要裂开了…

“Victoria! Dodge quickly!”

Bam!

The massive ice chunks shattered into countless fragments.

At the same moment, a strong sensation of weightlessness engulfed me.

Victoria didn’t even have time to look back; she likely judged the position of the fireballs based on the wind direction, instinctively descending and dodging, like a roller coaster ride. The fireballs whizzed past her, falling like a meteor shower onto the distant city, destroying houses and igniting wooden and stone structures.

People enveloped in flames screamed and exploded, turning into a mixture of blood and flesh, which the monster absorbed entirely.

Damn it… damn it…

I felt my breath tighten, almost biting through my teeth.

“Beast—!”

My surroundings glowed with dazzling blue light. Retaliating, I condensed dozens of sharp ice spears, shooting them at the monster that was now very close.

Plop plop plop—

The monster didn’t dodge or evade, allowing the ice spears to pierce its body, causing a slight pause before it charged again at an even faster speed.

Gurgle gurgle.

My stomach felt so hungry…

My saliva was about to flow…

Consciousness started to blur… headache.

The monster behind me was now extremely close.

I saw its grotesque face, with its giant mouth full of spikes, open once more, red sparks flashing within the black abyss.