Chapter 457

Chapter 80 “Disillusionment” Part I

After taking off Captain Gray, stepping on the ice platform and leaping over countless huge ice blades, I saw the knights standing at the farthest edge of the frost-covered area, retreating continuously. I quickly ran over, landing in front of them, shook off my skirt, then turned to look at Isaac, whose expression was somewhat dazed.

He was stunned for a moment, seeing only me descend, and instinctively asked, “Where’s the heretic?”

“Froze to death.”

Whether it was the cloak or the dress, the clothes that had been soaked by the rain were frozen stiff by the low-temperature mist, even my hair was frozen stiff, sticking hard to the top of my head like a pot lid, which was very uncomfortable.

If I hadn’t been standing next to the heretic earlier, roasting by the fire, I might have already found it difficult to move—despite this, my whole body was still covered in ice shards. I clapped my hands a few times, finding it quite strenuous, so I simply leaned on Captain Gray and shook vigorously, scattering the ice shards in all directions.

Two seconds later, I immediately realized how silly this action was and stopped right away, thinking the knights would secretly laugh at me, and hurriedly looked around… but no one was laughing.

The knights were thoroughly chilled, even though we were already forty to fifty meters away from “Blade Mountain.” However, the ice mist slowly drifted over, causing their hair and eyebrows to be covered with a thin layer of frost. They stared wide-eyed, exhaling white vapor, including Isaac, who now looked at me differently.

In those complex gazes, there was admiration and awe, mixed with an incredulous shock.

“You… used just one strike…”

Isaac rubbed his bald head, his armor already frosted over, but he was the only one who didn’t seem cold—at least, that’s what it looked like.

However, his expression was dazed, his eyes unfocused, as if he were sleepwalking: “One strike… just one strike… yet it had such destructive power… little one, you make me feel that all the so-called geniuses I’ve seen before are as cheap as zebra droppings on the streets of the Holy City… that was a third-stage heretic… hahaha! Little one, although you’re small, you’re really amazing!”

???

What kind of nonsense is this?!

The bald knight laughed wildly, his eyes filled with excitement and fanaticism: “Once everything is over, if you don’t play with me thoroughly, I won’t let you go! Absolutely not! Ahahaha—”

“…”

I was speechless.

What’s wrong with this guy? He’s not normal…

Even the knights couldn’t bear to watch anymore; they awkwardly looked away.

Isaac was excited for a while, then he came to his senses: “Wait, if he froze to death, why did you stay up there for so long?”

“I watched him freeze to death,” I said impatiently.

“…Perverted?”

“Mm-hmm.”

I nodded dismissively.

“So you just watched, without asking anything?”

“I asked.”

“What did you ask?”

“Got nothing out of it.”

“…”

This time, it was Isaac’s turn to be speechless.

As I bent down and rubbed my skirt, I explained to him: “Insane mind, strong will… I managed to find out that he should have had a mission. There was a Mr. J, who gave him a mission.”

With a pale face, I rubbed vigorously a few times, finding it useless, so I gave up and raised my head: “He killed people in the village. Not for grain, but for fun. Mr. J is a lolicon.”

“These degenerate beasts… But the Mr. J you mentioned…”

Isaac rubbed his head, pondering for two seconds, then suddenly froze: “Lolicon? What does that mean?”

“It means… pervert, likes little girls.”

Isaac immediately understood, his expression turning serious: “It’s the clown… but why would he send someone here when he was fighting the Third Knight Order in the south?”

Clown? A lolicon?

Such thoughts lingered in

A fleeting thought flashed through my mind, and I shook my head at Isaac. “I don’t know. He died too quickly.”

I had learned nothing, had not managed to extract any information.

I felt somewhat guilty about this—I hadn’t expected him to die so soon.

That heretic had been shouting loudly before, and his power from the Fires of Damnation was at the third stage. Even with his skull shattered, he wouldn’t die. Subconsciously, I had taken him for an enemy on par with Teresa, thinking that even if there was a gap in strength, it wouldn’t be significant.

But the result told me otherwise. Even among third-stage powers, there could be a vast disparity… I thought he would last longer, but he quickly became withered and aged, then died, much like Varal did.

After he died, he didn’t transform into another monster like Teresa.

“This third stage… is far different from the one I encountered in the Royal City.”

“You’ve encountered a third stage in the Royal City?!” Isaac was surprised.

Ah…

Most people in the Church probably didn’t know about Teresa’s incident.

I quickly changed the subject. “Isaac, do you think if it were just him, the villagers would have died in such numbers?”

“If it were only him, more villagers should have escaped. This level of slaughter wouldn’t have happened. He must have accomplices, or at least others involved in the killings… I’ve already sent someone to report the situation to His Holiness. As for finding others, we’ll have to wait and see. Don’t get your hopes up too high.”

“We won’t be able to stay here for long,” the knight captain behind Isaac added. “Since the demon is dead, our priority now is to find a way out. We should search the village and nearby areas for any survivors.”

“Miss Sylvie, did the demon’s body turn into ice fragments? Can we move it out of the ice?” Isaac asked.

“Yes.”

I nodded. It wasn’t difficult.

Stepping back onto the ice platform, I carried the heretic’s frozen corpse down and placed it on the ground outside. Isaac approached and confirmed he was dead, then ordered the knights to continue their search in separate directions. He took two men to carry the body towards the village entrance, while I stayed behind to put out the fires.

I returned to the burning stone house ruins, using frost mist to extinguish the blazing Fires of Damnation. Picking up the black leather case from the mud, I placed Captain Gray back inside. Then, I went to a larger puddle nearby to clean off the dirt—though it wasn’t completely clean—and put it back on my back. The great horned horse stood not far away; it hadn’t been scared away by the commotion of battle. When I approached, it snorted and pushed its massive head against me.

It almost knocked me over.

I stroked its neck fur and walked to a broken eave nearby to take shelter from the rain. Finding a relatively clean spot, I squatted down, pulled up my hood, hugged my knees, and rested my chin on them, curling up tightly.

My mind was preoccupied with what had just happened.

Before the heretic died, I had used him to test the power of “Annihilation.”

This was a power I had deliberately avoided practicing and using since the battle in the Royal City.

Back when I was in the forest outside the city, although I had been practicing and attempting to master the chaotic power within me, including using the “shaping” ability of the Abyss to create a lively “deer”… despite not being fully proficient, I had made significant progress in understanding chaotic power, and my initial resistance had faded.

Despite this, I still tried my hardest to avoid relying on the overwhelmingly powerful “Annihilation” ability, even forcing myself to ignore it.

The reason I didn’t use “Annihilation” wasn’t because it had once belonged to Ilush.

It was because this special power possessed extremely extreme dualities.