Chapter 722

Chapter 107 The Descent of the Divine Part I

“Knight Commander! Knight Commander! Cough, cough…”

The alternating gusts of hot and cold winds raised dust that spread further away. The bison behind continued to neigh, and the fallen knights slowly stood up. Amidst the chaotic shouts, two golden-armored warriors helped the Knight Commander back to his feet and shouted loudly, “How are you? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine… Let go, huff…”

The Knight Commander panted heavily, pushed the two men away, and staggered to steady himself. He shook his head forcefully, which triggered a sharp pain in his injured waist.

“Damn old man, your body refinement techniques… so barbaric…”

He looked down and saw that one side of his armor had been dented by Apheil, pressing against his chest and making it hard to breathe. But there was no time to take it off now. The Knight Commander’s heart raced as he heard the panicked cries around him. An uneasy feeling rose within him.

“What’s happening…”

He realized something new had happened, but his mind was still in chaos, and he couldn’t quite understand the situation. Instinctively, he turned to ask a nearby knight, then looked ahead at the sky. He froze for a second, his eyes widening abruptly.

“Ah…”

The Knight Commander opened his mouth but suddenly lost his words.

“Fall back! Fall back!”

“That black ball exploded!”

“Something seems to be coming out of it…”

“Don’t pursue them! Grace Scale! Everyone fall back!”

“Knight Commander! Knight Commander!”

Chaotic shouts echoed from all sides, accompanied by the sound of hooves. The Knight Commander faintly heard someone calling his name, but his thoughts were already in disarray, leaving him no time to respond.

Boom—

A blood-colored thunderclap struck from the gray sky, illuminating his trembling pupils. In those pupils, a distant, strange and magnificent ice mountain, towering over a hundred meters high, rose from the desolate land.

From the peak of that ice mountain, countless beautiful azure ice spears bloomed amidst the foggy white frost and star-like ice fragments.

Dark red blood rain poured down like curtains, hitting the ice mountain and the ice petals at its summit. Fine mist rose and intertwined with the white fog, creating fluctuating temperatures that made the air feel scorching at times and cold as a chill at others.

Above the dim sky, dark clouds previously dispersed by holy light began to gather again, rolling and flashing red lightning. The lightning struck the wasteland, causing huge and terrifying explosions.

It was as if…

The gods were about to descend.

“Blessed be the gods…”

The Knight Commander made the sign of the cross on his chest, and the prayer escaped his lips involuntarily. He saw many knights and monks around him doing the same.

They were stunned, bewildered, and terrified by the scene before them.

At the same time, the severely wounded Carlos struggled to crawl towards Apheil, stopping just short of getting too close. The black aura emanating from the old crone was too intense to approach closely.

She lay on the ground, her broken hammer beside her. Her already ravaged body, after being hit by the holy light, was now charred beyond recognition, with withered skin and shrunken muscles. Many wounds had become festering, exposing organs and bones.

The old crone could no longer resist the Abyss’s erosion.

She was dying quickly.

But her remaining eye, filled with blood vessels, stared intently at the sky not far away, at the rising fog over the ice mountain. She watched the blood-like rain pour down endlessly, drenching the ice mountain in a fiery red hue.

She gazed at the mysterious, grand, and indescribable scene, and after a moment, she spoke with great difficulty.

“Ca…rols…kid…”

Her voice was no longer fierce, and her breath was incredibly weak. “Why did you leave… before…”

Carlos panted heavily, struggling to turn over nearby. Then, he collapsed, lying face-up, unmoving.

“Huff… huff…”

He didn’t answer immediately, unsure how to respond. His bloodied chest heaved violently, and he coughed up more blood. He glanced at Apheil’s position, wheezing for a long while before slowly closing his eyes and whispering softly, “I’m sorry… Senior Apheil…”

“Hey…”

However, the old woman seemed to no longer hear what he was saying: “Why… Stop this… Smash that thing…”

“……”

“His Highness seems… to be struggling… Ha… In the end, it still leads to my daughter’s fate… Damn abyss… As long as His Highness still breathes… But that doesn’t seem to be… the abyss… Strange… What exactly is it… Is it the flame seed… or something else…”

“Forget it, forget it… I don’t understand anymore… and I’m also somewhat drowsy… It hurts so much… yet I feel drowsy… This feeling… hasn’t happened in a long time…”

Sssssss—

The dead smoke drifted from her body, floating up into the air.

“Carlos… Are you listening… Not… passed out yet…”

“…I am listening.”

The man’s voice trembled slightly as he reopened his bloodshot eyes.

In his hazy vision, the left leg and left hand of the old woman had gradually turned to ashes under such intense erosion, scattering with the wind.

“My daughter, Olivia…”

She continued, her voice almost inaudible: “If… you can make it back alive… then… strangle her… let her… find peace sooner…”

“……”

Carlos’ expression tightened, and his body began to shake violently.

The old woman’s eyes had lost their luster.

She wanted to fall asleep, but suddenly, her single eyelid slowly closed once more: “I say boy… did you see anyone… on that ice hill…”

The old woman looked at the ice hill where the icy wind blew and frost mist swirled, focusing on the center of the explosion of the black ball, revealing a hint of confusion in her lifeless, tired eyes.

“I…”

Carlos moved his cracked lips, his eyes starting to turn red, unable to describe the feelings within him at this moment: “Yes… I saw…”

He had long seen the figure slowly descending through the frost mist.

And that figure, even if far away, could be clearly recognized by the man with just one glance.

“Is… Am I already hallucinating…”

“How could there be someone there… How could… Is that person… or… a deity…”

“Senior…”

Carlos looked at her, suddenly laughing: “That is—”

Boom!!!

Crimson thunder rumbled across the sky again.

The man’s mouth opened and closed, but the name he spoke was drowned out by the cold and scorching wind, yet moments later, Apfel lying not far away slowly revealed a look of realization: “Oh, it’s her…”

She seemed to suddenly understand something; after a brief moment of confusion, a faint light returned to her originally darkened eyes.

“If it’s her…”

The old woman’s words were cut off as her body completely turned to ashes in the dead smoke, a wisp of greenish-white smoke drifting out, swaying in the wind and rapidly flying away.

Carlos watched the scene, his slightly dazed gaze showing some sorrow, his line of sight and emotions drifting away with the smoke.

And in the distance, that small figure had steadily landed on the peak of the Ice Peak, amidst the flourishing sea of frost white flowers.

The thunder and blood rain stopped at that moment.

The rolling dark clouds above seemed to instantly calm down.

The sky darkened again, and the man heard the knights nearby shouting in confusion, the sound turning into a buzzing in his ears.

He strained to lift his head, and five cultivators a hundred meters away lifted their heads simultaneously, as did the knights further away. Everyone looked up in astonishment, watching the figure slowly step forward from the ice fog swirling and the howling cold wind on the hilltop, stepping into the air.

Thud.

The empty footsteps echoed gently under the sky, like the sound of boots on a copper plate.

This step did not miss its mark; an exquisite staircase of ice crystals formed abruptly beneath her feet, tilting at a 45-degree angle and extending rapidly toward the ground. She then raised her hand, her fingers wrapped in black armor lightly touching the railing of the staircase, taking the second and third steps leisurely, as if strolling in a courtyard, the sound echoing clearly in everyone’s hearts.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud…

A wisp of white smoke drifted over, quietly merging into her chest.