Chapter 136: Frozen Elysium 3

Tulkan stretched out his hand, revealing a hand that had now taken on a dragon’s form.

The hand faced Julian, who was still in free fall. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Tulkan took aim at Julian for a moment.

His face was filled with irritation, a rage that came from feeling his pride had just been stained by being toyed with by a human.

He could not let that stand.

"Die."

Clench—!

The hand clenched tightly.

Up there, Julian at first struggled to figure out what Tulkan was doing, but in the next instant the air seemed to shift.

It was a strange shift. It felt as though the air in several places was being compressed, and whatever it was, it was closing in on Julian, impossible to see with ordinary eyes.

"....!"

Grrt—!

Julian had no time to dodge, because whatever it was had reached him first. Something powerful yet invisible, it felt as though gravity itself had taken the shape of a giant hand, wrapped around Julian’s entire body, and squeezed it hard.

"Ugh...!"

Julian winced slightly, feeling his body being crushed. He tried to resist, feeling that his bones could shatter if he did nothing.

Fortunately, it wasn’t a situation without a solution.

A layer of mirror appeared in the gaps between Julian’s body and whatever was gripping it.

The mirror wrapped around his body, giving him protection and the small opening he needed.

Crack—!

The mirror itself couldn’t last long. But for Julian, that little bit of room was enough.

His body vanished from there, and then he appeared not far from Tulkan, who let go of his hand and looked toward him.

It took less than a second, but Tulkan had already figured that this alone wasn’t enough to defeat Julian. So, as Julian landed softly on the ground, looking at Tulkan, who hovered a few meters up in the sky,

something hard to comprehend happened once again.

The space around him felt warped. This time, Julian didn’t let himself get trapped a second time.

Gravity had formed a square, meant to press down on him from every side, so once again Julian vanished from his position and appeared elsewhere.

Julian appeared on top of a tree, and in the next instant Julian vanished again, and then the tree was crushed a fraction of a second after Julian disappeared.

The sound of destruction rang out everywhere. Julian kept using Flash Step to avoid attacks that couldn’t be seen and could only be felt.

The surroundings, where so many trees had previously grown lush, now looked ruined everywhere.

Trees lay crushed and helpless, dust drifted through the air, and above it all, Tulkan felt his irritation grow as Julian kept avoiding his attacks.

"Are you only going to dodge? Huh! Fine!"

Both of Tulkan’s hands took on dragon form as a wide grin appeared. The Dragon eyes he had showed a faint, flickering flash of red, and then his gaze shifted, leaving behind a thin trail.

He looked at Julian, standing on top of a tree, having suffered no fatal injury.

"I don’t believe you’ll still be alive after this."

This time, Tulkan used the language Julian spoke. As a member of the Dragon Race, he was a highly wise being. They memorized a great many languages across the entire universe, and once he had managed to learn the language Julian used, he didn’t hesitate to mock him.

"I don’t understand why a human from a ruined world is in a place like this. Oh no, perhaps one that’s about to be ruined!? Hahaha!"

He laughed loudly, spreading his two dragon hands in front of his chest. Then, the air fell silent, everything slowed so much that even the smallest insects seemed frozen.

In the next instant, the world sank into a gravity that crushed and bowed everything to the ground.

"Bow down to me!!!"

The trees collapsed and kissed the ground, the dust that had been drifting, the insects, even Tulkan’s own subordinate Dragons, none escaped that power.

Monk, who had just regained consciousness, collapsed unconscious again, helpless, while Felicya looked utterly flat as she was forced to kneel.

A flicker of killing intent showed in her eyes, but only briefly before her eyes closed.

The girl understood that there was nothing she could do right now except stay still.

As for Julian, he remained standing where he was.

Not because he was unaffected, but because Julian had turned out to be far stronger than he’d thought. He felt the heavy weight trying to make him kneel, but with his Mana so vast and abundant, he was able to withstand the pressure by maximizing his physical potential with his Mana.

His gaze fixed on Tulkan for a moment, and then, after a few seconds, a huge shadow fell over Julian and the entire surrounding area within an enormous radius.

’Oh, damn.’

Julian cursed in his mind, lifting his head to look at a gigantic object falling toward them.

’Isn’t that a meteor?’

There was no mistaking it, it really was a meteor!

For a moment, Julian thought it was insane, but he didn’t dwell on it for long. He couldn’t let that meteor fall on this place, so after adjusting his position slightly, Julian let go of his sword.

In his hand, he once again formed a Bow nearly as large as his own body.

As he looked at the Bow, Julian frowned slightly and felt something uneasy in his chest.

"No, this won’t be enough."

He realized that no matter how strong the arrow he shot, it seemed impossible to destroy a meteor roughly the size of a football field.

It wasn’t quite that bad, its length was probably still a little shorter, but there was no denying that if that thing fell on a football field, the field itself would vanish.

At the same time, Julian thought he might be able to use Flash Step to escape. However, in his current position, if he intended to do that, the Dragon would surely be able to do something first.

So, what should he do?

Julian sank into thought, and like the gears of a giant machine, his brain spun so fast that he arrived at a single conclusion.

"Just create an attack that’s enough to destroy that thing, I suppose?"

He tilted his head slightly, and finally smiled faintly.

"That sounds more reasonable and possible."

Especially since Julian’s current condition felt strangely unique. Full of power, full of Mana, full of information.

Perhaps this was what it meant to be in a state of Flow.

He drew back the bowstring, aiming at the great meteor streaking down from the sky. Its shadow felt darker and closer, the atmosphere shook, and in several places it shattered on its own even before the meteor fell.

The searing heat and the terrifying pressure of its power made Julian wrinkle his face slightly.

Gravity still pressed on his body, but that didn’t hinder his mind, which spun at a speed impossible for an ordinary person.

[You have created a skill]

After so long, Julian felt nostalgic for some reason when the transparent blue screen appeared before him, triggering a rare smile.

Along with the smile and the system message, Julian’s Arrow showed a power that sent a violent tremor beneath his feet.

A small crater slowly formed, ignoring the gravity pressing down on it, as if that power was trying to surpass and fight gravity itself.

Julian’s Arrow showed a silhouette that was very hard to grasp. It was an Arrow made of Mana, yet it was shedding an atmosphere of bitter cold.

Around it, blue points appeared one by one, while Julian’s hand touching the bow slowly froze over in an existential blue.

Like fireworks about to ignite, the Arrow began to scream with the sound of shattering ice, even before it was fired.

Julian hesitated for a moment. He felt there was still room to justify, still room for improvement, but he found that there was no time for hesitation or for that improvement.

So, with regret, he released the bowstring, letting the Arrow soar into the sky.