Chapter 134: Frozen Battlefield

Mary descended from above, her sword enveloped in brilliant yellow light.

The radiance was so intense that looking directly at the blade became difficult. It illuminated the space around her as she fell, the glowing sword cutting through the air with her momentum.

Her target was Saud’s head.

She attacked without hesitation, bringing the shining blade down from above. The angle left little room for an ordinary opponent to escape. Saud, however, was anything but ordinary.

He bent the natural laws governing his movement and leaped upward.

His body shot toward the ceiling, covering a distance that should have been impossible for a normal human. The ceiling was at least fifty to sixty feet above the ground, yet Saud approached it as though gravity were nothing more than a minor inconvenience.

Mary’s sword passed through the space he had occupied a moment earlier.

Before she could do anything else, Saud raised his weapon.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three gunshots echoed across the battlefield.

The bullets separated in their trajectories, each pursuing its intended target. One was propelled toward the rebels, while the remaining two were directed at Lee.

Lee reacted immediately.

His affinity enhanced his physical abilities, allowing him to move with a speed and force far beyond those of an ordinary person. He jumped aside, evading the first bullet before it could reach him.

But the attack wasn’t over.

The second bullet approached from his right.

Lee had little time to react. Instead of attempting another evasive maneuver, he concentrated his dragon scales around the part of his shoulder that the projectile was about to strike.

The scales gathered over the threatened area, forming a protective layer just as the bullet arrived.

Shhk!

The projectile scraped against the surface.

Its momentum carried it forward, and the impact forced it through part of Lee’s defense. Yet the scales held. The bullet failed to penetrate completely, with only its head entering Lee’s shoulder.

It was a narrow escape.

Had Lee failed to concentrate his dragon scales at the right moment, the outcome might have been different.

Above us, Mary was still in the air.

Her attack had left her suspended at a dangerous point in the exchange. She had descended to strike Saud, only for him to rise beyond her reach. Now, with him controlling the space above the battlefield, she had to contend with more than the difficulty of landing safely.

Saud was about to disorder the air.

If he succeeded, Mary’s descent would become dangerous. The air around her would no longer behave as it should, and she could suffer serious injuries before reaching the ground.

I couldn’t allow that to happen.

The instant I recognized what Saud intended to do, I acted.

I stole his thoughts.

For a brief moment, the intention he had been about to carry out was no longer his to execute. That interruption was enough.

Mary landed safely on the floor.

Her feet met the ground without the disastrous interference Saud had been preparing to cause. Whatever danger had threatened her descent, she had escaped it.

Saud, meanwhile, remained suspended in the air.

Gravity still seemed unable to claim him.

He showed no sign of falling. Instead, he turned his attention toward us and summoned a Gift.

The object resembled a frozen bird.

Its appearance was unusual, but Saud didn’t waste time displaying it. He brought the Gift to his mouth and swallowed it.

For an instant, the object disappeared from sight.

Then the consequences became apparent.

Twenty frozen birds shot out of Saud’s mouth.

They scattered through the air, each one directed toward us. The sudden barrage filled the space between Saud and the battlefield with multiple incoming threats, leaving little opportunity to focus on a single projectile.

Twenty.

That was far too many to handle casually.

I had to move.

One of the birds rushed toward me, forcing me to throw myself into a roll. I let my body follow the movement, evading the projectile before pushing myself back up.

But another was already coming.

I had barely recovered from the first maneuver when I had to launch myself into a somersault. My body rotated through the air as the second frozen bird passed through the space I had occupied.

For a moment, the maneuver worked perfectly.

I had avoided both attacks.

Then I began to descend.

My feet were still searching for the ground when the next bird struck my right knee.

Cold erupted through my leg.

The sensation spread with terrifying speed, freezing the entire area between my toes and kneecap. My leg stiffened before I could properly regain my balance, and the sudden loss of movement left me vulnerable.

I couldn’t move my right leg.

Before I could deal with that problem, another frozen bird struck my left knee.

The cold spread through my other leg as well.

Now both legs were frozen.

My attempt to avoid the barrage had left me unable to move properly, and the timing couldn’t have been worse.

Mary, on the other hand, was having a different experience.

Her movements were fluid enough for her to avoid the incoming birds. She twisted and shifted her body through their trajectories, refusing to let the projectiles pin her down. Nevertheless, they continued attacking her, forcing her to cut them apart one after another.

Even with her fluid movements, she struggled to keep up with the relentless assault.

Lee had chosen another method.

He burned the frozen birds with his dragon fire.

The flames consumed the projectiles before they could accomplish what Saud intended, allowing Lee to deal with the barrage without relying on the same evasive movements Mary used.

I didn’t have that luxury anymore.

With both legs frozen, I couldn’t simply dodge my way out of the situation. I needed to remove the ice before I could move again.

There was only one thing I could do.

I summoned Thunder Sunlight and held the sword in my hands.

Its lightning-filled blade appeared before me, and I immediately brought it close to my frozen legs.

Dharum!

The ground shook.

The impact of the sword’s power reverberated through the battlefield, and the force traveled into my already immobilized legs. The ice was the reason I couldn’t move, but that didn’t make the resulting pain any easier to endure.

For a moment, the combination of the frozen limbs and the violent disturbance was unbearable.

Then the ice began to melt.

Thunder Sunlight’s power proved sufficient to undo the freezing effect. The layer that had imprisoned my legs gave way, and the restriction on my movement finally disappeared.

It hadn’t lasted long.

But even a brief period of helplessness was enough to put me in danger.

I was free to move again.

And Saud was still in the air.

I tried to jump.

My body responded, but something was wrong.

An invisible force seemed to be pulling me back toward the ground.

I couldn’t rise.

I fell.