CHAPTER 1518: CHAPTER 1518: CATASTROPHE

"I don’t know the specific situation either," Rote looked a bit embarrassed, "Suddenly, there was no one left in the entire palace."

He was pursued all the way here, without any chance to figure out what was going on.

At that moment, Kela slightly lifted her gaze, looking towards the tightly shut door of the lounge ahead.

The door trembled slightly, making a faint noise, as if the wind and snow were gently knocking on it.

Kela gently raised her hand, and the tightly closed door suddenly opened. The howling wind and snow, laden with intense cold, rushed into the entire room in an instant.

"This should be deep inside, right?" Rote was somewhat puzzled.

Thud—thud—

A dull sound resembling a heavy object hitting the ground came from outside the door.

He stepped forward, braving the wind and snow, walked out of the door, and looked outside.

The closed corridor was now forcibly torn open with a huge gap.

The drifting wind and snow flurried down from that torn gap.

Heavily armored guards were slowly walking in the corridor.

The brilliant aurora shone through the massive breach, spreading its splendid colors over the guards below.

At that instant, the guards seemed to hear some kind of sound, turned around, and looked behind them.

Their bodies encased in can-like armor, only their cold eyes vaguely visible behind the iron masks, emitting a ghostly cold gleam.

And at the same time, above Rote’s head, the huge gap was gradually being shrouded in shadow, a gigantic head covered with solid ice slowly looking down towards Rote.

——

The little girl held a wooden box in her arms, the dazzling light shining on her cheeks.

She gazed at the approaching figures, her steps slightly retreating, leaning against the silhouette behind her.

Within the hazy wind and snow, came a series of faint rustling sounds, the sound of skins being torn apart.

——

A strong feeling of hunger swept through Rote’s mind like a storm, overwhelming his brain.

It was horrendous enough to momentarily halt his thinking, making him forget the ability to think or speak.

And as he slightly broke free from that terrifying feeling, the fully armed ’guards’ were already quickly approaching him.

These guards came from the surrounding nobility, some being minor nobles themselves, while others were children of major noble houses.

Although Rote wasn’t fondly regarded by the nobles, due to his position as governor, these noble guards would still follow his orders.

But now, the guards he could rely on, the ones he had just called for, were advancing towards him, yet he felt no sense of reassurance.

All he felt was the twisted fear brought by the hunger seemingly seeping into his soul.

As those ’guards’ moved, he felt their ’abnormal’ actions, the empty rattling sounds inside their armor, and the icy chill emanating from within the armor.

He forcefully suppressed the hunger and agitation spreading into his soul, trying with difficulty to make a move.

Yet at that moment, the foremost guard had already reached him.

"Hey, young man," he looked at the guard in the forefront, pulling a smile with difficulty, "We talked before—"

Sszzlaa—

The helmet covering his entire head, shielding his cheeks, was suddenly ripped from within, a gigantic maw filled with ice-like sharp teeth opened from the torn helmet, obscuring Rote’s view, blotting out the light above him, with a downward bite.

Then, the monster clad in metal armor froze into ice before him.

With the lightly cold wind, Rote felt someone walking behind him.

He struggled to suppress the constantly emerging hunger within, turning back to look behind him.

Just in time to see Kela, with a slightly scrutinizing gaze amidst the calm.

He awkwardly smiled, "Your Majesty, even I don’t know this either..."

BOOM—

A fierce sound erupted from the ground, the intense vibration of iron boots stomping against the earth.

The ’guards’ who had gotten very close were now lifting their steps, accelerating towards this direction.

Kela shifted her gaze towards the charging guards, slightly raised her hand.

Intense ice spread out from in front of her, swiftly streaking across the narrow corridor.

The guards maintained their running posture forward, but the ice rapidly climbed up their legs, and in an instant, covered their bodies, freezing them in place, turning them into sturdy ice sculptures.

Rote stared dumbfoundedly at the scene.

The intelligence from the south said Queen Kela was born with magic, but it didn’t say the magic was this impressive.

Yet before he could think further, the fierce cold wind suddenly swept over his body.

As the stiffness appeared on his skin, he suddenly recalled, there was still one big thing overhead!

And beside him, Kela had already lifted her head, looking up.

The gigantic gap in the structure, with a giant solid ice monster standing in the gap, appeared in her field of view.

However, her gaze firstly locked onto, not the monster or the breach, nor the snow, but the colorful brilliance hanging high in the sky.

Whoosh—

The howling gale whipped up wind and snow, the gigantic beast that tore the wall lowered its head, gazing at the figures below.

Its arm exerted a sudden force, further prying open the already damaged wall.

Its body seemed too massive, the gap insufficient to allow entry, it was further opening the ’gap.’

Armor-clad ’guards,’ one after another, followed the blizzard, gradually rushing out from behind the gap, charging towards the open lounge door.

At this point, Rote finally suppressed most of his desires, synchronizing his thoughts and body, he turned around to Kela behind him, "Your Majesty, we must leave here quickly?!"

And as he spoke, Kela had already gently raised her right hand, her fingertips with slight glimmers tracing lightly through the air.

Threads of pure white radiance seeped from the pervasive blizzard, quickly coagulating beside Kela into a reindeer made of ice.

Then the light flickered backward, forming two single-person sleds, one in front of the other, behind the ice reindeer.

The two sleds were tethered together with icy ropes, attached to the ice reindeer in front.

Kela slowly moved forward, heading towards the first sled.

Rote immediately reacted, hurriedly rushing to the sled.

The armored soldiers in front were swiftly charging towards this direction, smashing some of the creatures frozen into ice sculptures.

The ice blocks on those creatures were shattered, falling to the ground, yet they slowly regained some mobility, crawling from the ground, following the creatures behind, charging forward.

Kela gently pressed the back of her skirt, with no wrinkles, sat on the sled, her waist straight, legs naturally close together, leaning diagonally.

At this time, Rote also hastily reached the second sled, sat down on it.

The ice reindeer lifted its steps at this moment, suddenly rushing forward, charging towards the armored guards charging from the front.

"Watch out!" Rote hastily shouted.

But before he finished speaking, those armored Guards collided around the ice reindeer.

Before they could touch the ice reindeer, they froze into hard ice sculptures, while the ice reindeer swiftly darted through the gaps between their bodies.

But soon, with most of the armored Guards frozen, a dense swarm of transparent monsters surged in alongside them, blocking the way forward.

And at this moment, the ice reindeer reached directly beneath the enormous creature.

The creature instantly extended its sharp claws, smashing downwards.

It directly anticipated the ice reindeer’s position.

But just as it swung its claws down, Kela raised her hand, and the ice reindeer suddenly lifted its front legs.

A radiance of ice and snow quickly gathered in front of the ice reindeer, then swiftly climbed upward, pulling out an upward-slanting ice path in the void.

And the ice reindeer stepped onto this ice path without hesitation, maintaining its speed, it charged directly upwards along the path.

Rote immediately grabbed the sides of the sleigh, stabilizing himself.

A dense brilliance continuously gathered in front of the ice path, condensing into new ice paths, spreading upwards.

Meanwhile, at regular intervals, vertical pillars were generated, bracing against the nearest ground to support the ice path.

The giant creature’s claws grasped at nothing, while the upward-extending ice path spiraled around its body, bursting through the roof it had clawed open.

Intense wind and snow swept across Rote’s face as he left the palace.

And at this time, the nearby enormous creature also realized it had been tricked; it lifted its head, looking at the ice reindeer and sleigh ascending along the ice path.

Crack—

A crisp sound came from behind.

Rote turned his head, discovering that the ice path they had just traversed was rapidly collapsing.

Those armored Guards and transparent monsters coming through were swiftly attacking the pillars, destroying the ice path.

Simultaneously, some transparent monsters inserted their claws into the pillars, climbing up along them.

But at this moment, Rote no longer had time to consider these things.

The wind and snow around him lessened a bit, a faint shadow covering them.

It was that giant creature’s claw hovering over their heads.

This strike seemed as if it would smash the reindeer, sleigh, and ice path all at once.

And Kela, seated on the first sleigh, also looked up at the claw overhead.

Raising her hand, a white brilliance gathered at her snow-gloved fingertips, in an instant shooting towards the sky, colliding with its claw.

The claw trembled, a small spot of white Ice Crystal appeared at its center, rapidly spreading outward.

But quickly, the spread of the Ice Crystal slowed down.

The claw in the sky continued crashing down unimpeded.

And at this moment, radiances of ice and snow flashed again under the sky.

Above that gigantic claw, layers upon layers of Ice Crystal quickly accumulated and blossomed.

Soon, these Ice Crystals formed rings of varying sizes, their outward expansion hindered but inward expansion rapid until they filled the center, connecting into a whole.

Ultimately, just as the claw was about to strike the ice reindeer, these radiances of ice and snow completely filled the giant claw, halting its movement.

Rich ice swiftly spread along the claw, extending onto the giant creature’s body.

Colorful brilliance was reflected on the clean ice path, like a splendid rainbow drawn in the sky.

Kela withdrew her hand, letting out an almost imperceptible sigh of relief, her gaze fixed forward.

The powers of ice and snow continued to explode over the giant creature behind them, covering its body with ice, freezing its form and movement.

Once the ice reindeer was far away, the freezing gradually ceased, and most of the giant creature’s body had turned to ice blocks.

Rote looked back, gazing at the giant creature vanishing into the blizzard, and let out a long breath of relief.

He leaned on the edge of the sleigh, "We’ve finally escaped—"

His gaze naturally shifted downward, seeing the buildings beneath the clouds, reflexively pulling his sight back, straightening up with his hands tightly gripping the sides of the sleigh, "Have we reached such a high place already?"

The ice reindeer pulled the sleigh swiftly along the ice path in the sky.

A slight trembling sound came from below, seemingly the sound of the sleigh gliding over the ice path, or perhaps some kind of impact.

"Hmm," sitting in front, Kela slightly raised her gaze, glancing at the sky, maintaining a calm and natural tone, "The things in the sky are beautiful."

"Yes, that’s the Fox’s Fire, always beautiful," Rote tightly held the hems of the sides of the sleigh, suppressing his inner tension, continuing, "In the northern Legend, the appearance of the Fox’s Fire is often related to disasters."

Kela slightly turned her head, revealing a delicate profile in the snow, indicating that she was carefully listening.

"But actually, the Fox’s Fire is a very common sight in the extreme north," Rote said calmly, "I didn’t believe it before, but..."

Boom—

At this moment, a violent roar came from behind him.

He turned around, and the ice path behind him crumbled and collapsed within his field of view.

In the hazy wind and snow, dense shadows were vaguely attacking these pillars.

He swallowed, turned back, and looked at Kela, who still maintained a listening posture.

After a moment’s pause, he continued quickly, "But a few days ago, the Storm Priest suddenly gave a prediction,"

Huff—

A transparent monster seemed to use the collapsed pillar behind to gain momentum, suddenly breaking through the snowstorm, lunging from the rear side towards the sleigh.

Kela gently raised her fingertip, and a radiance of ice and snow fell upon the monster, freezing it into an ice sculpture.

This ice sculpture swiftly brushed past Rote, falling into the blizzard.

Rote straightened his body, looking at Kela, and said again calmly, "The prophecy said when the Fox’s Fire blazes, disaster will descend upon the city-state. I didn’t expect it to come so quickly; that’s all I know."

Kela nodded slightly, indicating understanding.

While speaking, a few more transparent monsters surged from the void, then turned into ice sculptures under the brilliance of ice and snow, brushing past the sleigh.

Kela withdrew her gaze, continuing to look forward, as if searching for something.

"Where exactly do these monsters come from," Rote leaned beside the sleigh, seemingly wanting to glimpse the scene below but ultimately failing to muster the courage to look down.

They probably hadn’t left the noble district yet; surely, the entire noble district couldn’t have fallen, right? What about the outside city districts?

Has this disaster covered the entire city-state?

The intense wind and snow obscured the earth, he looked up, seeing only foggy everything.

Only the Fox’s Fire above the Firmament continued to shine brightly.

As if a pair of invisible eyes were watching everything happening on earth.

Boom—

At this moment, the sleigh suddenly shook, and the extended ice path made a drastic turn.

In front, Kela seemed to have discovered something.