The Frost Knight’s six-meter ice-crystal body showed no clumsiness. Every swing of its giant sword, wreathed in freezing mist, whipped up a blizzard.
Cassinar dodged continuously under the relentless sword barrage while splitting his attention to shatter the ice crystals the Snow Attendant fired from mid-air.
Those seemingly thin ice shards could instantly freeze anything they grazed.
The two temple-tier Frost Spirits were actually suppressing the Marquis for now. No. 4 saw an opening.
It broke free from No. 10’s restraint, curled into a ball, and rolled in a sharp arc along the ruined terrain, charging out from Cassinar’s retreat path!
“Eat my Blade Storm!”
But No. 4 got one thing wrong—the Frost Spirits weren’t controlled by Inanna.
They were drawn to her, followed her, protected her, and restrained their aggression around her.
That didn’t mean they cared about anything else.
The frost greatsword slammed the ground, launching No. 4 into the air. Then, unluckily, an ice crystal hit it.
In the blink of an eye, No. 4 became a frozen lump and plummeted straight into the darkness of a nearby collapse.
Even Cassinar, who had been preparing to defend, nearly lost composure at the sight.
“No. 4!” Though she knew it could revive, Inanna still felt heartbroken seeing it hurt.
No. 10 slammed the ground with a tentacle. “That idiot!”
It assessed the battlefield. Though the blood-clan seemed suppressed, his stance was far from desperate—this was nowhere near his full power.
No. 10 decisively activated its internal magic crystal—Mass Invisibility!
Not a skill, but proper magic.
While other Puchis were still debating which skill was stronger, No. 10 had already started self-studying magic.
It immediately grabbed Pink Puchi and prepared to slip away.
But how could Cassinar let this treasure escape?
The ability to command Frost Spirits alone—freely moving through the ruin right now—was worth capturing Inanna at any cost.
The Marquis suddenly stopped retreating. Dark-red blood light that had been building in his palm shot out, striking both Frost Spirits.
The blood arrows exploded into countless barbs inside their ice-crystal bodies, nailing the Snow Attendant and Frost Knight in place.
The spirits struggled, but breaking free would take minutes—more than enough for Cassinar.
He waved a hand. Surging blood curtains sealed Inanna’s retreat.
Though invisible, his keen blood sense could still roughly locate her.
That last Puchi had to be nearby…
Wind whooshed past his ear—stealthed No. 10 was right beside him.
Swamp Spell!
Mushroom Cannon!
Self-destruct!
No. 10 knew the power gap. Only self-destruct could possibly hurt a blood-clan Marquis.
Swamp Spell to slightly slow him, Mushroom Cannon aimed at the blood curtain blocking Inanna’s escape!
“Run!” No. 10’s final mycelial network message.
Inanna held back tears and fled through the breach in the blood curtain.
Before the explosion’s shockwave dissipated, Cassinar slowly emerged from a distant corner shadow.
Half his face was blasted, looking miserable, but the injuries weren’t serious.
These bloodless Puchis were hard to spot when hidden in chaos, but they had to move to attack—he had detected it early.
The instant No. 10 self-destructed, he had slipped into shadow, taking only minor damage.
“You can’t escape, human!” He turned into a crimson stream, racing after Inanna. “Don’t worry, I won’t kill you! I’ll make you my blood thrall. You’ll be my most obedient tool!”
“You want to steal what’s mine?”
A terrifying voice rose from the abyss depths. Cassinar shuddered, slowing half a beat.
Then—BOOM!
The side rock wall exploded. A curled-up behemoth Puchi crashed out.
In the mycelial network, No. 4’s excited voice rang: “Haha! Pink Puchi, don’t be scared—I upgraded and came back to save you!”
This behemoth Puchi was summoned by Lin Jun from the buried Puchis in the ruins. Since No. 4 had driving experience, it was stuffed inside.
No. 4 was clearly thrilled to have a big mushroom body again. “Big Mushroom Crush!”
Cassinar was forced to halt and retreat, blocked by the sudden behemoth Puchi.
“What kind of monster is this again…” He couldn’t comprehend the creature before him.
How could a Puchi be this huge?
Fragments of the Dragonroar Valley report flashed in his mind.
So Duke Sigmund hadn’t exaggerated to escape blame… those absurd descriptions were real?
No wonder he hadn’t believed it. The report was too ridiculous—who would without seeing it?
Cassinar quickly steadied himself.
He dodged the behemoth Puchi’s flailing tentacles, occasionally countering with blood blades, soon noticing the issue.
His attacks sank into the creature like stones in the sea. Even charged strikes probably couldn’t deal real damage.
Compared to this thing, troll regeneration looked crippled!
But calm observation revealed it was actually quite clumsy.
No—that made sense.
He had been momentarily shocked by Sigmund’s report. Slow movement was normal for something this size.
Cassinar stopped wasting effort and melted into shadow, bypassing No. 4 to chase Inanna.
“Cheater?!”
Detecting the vampire’s intent, No. 4’s tentacles shot out, wrapping the startled Inanna and stuffing her whole inside its body.
It even poked her with a tentacle to adjust her position, ensuring she was safest.
Then the behemoth Puchi curled into a ball and… stayed still.
Several sharp blood blades slashed the mushroom body, carving meters-deep wounds. But the flesh visibly writhed and healed, back to normal in moments.
Cassinar slowly emerged from shadow. For once, his sharp mind drew a blank.
Lin Jun didn’t miss a chance to taunt:
“Heh heh heh… no moves left? Wanna run? Too late!”
“I destroyed the teleport array. You’re not escaping, old bat!”
“Don’t worry, I won’t kill you! I’ll make you my mushroom thrall. You’ll be my most obedient tool!”
“Uh… wait, that might count as killing…”
Cassinar finally located the disgusting voice source—a wriggling rag bag on nearby ruins.
Hearing the teleport array was destroyed, he felt a chill.
The enemy knew his escape route; they weren’t bluffing.
But he didn’t flee.
He noticed these enemies clearly valued that human.
Then he still had a chance.
No more pointless attacks. The Marquis recalled all blood, layering it around himself while channeling shadow power. His body twisted and compressed, finally forming a sharp black-red lance!
He would pierce straight through the behemoth Puchi and seize the human as hostage!
Dragonroar Valley reports said giant Puchis self-destruct. This was suicide.
But he would gamble—the enemy cared so much about the special-ability human they wouldn’t blow him up with her!
Yet he didn’t even take the first step.
Unnoticed, his feet had frozen solid to the ground.
Then the surging blood around him. The crimson liquid instantly crystallized into translucent dark-red ice, frozen in its final flowing pose.
A pale-blue figure slowly descended from above.
A long dress made of pure cold lightly swept the ground. Every ice crystal that fell bloomed into frost flowers upon touching the floor.
The Frost Elemental Lord descended silently—no sound, no pressure, only the surrounding temperature plummeting.
It exhaled gently.
Cassinar frantically surged his power, shattering the ice on his legs. But new frost already crept to his waist. He tried shadow escape, only to find even his shadow frozen.
In this desperate tug-of-war, the Marquis’s movements slowed. Ice thickened on his body.
At the critical moment, No. 4, under Lin Jun’s order, stepped forward and shielded him—just in time to save Cassinar from instant death.
Lin Jun was a mushroom of his word. He had just said no killing—how could he let him die now?!
But the current problem was…
The weightless-seeming Frost Elemental Lord slowly approached No. 4 and the Inanna wrapped inside. Even without attacking, frost already climbed the behemoth Puchi’s surface.
*Crack—*
The constant-temperature pendant on Inanna’s neck… died in battle against true extreme cold…
(End of Chapter)
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