Chapter 73: Gatebreak [2]
Jaden dashed from one nightmare to another, killing them with a single blow of [All-severing Moonlight (Replica)]. His weapon was a direct weakness to them, and that provided him with a great advantage. He was reaping all the benefits of it.
As he continued his slaughter, his eyes landed on a group of three nightmares that were attacking a bunch of arcane knights defending some civilians. Wind elementals covered his legs as he shot forward. He landed in the middle of the nightmares, and the sword melted and entered his veins. After placing his hands on the two nightmares, he mumbled.
"Gale Push."
Wind elementals shifted again and pushed the two nightmares back. The third nightmare let out a hoarse cry as it clawed towards Jaden. He jumped a step back and willed the ice elementals.
The [scion of ice] enchantment granted him authority over ice, and that allowed him to control ice elementals freely; he no longer needed to learn basic 1-star spells for it. Ice elementals shifted at his will, and an ice spike appeared under the nightmare, piercing its head.
The other two nightmares threw themselves at him, and Jaden simply blocked both of them with a thick ice wall. The ice wall melted and steam rose under the assault of burning claws, but Jaden had already called out to his sword. He moved towards them with [Gale steps ★★] and beheaded both of them in a single [Falling Petal Sword ★★] strike.
"That was easy," He muttered and turned to look at the two arcane knights—one male and one female—who were looking at him with pale expressions.
’What’s wrong with them?’
He shrugged at their strange reaction and walked towards the civilians. The female arcane knight’s shoulder slouched as the stiffness left her body.
"W-what was that? I just felt my life slipping away from...I-It was like the world had turned into an icy hell," she muttered with a horrified look.
The male arcane knight beside her spoke in a similar tone.
"W-when I looked into his eyes I f-felt cold... as if warmth had ceased to exist and the cold gripped my heart, w-whispering rhymes of death in my ears."
Jaden reached the group of panicked civilians and asked softly.
"Which one is the mother of Elora?"
His voice was unusually icy, making everyone’s body tremble. A young brown-haired woman with a beautiful face and mature body walked towards him, her eyes were puffy, hinting at the tears they had shed, and her hair was dishevelled. Her hips quivered as she asked in a raspy voice.
"D-did you meet my Elora? W-where is he?"
She looked around as she tried to find her son. Jaden looked at her for a moment before he placed a hand on her shoulder and spoke reassuringly.
"Your son is fine... I came looking for you because of him."
The woman gave him a bright smile and fell against his legs as she spoke with tears.
"Thank you so so much, My lord."
Jaden hurriedly stepped back and bent down. He cleared her tears as he spoke.
"Oh, mother, tears don’t suit your eyes... You should smile instead, smile brightly."
The woman nodded and wiped her eyes as she gave him a wide, bright smile.
Jaden smiled beneath the mask as he looked at the dreamgate, which was getting wider.
’Dreamgates are what connect the mortal realm to the dream realm. If enough living doesn’t enter a dreamgate within 48 hours, it leads to a gatebreak, in which the nightmares come to the mortal realm instead.’
’And to end a gatebreak, one has to kill the gate guardian, which comes at the final wave. As this is an Adept-ranked gatebreak, it should have three waves... starting with E or Initiate rank and ending with C or expert rank.’
After thinking everything through, Jaden walked closer to the gate and commanded the ice elementals to form thick ice walls at the perimeter to contain the damage.
’There’s not much my summons can do in this... and I can’t capture more because of the eyes I have on myself.’
Just as he thought, another E-ranked nightmare attacked him, and Jaden simply pointed his finger towards it as he spoke without even looking at it, "Water Bullet."
A water bullet left his pointed finger and pierced the nightmare’s head. A blue screen appeared before him.
[Level up!]
[Host has reached level 14!]
However, he shot at it a few more times just to be sure, and when the nightmare couldn’t be any deader than it already was, he stopped and lowered his hand.
Shifting his eyes, he looked at the dream gate and waited for the next wave to begin. At the moment, a few arcane knights killed the remaining E-ranked nightmares while the remaining ones helped the civilians evacuate.
"It’s taking a lot of time..." he mumbled as he steered the ice elementals to create a chair for him. Ice elementals moved; a chair made of ice appeared behind him. He sat on it and absorbed his sword back, folding his arms across his chest. He stared at the gate and thought.
’It’s better for me to take some rest... I hope someone stronger arrives before the gate guardian shows up. Otherwise...’ his body slightly trembled at the thought because if that happened, he would have to face the C rank gate guardian, which may lead him to death, and—he hated dying.
A random arcane knight looked at his nonchalant attitude and spoke with a raised eyebrow, "Is he... waiting for the next wave?"
Another arcane knight, who stood behind him, hit him on the back of the head and spoke in a slight reverence. "Don’t you know who he is? He is the faceless ice phantom, ruler of ice, harbinger of death. Why would he wait for some puny nightmares? Don’t you dare disrespect him with your lowly words."
"What is he doing then?"
"Well, of course, he is waiting for the gate guardian."
Soon, the sound of a single heartbeat echoed within the street as the dreamgate’s colours turned darker and an arcane knight yelled.
"It’s the second wave! Everyone, get ready!"