"Return my crystals that you stole. We let you stay here, right in our palace and you steal our stuff!" Queen Mia said in a loud voice, scaring away the nearby maid.
"What crystal? What are you talking about? I didn't steal anything!" Long Chen said as he feigned ignorance.
"You, come here!" Queen Mia pointed at the maid as she called her. The maid came forward with a scared expression.
"Don't worry, I won't do anything to you. Just tell me honestly, was he here in the room for the last hour?" Queen Mia asked.
"No your highness, he left for a walk a while ago, and only returned around half an hour ago." The maid turned her head towards him for a moment but decided to tell the truth.
"You let him go alone? I never expected such negligence from you! Cut off one of your fingers as punishment so that you won't make this kind of mistake ever again!" Queen Mia bellowed
"What the hell are you saying!? I just went for a walk and I was the one who told her not to follow me. You don't need to punish her for that!!" Long Chen rebuked her.
But he was shocked to see that the maid actually cutting off one of her fingers with tears in her eyes as she desperately held herself from screaming in pain.
"You can go now!" Queen Mia said to the maid.
"Back to you, both of my orbs were stolen today, and the thief disguised himself as Alton to such a degree that none of my guards could even recognize that he wasn't. You're the only person who might have had such an ability. What's more, it also happened less than an hour ago! The exact time you went missing. I'll ask you kindly now, just return the orbs, and I won't punish you!" Queen Mia said slowly as she suppressed her bubbling anger.
"Firstly, I didn't steal anything! Secondly, you're just blaming me without any proof. Who knows if anything is actually stolen, it might just be an elaborate plan for you to destroy my reputation in the other tribes just because you don't like me! More importantly, are you even qualified to punish me?" Long Chen said with a smile.
"Since you're accusing me wrongly, I have no reason to stay here anymore, I'm leaving!" Long Chen said, as he started walking away.
"You think you can simply leave after taking my treasures? Foolish!"
Completely drowned in anger, Queen Mia brought out an ice spear and attacked Long Chen with it from behind. Long Chen immediately brought out his Mountain Destroyer as he turned back and blocked the attack.
"I've had enough!! Don't you dare make me angry! I don't want to leave your tribe in ruins and strewn around with corpses!!" Long Chen roared in anger as he pushed back Queen Mia with his sword.
Queen Mia brought out a crystal which she crushed. An alarm blared throughout the tribe as formation runes started shining. The whole tribe was soon wholly covered in a transparent barrier.
Everyone looked towards the barrier as chatters started erupting amongst the populace.
"Isn't that our empire's guarding formation? It prevents enemies from entering our empire. The only drawback is that no one from inside is able to exit either!"
"Right, although this barrier only lasts for one week and yet takes thousands of years to be recharged and used again, it is said that not even Monster Emperors can break it in less than a week! Last time, it was used in the Great War against the monster tribe. Are they attacking us again?"
"Of course that must be the case. The queen won't be wasting this formation on something weaker than a monster king," people in the crowd kept on commenting.
Long Chen left the palace and looked at the barrier.
"Don't think that just because I didn't fight you inside the palace, everything's resolved! I just don't want my palace to suffer from damage." Queen Mia's voice came from behind. She was still firmly gripping an ice spear on her hands, looking much like a Snow Queen.
Queen Mia attacked Long Chen again as he was walking towards the barrier but this time with much more power. Long Chen blocked the attack with his sword and created some distance between the two of them.
"I guess this means you're not going to let me leave peacefully today," Long Chen said as he rushed towards the queen. He could see that his speed had increased explosively after breaking through to the Gold Core realm as he was able to move at such an incredible speed even without using a movement technique.
Long Chen swung his mountain destroyer at Mia, who attacked with her ice spear as well. Long Chen felt the cold chill coming from his sword as soon as it came into contact with Queen Mia's ice spear. While Long Chen only felt a slight chill, Queen Mia was in a much worse situation, she felt a heavy pain in her arms as she was pushed back.
Long Chen again swung his sword at Queen Mia but stopped midway as he immediately stepped aside. A spike made of snow crashed right where he was standing before. If he hadn't stepped aside, he might've been hit. Long Chen turned to look at the person who attacked him from behind and found Prince Alton standing there.
"You too?" Long Chen said with an upset expression.
"I thought you were a good person like master Tian Shen! But I was wrong! A good person wouldn't have attacked my aunt! You are a bad human! You need to be punished for attacking my aunt!" Alton said as he stood there, his expression frosty.
All the warriors of the Banshee tribe came forward to help the Queen as well and without thinking much, they all attacked Long Chen.
Long Chen saw all this happening in front of his eyes and couldn't help but get angry.
"I wanted to leave this place peacefully and not have to do this. But all of you forced my hand! If a blood path is the one I must walk upon, then on it I shall tread!" Long Chen said as he deflected the attacks rushing at him with his Mountain Destroyer.
"Ice Prison!" The Queen pointed her spear towards Long Chen and used her Martial Skill. Four thick ice walls appeared around Long Chen, completely engulfing him. The opening at the top was closed as well as a thick ice slab formed on the top of the walls forming something like a room, albeit a deadly one. The four walls started closing in on him slowly but surely.
"Is that the rumored Ice Prison of the queen? It is said that it's one of the strongest skills of the queen. All four of these walls can take the full-powered attack of a monster king without breaking and can even kill a monster king." Someone from the crowd commented, amazed as he saw Long Chen trapped.
"I've only heard about her using this skill against a monster king in the last Great War and killing him! But then, using this skill harmed her own vitality as well and she had to recuperate for a month before she could take part in another battle But by then, the battle had already ended," another continued.
"You can't break it! Now be buried in it until your flesh crumbles into smithereens for the sin of stealing my orbs." Queen Mia said, smiling as the ice prison continued to compress. It started to enter the ground as if to bury Long Chen eternally...
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