I swerved to the side to avoid the trunk of the giant beast, It came towards me as fast as lightning, and it was hard to imagine something that big could be so fast.
But, It wasn’t fast enough. I could still see it’s movements without it being a blur.
I thought, should I just run away or go into my domain? 𝑖.𝘤ℴ𝘮
The former should be better, The latter may get me trapped if I return.
I unfurled my wings and began to run, as I threw an attack towards it to distract it. My mana enhanced spear unleashed a crescent wave which left a deep cut on the beast.
My spear was a weapon possessing a ranking that far surpassed the mammoth, so I wasn’t completely helpless. The attack cut the muscles in its front leg and caused its movement to be delayed.
But the wound healed up quickly, The mammoth let out a roar and chased after me.
‘Damn.’
I take back what I said, that thing is ‘fast’ enough for it to be a blur. It was blitzing through the snow fields as it made its way towards me. Even though I was in the air I could feel the tremble of the ground as it strode through.
The ground caved in where it stepped, and I launched another strike at its feet to hinder its advance. The mammoth, however, would not fall for the same trick twice.
Ice materialized a few meters away from its body and acted like a floating shield. The crescent wave clashed with the ice and both nullified one another. The mammoth manifested more ice in the form of spikes and sent them towards me.
‘Swish!’
I barely managed to dodge the first spike, which came at me at an astonishing speed. The second followed and cut my shoulder, the third one scraped by my chest.
“Damn…”
I cursed inwardly, and increased my speed as much as I could, but the mammoth did not relent. I had expected to see plains, or any greenery as I crossed the hill, but to my surprise it was an endless blanket of snow.
The patches of grass I had seen…were strange. They should have meant that there was greenery here, but none was present.
It seems the world behind the mountains is a frost haven. An eternal field of snow. That was what I could see all the way till the horizon. The solid ground quaked as the mammoth rushed towards me, ready to eat me.
“Aren’t you supposed to be a herbivore?!”
I yelled towards it, it answered with a roar!
Damn it, find some plants to eat! My hair isn’t even green!
It continued to assault me with spikes of ice, and it was hard to dodge them all. I tried to go higher, but then that made it harder.
The chase continued for half a day, I had hoped the thing would get tired, but the damn bastard wouldn’t! I can’t afford to go further from the base anymore as well. I tried to turn around but failed miserably, the thing would unleash more spells at me.
“Fine…”
As I was getting tired, I sighed and faced the beast and stopped running. It stopped as well, and there seemed to be a smile plastered on its face.
‘Oh, you think you can smile?’
It was pissing me off, I could feel its arrogance, and oh boy did it make me want to pummel that massive fur ball.
“Alright… Have it your way.”
Faced with no other options, I roared and charged at it, spear in one hand, a spell in the other.
I knew ice spells would have little effect on it, so I used the skills of my equipment. I sent a chaos blast towards it. The armor of the marquis had been beaten badly during the tower of trials. It cost a lot to restore it, But I was glad I paid that cost.
A chaos blast coursed its way through the cold air and landed on the side of the beast, the ice shield it put up failed to block it. However, the blast was unable to pierce its skin like my spear. However, it did cause the thing to fall to it’s side.
It hurried to stand up, But I approached close and stabbed my spear into it’s head. Or at least I tried too, The beast used its trunk to whack me away. The impact surely broke some bones, and I stumbled into the snow.
The fields of snow were deep. I was buried in it as I was thrown around, The mammoth stood up, and as I flew out of the snow, It raised its legs to the sky.
I shivered, as I felt the greatest amount of mana I had ever felt in my life gather at its feet. I shuddered, and that was my mistake.
The mammoth did not wait for me. Of course, it didn’t. Like a mighty king it stomped its feet on the ground and I saw a skill ever greater than [Glacial Collapse] be released.
A sea of ice, erupting from the ground and reaching for skies…and me.
I tried to dodge, fly high or to the side, but it was too massive, it crashed into me and the amount of mana that exploded rendered me nearly unconscious. The feeling of ice exploding right in front of me like a nuclear explosion was…painful.
I coughed up blood that froze immediately when it touched the ground, My chest had caved in, and I could feel my body ‘freezing’.
Fuck.
I cursed, lamenting that I thought fighting an S-rank creature was a good idea. I thought I could beat or run away from it, but I was wrong. Left with only choice, I hastened my transfer as I could feel my body dying from the bursts of mana.
The ice disappeared in front of me, vaporized. And the mammoth slowly approached me, as I readied my mana. It looked at me arrogantly, like staring at a bug it could squash in an instant.
And I hated the fact that it was true. I loathed it.
It approached me and just as it was about to devour my immobile body, I transferred myself to my domain and fell unconscious immediately after. I had already ordered the troops to take care of me.
Oh, how I hoped I saw that thing ugly face contort as I escaped right in fronts of its eyes…
***********
When I woke up in this strange place, My head was burning, it was in so much pain that I felt as if a sledgehammer was constantly hitting my poor skull.
I was wet, clearly submerged in water or some other liquid, yet that liquid seemed calm, and warm. It was relaxing, far better than the baths back at home, where my servants attended to me. The water here felt so calming…
It was an exhilarating feeling, one that money couldn’t buy, and that was something. The pain in my feeble mind disappeared soon enough, and I awoke.
My eyes opened, and I saw a ceiling I could never have imagined having seen. One made of crystal, embedded within the ceiling were designs and carvings of multiple snakes, each that had diamonds as lustrous as the stars for eyes.
It reminded me of Alan’s eyes, They were truly strange, but immensely beautiful at the same time. Perhaps it was a quality of dragons and dragon born. Their unique eyes.
I wondered how much that ceiling cost, the price of those lustrous, and mana filled diamonds must surely be so extravagant it would be hard for even my family to afford so many. To fill the ceiling like that.
I sat up, massaging my head which hurt once more, the pain in the form of pangs that I truly loathed. But the water I was submerged in had a healing effect, I could feel the mana within it coursing through me, entering my body through my skin and cleansing me.
I opened my eyes once more. And the shock that travelled through my body was like lightning through metal. How foolish of me, to think the ceiling was this extravagant.
The walls, the floor…even the pool I was in had them, those diamonds so luxurious they were the most beautiful of all…. How I yearned for such to adorn my neck and ears in the forms of necklaces in earrings.
Yet, even with all the wealth I could muster, I probably will never be able to purchase such exquisite…things.
The snakes that were embedded into the ground, and some part of it were filled with them.
Such wealth… I can’t even imagine this. Where am I? Who is the owner of this extravagant room? The ruler of this…wealth?
I stood up, not minding my wet clothes and the blood that had seeped into them, it was my own blood. I struggled to find a proper footing. The last thing I remembered was my idiotic act of trying to save the brute that I had a crush on.
And my mistake of not letting go of the rope…and being catapulted into his chest covered with those scales hard enough to split apart my head. Thankfully, the barrier I had erected saved me.
“Sigh…”
As I wondered the origin of this strange place, I found the door, and walked towards it, intending to open it, but I failed to do so.
It was too heavy! Which failure designed this horrible thing?!
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