Chương 36: [BL] 35. Strength [3]

The world stopped for her. Someone must have dumped her into a human-sized glass filled with freezing water, pulled her out, and dipped her again and again until she could not feel the sensation in her limbs. Her vision remained; a bunch of screaming faces hovered over her, yet their sounds were muffled by the surrounding storm. Willow let out a pitiful grunt. She needed to warn everyone, for the white frost drifting high above them solidified into deadly sharp stakes of frost.

Hundreds of them aimed down, almost jewel-like as they reflected the storm through their crystalline bodies. She spoke over their shouts.

"W—Watch out—" The Lich Queen swooped her left hand down. Both tier-threes snapped their heads up. Leynah opened her arms wide, but not before Drey shielded her with his bandaged body. Not just them, but Maxim and Erick also joined in. In her delirious state, all she could think of was how ridiculous it was that she, of all people, got to be protected like this. By a stranger, no less. This past day, reality just kept stabbing into her.

The reality of her new life, the importance she held, and the burden imposed on her. Her Hero instinct screamed out, and a part of her world stitched back together. Willow did not realize she had fallen off her horse, and everyone else had dismounted to protect her. No, that was unacceptable. For them to sacrifice their chance of escape for her? She tried to grip Leynah's shoulder, but then the sky erupted into a blossom of white.

Heat blazed across the winter, and a maw of brilliant flames scorched over the frost shrapnel the queen threw. The Imp, who only wore a dark loincloth tied together with a loose waist wrap, made an obscene gesture toward the Lich queen, giggling as he did so. Through Willow's hazy state, the Imp's sound to her sounded like a cacophony chimed with evil laced all over it. Lucky for them, the Lich Queen twisted her lips and fully hovered upward to face the Imp.

The cages of storm disappeared, and a new storm swirled around the queen, shielding the tier-four like a cocoon. Meanwhile, the Imp put his hands up in mock surrender. An overwhelming light melted part of the cocoon that faced directly toward the Imp, and a black chain burst out, splitting into ten smaller chains midway and spun around the Imp, who still held a cocky expression.

The Imp clicked his fingers, and his spear blazed with red radiance, which light then seared through the chains, turning them into molten light. Willow was lifted over a horse, and the sound of someone familiar shouted at her. But Willow's attention held upward toward the falling lava, and the tremor of the skies as the Lich queen thrust her spear of frost toward the Imp who trapped the spearhead with his trident's forks; he then spun the trident, disarming the lich queen.

The Imp let out a laugh and, with a pointed finger, shot a beaming laser downward that smoldered an entire cliff section. An avalanche rushed down the newly gored cliff, and the dust spun upward like a typhoon. When Willow thought the Lich Queen was dead, considering she had a giant hole across her chest, she suddenly turned into ice and broke apart into thousands of pieces. The pieces then swooped upward.

Showing the first sign of annoyance, the Imp formed a dark fireball across his open palm and split it into hundreds of small fireballs that streaked toward the ice. By then, the Lich Queen had reformed above the Blackfyre Imp, her body facing down; her hand swooped down and slapped the Imp's face, launching the red-skinned demon down like a streak of light and crashing against a cliffside, creating a deep gorge. The Lich Queen now faced toward Willow again, who was now far away from the queen.

She summoned a spear of frost when suddenly the Imp giggling sounded again, amplified like an echo, and the Imp shot upward, forcing the Lich Queen to cancel her spell and shoot a chain of darkness toward the other tier-four. This is power? The peak of this world.

"Willow! Willow! Can you hear me?" Huh? Why were the Lich and Imp getting so far away? Now they were a mere dot in her vision.

"Stop facing backward!" Willow's cheek smashed against someone's back. She blinked, and her vision returned each time she did.

"Shit." The horse underneath stopped, and the sudden break allowed Willow to gather her thoughts. She saw Josha carefully moving his hand so his elbow did not hit her. Around them was a moving tree. A… [Treant—Level 9] [Treant—Level 9] [Treant—Level 9] [Treant—Level 9] [Treant—Level 9] Unlike the Kobolds, they lumbered down the cliff, rolling down and pushing themselves up when they arrived at ground level like a damn zombies.

More and more of them came, with some already blocking the main road Josha brought them to. Josha pulled on Enzo's reins, and they turned back, only for the clash of the Tier-fours to reverberate through the sky. Someone was watching above the cliff, a tree. It looked familiar; the way its body resembled humans more than these lumbering trees. Willow furrowed her brow, trying her hardest to keep her vision focused.

[Treant Forest Monarch—Level 52]"We have to go back," Josha grunted in frustration and was about to spur Enzo to run until two points of intense light blocked their way. Josha let out a scream at the sudden light, and Enzo pranced backward and whinnied as well. The movement threw Willow off. The world turned upside down for her. Her friend reached for her, but something else caught her in a princess carry. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

[The Grand Hunt has been called!] [Target: The Green Conqueror Grooves] [The green–] [Hunt Target] [Treant Forest Monarch—Level 52] [Reward: Rune Seedling Amulet] [Treant Forest King—Level 30-43] [Reward: Crown of Treant King] [Treant Forest Lord—Level 30-43] [Reward: Wood Lord Mask] [Treant Forest Elder—Level 30-43] [Reward: Staff of Elderwood] [Hunt Party 3/8] [Level limit: 19] [Hunt Party 3/8] [Hunter—Level 19] [Olympya Executioner—Level 19] [Olympya Archer—Level 19] A gleaming golden plate touched Willow's cheek, and it was cold.

She felt an incredible sense of safety as she was being laid down. Josha help propped her up after he drop in a hurry and unsheathed his sword, pointing it at two figures—two figures of golden armor. The thinner one was a feminine knight of gold with an ornate winged faceplate where her crimson-gold hair cascaded over her shoulder and down, half of it covered with a red cape that only clasped upon her right shoulder.

An elegant gilded plate curved down her breast to her hips, below which a flowing armoured skirt hung down, cinched by a bronze belt where multiple arrows and a dual short golden sword were attached. A curving radiance bow split part of her hair and peeked above her helmet. There was nothing elegant about the other one—the executioner. Its ornate gorget hid its neck armor completely, where a bucket-like helmet continued to provide it complete cover with only six thin strips for vision.

An overlapping polished plate reinforced its body, imposing the word absolute defense on any eyes. On the ground right beside its kneeling figure laid a massive executioner's axe forged like a halfmoon with a golden edge to the steel; the haft was a gleaming golden metal which it clenched through its gauntleted arm. [Olympya Archer—Level 19] [Olympya Executioner—Level 19] Both of them exploded into motion before Willow could gather her thoughts. The massive half-moon axe swooshed above them.

Josha covered Willow's head with his body, and he flinched as the axe cut apart a Treant's trunk in one mighty swing, splitting the creature into two. It was not over yet. The axe let out a cleave that sent a sharp afterwind that cut two Treants behind it. After Willow took a breather to calm herself, five golden arrows pierced exactly five treants' heads. The arrow shone brightly, and an explosion boomed, leaving a trail of smoke that was split apart by the Treants' falling bodies.

Despite its size, the Executioner moved fast. One moment it sliced apart a Treant, the next second rushed across into another that tried to advance on Willow, only to get its body split into a two upside down with one creaking sound of wood. Still, he got nothing on the Archer in terms of movement. The Olympia Archer tapped its leg on a Treant's bark and launched upward, slinging her legs on the riftborn's neck and, with her hand, pierced her short-golden swords to both sides of the Treant's head.

The tree barely fell when she launched herself upward and, in mid-air, released five more arrows. Each arrow found its target, killing Treants whose bodies rippled with yellow light and charred with golden flames.

"What did you just do?" Willow slurred.

"Why are you asking me?" Josha stared at her, deadpan. He glanced backward, and his face contorted and turned purple.

"Come on! We need to get you on Enzo." She was being lifted again. For a while now, she had been treated like a doll. Well, not that she could blame them. She still could hardly move her body; in fact, her breathing grew ragged again as the cold crept in through her bones and rattled her body like a thousand small needles. She looked backward and saw a streaking blue and red battling through the sky and making their way toward her.

The Lich Queen summoned a hail of frost and directed it toward the flying imp who was a few meters behind her. The frost attacked the Imp like a hungry hawk before the Imp's body combusted in a meteor red and streaked forward, catching the queen figure, who again turned into a statue of ice and melted. She reappeared behind him and enlarged her spear to a gigantic size that covered both of them in its shadow. A strong murderous intent pressed Willow, as Josha and Enzo galloped like a streak of light.

"She tried to kill me! The Lich Queen!" Willow shouted.

"And the Imp is trying to capture you," Josha said the obvious. The Imp hovered and turned. Its trident glowed bright red, and intense light kindled once, then erupted into a massive, roaring, cackling face of the Imp that opened its mouth and bit into the massive ice. A massive tear crunched through the sky, and the sound of breaking ice was accompanied by a loud hiss that grew weaker as Josha spurred Enzo faster. Willow glanced toward the Treant Forest Monarch. She could not find it.

The tier-three must have retreated after seeing the monstrous tier-four fighting it out. It just struck Willow that she could see its information even though it was Tier-three. It was probably because of the Grand Hunt. She craned her neck further, grunting as her head felt like it was being split open.

"What are you doing? Just stay put."

"The golden soldiers!" Josha pulled Enzo's reins, and they came to a stop after some steps. Around them, no more Treant harassing them. It was a clear path into a makeshift encampment with a raised barricade made of twisting plants that rose two stories high. Above the barricade, Willow saw bows being drawn, and legionaries' bronze armor shone in the morning light as the sun began to creep in, battling against the cliff shadows that guarded the back of the settlement.

Right in front of the settlement was a clearing where blood lingered, and its metallic smell pierced her brain, and her headache grew worse. Bodies of monsters lingered around, and the smell of burning corpses made everything hazy for her. She wanted to throw up, but she had too much respect for Enzo.

"Josha let me down."

"What? But we're almost there."

"Unless you want me to barf all over you… why are they aiming their bows at us, anyway?"

"Look beside us." Her head hurt so much that she did not even notice the golden soldiers were beside her. It was probably because they were kneeling.

"I will do the talking," Josha said.

"Actually, this will be easier if you dismiss them; they're your enhancer, right?"

"I'm going to barf."

"Willow, I'm serious."

"And what makes you think I'm joking?" She gulped the barf down, but it was building up again.

"Okay! Let's get you off—please hold—""No need for that. The lass will be fine," an unfamiliar voice said. Through her blurry eyes filled with tears, she saw an armored man in white gleaming plate make his way toward them—behind him were flags that hung in the air and rippled above his helmet. What a strange… One flag disappeared. Willow looked up and saw a flying flag right above her, hovering around, and she felt a connection to it.

[The Bannerlord had granted you his banner] The banner disappeared as a trace of light ate it whole, and inside her, a warm sensation soothed through her body. [Hunter completely recovered] [All Runes recovered] Willow stayed silent for a brief moment. The realisation entered her almost immediately, and she scowled at the man who removed his sallet, revealing a warm elderly face.

"The Bannerlord," Josha said.

"A tier-four," Willow mumbled.

"Who decided to stay in place like a coward instead of actually fighting?" Josha read her thought.

"Exactly."

"Just try not to be rude."