Snow blanketed the air.
The dungeon was no longer recognizable, having been completely transformed into a bone-chilling cavern of ice. Frost and snow swirled incessantly in the air, the wind howling like a funeral dirge.
The Queen hovered in mid-air, her violet robes fluttering violently. She slowly raised her hand, pointing a single finger toward the group.
In an instant, countless blocks of ice coalesced in the air. Responding to her will, they formed a dense barrage of ice cannons, pouring down like a torrential storm!
"Damn it!" Gerald hissed under his breath. "She froze all my weapons into the floor! Prince, remember to help me thaw them out later!"
Karl swept his sword in a wide arc, shattering an incoming ice shell into a spray of frost. He gave a faint, calm smile. "You can fight just as well empty-handed. It won't affect the tactics."
"Hmph, easy for you to say," Gerald retorted with a cold laugh.
Before the words had even left his mouth—
Rhine had already charged.
His flaming blade cut through the freezing wind, spreading a web of brilliant fire. The flames interlaced into a barrier, vaporizing the incoming ice cannons into churning clouds of white mist.
Gareth seized this split-second opening. An arrow wrapped in oil-soaked cloth tore through the air, passing through the flames and trailing a streak of heat as it aimed directly for the space between the Queen's brows!
The Queen's eyes narrowed. She made a grasping motion with both hands—
Two ice swords instantly materialized in her palms.
With a backhand sweep, her blades flashed, severing the fire arrow mid-air. Sparks scattered as the projectile was deflected and sent spinning away.
However—
Just as she blocked the strike, her brow suddenly furrowed.
A silhouette had leaped from beneath her, grazing past her body with terrifying speed!
"—An assassination?"
Milia's form flickered like a phantom shadow. Her daggers flashed with a cold light, lunging straight for a vital point!
The Queen's reflexes were peerless. She jerked her torso backward, narrowly evading the lethal blow.
Milia hit the ground in a roll, her silhouette vanishing into the wind and snow instantly, as if she had never existed.
"Camouflage, approach, and extraction—all in one fluid motion."
The Queen's voice was indifferent, but her gaze grew a few degrees colder. "Not bad."
The next instant—
With twin blades in hand, she dove suddenly, closing the distance to the nearest target: Gerald!
Gerald grinned. He slammed his foot down, shattering the ice beneath him—
Two weapons buried under the frozen layer were jarred loose. A saber and a sword flew into the air, and he snatched them with a reverse grip, holding them firm.
"Just in time!"
The two engaged in a fierce melee amidst the swirling snow of the dungeon.
Blades clashed and iron groaned. Sparks exploded in the freezing wind, illuminating two silhouettes blurring in a high-speed dance of death.
"I didn't expect a witch like you to have improved your swordsmanship to this level!"
Gerald laughed even as he parried a strike. "What's the matter? Running low on mana? Afraid to use your spells?"
The Queen let out a cold snort, her eyes flashing with a frigid light. "You truly believe... that my mana is spent?"
Her movement came to a sudden, jarring halt.
Shadows began to churn beneath her feet.
A whip of pitch-black shadow lashed out abruptly, moving with such blinding speed it was nearly impossible to track!
"Crack—!"
Unable to dodge in time, Gerald took the full force of the blow. He was sent tumbling backward, skidding across the frozen floor for several paces before hitting the ground hard.
"Hey!"
Owen roared as he charged, gripping his broadsword with both hands and bringing it down in a mountain-splitting cleave!
The Queen casually snapped her fingers.
"Snap!"
A wall of solid ice erupted from the ground, intercepting the strike.
Immediately following the block—
A barrage of ice spikes shot out from behind the wall like a forest of spears! Owen leaped back desperately, but several spikes grazed him, tearing through his armor and drawing blood.
In that exact heartbeat—
Karl arrived, treading lightly across the snow.
His longsword left its sheath, the blade-work erupting like a sudden storm. A series of fierce, precise slashes forced the Queen to abandon her pursuit of Owen and turn to defend herself.
"How bothersome!"
The Queen snarled and stomped her foot heavily against the ground.
"BOOM—!"
A violent vortex of wind and snow exploded outward from her, a localized blizzard that threatened to sweep everything away. The party staggered, their footing nearly lost to the gale. They quickly circulated their Chakra, grounding themselves and forcibly enduring the shockwave.
As the snow and dust swirled, the Queen slowly lowered her guard, looking down at them with cold disdain.
"Hmph... You can still stand?"
Her gaze grew even more glacial. "Even with this strange power of yours—you are still nothing more than ants."
Gerald pushed himself up from the ground, wiping a smear of blood from the corner of his mouth. Instead of frustration, a triumphant smirk spread across his face.
"Didn't you know?"
He gave a soft laugh, his tone brimming with pride and provocation. "Chakra... was a power created specifically to deal with witches like you."
"Chakra?"
The Queen repeated the word under her breath, a rare hint of genuine interest flickering in her voice.
"That's right." Gerald stood tall, his voice arrogant. "An ancient power from the East that reinforces a human's body and perception—the lost art of the primordial Witch Hunters. You witches... were never invincible."
The Queen gave a thin, faint smile. "I see... Humans have finally learned how to bite back."
"The real counterattack—starts now!"
Rhine let out a thunderous shout, his eyes burning like a furnace. "Everyone, into position!"
The moment the command was given—
The group moved as one.
Gerald, Lena, Milia, Gareth, and Owen split into five directions, their movements forming a precise geometric formation. Simultaneously, each drew a short blade from their person.
The blades were etched with intricate, complex patterns—ancient runes that hummed with latent power.
Without a moment's hesitation, the five sliced their palms—
Blood trailed down the blades.
Instantly, the steel pulsed with a dark, crimson light.
"Ssh—!"
The daggers were driven into the icy floor in unison.
White light interlaced and surged upward.
A massive pentagram array—a Five-Point Seal—suddenly manifested beneath the Queen's feet. Its lines extended rapidly like glowing veins, locking her firmly within the center of the radiant geometric prison.
The Queen's expression finally shifted, her gaze sinking. "A barrier spell? I must leave—"
She attempted to vault into the air to escape the perimeter—
Suddenly, the light and shadow beside her flickered.
A translucent silhouette appeared instantly.
It was Karl.
Descending in his Astral Form.
The next instant—
He dove directly into the Queen's body!
The Queen's pupils contracted in shock. "An Astral projection!?"
Immediately, her body seized and stiffened.
It was as if her very being was being shackled from the inside by a foreign force.
"I... cannot move?"
In that heartbeat—
Rhine's silhouette flashed before her eyes!
"GET IN THERE!"
He threw a devastating punch infused with the Divine Flame, the impact sending her hurtling backward. She fell straight into the dead center of the pentagram.
"BOOM—!"
The array's light reached a crescendo!
Karl's astral form extracted itself from the Queen's body and surged back into his physical shell. He stumbled, clutching his chest and muttering under his breath, "I told you... I feel the pain of any damage taken while I'm possessing someone..."
"My bad," Rhine said, clapping him on the shoulder, though his tone held no actual hesitation. "You had to get her to the center for the seal to lock her down completely."
The brilliance of the pentagram surged.
A blinding white light illuminated the entire dungeon like a midday sun reflecting off pure snow, turning the ice cavern into a world of piercing, crystalline radiance.
The Queen rose slowly, her brow furrowed in a slight frown.
She spread her arms, reaching out to sense the mana in the surrounding atmosphere—only to find that the natural forces, which were usually omnipresent, felt as though they had been completely drained. The world around her refused to answer her call.
"This is...?" she murmured.
Gerald's mouth curled into a look of unshielded triumph. "Don't waste your breath."
"The Pent-Elemental Mana Void—powered by our combined Chakra—is designed to act as a total Mana-Repellent. It creates a vacuum that even the world's natural energy cannot penetrate."
His gaze turned cold and sharp. "Now, you are limited to the mana stored within your own body. You can no longer borrow strength from the heavens or the earth."
"This is your trump card?"
The Queen let out a cold snort, her expression remaining haughty. "How incredibly naive."
Karl stood ready with his sword, his voice cool and analytical. "The strength of a witch is fundamentally built upon the structure of channeling natural forces."
He looked her directly in the eyes. "Once you are cut off from external mana, the power you can exert right now is likely less than ten percent of your true capacity."
"Why waste time talking?"
Rhine stepped forward, his flaming blade carving red streaks through the air as his battle-lust boiled over. "Strike now!"
The fire-blade tore through the air, descending in a savage arc.
The Queen crossed her twin ice swords, parrying the blow with a hook and a deflect. Not only did she neutralize the strike with ease, but she used the momentum to spin—launching a sweeping kick!
"THUD!"
Rhine was sent skidding back several paces, the ice beneath his feet shattering. Despite the seal, the Queen remained unmoved at the center of the array.
"Hey—!"
Karl roared, his longsword whistling through the wind as he aimed for a vital point.
"The array is stable—all out attack!" Gerald barked.
Before the order had even finished, Lena used her spear to vault into the air. Like a hawk diving from the sky, she brought her spear down in a thunderous plunging strike!
Yet, the Queen simply pivoted with grace. With a flick of her blade, she redirected Karl's momentum to the side, using his own force to parry Lena's lethal spear-strike in one fluid movement.
"She's too skilled at using our own momentum against us!" Karl hissed through gritted teeth.
Gerald had already closed the gap. With twin daggers in hand, his silhouette moved like a bolt of lightning, launching a rapid-fire assault from both sides. The flashes of his blades were as dense as a torrential downpour.
But the Queen seemed to be deliberately avoiding a direct head-on clash.
She moved between the four of them like a butterfly weaving through blossoms. Every pivot, every swing of her sword felt as though it had been calculated to the millimeter—cold, precise, and graceful. It was a dance composed entirely of lethal intent.
Owen, shouldering his massive hammer, paced the perimeter in a state of agitated frustration; he couldn't find a single opening to strike without hitting his own allies.
On the flanks, Milia and Gareth coordinated with seamless telepathy. Arrows and throwing knives whistled through the air in a relentless stream, yet they were either evaded by a hair's breadth or parried with surgical precision by her blade. Not a single strike managed to draw blood.
However—
The Queen was far from relaxed.
Gerald's swordsmanship was a match for her own; Karl's offensive was fierce and ruthless, hounding her every step; Lena's spear-work was fluid and unpredictable, constantly threatening her blind spots; and while Rhine's flaming blade struggled to land a clean hit, the scorching pressure it radiated forced her to remain in a state of high-alert.
With the added harassment from the three on the perimeter—
She was walking a razor's edge. One single misstep would mean total catastrophe.
"You think these crude physical reinforcement arts..."
The Queen grit her teeth, her voice leaking a forest-chilling frost. "...are enough to keep me imprisoned?"
She swept a frigid gaze across the group. "How much longer can you maintain this array?"
"Before my internal mana is spent... I suspect the rest of you will break first."
"Shut your mouth!"
Rhine roared, swinging his blade once more. The flames rolled forward like a breaking wave.
The Queen shifted her footing, her body moving like a flickering shadow as the blade grazed past her.
In that fleeting heartbeat—
Karl's eyes narrowed. Seizing the microscopic opening, his longsword lunged forward like a striking viper!
"Psh—!"
The blade pierced through.
It tore straight through the Queen's abdomen, the steel tip emerging from her back.
In that instant, the very air seemed to freeze solid.
However—
There was no blood.
"LET GO!!" Gerald's pupils contracted as he let out a thunderous warning.
But it was already too late.
A distorted, eerie smile slowly curled onto the Queen's lips. Her left hand clamped onto the embedded blade, while her right-hand ice sword lunged forward in a lightning-fast counter-thrust!
"Psh—!"
The blade buried itself deep into flesh.
"Ugh!" Karl groaned, his face turning deathly pale. Enduring the agonizing pain, he grit his teeth and released his weapon. He delivered a heavy kick to the Queen's abdomen to push himself away, rolling backward to create distance.
Blood flowed down his side, quickly staining his combat boots a dark crimson.
The Queen slowly pulled the longsword out from her own body. She tossed it aside with a casual flick, the steel clattering sharply against the frozen floor.
Every eye in the room fell upon her wound.
The hole through her abdomen was knitting itself back together at a visible speed. Flesh reconnected; muscle and skin restored themselves. Within seconds, only the tattered remains of her purple robes remained to show where the blade had passed, as if the lethal strike had been nothing more than a minor tear in fabric.
"In addition to physical reinforcement..." The Queen lightly smoothed out her robes, her voice bone-chilling. "...I can also regenerate."
She looked up, her gaze as sharp as a frozen blade.
"You foolish humans... shall pay for your contempt of witches with your very lives."
Gareth sprinted to Karl's side, quickly pulling emergency medical supplies from his coat. He began treating the wound while speaking in low, urgent tones to keep Karl conscious.
Owen, however, had reached his breaking point. He stepped forward to shield Karl, hoisting his massive hammer high as he let out a roar like thunder.
"You witch—TAKE THIS!!"
The Queen's mouth curled into a mocking arc. "Stupid."
Before the hammer could even descend, she stomped onto the head of the swinging weapon. Using the recoil to propel herself, she drifted backward like a ghostly shadow, instantly disengaging from the front line.
Her target: Milia, at the rear.
Milia was already coiled like a spring.
She crouched low, a predator in the shadows, her presence suppressed to the absolute limit. The very instant the Queen closed in, Milia lunged upward. Her twin daggers flashed with a cold, lethal light, aimed straight for the throat!
"You are exactly the one I was waiting for," the Queen whispered softly.
The next instant, the Queen's body spun with predatory grace. The shadow beneath her feet writhed like a living creature, surging upward as black tendrils that instantly shackled Milia's limbs!
"Snap!"
With a backhand sweep, the Queen unleashed a whip-like force, slamming Milia violently into the frozen ground.
"Your assassination arts... are quite impressive," the Queen sneered, raising her foot to deliver a ruthless stomp.
"Crrr-ack!"
The sound of bone snapping was sharp and sickening.
Milia let out a muffled groan as her right leg twisted at a grotesque angle. The sheer agony caused her breath to seize in her lungs.
"MILIA!" Gareth roared.
Having just finished stabilizing Karl's wound, he flicked his wrist with practiced lethal speed, launching a poison-tipped needle from his sleeve.
The needle tore through the air like a bolt of lightning!
"Zzt!"
The tip grazed the Queen's arm, leaving a thin trail of blood.
The Queen's brow furrowed, her expression instantly darkening. Without a heartbeat of hesitation, she swung her own blade—
"Slice!"
She carved out the poisoned flesh and muscle entirely.
Blood splattered across the ice, yet the hollowed wound healed almost instantaneously, knitting back together as if she had never been touched.
"Her mana is draining rapidly!" Gerald shouted, his voice tinged with a grim, suppressed excitement. "Don't falter—keep holding! We can bleed her dry!"
Gareth rushed to Milia's side, carefully helping her up.
Milia's face was ashen, cold sweat beads rolling down her forehead, but she grit her teeth through the pain. "I'm fine... just a broken leg. Once I circulate my Chakra, I can set the bone."
She looked back toward the heart of the battlefield. "Go. Help the others."
On the other side—
Rhine's entire body erupted in a conflagration.
His fury had become nearly physical.
"WITCH! IF YOU HAVE THE GUTS, COME AT ME!!"
He charged with a primal roar, the Divine Flame billowing around him. As his rage climbed to new heights, his speed and strength surged along with it, tearing through the frozen air like a falling star.
He had to pin her down.
He had to buy enough time for Karl and Milia to recover.
Lena was also pushing herself to the breaking point. She forcibly squeezed every remaining drop of Chakra from her body, her breath ragged, yet she refused to retreat. "Her mana will run dry eventually!"
"We suppress her in shifts—give her zero opportunities to breathe!"
The scales of battle finally seemed to be tilting toward victory.
However—
At that exact moment, the Queen's movements came to a sudden, jarring halt.
Her pupils contracted slightly, as if struck by a sudden realization.
"The time... what hour is it?" she murmured under her breath, her expression darkening instantly. "Damn it... I cannot waste any more time."
The next instant—
She performed an act that sent a wave of horror through the group.
A flash of sword-light.
"Splat—!"
With her own hand, she hacked off her left arm.
Blood erupted from the stump, but the severed limb did not fall to the ground. Instead, it disintegrated in mid-air, transforming into a swirling mass of crimson radiance that ascended rapidly.
In a heartbeat, it coalesced into a Forbidden Hex Barrier.
The light expanded outward like a shockwave, enveloping everyone present and binding them in place.
"BOOM!"
Two massive ice swords materialized from the void and tore through the air. With surgical precision, they struck Rhine, pinning him violently against the stone wall at the rear of the chamber!
"Gah—!"
The flames within Rhine's body instantly flickered out. Blood sprayed from his mouth as the impact shattered the air in his lungs.
As for the other six—
Under the weight of that Forbidden Hex, they found themselves unable to move so much as a single finger.
The Queen let out a soft, wet cough. Her face was as pale as parchment, and her aura had visibly withered, yet a cruel, twisted smile slowly spread across her lips.
"Even if you are immune to standard binding magic..."
She looked toward the impaled Rhine, her voice low and chillingly calm. "Now—you cannot move either."
She turned away.
Step by step, she walked toward the deepest reaches of the dungeon. With a casual flick of her finger, the stone wall ahead was sliced open as if by an invisible blade. The heavy masonry parted, revealing a hidden cell concealed behind the rock.
There, within the shadows—
Lunethia was bound in heavy chains.
The Queen's pace remained steady and resolute. She raised her right hand, grasping the empty air. A ritual dagger, forged from concentrated frost, slowly manifested in her palm.
The blade shimmered with a murderous, freezing glint.
"It is time for this to end," she whispered.
Then, one slow step at a time, she closed in on Lunethia.