Realm of Myths and Legends

...

Meanwhile...

A mysterious figure arrived at the battlefield where Izroth and the 9th Division clashed with the Tempest elite troops.

At the moment, the mysterious figure stood before Centurion Aloysius, who was still encased in a thick layer of dark ice.

The mysterious figure frowned and said to themselves, "To not only defeat Aloysius but also activate and survive my lady's Black Winter Fence—the people who ambushed the separate contingent were no pushovers."

The voice of this mysterious figure belonged to the person sent out by Glacia to aid the separate contingent, Prisca. However, her physical features were hidden by a mystical mist that encompassed her body.

When Prisca first arrived on the scene, she found that there were no survivors. Even the carriage that was protected by a combination of powerful magic barriers and an advanced-level magic formation had been utterly destroyed!

Most importantly, there were no signs of the mages but lingering traces of their mana signature in the surroundings. From this, Prisca deduced that after the protections around the carriage were broken, the mages attempted to put up a fight but failed miserably and met with their deaths. Of course, this was not surprising to Prisca, considering those present had the ability to take down someone of Aloysius' strength and survive Glacia's Black Winter Fence.

Regardless of what took place, one thing was for certain—their plans had been thoroughly interrupted.

Prisca glared at the frozen Aloysius, and if it looks could kill, the Centurion would have perished several times over.

"Useless fool..! How dare you make my lady look bad. Even killing you would not replace the disgrace you've caused...!" Prisca said as a dark purple aura formed around the palm of her hand.

Woosh BANG!

Prisca struck out at the block of dark ice as the mystical mist around her burst forth and shattered it in one go.

"P-P-Prime Eques...! T-t-the m-mages and p-p-princess... W-what h-h-happened...?!" Aloysius struggled to get his words out as he shivered uncontrollably.

The Black Winter Fence kept him safe from outside forces; however, it severely lowered one's body temperature to preserve their body in emergency situations.

Aloysius was still hanging on to his life by a thread. If not for the preservation effects of the Black Winter Fence, he would have likely fallen on this battlefield long before Prisca's arrival.

"Dead. You've really gone and screwed things up this time, Aloysius. I don't care what happens to you, but your failure will undoubtedly drag down drag Lady Glacia's prestige!" Prisca scowled.

Aloysius' already pale expression seemed to increase after listening to Prisca as the last bit of hope left his eyes, and his body slumped over.

"K-k-kill me...! I-I have d-disgraced-"

"Silence. Whether you live or die is not your decision to make. Your life belongs to my lady. Until she says otherwise, it is to stay intact." Prisca stated as she swiftly cut off Aloysius.

The Centurion fell silent. He was too ashamed of his failure to look Prisca in the eyes, let alone face Glacia.

"Prime Eques, we've found something." A voice sounded as a black-cloaked figure suddenly appeared behind Prisca.

The cloaked figure immediately kneeled when upon their arrival.

"What is it? Say it quick." Prisca said in a displeased tone.

Aloysius' grand failure had left her in a foul mood; therefore, she was in no mood for any pleasantries.

"We've discovered traces of what appears to be The Carrying Winds used by the sixth princess. Based on the level of mana and spatial disruption in the atmosphere, we have determined that another person must have given chase. However, we have yet to encounter any signs of the sixth princess having perished. Therefore, we have determined that the sixth princess may still be alive and has been taken as a potential hostage." The cloaked figure explained.

When Prisca and Aloysius heard the cloaked figure's report, the two were taken aback.

"Are you absolutely certain there were no signs of the sixth princess having been killed?" Prisca inquired with a heavy tone.

"Yes, Prime Eques." The cloaked figure replied without hesitation.

Prisca glanced over at Aloysius and said, "Count yourself somewhat fortunate, Aloysius. If the sixth princess is still alive, you may yet be able to partially redeem your blunder. At the very least, it'd be just enough to keep your body in one piece after your death."

She then turned around and ordered, "Hear me, Ghosts of the Nox! Your mission is to locate the sixth princess and report her position immediately! If they are on foot, they could not have gone far! Unless the sixth princess is in immediate danger, you are not to act alone under any circumstances! Disperse!"

After Prisca spoke, there was a brief gust of wind before the surroundings became eerily quiet. If one were looking from the outside, they might have believed she had lost her mind and was talking to herself. However, Prisca's words were directed at the secret troops under Glacia known as the Ghosts of the Nox.

Not much was known about them, given their secretive nature. It was to the point that even those who were in the 10th Tempest Legion were unaware of their existence. But, they were responsible for many groundbreaking feats achieved by the 10th Tempest Legion over the years.

"Wait," Prisca said just as the kneeled cloaked figure was also about to take their leave.

She then continued, "Given our current position, it's possible they may be heading to the Tempest-Maletansium border. It's also possible that to throw us off, they will attempt to cross through the Cave Mortem Monsoon into the Land of Unity or Rosentarus. I will send someone to deliver a message to the Gale's Eye outpost to handle the blockade of the Cave Mortem Monsoon. However, I want you to personally deliver a message to the First File in charge of overseeing the Tempest-Malentansium border. They are a bit eccentric, so make sure you deliver the exact words I'm about to tell you if you want to walk out of there with your life."

"Understood, Prime Eques." The cloaked figure responded calmly.

...

Approximately one hour later...

Izroth, along with the escorted Ranazera, arrived a reasonable distance away from a towering wall that stretched as far as the eye could see in both directions.

On top of the wall were multiple troops who gave off a presence that was not inferior to the Crimson Corps Guard of Amaharpe. In addition, there were several magic cannons posted along the top of the walls that were enough to erase an army that numbered in the tens of thousands and made attempting to fly over the equivalent of having a death wish.

The only way past the wall was through a checkpoint in the form of a massive gate protected by a small squadron of elite troops, several layers of magic barriers, and a magic formation that was at least at the expert level.

Needless to say, even for someone in the legendary realm, a head-on attack was out of the question.

'The presence of guards is heavier than I anticipated.'

Since Tempest and Malentansium were allies, Izroth did not think that Tempest would go so far as setting up such impressive defensive measures along their border; however, this was clearly not the case.

Izroth exhaled as a wave of dark frost escaped from his mouth. The dark frost had spread from his arm over to a portion of his chest and neck. If not for his Heavenly Golden Body and Might stat, he would have long since been turned into a block of ice.

'It's too dangerous to pass through this place in my current condition. I still held out some hope, but it's just as I thought—I can't rely on the recovery effects of the Might stat to clear up the frost. I didn't want to have to resort to that either, but... There's still one more thing I can try before using the Nullification Zone.'

The next moment, Izroth removed the Scorched Inferno's Fang from his inventory.

When he performed this action, Ranazera furrowed her brows. He wasn't planning on charging in and attacking, right?

But, to Ranazera's surprise, Izroth spun the spear in his left hand until it was upside down and stabbed it into his right arm!

"?!" Ranazera's eyes widened in shock as she watched Izroth's absurd actions.

Why was he suddenly attacking himself? Had the dark frost reached his mind and turned him insane?

"Hey! What are you doing?! If you want to off yourself, at least remove this thing from my wrist first!" Ranazera stated in an agitated manner.

However, what happened caused Ranazera to blink twice as the sixth princess believed that she had to be seeing things wrong.

"How is this possible...?" Ranazera muttered to herself in disbelief.

The dark frost that had been slowly consuming Izroth this entire time actually started to show signs of receding!

To Ranazera, this was an unbelievable sight. She had seen those in the legendary realm succumb to the effects of that dark frost. Yet, some unknown young man was capable of quelling its vicious nature? Just what was going on?