CHAPTER 23: ONE SWORD, KILLING ELDER AND APE
Back in the forest, Tor's voice cut through the heavy air, low and serious. "Hey, I've said it before, but please drop dead."
His aura erupted like a sudden storm. The pressure rolled outward, thick with raw mana that made the leaves tremble and the ground hum beneath his feet. "The situation has changed. I don't have time to play with you, monkey!"
He dropped into a running stance, mana surging hotter inside him, coiling like molten metal.
But the Blood Ape wasn't waiting. With a guttural snarl that vibrated through the trees, the crimson spikes jutting from its hide exploded outward in a deafening sonic boom.
The projectiles tore through the air faster than sight, whistling shrilly, trailing faint red mist.
At first, they seemed random. But the moment the spike aimed at Tor neared his shimmering barrier, it punched straight through with a sharp crack.
Tor's bare hand flashed up, deflecting it with a metallic clang that rang in his ears. One after another, the spikes locked onto him, adjusting mid-flight like living missiles.
Dust and splintered bark filled the air, visibility dropping to a hazy gray. Yet Tor moved through it unfazed, eyes closed, feeling every ripple in the mana around him.
He deflected the last spike with a casual flick, then offered the ape a condescending smirk. "Come on."
The ape roared—an earth-shaking bellow that rattled Tor's ribs. The deflected spikes spun wildly in the air before diving again in chaotic frenzy.
Tor danced through them, palms slapping against hardened bone, each impact sending jolts up his arms. A second later, he vanished, reappearing on the ape's left flank.
The beast was still roaring, hot, fetid breath washing over him. "I told you you're noisy."
Tor's fist drove into the ape's gut. The impact produced a thunderous boom; spatial light burst outward in blinding white-blue flashes, illuminating the forest like false dawn.
A massive shockwave rippled through the ape's body, lifting it off its feet and hurling it backward. It crashed through trees, splintering trunks, before skidding to a stop meters away, roaring in fury.
The Senior Elder returned then, aura black with rage. Bloodlust poured from him in freezing waves, thick enough to choke the air and frost the grass at his feet.
"Mumu boy!" he screamed, voice cracking with hatred. "You said I was sent here to die? No—the reason was so I could kill you, kin of that bastard!"
He charged at sonic speed, the ground behind him glazing over with crackling ice.
Tor sighed, calm as ever. "I don't have time to play with you anymore."
The Elder reached him in a blur, unleashing a flurry of martial strikes. Each blow carried biting cold; where they grazed Tor's arms, thin rimes of frost bloomed, stinging like needles.
Tor deflected every one, the clashes ringing like steel on ice. "I'll teach you some manners, you stupid child! Frozen Heart!"
The Elder's bloodlust flipped into pure mana. Suddenly, every strike carried soul-numbing cold. The air itself seemed to crystallize around his fists.
Tor weaved effortlessly, frost dusting his sleeves, until he deliberately stepped back to the exact spot where he'd stolen the sword.
Seizing the opening, the Elder lunged, palm aimed straight for Tor's heart, fingers glowing with lethal blue frost. At the same instant, the recovering Blood Ape leaped high overhead with a ground-shaking growl, descending like a crimson meteor.
In the next heartbeat, a sonic boom exploded. Dust billowed upward in a choking cloud—only to freeze mid-air, turning to glittering ice particles that drifted down like snow.
The entire battlefield glazed over in an instant. Trees encased in thick hoarfrost, breath fogging sharply.
Three frozen sculptures stood in the silence: the Elder, mouth still twisted in rage; the massive ape, mid-roar; and the legendary sword Frostbite, buried hilt-deep through the Elder's skull.
What had happened in that frozen fraction of a second:
The ape landed behind Tor just as the Elder's killing strike arrived. Tor vanished.
The Elder's Frozen Heart palm slammed full-force into the ape's chest. Ice raced across the beast's hide, crackling audibly as crimson fur turned pale blue-white.
The ape's growl cut off into a strangled gurgle as frost locked its limbs.
Before the Elder could react, Frostbite—flung downward by Tor's unseen hand—pierced his crown with meteoric speed. The sonic boom followed the impact; freezing power erupted from the blade, flash-freezing everything in a wide radius.
The ape managed one last shuddering roar before it, too, became an eternal statue.
Tor stepped lightly from the shadows, breath calm, not a single frost flake on him. He reached into the ape's frozen chest, fingers passing through brittle ice, and plucked out the glowing ancestor core.
It pulsed warm against his palm, rich with untapped mana. "Even though I said I had somewhere to go… you still wasted my time."
His voice carried real anger now, low and dangerous. "If they turn Jin into a mass murderer, I'm coming for their entire clan."
With that, he leaped toward the village and vanished into the treeline.
Deep in the untouched part of the forest, close enough to feel the lingering chill of the battlefield, two figures stood beneath the canopy.
A masked girl with long flowing hair watched the distant city, her breath misting faintly in the cold air that had drifted even here. Though her face was hidden, the graceful lines of her silhouette and the youthful tilt of her head marked her as both beautiful and young.
Beside her stood an older girl gripping a Valkary spear that crackled with restless arcs of lightning, the ozone scent sharp in the air.
"Ah, this is quite bad," the masked girl murmured, gaze fixed on the village as if she could see every panicked face within its walls. "Those people are going to use this to pick a fight. I bet they're watching right now on those things they call satellites."
"That doesn't matter," the spear-wielder replied, voice steady, eyes lifted to the clear sky above. Faint thunder rumbled in the distance, answering her mood.
"They picked the fight first. If it wasn't this, it would've been something else. No matter how they try, we'll always beat their asses back—because that's what it means to be part of the sacred clan."
"You cuss too much," the masked girl said softly, still staring ahead. "And your head is only filled with violence."
The older girl snorted, lightning dancing along her spear. "I've never met a more violent woman than you. Maybe that's why we've stayed friends this long."
"Yeah… maybe." A small, almost invisible smile curved beneath the mask.
"You're still not going to meet them?" the spear-wielder asked, tone turning serious.
"No. Not now." The masked girl turned away. A gate of pure light shimmered open before her, warm and golden against the cold forest air.
"You just keep lying to yourself," the older girl muttered under her breath, frustration lacing her words as her friend stepped through the gate and vanished.