Chapter 179: Storm of a Thousand Blades Funeral Song! The first time feeling fear

The Northern Region.

Swish, swish, swish.

The cold wind whistled, whipping up fine snow dust from the ground.

A few snowflakes, as light as feathers, drifted down from the clouds and were silently submerged in the accumulated snow.

And above the snowfield, the beautiful girl with ice-blue long hair and the doll-sized black-haired young man sitting on her shoulder were staring tightly at a certain direction in the distance with vigilant eyes.

There, two streams of light, one silver and one gold, were rushing toward the location of the two at high speed with the momentum of piercing the air. The shockwave they stirred up even caused the snow on both sides to be blown into the sky.

Clang!

Dorovai drew the Lionheart Sword from her waist and took a fighting stance.

The two streams of light stopped more than ten meters away from them, and the magic power gradually dissipated, revealing the two figures wrapped within.

In the silver-white stream of light was a young man with silver-gray short hair and a face with features as rugged as if chiseled by an axe. He was currently looking at Dorovai in front of him, as well as the black-haired fairy on her shoulder, with an interested gaze.

Above the young man's head was a line of deep purple text—Noble.

And in the yellow stream of light was a tall, golden-haired middle-aged man with an ordinary face. His expression was calm, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.

The text above his head was white—Commoner.

"The silver-haired one should be at the peak of the New Moon Rank, the golden-haired one I can't see through... he should be at the Crescent Moon Rank."

Dorovai whispered to Xia Mingyu.

Hearing this, his expression couldn't help but become solemn. Although he was very confident in the girl's strength, fighting one against two while also crossing ranks... was simply too much of a stretch!

"You are the murderer who killed Lucas, the Lord of the Ice Plain Territory, and Yise of the Frost Territory, right?" the silver-haired young man said coldly.

Huh? Didn't she only kill Lucas?

Xia Mingyu froze and looked at Dorovai with a puzzled gaze.

"Cough, cough. When passing through those territories, I saw their actions were too excessive, so I couldn't help but kill them."

The girl touched her head somewhat awkwardly. In order not to let His Highness think she was too bloodthirsty, she hadn't mentioned this matter.

"You couldn't help but kill them? You really are presumptuous!"

Hearing her words, the interest in the silver-haired young man's eyes gradually turned into biting killing intent.

"On this land of the Northern Region, only the most powerful Dean family has the privilege of wanton slaughter, not you, a woman who popped out of nowhere."

As the young man spoke, he drew the sharp long sword from his waist, which had ice wolf patterns carved into the blade.

"I am the Mad Wolf Kane Dean. Woman, state your name."

Reporting names before a life-and-death battle was a common tradition among knights in this world. Although he firmly believed he would win, he also recognized the strength of this woman who could kill multiple lords.

"Emerald, Dorovai." Dorovai said calmly, her gaze constantly shifting between Kane and the middle-aged man beside him.

Compared to Kane, who was at the same rank, the enemy at the Crescent Moon Rank was more worthy of her attention.

Seeming to notice this, a flash of annoyance crossed Kane's face. He suppressed his anger and said:

"No one will interfere in the battle between you and me."

"If you can hold out against my attacks for ten minutes, I will give you a chance to live... otherwise, just wait to have your head cut off and hung on the city wall!"

After speaking, Kane was about to move to attack, but his shoulder was gently pressed by the golden-haired middle-aged man beside him.

He glared at the other party with dissatisfaction, but didn't say anything. After all, the other party was indeed a powerhouse who surpassed him, and he, who followed the principle of survival of the fittest, naturally gave him respect.

"I am Ariel, the Vice-Captain of the Frost Tooth Knight Order. Emerald Knight, before the battle, can you let the fairy lord on your shoulder leave first?" Ariel said lightly.

"After all, we also don't wish to hurt the pet of the God of Night and Dreams."

Especially since it is a Food Fairy that can produce massive amounts of food, Ariel added silently in his heart.

After Dorovai whispered a few words to Xia Mingyu, he silently floated to an empty space nearby and watched everything with a worried gaze.

Afterward, Ariel released Kane's shoulder. The next moment, surging silver-white magic power erupted from the young man known as the "Mad Wolf," and his entire body rushed toward Dorovai, who had already taken a fighting stance, like an arrow released from a bow.

Clang, clang, clang!

Accompanied by a series of rapid sword-clashing sounds like drumbeats, the two turned into two streams of light, one silver and one cyan, and intertwined at a terrifying speed that exceeded the limits of ordinary human vision.

Sword energy overflowed from the center of their battle, and all the snowflakes that drifted near were slashed into pieces in an instant.

Xia Mingyu floated not far away, watching their clash tightly. With his eyesight after advancing to the Morning Star Rank, he could barely see the movements of the battle.

The silver-haired young man called the Mad Wolf had sword techniques that were ruthless in every move, and he didn't even perform any evasive defense. He felt like a copy of Boge, only his sword was faster and more ruthless.

As for Dorovai's sword technique, it was much more elegant, as flexible as a butterfly in a flower bush, blocking fatal attacks one after another, and even having the spare energy to leave fine sword marks on the enemy.

"It seems that Dorovai clearly has the upper hand now..."

After reaching this judgment, the expression on Xia Mingyu's face relaxed quite a bit.

"Fairy Lord."

Just as he was watching this intense battle with full concentration, a sudden sentence from beside him almost scared him into falling to the ground.

Only then did Xia Mingyu notice that the golden-haired middle-aged man who had claimed to be the Vice-Captain of the Frost Tooth Knight Order had arrived beside him at some point.

"I have no ill intent."

Seeming to notice Xia Mingyu's nervousness, Ariel raised his empty palms high like a French soldier to show that he had no intention of fighting.

"What do you want?"

Seeing this, Xia Mingyu pulled back a little distance and asked vigilantly.

Although his body was currently between the illusory and the real, according to the records in books about fairies, he could still be hurt by pure magic power attacks.

"I merely wish to express my gratitude to you," Ariel said calmly.

Gratitude from an enemy?

"Gratitude for what?"

Xia Mingyu froze and asked in confusion.

"On the way to hunt down the Emerald Knight, I passed through dozens of villages along the way. Those villagers who had fallen into famine were all saved and found happiness because of the food you brought. I think it is necessary to express my gratitude to you," Ariel said slowly.

"What does this have to do with you?"

Xia Mingyu was even more puzzled. He remembered very clearly that Dorovai had mentioned that everyone in the Frost Tooth Knight Order valued survival of the fittest, and every knight had a personality like Lucas, who pursued power regardless of everything; otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to stand out in the resource-poor Northern Region.

"In a pack of wolves, a sheep occasionally appears."

"Besides, before being a knight, I am a commoner. I have tasted the feeling of hunger and know that it is such a sorrowful pain."

Ariel pointed to the white "Commoner" text above his head, and a faint sense of melancholy flashed across his unremarkable face, as if he were thinking of some unspeakable memories.

And just as they were talking, the two people who had been fighting at close quarters not far away temporarily pulled apart.

"Huff, huff..."

Kane, who had been arrogant before, was now breathing rapidly, and there were many wounds on his body oozing blood, making him look disheveled.

Dorovai, however, was still calm and composed, and her breathing didn't even fluctuate.

Between the two, the outcome had already been decided, at least in terms of sword technique.

"Hold out for ten minutes, and I can give you a chance to live," Dorovai said coldly, returning the previous words to the other party.

She had never been a person with a good temper, especially when facing an enemy.

Hearing this, a look of shame and ferocity immediately appeared on Kane's face. For him, who was the legitimate son of the Lord of the Northern Region and naturally arrogant, this was undoubtedly the greatest humiliation!

"Huff!"

The silver-haired young man took a deep breath, and the next moment he let out a shrill wolf howl toward the sky!

The sound seemed to be squeezed out from the depths of his chest, sweeping across the silent snowfield like a sharp sound blade.

At the same time, a line of deep blue text appeared above his head—Ice Wolf Knight.

The moment he heard this wolf howl, even the knight girl, whose willpower was far stronger than ordinary people, couldn't help but cover her left ear with one hand in pain.

This was the ability unique to the Ice Wolf King—Death Howl. He didn't expect it to reappear in a human knight. Perhaps this was also the reason the Dean family had been able to rule this vast land of the Northern Region for nearly a hundred years.

Taking this opportunity, Kane immediately gathered all his magic power onto his sword blade, and the long sword carved with ice wolf patterns suddenly bloomed with dazzling silver-white light.

"Ice Wolf Slash!"

He shouted, his body stepped forward suddenly, and bone-chilling cold air erupted from his body.

As the long sword slashed through the air, the silver-white slash instantly turned into an ice wolf gathered by magic power, opening its mouth full of fangs to bite toward Dorovai, who was covering her left ear.

Wherever the slash passed, the moisture in the air instantly froze, dragging a trail of frost on the ground.

Clang!

Fortunately, at the critical moment, the girl broke free from the influence of the Death Howl in time. She held her long sword high with both hands, and accompanied by surging emerald-green magic power, an emerald greatsword several meters long condensed in an instant.

"Slash!"

Dorovai slashed down the greatsword in her hand, colliding fiercely with the ice wolf that was pouncing with bared fangs and claws.

Boom!

Accompanied by a deafening roar, a ring-shaped shockwave erupted with the collision point as the center. The accumulated snow on the ground within a radius of nearly a hundred meters was blown in all directions, revealing the originally yellowish soil.

"How is this possible... My full-force Ice Wolf Slash was actually blocked by her so easily?"

Seeing this scene, the silver-haired young man's rugged face was now full of astonishment and disbelief.

He stared blankly at the blue-haired girl opposite him, who looked fragile and as beautiful as an ice crystal flower. At this moment, Kane finally realized a fact—that Emerald Knight was a powerhouse who surpassed him in every aspect!

Whether it was combat power or talent, he was far inferior to that woman.

However, the life-and-death battle would not stop because of his daze. Noticing his distraction, Dorovai decided to seize this rare opportunity to kill this enemy first.

"Huff..." The girl breathed according to a strange pattern. That was the Lionheart Breathing Method, which had been passed down from generation to generation in the Mason family, the only duke family in the Sossia Kingdom in the past, and was at the top of all breathing methods.

She decided to take advantage of this crisis to test the sword technique she had just mastered, which Tamerlane had gifted her.

Dorovai held the Lionheart Sword high again, and countless emerald-green magic power was transmitted from her body to the sword blade, but it was not covering it; rather, it was rotating around it.

In an instant, a violent airflow condensed into a cyan-white vortex around her body. Her ice-blue hair danced wildly in the wind, her clothes rustled, and she seemed to have turned into the center of a storm.

"Storm... Thousand Blades Funeral Song."

With the clear shout, she slashed down the long sword in her hand, and in an instant, a tornado with a diameter of several meters, composed of countless tiny emerald-green sword blades, rose from the ground.

Swish, swish, swish!

The high-speed rotating wind pressure tore the yellowish ground apart, and gravel and dust were swept into it, forming a destructive spiral storm.

The edge of the storm flashed with blinding cyan light. Wherever it passed, the air made a sharp hiss, the ground it passed through was plowed into deep spiral-shaped gullies, and the grass and trees along the way were ground into countless wood chips in an instant.

This was the sword technique of a legendary female knight from the past, now reappearing in the girl's hands.

And Kane, facing this terrifying storm, felt his pupils shrink suddenly, and all the muscles in his body trembled uncontrollably under the pressure of the death crisis.

Feeling the slight pain of his cheeks being torn by the wind pressure from afar, the silver-haired young man clearly realized that this was definitely not a blow he could block. If he were hit, he would definitely die!

And because of the huge suction generated by the terrifying storm, it was already a stroke of luck that he could use his remaining magic power to fix his body so as not to be sucked away; he had no spare energy to escape.

Cold sweat seeped from the palm Kane used to hold his weapon, and his teeth trembled slightly. His retinas reflected the growing cyan storm, and he could even hear the sound of his heart pounding wildly in his chest.

At this moment, this young man, who was hailed as the "Mad Wolf" by the people of the Northern Region and was unruly, finally felt unprecedented fear, and so...

"Ariel, save me!" Kane abandoned his dignity as the young lord of the Dean family and chose to shout for help even when facing an enemy of the same rank.

Swish!

The golden-haired middle-aged man, who had been chatting with Xia Mingyu, mainly because he was the one looking for topics, instantly turned into a golden stream of light and blocked his way to Kane's side before that terrifying cyan storm could submerge him.

Clang!

Drawing his sword, slashing horizontally, sheathing his sword... Ariel performed just a simple action, slashing out a golden sword energy more than ten meters high, which collided fiercely with the cyan storm.

Zing—!

Accompanied by a harsh hiss, the cyan storm was split in two by the golden sword energy. The upper half of the storm lost control and turned into countless chaotic airflows that flew in all directions.

The lower half of the storm fell fiercely to the ground, blasting out a giant crater with a diameter of several meters.

And the golden sword energy still hadn't dissipated, passing through the sky above the girl's head and whistling toward the horizon until it disappeared from view.

"This guy, even at the Crescent Moon Rank, is definitely not at an ordinary level!"

Dorovai's pupils shrank, looking at the golden-haired middle-aged man blocking in front of Kane, feeling deep dread in her heart.

It wasn't that she hadn't come into contact with powerhouses at the Crescent Moon Rank, but she knew very well that her uncle, the former Eastern Region Knight Commander Lansen, could definitely do that casual sword strike just now, but Uncle Kari, who was also a Crescent Moon Knight, might not.

Unexpectedly, after blocking her attack, Ariel did not attack again, but raised his hands high again like he had comforted Xia Mingyu earlier.

Dorovai, who was about to crush the snowflake of the Pale Witch, saw this strange scene and couldn't help but freeze, slowing down her movements.

"Can we sit down and talk? Emerald Knight Lord." Ariel said calmly.

"I have no ill intent." Seeming to verify his words, a gentle smile was squeezed onto that plain face, but it looked somewhat funny because it was too stiff.

After hesitating for a moment, Dorovai put away her long sword, but kept the snowflake tightly in her palm.

"Good." She agreed.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 180 =====