Extras Path The Eternal Frost Monarch Chapter 297

[ … words ]

Noah blinked. For a moment, he couldn’t understand what had happened.

The overwhelming pain was gone. The screams had vanished. Even the oppressive presence of the abomination had disappeared.

He slowly looked down at his hands.They were trembling slightly.

“Haaah…”

A soft breath escaped his lips, turning into a faint cloud of frost in the cold air.

“Akari?”

There was no answer. His expression changed. He immediately looked around.

She wasn’t there.

Noah stood completely alone in the middle of a vast, barren landscape.

The ground beneath his feet was gray and lifeless, stretching endlessly toward the horizon.

Massive mountains rose in the distance, their surfaces covered in the same dull gray stone. Countless craters and enormous rocks were scattered across the landscape.

There wasn’t a single tree, not a blade of grass and not even the slightest sign of life.

Noah slowly raised his head. His breath caught. There was no sky. Instead, an endless expanse of darkness stretched above him.

And within that darkness countless stars.

Millions upon millions of them glittered across the infinite void, shining with a beauty that Noah had witnessed before.

This place was familiar.

The ground beneath his feet gave off a faint, soothing silver glow, illuminating the barren landscape just enough to reveal its strange beauty.

Noah’s eyes widened. He had seen this place before.

“The Moon.”

His voice came out as a whisper.

“I’m on the Moon.”

A voice echoed through the empty realm.

“Hmm. You recalled me.”

The voice was calm and ancient, yet somehow carried a strange warmth.

“For help.”

Noah immediately turned around.

There was no one.

“That means you encountered the Monarch of Decay again.”

His pupils contracted.

“You… already knew?”

“Of course.”

The voice remained tranquil.

“I had expected this and waiting for this moment.”

Noah’s expression became complicated. She expected this? Before he could ask anything, the mysterious voice continued.

“Do not worry, child. I will help you survive.”

A brief pause followed.

“And I will help you save your partner.”

Noah’s eyes widened.

“Akari… But you must do something for me in return.”

Noah looked around desperately.

“What do you want?”

There was no response for several seconds.

“You will know when the time comes.”

Noah clenched his fists. There were countless questions filling his mind.

Who was she? Why was she helping him? How did she know about the Monarch of Decay?

And what exactly did she want from him? But none of those questions mattered right now.

Akari was still out there. Possibly one verge of dying.

“I’ll do it.”

His answer came without hesitation.

“I’ll do whatever you want.”

He couldn’t afford to hesitate. He couldn’t accept dying here. And more importantly he couldn’t let Akari die there.

“Good…”

The mysterious voice seemed pleased.

“I will tell you what you must do when the time comes.”

A strange warmth suddenly surrounded Noah.

His eyelids became heavy. His body grew strangely light. He didn’t feel afraid. Instead, an inexplicable sense of calm washed over him.

He slowly closed his eyes.

“Haa…”

He exhaled. He opened them.

—

BOOOOOOM!!!

Noah returned. The world exploded back into existence. The corrupted forest. The crimson sky. The endless storm.

The countless tentacles, the abomination controlling them. Everything had returned. Yet something was different.

Everything around him seemed incredibly slow. The tentacles moved as though they were crawling through water.

Falling debris hung suspended in the air. Even the crimson energy spreading across the ground appeared almost motionless.

In his arms held Akari. Her breathing was slowed.

Noah slowly raised his head. His eyes were no longer their usual blue. They now shone with an intense blue-silver radiance.

—

The entire realm had become a nightmare. Black tentacles covered the landscape like an enormous living web.

Countless pale, oily creatures crawled between them, their distorted bodies twisted into unnatural shapes.

Everything was dying. Trees collapsed into dust. Grass withered like they never existed. Rocks cracked and crumbled.

The very earth itself was slowly rotting. The once-beautiful forest had disappeared beneath an ocean of corruption.

Above it all, the sky had turned crimson. The air was saturated with the vile energy radiating from the abomination.

And countless eyes had opened across the monstrous tentacles. All of them suddenly turned toward the same location.

The center of the corrupted realm.

For a moment everything stopped.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

A tremendous shockwave erupted from the center. The corrupted ground cracked outward. Tentacles were blasted away.

The surrounding creatures were thrown into the air.

And from the heart of the explosion something silver emerged. A small sphere of pale light floated above the ground.

It pulsed once.

THUM.

Silver radiance spread outward.

The nearest tentacles instantly froze. Their writhing movements stopped as a layer of crystalline frost covered their rotten flesh.

The sphere expanded with every second, it grew larger. And the faster it expanded, the faster the freezing spread.

Tentacles became frozen statues. The twisted creatures were trapped beneath layers of silver-white ice.

Even the crimson energy surrounding the area began to recede wherever the silver radiance touched.

The entire realm trembled. Then the sphere expanded beyond the forest.

Beyond the mountains. Its radiance illuminated the crimson sky.

Until finally a gigantic silver moon started floated above the corrupted realm. Its surface shimmered with pale light.

Its presence was strangely beautiful and peaceful.

Yet beneath that tranquility was an overwhelming power that made even the corruption itself tremble.

The enormous moon continued to expand.

And its silver radiance continued spreading across the dying realm.

The Monarch of Decay had encountered something that made its countless eyes turn toward the moon in alarm.

The moon floated above, it’s gentle radiance spread across the realm, pushing back the crimson smoke that had covered the heavens.

Wherever the silver light reached, the decay receded.

The suffocating red sky gradually cleared, revealing the endless darkness and distant stars beyond it.

The abomination reacted violently. Countless mouths opened across its grotesque body.

“WHY?!”

Its voice thundered across the entire realm.

“WHY ARE YOU HERE?! WHY ARE YOU INTERFERING IN MY WAY?!”

The roar shook the earth. There was no answer.

The moon simply continued to rise. Then, atop the enormous silver moon stood a young man.

His once-dirty white hair had become brilliant white, glowing faintly beneath the moon’s radiance. A layer of mysterious silver energy surrounded his body like a thin veil of light.

His eyes were no longer the familiar blue. They shone with a cold, silver-blue brilliance.

Like frost beneath moonlight.

Noah slowly lowered himself and carefully placed Akari onto the surface of the moon.

She barely opened her eyes.

Her breathing was weak, her body covered in injuries. Even in her human form, traces of corruption remained across her skin spread widely while protecting him.

She looked at Noah through half-lidded eyes.

“Noah…”

He glanced at her.

“Rest.”

His voice was calm. After making sure she was safely lying down, Noah slowly stood.

He looked at his hands. Silver light flowed across his fingers.

It wasn’t mana. He could immediately tell the difference. Mana felt familiar, something that originated from within his own body and responded to his will.

This energy was completely different.

It felt ancient and too pure. And impossibly vast.

Noah narrowed his eyes.

’This feeling…’

He remembered Damien. The energy surrounding Damien whenever he used his blessing.

’Divine energy.’

But there was a fundamental difference. Damien’s divine energy had felt warm. Almost like sunlight.

This energy was too cold. Like the endless night itself.

’So this is the Divine Energy of the Moon Goddess. She’s helping me directly?’

Noah slowly clenched his fist.

BOOM!

The surrounding space trembled slightly.

His eyes widened. The abomination that had terrified him moments ago.

Suddenly seemed insignificant. Like a tiny insect beneath his feet.

Noah looked down. The creature was still growing.

Its enormous body continued expanding, feeding upon the vitality from surrounding.

Yet Noah no longer felt fear.

CRACK.

A strange sound came from above.

Noah raised his head. His expression changed.

A thin crack had appeared across the sky.

CRACK… CRACK…

Space itself was beginning to fracture. The entire dimension was reaching its limit.

The Monarch of Decay wasn’t merely destroying the forest anymore. Its presence was destabilizing the entire realm.

The dimension itself was beginning to collapse.

Noah’s gaze returned to the abomination.

The countless mouths across its body opened once again.

“IT DOESN’T MATTER!”

Its voice shook the heavens.

“I WILL KILL YOU!”

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

An immeasurable number of enormous tentacles erupted from every direction.They surged toward the silver moon like an endless black tide.

At the same time, countless mouths opened across their surfaces. Crimson energy began gathering within them.

BOOOOOOM!

Streams of red energy that could decay anything shot toward Noah from every direction.

The attacks were so numerous that they seemed to cover the entire sky.

Yet Noah didn’t move. He simply stood there watching.

The tentacles drew closer. They were almost touching the moon.

Noah finally raised his right hand. His expression remained completely indifferent. Then he casually swung his hand toward the approaching horde.

SHIIIIING!

Silver radiance erupted.

In an instant.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

Kilometres of tentacles froze simultaneously. Silver-blue frost raced through their enormous bodies at an impossible speed.

The black-crimson flesh hardened. The countless eyes froze in place. Even the crimson energy inside the mouths became trapped in crystalline ice.

Within a single breath, the endless tide of tentacles surrounding the moon had become a gigantic frozen sculpture.