Chapter 476 Invasion [42]

At the same time, elsewhere.

The entire battlefield and its surroundings had practically been transformed into an ice zone.

Wes could barely move without slipping or losing his balance, because the ice had spread across almost everything in sight. The ground was covered in a thick, glossy layer, while the nearby buildings were coated in frost that climbed their walls and gathered along their edges.

Even the surfaces that should have provided him with some stability were no longer reliable.

Every step had to be calculated.

Meanwhile, Zarah moved across the frozen battlefield as though the ice belonged to her.

She glided over the surface with almost effortless control, using the frictionless ground to her advantage rather than allowing it to hinder her. Each movement carried her farther than a normal step would, and whenever she needed to change direction, a thin layer of ice formed beneath her feet, giving her just enough control to redirect herself.

Wes hadn't realized it yet, but Zarah had effectively turned the entire area into her domain.

Everywhere he looked, there was ice.

Everywhere he stepped, there was ice.

And every surface he could potentially use against her had already become something she could manipulate.

Wes exhaled, a cold mist escaping his mouth.

The temperature was beginning to affect him now.

His fingers were stiffening, and the chill had begun creeping through his clothes and into his muscles, making every movement slightly slower than the one before.

But he didn't panic.

Despite the disadvantage, there was one thing keeping him calm.

Zarah still hadn't managed to land a truly decisive attack.

His inability to properly grip the ground was annoying, but it wasn't enough to make him helpless.

A sharp sound suddenly cut through the air.

A shard of ice shot toward him with enough force to pierce flesh.

Wes twisted his body at the last possible moment, and the projectile flew past his face, missing him by barely an inch.

Before he could regain his footing, several more spikes erupted from the frozen ground and launched toward him from different angles.

Wes's eyes narrowed.

"Again?"

He pushed off the ground, though his foot slipped slightly as he moved, forcing him to adjust his balance in midair.

The ice spikes tore through the space where he had been standing moments earlier.

Zarah didn't give him time to recover.

More ice began forming around her, gathering into sharp, elongated spikes that hovered briefly before being launched toward him in rapid succession.

They struck Wes, but instead of piercing his body, the ice shards simply bounced off him.

The impact sent his body tumbling across the frozen ground, but rather than being injured, Wes bounced uncontrollably from the surface, his rubber-like body stretching and compressing with every impact.

"Haven't you tried that before?"

He laughed as he finally managed to slow himself down, his body springing back into shape after another bounce.

Zarah's brow twitched.

She stomped her foot against the ground.

Immediately, several sharp spikes of ice erupted from beneath Wes, forcing him upward as he lost what little control he had over his footing.

Wes crashed back onto the ground.

The spikes struck him directly.

Yet even those failed to pierce his skin.

Zarah's brows creased.

She had been trying one move after another, changing the angle, speed, and shape of her attacks in an attempt to find something that could actually hurt this rubber man. But nothing worked.

Her ice could restrain him. It could throw him off balance. It could control the battlefield. But it couldn't break through his body.

There was only one thing she had discovered that seemed capable of bypassing his ridiculous elasticity.

But using it would cost a considerable amount of mana.

Far more than she could afford to waste carelessly.

Wes, meanwhile, had already figured out how to deal with the frozen ground.

He slammed his foot down.

BOOM!

The ice beneath him exploded outward from the impact, sending shards flying in every direction as the surface cracked apart.

His foot finally reached the solid ground underneath.

Wes grinned.

"There."

He pressed his foot firmly against the exposed earth, finally finding something he could grip.

His body lowered slightly as he settled into a proper stance.

"Much better."

Zarah watched him carefully.

She was still unsure how Wes was creating those explosions.

That seemed to be the only thing giving her any real trouble in this fight. His rubber-like body was troublesome enough on its own, but the explosions were what made his movements unpredictable. Whenever his attacks struck the ground, the resulting blast could throw off her footing or destroy the ice she had carefully created around the battlefield.

Still, Zarah was certain this goblin had more in his arsenal.

Wes swung his arm like a whip.

His elongated limb snapped through the air with frightening speed, stretching far beyond what a normal arm should have been capable of reaching. The attack came from an awkward angle, but Zarah easily slipped to the side, allowing the rubbery limb to pass harmlessly beside her.

Wes immediately redirected it.

The arm curved through the air and came at her again.

Zarah ducked.

Another arm stretched toward her from behind.

She twisted her body and narrowly avoided it.

She wasn't simply relying on her reflexes.

Aside from the [FrostVein] skill line Eli had shared with her, she had also received the [Predator Focus] skill line.

And one of the skills beneath it was [Predator Instinct].

That skill had elevated her combat ability considerably.

Even though Wes's fighting style was abnormal, unpredictable, and built around a body that completely ignored the limitations of normal flesh, Zarah could still read the subtle changes that happened before each attack.

The shift in his shoulders. The movement of his hips. The direction of his gaze.

Even the way his feet positioned themselves before he launched an attack.

Those small details gave her enough information to react before the attack fully developed.

She couldn't predict everything. But she didn't need to.

She only needed to understand what Wes was trying to do a fraction of a second before he did it.

BOOM!

Another explosion rang through the battlefield as Wes's elongated arm slammed into the ground.

The force shattered the ice beneath it and sent chunks of frozen earth flying.

Wes's arms continued stretching and snapping against the ground, each impact producing another violent blast.

Smoke began filling the battlefield, mixing with the cold mist produced by the ice until visibility rapidly deteriorated.

Wes stopped, realizing...