Chapter 354: Forst and Death

Elaine felt cold not on an elemental level, but the chill one got the moment their instinct flared from danger.

Her back was bare, no shield, no defence, open to an attack from whatever had pounced...

A low growl rumbled through her ears, her essence was on the verge of rerouting, as she recalculated her next moves but deep down she knew she stood no chance.

She was leaving this exchange with either a life-threatening injury, or worse, dead...

Thick, sharp claws dug into her pristine, pale white skin, the mighty paws of the dark feline dragging down and drawing bloody, welling streaks, leaving a laceration so deep it showed the whites of her bones.

Fortunately for her the monster had limited intelligence and also treated the monster she rode beneath her as a threat, its other maw digging into the bronze bull, or now frozen bull’s, side, the mighty maws of the feline parting as it snapped shut on the bull’s head.

All this happening within the span of a second, Elaine still had the chance to make a retreat, her frame still midway falling as blood splashed all around her.

But still her eyes glowed in the dark, emotionless, unwavering and trained upon her foe, her lips moved as she muttered ever so softly... "Black Ice..."

The gene skill responded with a resounding quake the earth beneath her feet, crusting and crackling as black ice sheet crusted over the surface, black mist seeping out of the crack.

The feline’s head snapped her way meeting her cold gaze, the two were never far apart, and almost stared at one another face to face.

Time seemed to slow as the monster sensed the looming threat letting out a shaky growl, its pupils constricting and its ears falling, its hair standing on end.

The threat it felt was overwhelming, but it was torn between fleeing or finishing off its prey — after all, the source of the threat was only a few inches from its mouth, it could just end it and move on to the next victim.

Unfortunately for the monster its mental processing speed wasn’t fast enough and before it could finish forming its thought, the chill arrived. Elaine’s frame flipped through the air effortlessly, the earth erupting like landmines going off, as black streaks burst out, swirling round Elaine’s cold frame.

As a being who had seen death, a creature who had learned to channel death, Elaine did not fear death...

She did fear for her loved ones, but when it came to facing death without batting an eye no one could come close to Elaine.

The monster, still barely holding its ground from all the eruption and rumbling, stared up at Elaine, cause she wasn’t on ground level anymore, the monster let out a low whine from fear, backtracking slowly as it slowly made its way towards a shadow of a tree not that far behind.

Elaine wasn’t blind there was no way she was going to let the monster escape, her staff cocked its way, directing the spiraling shard of black ice its way.

The lightless streaks blasted forth with no warning and the monster attempted to make a retreat, then it realised... the blood in its maws, the blood in its claws... so cold.

Oozing pure ice essence, the cold flow sank into its frame, slowing its bloodflow, and essence channeling, which inevitably stunted its speed critically.

The feline couldn’t even resist, yes it was an all-powerful defiled with almost limitless access to corrupt essence, but before the gleaming shards of black ice its life essence was directly smothered.

The projectile struck, all penetrating through the monster’s hide, the beast froze for a brief second, the strike hadn’t been fatal but what followed surely was, all of a sudden its frame began to wither crusting into a gaunt obsidian statue before erupting into dust.

The ice returned to their master silently swirling around Elaine’s frame, the laceration on her back slowly healing as she turned her attention back to Brandon’s end, her cold gaze instantly melting into worry.

Behind her the trees shook, but she didn’t bother to look back, she didn’t need to, long before the owner had arrived she had long felt his presence, and to be honest it would be quite a difficult task to miss the towering overbearing might.

Jack was here....

A billowing mist of darkness moved as the spectral projection dissolved revealing his true form, he landed beside Elaine.

Giving her a glance, he whistled, "You can fly now?"

Elaine, still intensely focusing on Brandon’s exchange with the Mantis charmed beast, could only give a single-word reply. "Temporary..."

Jack nodded, turning his head to focus on Brandon’s streaking image, and squinted, his muscles tensing ready, his essence flowing like raging waves but he could only wait, so could Elaine.

A battle had its flow just like music, joining someone suddenly and unexpectedly doesn’t necessarily help, instead it might disrupt the fighter’s flow, and that might put both you and the participant, in this case Brandon, in danger.

Unless you started together you had to wait for an opening...

Elaine’s focus sharpened in a flash... chance spotted!

Her frame faded into an instant blur, trails of black ice looming on the charmed beast, the moment its deathly scythe grazed against Brandon’s retreating chest.

Brandon’s jaws clenched, his palms forming into fists, the flame constructs in the surrounding intently losing their solid state and reversing into flaming currents converging towards the mantis.

Left with no choice it had to abandon its pursuit, retracting its scythe claws, its scarlet carapace glinting under the brilliance of the flames like steel.

The beast was about to defend against the flames, but suddenly its compound eyes flickered, its 360-degree vision range detecting a looming streak... Danger!

Four legs shot like spears, launching it out of the way, the beast sprang so fast and so far, the flames that were literally point blank missed it!

Erupting wildly, as black streaks tore through the turbulence, hitting nothing they could only return to their master silently spiraling around her frame like a prestigious halo of death.

Elaine rushed towards Brandon, her eyes red with worry, as she caught him and helped him get to his feet.

Brandon wheezed and inhaled trying to get in some oxygen but the combustion in the surrounding made that element quite scarce.

Letting out a low cough, he asked. "Not to be ungrateful but aren’t you supposed to-" before he could finish Elaine put a finger on his lips.

As she assured him, "Don’t worry, I’m not alone..." she barely finished speaking when a blinding glow of crimson burst in the surrounding, a familiar flow of essence filling the air.

The skill of Jack Bane Radiant Valor had been unleashed...