novelOpening Gambit
| ← Ch.1260 | Ch.1262 → |
The Chillfrost World.
This place was an unusual world utterly different from any other plane.
The planar laws here appeared to be severely distorted, turning this small plane into a harsh world covered eternally in ice and frost.
The chilling winds howled, and blades of snow and ice slashed through the air.
Looking from afar, the entire world appeared as varying shades of gray and white. Even the skies were covered by a thick and dense layer of dark clouds. No stars or moons could be seen from here.
The ground was covered in sheets of ice dozens of meters thick. Mighty peaks of ice and snow towered above the earth.
This place was exceedingly cold and hostile to most creatures. However, at a single glance, you could still sense the presence of numerous lifeforms in the vast icy plains and the hazardous mountains and rivers.
These creatures were unusual ice creatures, or simply ice elementals of different forms. Any creature that could exist and survive in such a harsh environment would need to have tremendous resistance to the cold!
A skeletal portal radiating death appeared silently upon a vast snowy plain. Five unusual figures of different shapes and sizes emerged from within.
Greem could feel the ice energy pressing in from every direction the moment he stepped out of the portal.
It was a planar world that was extremely hostile towards him.
From the vague planar consciousness to the creatures that lived in this world, and even a single blade of grass, single flower, or even the chilling winds blowing past him; every single thing in this world seeped with hatred towards him.
When Greem set foot on the snowy plains, the snow and ice crunched beneath his feet. Countless silver chains glowing with law powers appeared out of thin air and bound him firmly.
These silver chains reached into empty space on one end, while the other end was tied firmly around Greem. The powers of the planar laws furiously suppressed Greem's fire powers.
Greem's energy aura dropped rapidly. In the blink of an eye, he went from intermediate Fourth Grade to beginner Second Grade. If it wasn't for the wildly pumping Heart of Principles sending surges of pure fire energy all over his body and resisting the suppression of the laws, Greem might even have fallen below Second Grade.
Without energy protection, the ice energy all around started to surge towards Greem.
It almost seemed like it was intent on freezing him to death on the spot.
The cloak that Greem wore instantly hardened. A layer of blue frost started to creep up the fabric at a visible rate.
Greem could only feel the sharp stinging chill of the wind. His entire body, flesh, and even bones were rapidly freezing and hardening in the cold. If it weren't for his exceptional Physique, he would have already succumbed to the cold and been turned into an ice statue!
"Hmph! What a vicious opening gambit!" Greem grunted and tapped his staff against the ground. A strange surge of warmth ran through his body, expelling all of the cold.
As he waved his staff, the temperature within five meters of Greem started to rise rapidly. Soon, his surroundings were just as warm as he liked it.
However, this 'insignificant' action of his clearly incited an even more ferocious retaliation from the planar laws. Even more law chains reached out from the air and reached towards Greem.
They were so aggressive that it seemed like they almost wanted to exile Greem from the plane entirely!
Greem's companions were not spared from this treatment. They were also suffering badly from the planar suppression.
It couldn't be helped. It was always the scenario facing anyone that invaded a foreign plane!
If they were only a few small fries, they would not have enjoyed the privilege of complete suppression from the planar laws. However, it was because all of them were so overwhelmingly powerful that they were suffering so. Their bodies and souls were all seeping with law powers from their own worlds.
Law powers of two different sources could not co-exist.
That was why they had triggered such vicious planar suppression when they entered the plane.
However, even after their elementium powers had been suppressed, they still had powerful physiques and terrifying innate abilities. Thus, even bound by layers upon layers of law chains, they could still move freely and with ease.
Of the five people in the party, Greem was probably the one with the weakest physical body.
That was why Kanganas, Sshina, Sand King, and Tulas turned to look at Greem once they were done familiarizing themselves with the environment. They wanted to see how he would break free of this annoying suppression.
Greem's performance surprised them immensely!
Due to his 'reckless' use of his law powers, the planar consciousness had unleashed severe backlash onto him. However, Greem simply waved his staff, and a cloud of fire engulfed him. The terrifying backlash then vanished without a trace.
Almost... as if it had never existed to begin with!
"Let's go! This place is over five hundred kilometers away from the ice dragon's den still. Let's hurry and move out!" Greem walked away casually as if nothing had just happened.
The other four members of the party couldn't help but exchange looks.
"Bone, how did he managed to resist the planar backlash?" It was Tulas, the mysterious starspirit that posed the question.
"Indeed. His Physique is not as high as mine, and even I would have been injured from that earlier backlash. How did he manage to dispel it?" A booming voice chimed in. It was Sand King.
"Don't ask too many questions. All of us have our secrets. If you don't want any trouble, I suggest you all shut your mouths!" Kanganas replied coldly.
However, before they set off, he squeezed out a single sentence from between his teeth.
"Be careful. That guy has an ultra-grade item on him."
Having said that, the lich floated into the air by himself and flew after Greem before the rest of the party could ask more questions.
An ultra-grade item.
The three members of the party were shocked. When they looked at Greem again, their impression of him had changed entirely.
There were no weaklings among those who could control an ultra-grade item!
............
Traveling through a plane that was actively hostile against you was tough business.
However, Greem was protected by the Orb of the Fire God. It wasn't that hard for him now that most of the planar backlash had been neutralized.
He continued forward with some difficulty. The Chip had projected a countdown to the corner of his eye. The number was ticking and changing constantly.
[37 hours, 26 minutes, and 41 seconds until planar suppression is dispelled. ]
The Chip had been working at full power to decipher the planar laws here the moment they set foot in Chillfrost. As the analysis progressed, Greem's power slowly rose again.
What stood before him was a vast, boundless plain of snow and ice.
There was only white wherever he looked. White ice pillars of strange shapes, piles of white snow, and white snowflakes dancing in the air.
Bone-chilling winds soared past him, but they were roasted warm by the layer of fire around Greem the moment they approached. When the wind reached Grem, it was merely a warm breeze, pleasant and comforting.
However, when the warm breeze passed by Greem and met with the crushing cold once more, the air crackled. The moisture in the air froze into snow powder and ice shards, and all of it fell to the ground.
While Greem was walking forward, a small bump appeared on the snowy ground. The snow burst apart as a swarm of strange worms charged forward.
These snow worms had a thick layer of fur, two legs, and long ears on their heads. They opened their vicious mouths, as wide as half their body, and lunged forward with bloodshot eyes.
These snow worms chittered and rushed at Greem the moment they sensed his unusual aura.
These worms weren't powerful at all. They were at the level of intermediate apprentices at the very best.
However, their advantage came in their numbers and the chilling temperatures of this world. It allowed their attacks to pose a sliver of threat against Greem.
Greem casually hurled two Explosive Fireballs forward, blasting two craters in the snow and turning seven snow worms to ashes.
As impressive as this result was, Greem couldn't help but frown. He once again felt his helplessness at fighting in a foreign plane.
Back in the World of Adepts, those two Explosive Fireballs would have created a sea of fire over a hundred meters in radius, exterminating most of these little critters. But now... two Explosive Fireballs had only been able to make two five-meter-wide craters and kill only a tenth of the snow worms he had expected.
Greem was slightly flustered at this!
His powers were too badly suppressed here.
While Greem was frowning, a crackling sound suddenly rang out in the empty snow plains. A dozen nearly translucent crystal monsters rushed at him, their bodies letting out a cracking sound with every step.
These monsters appeared more powerful than the snow worms. Each of them seemed to be the equal of a First Grade adept. Moreover, their entire bodies were composed of translucent crystal. It allowed them to blend in perfectly in this snowy world of ice. An ordinary person would have trouble seeing them.
Guided and incited by the planar consciousness' hostility, these native creatures stormed forward recklessly with no regard for the power difference between them and the invader.
A short moment later, a massive halo of fire flashed across the land as all the snow within a thousand meters started to melt. The land was charred black. Countless snow creatures were burned to a crisp in the wave of fire, scattered to the wind as black dust.
| ← Ch. 1260 | Ch. 1262 → |