Freya’s determination was unwavering, her eyes ablaze with fierce resolve as her totemic energy surged. Many factors drove her decision to follow Vlad, but the opportunity to battle formidable aliens by his side and thereby earn the favor of the Plane Will was among the most compelling.
The stronger the alien, the better, and there was no stronger Warrior among the angels than Kor, so the young viking princess was set on bashing the head of the man with her mace!
Kor could not help but puke mouthfuls of blood as he crashed through the trees, his internal organs trembling. However, he did not have the luxury of analyzing his wounds as his instincts screamed danger.
The angel’s eyes widened as he saw Freya already in front of him, raising her mace and aiming it at his head.
Freya’s mace struck with such force that it unleashed a shockwave, reverberating through the forest. Yet, her attack was thwarted as the angel, in a last-second maneuver, used his wings to evade, sliding away across the ground.
The young viking princess was surprised by Kor’s level of martial skill, but she was still confident of her victory as her physical stats and abilities were higher than the man’s. Yet, a solemn expression appeared on her face when she saw the angel take a golden potion from his space ring and swallow it.
A look of hatred and reluctance appeared on Kor’s face as he swallowed the potion, showing that he did not really want to use it, but there was no other choice unless he wished for every bone in his body to be pulverized by the mace.
Immediately after the potion vanished inside Kor’s mouth, his entire body burst with energy, and his burned wings healed at a speed visible to the naked eye. A radiant golden glow covered his figure, and his body began to grow larger.
Sharpness and caution arose in Freya’s mind as she saw the potion’s effect and knew whatever the angel took must be very powerful, maybe even nearing the Guardian Tier. However, a smile soon appeared on her face, and her battle will and intent to kill grew stronger.
The stronger the enemy, the more she would grow by defeating him, and the higher Odinvaldr’s reward would be when used as a sacrifice.
"Let’s see if you can fight now, winged rat." Freya smiled fiercely as her Force and totemic energy exploded with even more strength, placing her shield behind her back and grabbing her mace with both hands. She adopted a sprint position before her entire body burst forward like a rocket, shattering the ground beneath her feet.
"Filthy mud!" Kor shouted, confidence and killing intent burning in his eyes as he was sure the potion would grant him the strength to kill the viking princess. He flashed forward, ready to clash, his grip tight around the handle of his bastard sword.
The moment the bastard sword and mace clashed, a massive shock wave of golden and red energy spread in all directions, breaking the trees around them and shattering the ground beneath their feet.
One was a massive angel nearly three meters tall, and the other was a young woman not even one meter and eighty centimeters tall. They managed to stand face to face, and neither backed down as their weapons clashed against each other.
Freya clenched her teeth as the strength behind the bastard sword was immense. It was so much that her feet started to bury beneath the ground due to the pressure she faced, and if it carried on for a few more seconds, she would either be sent flying away or pushed down.
However, the viking princess was not only physically strong, since her martial arts were nothing short of superb. Using her full power, she deviated the bastard sword to the side, making Kor lose his footing, before twisting her entire body and landing a ferocious kick on the waist of the angel.
That kick would have shattered a boulder to smithereens, but it barely managed to push Kor two meters before he regained control over his body and waved his bastard sword to the side, intending to bisect the viking princess.
Freya’s instincts immediately reacted as she jumped back, dodging the bastard sword, and landed ten meters away from Kor. Her eyes were cold as she focused on the golden mantle of energy that covered the man since that protection diminished most of the power behind her kick.
Kor showed a cold smile toward the woman as the radiance of his body only grew stronger. "No matter what you do, savage, your attacks will not be able to break my Divine Guard!"
"The golden barrier is strong but burns with every hit it blocks. I wonder how long I would have to strike you to shatter it?" Freya’s burning fighting spirit did not diminish at all due to the angel’s defenses, and her smile grew colder and fiercer as she concentrated her totemic energy on the mace. "Let’s find out."
Anger appeared on Kor’s face as he saw the resolution on the viking princess’s face. "Don’t be so cocky, you filthy savage!"
The sound of mace and sword strikes once more echoed across the forest, growing louder and stronger as the fight between Kor and Freya intensified, the trees around them being blasted to smithereens and soon reduced to ashes.
Not far from the forest, where the kinetic explosions echoed without end, another fight of similar proportions was taking place as Vlad chased after Orion, every second growing closer to the angelic woman. His eyes were cold, and his blades crackled with crimson lightning and demonic fire.
Orion continued erecting firewalls to stop Vlad’s march and released all sorts of spells to push him back, but they were futile. Vlad always found the weak point in the barrier, attacking them and crossing through. As for her spells, the man constantly dodged them as if he knew about them beforehand.
’Does this man’s Gift involve clairvoyance?’ Orion could not help but reach that conclusion since it did not make sense he could predict all her moves and weaknesses in her spells.
Vlad did not enjoy any form of clairvoyance ability. He had something even better: the A.I. Chip, which tracked every single move of Orion and could analyze her spells in real-time, telling him how to counter or dodge them.
Vlad moved with great dexterity, dodging several explosions around his figure and fire traps that rose from the ground. He grew closer and closer to Orion until there were only ten meters between them.
Ten meters from someone at Vlad’s level was nothing, and the crimson lightning and demonic fire in his blades exploded as he flashed forward, ready to cut Orion’s body to pieces.
However, just as Vlad was ready to perform his final move, Orion’s space ring glowed, and a medallion appeared in her hand. Without hesitation, she pointed the medallion to the ground, releasing a fiery gray energy beam.
[Warning! Warning! Evasive maneuver to the left!]
Vlad’s eyes widened as he heard the robotic voice of the A.I. Chip inside his mind. Without hesitation, he buried one of his blades into the ground, stopping his charge, and flashed to the left.
As Vlad moved to the left, a massive pillar of fire rose from the ground, shattering the pavement road, and a gigantic five-meter-tall figure emerged. It was a towering, muscular figure with a body of rugged rock formations and fiery magma flowing through its cracks. Its eyes and fists were ablaze with fierce flames, the heat around them so intense that it burned the air.
Vlad’s eyes widened as he saw the massive figure, and he could not help but adopt a solemn expression, considering what would have happened if that pillar of flames had caught him. Immediately, his focus heightened as he commanded the A.I. Chip to analyze the creature that emerged from Orion’s medallion.
[Beep! Analyzing target.
Vlad tightened his grip around his blades as he saw Orion summon a High Tier Elemental from her treasure. The creature was much weaker than the Lightning Abyssal Blood Elemental, but there was no instability in its power or weak point, allowing it to fight without end.
Vlad had significantly grown since his journey to Nagan Mountain, but fighting a Level 11 Fire Elemental and a Level 10 Mage with a Guardian Bloodline would be extremely dangerous. Just as he stared at the elemental and Orion, trying to figure out his next move, the voice of the A.I. Chip echoed in his mind again.
[Note: There is a magic formation in the Fire Elemental’s consciousness, forcing the creature to obey all the commands of the one in possession of the controlling artifact. If the connection is broken, the creature will lose the ability to fight or enter a berserker rampage and attack everything in sight.]