Even though Rhode made a fairly complete plan against the Country of Darkness, he experienced what it meant to be a ‘plan wasn’t as fast as change’ shortly after.
After Icy Snow eradicated the Chaos Lord, Rhode initially decided to lead the others in annihilating the remaining two Chaos Lords and figuring out what exactly turned them into this ridiculous state. But the Chaos Lord weren’t fools either and that caught Rhode by surprise. The moment they spotted Rhode and his group of formidable beings rushing over, they tucked tails and fled shamelessly. Rhode’s group couldn’t catch up with them at all. They managed to wipe out a part of the ghost fleet and watched helplessly as they escaped. Even though they could continue to chase, for safety’s sake, he eventually dismissed the idea.
But the changes in the situation later left Rhode speechless. The battle happening on the elves’ side didn’t subside yet. Although the twin dragons of the Country of Law had mobilized their army, no one knew whether it was because the Country of Law had an overly long time of peace that they spent too much time gathering Holy Knights from all over the Dragon Soul Continent and forming their forces. Besides, borrowing the power of Gracier, Madaras, and the elf knights, the Country of Law managed to resist the enemies. No one knew when the twin dragons could accomplish their tasks, so for the time being, they couldn’t be relied upon.
Not only that, but the alliance of the Void Territory and Munn Kingdom also faced some relatively huge resistance, especially in terms of the dragon souls. In the past, when Rhode attacked using his dragon soul powers, it felt like two blades were clashing with each other and the battered enemy retreated after. From a certain angle, a clash between dragon soul powers was truly a battle between dragon soul heirs. Rhode joined forces with his younger sister and went against Ion. It went without saying that they were like fish back in the water, advancing all the way through. Although Ion withstood desperately, he was inevitably forced back.
These days, Rhode sharply realized that Ion’s dragon soul protection had changed. Using a less abstract metaphor, it was as though the strong dragon soul protection was melting in high temperature like chocolate, turning sticky and hard to break. When Rhode tried to break Ion’s dragon soul protection, he felt like he hurled a punch into a thick puddle of mud. Not only was there no resistance, but he was also contaminated with something distasteful. Rhode flitted away from Ion’s dragon soul protection when suddenly, he discovered that the dragon soul protection that should have been shattered into fragments wrapped back around like sticky glue. If it weren’t for Rhode’s decisiveness to retreat from Ion’s dragon soul protection, who knew what would have happened.
Due to that reason, Rhode felt like the situation was getting worse and the Country of Darkness was beyond cure—no, perhaps the country was already a goner. After experiencing the initial, rigorous stages, the country became weaker and even decayed from the inside out. Even when Rhode gazed at the land of the Country of Darkness from a distance, he sensed a rotten and disgusting scent and that forced him to command his army to stop advancing. Rhode’s biggest flaw now was that he didn’t know what exactly was going on with the Country of Darkness. Judging from the state of Ion’s dragon soul protection, it was apparent that there was something wrong with Ion. As for what exactly went wrong… Rhode had no clue at all.
The only good news was that Gaya was resurrected and everything seemed normal with her. However, as she dealt a deadly attack on the enemy with all her rule power, her soul received a huge backlash. During this period, she could only lay in bed and recuperate. Rhode also used this moment to stop sending his troops out and only dispatched scouts to investigate the front line from time to time. But despite that, they had little success. Fortunately, with Icy Snow around, [Space Detection] acted as their high-performance radar. However, there was also a limit to her ability. Besides, there seemed to be many issues with the Country of Darkness, which turned the space around it unstable, disrupting Icy Snow’s detection.
“What’s wrong, Little Icy?”
Arriving at the deck of the magic warship and gazing at the young lady, Rhode couldn’t help but ask.
“Are you feeling unwell?”
“No, Big Brother. I’m fine.”
Upon hearing his concern, Icy Snow turned to him and shook her head with a smile.
“It’s just that the two Bubbles are a little too noisy in there…”
“I see…”
Upon hearing her answer, Rhode had a hard time responding. Ever since the two Bubbles used ‘fallacies’ to settle their sister-relationship with Icy Snow, the two proud Bubbles were a real pain in the neck for Icy Snow, demanding her to call them ‘big sisters’. Later, the enraged and speechless Icy Snow had no choice but to seek help from Canary. With Canary backing her up, the two brats held back much more.
Even though Icy Snow had only been around for a few days, Marlene and the others had already learned of her strictness. Although Icy Snow didn’t need to attend school in this world and complete assignments, she still made plans according to the habits of her previous life. Other than consuming food and taking breaks, she made changes to her plan, including free time, assisting Rhode in investigating the Country of Darkness, and practicing her skills. In the game, even though Icy Snow’s double talents weren’t that useful in a BOSS fight, they were absolutely vital in this world, which was why she put in a lot of effort to master her skill.
Of course, unlike Bubble who stayed up all night watching ‘animes’, Icy Snow went to bed at 10 p.m. sharp and woke up at 8 a.m…. Observing this behavior of hers, Rhode suspected if Icy Snow had obsessive-compulsive disorder like what Bubble mentioned…
“… Honestly, I’m still in disbelief, Big Brother… Big Sister really came back to life.”
Icy Snow said, lifting her head to admire the starry sky. Her eyes were flowing with nostalgia and memories. Upon hearing her words, Rhode remained silent, but stretched out his hand to caress Icy Snow’s head. He empathized with Icy Snow’s thoughts and feelings. Back then, it could be said that Rhode and his younger sister watched Icy Snow’s growth. But before the younger sister passed away, Icy Snow had already moved away with her family. The next time Rhode met Icy Snow was during his younger sister’s funeral. Icy Snow was heartbroken over the loss of this big sister who always accompanied her. And now, Icy Snow was elated to see his younger sister reappearing in front of her.
“Big Brother, will my original self… be aware of this good news?”
“I think so. I’ll bring you to meet her next time. I’m sure she’ll be happy to meet you.”
Rhode nodded to Icy Snow’s question. He had made up his mind to come up with a way to connect his home and Earth after moving the entire Dragon Soul Continent to the solar system. Not only would he be able to reminisce past everyday life, but he could also meet his close friends in the game. Of course, Icy Snow was no exception.
“Yes… Actually…”
Upon hearing Rhode’s answer, Icy Snow nodded with a smile. The latter gazed at him and blushed.
“… Big Brother… I’m really glad too. I thought there was no way for us to meet in reality. I didn’t expect to see you again because of this opportunity…”
Icy Snow said, turning around and lowering her gaze to the deck shyly. The pair of cat ears on her head seemed really nervous as they stood up, trembling. Then, Icy Snow stole a glance at Rhode and continued softly.
“Erm… Big Brother, I have a small request. If it’s possible, can we be like in the past where before I sleep, you…”
Icy Snow’s complexion turned red. Her voice became as soft as a buzzing mosquito;s. But the moment, as the young lady made up her mind and decided to speak, a high-pitched scream interrupted her.
“Woahhh! Master, I’m back!”
Along with this exaggerated scream, a huge colony of bats appeared in the night sky, squeaking as they spiraled in midair and headed toward where Rhode stood. Shortly after, a petite figure emerged among them. Upon witnessing the person, Rhode was taken aback.
“Angelina?”
At that moment, the young, noble vampire lady had lost her graceful demeanor. She was covered in filth from head to toe. Her expensive dress was torn and the skirt and sleeves were tattered in large holes. Her long, white hair was also burned and stained with smoke as though the product of failed hair-coloring. Rather than treating Angelina as a high-class descendant of the first vampire family, she looked more like a refugee now. Rhode couldn’t help but stare blankly at Angelina. In his memories, he couldn’t remember seeing this vampire in such a sorry state, apart from when Mini Bubble Gum forced her into the ‘spirit ball’.
Upon spotting Rhode, the battered and exhausted Angelina plopped herself down on the ground as though she had lost all her strength.
“Phew… I finally get to meet you, again Master,” she said with a sigh of relief.
