Swish!
The light arrow penetrated the defense ahead, effortlessly puncturing the skeletal dragon’s eye socket that was burning in spiritual flames. Shortly after, a dazzling brilliance emanated, while explosion of airwaves and power of light overturned the skeletal dragon’s skull. In the blink of an eye, the skull shattered into bits and the spiritual flames dissipated instantly. After losing its spiritual power, the massive skeletal dragon collapsed to the ground before letting out a cry, cracking into fragments of bones and losing its awe-inspiring authority.
“Phew…”
Gazing at the skeletal dragon that crumbled onto the ground, Icy Snow heaved a long sigh of relief, before leaping off the roof of the tower and landing stealthily on the city wall like a nimble cat. Her ears twitched slightly and she lifted the white jade longbow in her hand. Along with this action, she released yet another arrow that disappeared in a quick whoosh. In just a few seconds after the arrow resurfaced, another skeletal dragon dropped from the sky all of a sudden, crashing onto the city wall and scattering bone fragments everywhere. Meanwhile, Icy Snow shuttled across the falling, disintegrated bones, sprung over the city wall, and extended her arm again. She squinted her right eye as if aiming at a target in the sky. Then, she lifted her right arm slowly, pulled back the arrow on her bowstring, and released her fingers.
Boom!
Before Icy Snow did anything else, a white light beam comparable to a dragon breath erupted from the city wall below her, whistling across the sky with a thunderous momentum. At the area the white light beam struck, Chaos creatures fell one after another and even the gigantic skeletal dragons were as though hit by an iron bar after being swept by the attack. They let out blood-curdling screeches and crash-landed on the ground lifelessly. Looking at this scene, Icy Snow didn’t cheer like the other soldiers on the city wall. On the contrary, she held her forehead and let out another long sigh. Almost at the same time, an annoying voice she couldn’t be more familiar with blared in her ears.
“Gee, that won’t do, Little Icy. AoE is the way! What can you even do hitting those Chaos creatures one by one? Hit them all at once if you gotta do it! Isn’t that much better than wasting time like you?!”
“Aren’t you in charge of the other side, Bubble?!”
Upon hearing Bubble’s voice, Icy Snow turned around and glared like a furious kitten.
“It isn’t your turn to tell me what I should do. On the other hand, what are you doing on my side? Leader put you in charge of the other side of the defensive line. If you slip away now, whose fault will it be if something bad happens over there? Chaos hasn’t retreated yet. Can’t you be more wary? Really, you always behave this way whenever Leader isn’t around!”
“Gee, does it even matter? I’m just joking around, anyway. You lose if you take it so seriously.”
Facing Icy Snow’s accusations, Bubble pouted and showed an unconcern look. Upon seeing her reaction, Icy Snow shook her head helplessly and didn’t say anything more. She also knew that Bubble had such a personality. And no matter how much more she said, she couldn’t change this fact. As a matter of fact, in the beginning, Icy Snow didn’t want to be stationed here with Bubble. The entire guild knew that Bubble only listened to Rhode’s orders. Whenever Rhode wasn’t around, Bubble would be the biggest boss on her own and no one could lecture her except for Canary.
As a result, due to the aggressive attack of Chaos this time, Rhode had no choice but to split them up and post them in their respective defensive lines. Originally, Icy Snow wanted to defend with Canary. However, she was just an archer without much defensive means, so the original Canary might get hurt if only she were around. On the other hand, someone needed to watch over the original Bubble. And as a result, Rhode pondered over and over and finally arranged for both Canarys and the original Bubble to take charge of the other side of the Void Territory’s defensive line. Meanwhile, Icy Snow was quite frustrated to be left here with the projected Bubble. But she also knew that this was the best possible arrangement.
After all, the original Canary and Bubble were both humans and it would be a real problem if they were hurt. And with Bubble’s personality being the way it was, she would do anything without someone watching. Icy Snow had also heard Bubble bragging about how she once followed Erin and made a huge mess of the moon base. Back then, Bubble wasn’t as powerful as she was now and still dared to do something so brazen. And now, if no one watched her, perhaps she would really stir trouble. But with the two Canarys around, Bubble wouldn’t be able to cause any problem no matter what.
But this way, Icy Snow had a headache on her side… Unlike Bubble, Icy Snow was the most obedient with Rhode. And now, upon seeing Bubble once again leaving her post without permission and coming to her side to brag, Icy Snow was completely speechless. She was a smart and dutiful young lady who didn’t know much about sarcasm and all she could do regarding Bubble’s disregard for orders was to complain to Rhode. Meanwhile, Bubble was apparently immune to this tactic of hers already. All the words that Icy Snow said went in one ear and out the other, which left Icy Snow even more frustrated.
“You…!”
“Oh? Hey, it’s sneaking in from there!”
Just as Icy Snow was about to retort, Bubble suddenly yelled and pointed in exaggeration to the battlefront on the other side. Icy Snow glared at Bubble fiercely, raised her longbow, and shot an arrow without even aiming. Along with this action, a thunderous boom erupted and yet another skeletal dragon with its skull shattered collapsed and crashed onto the city wall.
“See. If I weren’t here to remind you, I’m sure you wouldn’t have stopped it.”
“If it weren’t for you bothering me, how would I even overlook it?!”
The fact that Bubble shook her head in a ‘you’re nothing without me’ gesture made Icy Snow even more furious. In the earlier battle on the floating warships, when she successfully used the Arrow of Time and Space, she felt as if she gained more mastery over this skill than ever before. As of that moment, she could be considered to be able to use the Arrow of Time and Space freely. For that reason, she coordinated with her time and space abilities and created a brand-new battle style.
Even though she seemed a little relaxed while she stood on the roof of the tower, gazing in all directions, as a matter of fact, she was scanning the battle progress with her ‘space’ ability. Therefore, without the need of eyes, she could detect enemy locations and determine which ones were the most dangerous. However, this interruption by Bubble caused Icy Snow to make a mess of the situation she already had a hard time sorting out.
Without a choice, Icy Snow had to use her ability to rescan the place again. Despite that, the culprit was still immensely pleased with herself and put up a smug look. The longer Icy Snow looked at Bubble, the more she wanted to shoot an arrow at her. But now, the task that Rhode assigned her was what mattered the most. So even though Icy Snow was infuriated, she didn’t continue arguing and supported the defensive line again.
“I’m busy right now. You should also hurry back, Bubble. Things will be bad if anything happens!”
Using her ‘space’ senses, even though Icy Snow knew that the defensive line that Bubble was in charge of was secure and nothing terrible happened during her absence, it made Icy Snow even angrier. Well, Bubble was a cleric, after all. Clerics were a class that excelled in ‘buff’ spells. With Bubble’s capability, it wasn’t surprising for her to cast a buff over the soldiers, and they could last for one to two hours without issues. On the other hand, Icy Snow couldn’t do that. Her ‘buffs’ as an archer weren’t as long lasting as Bubble’s. Besides, the ‘time’ and ‘space’ abilities were very demanding on her and couldn’t enhance a large group of soldiers. That was why Icy Snow had to be on her toes at all times.
But it wasn’t like there was a way around it. Clerics were a class that would outshine the rest whenever it involved casting ‘buff’ spells on a larger group of people. There was simply no comparison to an archer class like Icy Snow, which placed emphasis on individual heroism.
“Wow, you’re so slow. Let me show you how it’s done!”
After seeing Icy Snow shoot down another skeletal dragon, Bubble curled her lips and displayed a bit of an evil grin, before raising her arms high up. Shortly after, along with this action, a dazzling golden brilliance burst through the cloud and shrouded her entirety. Bubble made a few complicated gestures with her hands, extended her arms, and pointed ahead abruptly.
“Ssss…!”
Along with this action, the sky, which was initially covered by thick clouds, suddenly turned extremely bright. Soon after, dazzling golden brilliance sliced through the clouds like sharp blades and enveloped the battlefield. The Chaos creatures trembled under the golden light, emitted white smoke from their bodies, and vanished without a trace.
For a moment, the battlefield that was packed with Chaos creatures could be seen riddled with holes on the ground. Looking at this scene, the soldiers who guarded the city walls painstakingly let out joyous screams as though they couldn’t keep quiet any longer. Besides, perhaps an ordinary army would have collapsed a long time ago after being attacked all over the place and getting their formation torn apart.
However, the number of Chaos creatures was endless. In just a few moments, the openings that were blasted by Bubble were filled up by the Chaos creatures in the back again. But even so, the soldiers were still pumped up, proving that this move from Bubble was indeed a great morale booster. It was just like in many animated cartoons when the decisive battle was about to be won: the scene where ‘the clouds parted and the sun was revealed’ and the heavy and oppressive feeling of the clouds dispersed, while dazzling sunlight emerged. For ordinary people, it was really a kind of encouragement. And upon hearing the cheers of these soldiers, Bubble also waved her tiny fist in excitement, raised her eyebrows, and swept a glance at Icy Snow proudly.
“Hmph!”
Upon seeing Bubble’s gaze, it went without saying that Icy Snow knew why the former demonstrated this move before her. The fact that the soldiers who were on her side actually cheered for Bubble stirred up Icy Snow’s sense of confrontation. Moreover, these two young ladies were always bumping heads. Facing Bubble’s provocation, Icy Snow snorted, raised the longbow in her hand seriously for the first time and pulled back her hand. Along with this action, ten arrows coalesced from light took shape in her hands. Then she aimed at the sky and released her hand abruptly.
Swish———!
In an instant, the ten light arrows whistled in all directions as if missiles drawing long trails behind them and spreading out in a fan-like shape. In just a few moments, the arrows enveloped the entire battlefield and countless light beams formed by glimmers poured down like a rainstorm along with the trajectories of the light arrows, puncturing the Chaos creatures like they were razor-sharp blades.
If it were said that the Chaos creatures were pitch-black and filthy, the ten light arrows shot by Icy Snow were like the rags that wiped them clean. In the blink of an eye, the Chaos creatures that attacked the front were swept away, leaving behind only specks of dust drifting in the wind.
“Oooooh!”
Looking at this scene, the soldiers cheered in excitement. Apart from the soldiers of the Void Territory, there were also many players of Starlight among them who knew of the fights between Bubble and Icy Snow. One had to admit that these two adorable young brats were really affectionate. Many soldiers treated them as their own children. At that moment, while watching them bickering like kids, the soldiers also learned and joined in with the players who were cheering. In an instant, the intense atmosphere of the battlefield became much more relaxing.
“Hu… Hu… How’s that?”
Putting down the longbow in her hand, Icy Snow couldn’t help but gasp for air. Judging from her pale face, it was apparent that this move consumed a lot of her strength. But even so, she stared at Bubble unconvincingly and put up an expression as though saying: “What more do you have to say about that?”. However, Icy Snow didn’t expect Bubble to not give any response this time. On the contrary, Bubble turned around quickly.
“Looks like the situation is good now. I should get back to work. Continue working hard and don’t embarrass Leader.”
“You…!”
Upon seeing Bubble’s cheeky face pretending as though she didn’t witness anything earlier, Icy Snow almost vomited blood out of anger. This time, she finally snapped and shouted with a disgruntled glare at Bubble.
“Why must I listen to you! I don’t wanna!”
“Hahaha, why shouldn’t you? Oh! Right!”
In response to Icy Snow’s questioning, Bubble, however, was apparently unconcerned. On the contrary, she seemed to recall something and slapped her palm with force. Then, she turned around and looked at Ice Snow with a wry smile.
“By the way, Little Icy, since you’re so obedient, you will surely listen to Leader, right?”
“Of course I will listen to Big Brother! And I won’t ever listen to you!”
Even though Icy Snow didn’t know what Bubble was trying to say, the former responded quickly. However, she didn’t expect Bubble to reveal a proud smile upon hearing her answer.
“That’s the way! Since you listen to Big Brother, it means that you must also listen to me. Because I am considered your big-sister-in-law!”
“Big-sister-in-law?”
Icy Snow was taken aback.
“You aren’t even married to Big Brother, so why must I call you that?! Besides, Big Brother won’t ever want to be with you.”
“… Hehehe…”
In response to Icy Snow’s complaints, Bubble smiled and proudly puffed out her chest that was almost flat.
“Don’t say that, Little Icy. Even though we’re not husband and wife on paper, we’re still husband and wife in reality. Hahaha, how about that? Well, so be it if you’re not convinced. Big Sister Canary is also the same as me. I have gotten in bed with her too! Heh, heh. You can’t beat that! Little brat!”
“Husband and wife in reality? What are you talking about…?”
Faced with these bizarre words, Icy Snow was stumped. She was a really simple and innocent young lady and had barely come into contact with such matters. The moment she heard what Bubble said, she was baffled. But perhaps it was a woman’s intuition, so even if she didn’t know what Bubble was saying, she knew that it definitely wasn’t something nice.
Looking at Icy Snow’s expression, Bubble let out a chuckle.
“Well, it means…”
Boom!
However, before Bubble finished her sentence, an ear-deafening rumble sounded from the surface and interrupted her words. Both of them were taken aback. They lifted their heads and looked in the direction of the sound immediately. Then, they were stunned.
At the back of Chaos, the first thing that came into view was flickering red lightning in the sky. Not only that, but a scarlet eye that was as big as the sun opened from the void and stared at the battlefield below it.
What in the world is that?!
