On the southwest side of the Chaos Mountains, a menacing rift, like a giant scar on the earth, cut through the barren rocky terrain.
The steep cliff walls were jagged, and the craggy rocks, in the dim light, resembled the skeletal remains of sleeping giants. The air was dry and cold, filled with the scent of dust and rock.
This was precisely where Nirvana's fourth giant leg—the southwestern pillar supporting the terrifying mobile city—was entrenched.
The massive, rough stone leg, like a colossal pillar connecting heaven and earth, was deeply embedded in the bedrock at the bottom of the rift, its surface covered with ancient runes that glowed with an earthy yellow magical aura.
Each pulse, drawing energy from deep within the earth's ley lines, caused the rift to tremble, and falling gravel (crushed rocks) clattered against the silent ground, creating a dull echo.
From a high vantage point, the base of the giant leg appeared like a small sun emitting an ominous yellow glow, casting an eerie light over the rift.
Its very existence was a cold declaration of the prelude to destruction.
A point of ice-blue starlight rapidly traversed this dark and rugged rift.
Gray, with his feet on a large, sharp-edged ice blade made of ice, moved as if gliding on a knife's edge, incredibly light.
The ice blade scraped against the steep rock walls, kicking up a shower of fine ice crystals and leaving long, winding frost trails.
The biting cold wind whistled past his ears, ruffling his characteristic black short hair, revealing sharp, hawk-like dark brown pupils.
The chill spread across his exposed, lean upper body, merging with the bone-chilling desolation of the surroundings.
His goal was clear, his mind focused.
However, just as he rounded a craggy giant rock towering dozens of meters high, and the massive base of the fourth giant leg was within reach—
"Buzz!"
In the depths of the dim valley floor ahead, a violently spinning, earthy yellow giant magic circle suddenly lit up without warning!
Rumble!!!
The earth's pulse suddenly became violent!
The ice blade beneath Gray's feet shook violently!
The hard rock ground he stood on began to violently shake, bulge, and collapse like a soft blanket!
Deep, black cracks instantly tore open the ground, like greedy, gaping mouths!
Huge rocks rained down from the cliff walls above, crashing down with a destructive force!
Furthermore, countless giant arms made of sharp gravel (crushed rocks) twisted out from underground, reaching aggressively for Gray in mid-air with dull whooshing sounds!
A torrent of earth and stone, mixed with the deafening sound of collapse, threatened to completely engulf the tiny ice-blue dot in an instant!
Gray's pupils constricted!
Yet, his body, driven by instinct, made an exquisitely precise reaction.
He suddenly pushed off the side of the rapidly sliding ice blade with his left foot!
Crack!
As the ice blade shattered from the recoil, the scattered ice crystals, propelled by the impact, instantly spun rapidly around his body, forming several thick ice prism shields!
"Ice Make: Octagonal Ice Crystals!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Several falling giant rocks and gravel (crushed rock) arms fiercely slammed into the facets of the octagonal ice crystals, sending ice shards flying!
The shield shook violently, almost shattering!
At the same time, Gray used the force to flip in mid-air, dodging several fierce grabs!
As his body plummeted towards a relatively flat rock platform to the side, he pointed his right hand downwards, unleashing a torrent of cold air!
"Ice Make: Staircase!"
Several layers of chilling ice stairs instantly extended into shape along his falling trajectory, like a sky-road of ice crystals!
Gray's toes landed precisely, using the ice stairs to leap up again!
His movements were fluid and incredibly perilous!
All of this happened within a few seconds, from when he leaped from the suddenly collapsing ground to his final, graceful landing!
When he landed steadily on top of a relatively intact giant rock, the upper part of his clothing had been completely torn to shreds by the falling gravel (crushed rocks), revealing his muscular chest, with patches of frost clinging to it.
His gaze was as sharp as a drawn blade, locked onto the figure that had abruptly appeared at the bottom of the valley.
"Tsk tsk tsk, where did this wild kid come from? His movements are quite agile." A voice, slightly teasing and greedy, came intermittently amidst the roar of falling rocks, carrying a discordant, metallic grating sound.
Gray focused his gaze.
He saw a thin, middle-aged man in an earthy yellow suit standing steadily in the center of a flat rock area ahead.
Under his neatly combed brown short hair, his right eye wore a round monocle that gleamed with cunning light.
Earthy yellow magical light, like living creatures, danced on his fingertips as he observed Gray with great interest.
It was Sol, one of Jose's Four Elements of Phantom Lord, the Mage who controlled the earth—Earth Element Sol.
Gray's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly: "Someone from Phantom Lord... Sol?"
He recognized the face; he had seen it in the intelligence pictures Ezreal brought back.
"Oh? The kid actually knows me?" Sol adjusted his monocle, putting on a feigned expression of surprise, but the look in his eyes behind the monocle was filled with undisguised contempt and scrutiny of a weaker opponent. "It seems those old geezers at Fairy Tail value this broken leg quite a bit, even sending a kid. What, are the Ice Mages going to nibble on dirt clods too?"
He casually raised his hand, and a massive surge of earthy yellow magic instantly covered a giant rock about to fall from above!
Buzz!
The rock abruptly halted in mid-air, then, as if kneaded and rounded by an invisible giant hand, it rapidly changed shape, transforming into an "Earth-Stone Golem" three meters tall, pieced together from rough rocks!
This golem had no distinct facial features, only two "eyes" formed by earthy yellow magic embedded in its rocky head, staring intently at Gray!
It took heavy, rocky strides, each step causing the ground to shake, and swung its massive stone fist, bringing with it a tearing shriek through the air, fiercely smashing towards the rock Gray stood on!
"Earth's Miracle: Adamant Golem!"
"..." Gray had no interest in responding.
A cold glint flashed in his eyes, and his left fist clenched like lightning.
Buzz! A dazzling ice-blue magic circle instantly appeared in front of his fist, and cold air surged forth!
"Ice Make: Lancer!"
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Dozens of arm-thick, sharp-tipped ice lances, accompanied by bone-chilling frosty winds and piercing shrieks through the air, rained down like an ice-blue downpour!
Puff puff puff puff—!
A dense sound of piercing rang out!
The massive body of the charging rock giant was like a sandbag riddled with steel needles!
The ice lances deeply embedded themselves into the hard rock, leaving numerous deep pits!
Large chunks of frozen and detached gravel (crushed rocks) fell scattered!
The golem's charge was abruptly halted by this dense volley of ice lances, its rocky limbs becoming sluggish and stiff!
"Trivial..." Sol's sneer was cut short, suddenly turning into a look of shock and doubt!
Gray's figure had, at some unknown moment, appeared like a phantom beneath the golem's clumsily raised stone arm!
He used the ice lances to push off with his toes, leaping high into the air, his hands cupped in front of his chest, and dazzling ice-blue magic burned like flames!
"Roar—!!!"
A tiger's roar, echoing through the rift, exploded in mid-air!
An ice-frost giant tiger—Ice Make: White Tiger—even larger than the rock giant, entirely condensed from crystalline ice imbued with extreme cold magic, revealed its majestic upper body in the air!
It opened its giant mouth, overflowing with cold air and interlocking fangs, towards the stone giant's rocky head below, fiercely biting down with an extreme cold will!
Boom!!!!
Pure ice power and a condensed body of earth and stone collided violently at close range!
The deafening roar even temporarily drowned out the pulsating sound of Nirvana's giant leg!
Ice shards mixed with large amounts of rock fragments splashed outwards in a circular explosion!
"Ugh..." The rock giant only let out a dull groan, its massive head, along with half of its upper body, completely shattered and disintegrated under the terrifying bite and impact of the White Tiger's ice crystal teeth!
Large chunks of frozen debris rained down!
Only its broken shoulders and trembling stone arms remained of its entire upper body!
And the ice-frost White Tiger, due to the powerful recoil, also disintegrated in mid-air into a sky-filling storm of crystalline ice, accompanied by several deep, long cracks appearing on its body!
Sol's contemptuous expression instantly froze, and his monocle almost slipped off his nose!
For the first time, a serious expression appeared in his eyes.
Before Sol could catch his breath, Gray's cold voice rang out amidst the still-unsettled roar of the ice crystal storm:
"Ice Make: White Snake!"
Whoosh!
Several long, thin ice chains, rapidly condensed, suddenly shot out from the storm!
They did not aim directly for Sol himself, but like living, agile snakes, they coiled eerily and swiftly around the rock giant's remaining lower body and its two massive stone arms!
An intensely deep, cold white mist instantly spread!
Crack!
Crackling!
As the white snakes coiled around the massive rock body, the runes on its surface instantly dimmed!
Immediately after, the rock visibly lost its color, becoming grayish-white and fragile at a speed visible to the naked eye!
In just one breath!
This several-meter-tall, incredibly hard rock giant completely froze and shattered into a pile of ordinary ice blocks and frozen earth, devoid of magical support!
"What?!" Sol abruptly took a step back, his monocle reflecting the shattered rock debris filling the air, and his face finally showed a hint of incredulous shock.
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right nobut who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/TripleCrown
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"