Chapter 12: Time of Slaughter
Lucas activated his time reversal ability, yanking Bernie, who had dodged, back under his descending blade.
One slash.
With a single, powerful stroke, he cleaved the three-star hero gnome in half like chopping wood.
Lucas then advanced, his sword in hand, as two icy wheels spun towards the frightened members of the Mad Axe Gang. They backed away in terror, huddling together in the narrow corridor.
The Ice Dance Garden spread out, and the icy wheels created by Starlight Radiance whirled into the gang members like merciless meat grinder blades.
Moisture in the air froze, creating drifting white frost and snowflakes. Crimson blood sprayed out explosively, staining the snow a vivid red. White and red snowflakes danced in the air currents stirred up by the spinning icy wheels.
When they fell, they buried the mangled limbs beneath them.
A layer of ice formed on the corridor walls, with blood splatters freezing into intricate coral-like ice sculptures.
Lucas walked forward through this corridor of strange beauty, with no one left standing ahead.
The icy wheels of Starlight Radiance flew to the end of the corridor, then returned, shattering the ice on the blade and slotting back into the scabbard on Lucas's lower back.
Lucas arrived at the entrance to the staircase leading to the second floor.
According to the strategy guide, there was a spacious hall below, with Jumu's room at the end of the right-side corridor.
From above, chaotic footsteps and shouting commands could be heard from the hall on the second floor. Some Mad Axe Gang members had managed to escape and inform the others below about the situation.
They knew they couldn't leverage their numerical advantage in the narrow corridor, so they chose to make their stand in the second-floor hall.
Lucas leapt over the third-floor railing and jumped down. A loud explosion immediately followed.
The Mad Axe Gang had set up a cannon in the second-floor hall!
The cannon was an 18-pound muzzle-loading cannon decommissioned from naval warships, capable of firing solid shot and grapeshot. It was aimed directly at the staircase leading from the third floor to the second floor.
Seeing the intruder appear, a gang member holding a torch lit the fuse.
In the enclosed space, the cannon's roar was deafening. As the muzzle spewed flames and thick smoke, a large volley of grapeshot was discharged. The fan-shaped barrage covered the entire staircase area. This weapon, designed for naval bombardments, displayed its unstoppable power in this environment.
The barrage swept through, instantly collapsing the staircase. Debris and splinters flew in the swirling dust, and some gang members who were too close were hit, screaming in agony.
Was the intruder dead? It was unclear.
But the temperature in the hall plummeted suddenly. Everyone's breath turned into white mist, and frost quickly formed on the walls and ceiling. It was as if winter had arrived. Exposed skin felt a cutting pain from the cold.
"The intruder is still alive. Find her and kill her!" someone shouted.
At this moment, a massive icy wheel rose among the crowd. Several severed gang members' bodies were flung up, hitting the ceiling, their blood quickly freezing and sticking them to the ice layer above.
The rising icy wheel carved a deep groove in the ceiling before slashing down and spinning forward. It only stopped when it crashed into a wall. The ice on the wheel shattered, revealing a curved blade inside.
The curved blade spun along the groove cut by the icy wheel, finally being caught steadily by a hand.
Only then did the Mad Axe Gang members realize that the invading elf had somehow hidden among them.
He held a curved blade in his left hand, the blade's surface beginning to freeze from the energy emanating from it.
The other hand held a machete, which was covered with white holy flames.
In the air, icy mist flowers bloomed. The extreme cold pierced into the bones.
Some members of the Mad Axe Gang were paralyzed and unable to move.
Then, a ring of white light with ice crystals spread out from the elf as the center, instantly freezing the nearby gang members into ice sculptures.
Following this, a ring of holy energy shockwave spread out from the elf.
The powerful impact shattered the humanoid ice sculptures, sending shards flying outward with the shockwave.
In a short time, the hall, which had been filled with people, was now nearly empty.
The few remaining members of the Mad Axe Gang scattered around the hall, trembling as they faced the invading elf, unsure if it was from fear or the cold.
Clang, clang, clang...
A strong member of the Mad Axe Gang was pushing the cannon, adjusting its direction.
His expression was very dull, unaffected by the frozen corpses around him. He aimed the cannon at the elf, then methodically cleaned the barrel and poured in a bag of gunpowder.
He was meticulous.
Like a well-trained sailor in a naval battle, as long as he was alive and the ship was not sunk, he had to keep his assigned cannon firing at the enemy.
All the others responsible for the cannon were dead, so handling it alone was much slower.
Lucas walked over and, with one slash, decapitated him.
Gabiru, a three-star hero.
All his abilities were focused on operating cannons. If it were a naval artillery battle, he would be an excellent hero-level gunner.
His other abilities were mediocre.
Jabulres's body slumped over the cannon barrel, and the surviving gang members dropped their weapons and fled in terror.
Lucas ignored those cowards, carrying his sword as he headed toward Jumu's bedroom.
He passed through a short corridor. At the end was his target this time.
In front of a finely carved door stood a woman in a black robe.
The woman's appearance was very beautiful, with light purple hair and a headband inlaid with a circle of gemstones. As the elf approached, the gemstones on the headband lit up one by one.
"Elf, the fact that you made it here shows you're strong, but this is as far as you go."
Lucas gripped his curved blade in one hand and his machete in the other, continuing to walk forward.
"Brenda, is Jumu inside?"
Brenda, a dark sorceress, specialized in curses, poisons, and corrosive magic.
She was the concubine of the ox-horned demon Jumu.
Her power rating was three stars, but players universally acknowledged that Brenda was overpowered, so her true strength was probably three and a half stars.
Facing a treacherous three-and-a-half-star dark sorceress, one should be cautious.
Brenda said, "A dead person doesn't need to know the answer."
The light in the corridor dimmed, and eerie wails sounded from all around. Countless ghostly hands reached out from the walls towards Lucas, while a cloud of black mist rose behind her, and a giant cobra's head emerged.
Incantations echoed in the narrow space. Dark energy surged towards Lucas.
Lucas ignored the imminent threat, setting the machete in front of him, with his right arm glowing with white light.
"Brenda, it seems no one told you what kind of power I just used."
Holy Guardian!