Darkness…

  They were surrounded by darkness, snow, and winds that could rip a tree from the ground. The blizzard was anything but gentle. Luna occasionally found herself gging while trying to resist the strong winds. The world around them continued to rage but neither of them dared to stop even for a second.

  She also kept on hearing distorted whispers coming from the blizzard. But she didn’t dare to respond, even after she heard one of the wraiths whisper out her name.

  To ignore them, Luna kept focusing on the floating sphere of fmes that floated in the faint darkness, acting as a guiding light for Luna as she followed Storm Rider. It remained undisturbed despite the powerful winds fighting to blow it out. Not only was it a source of light, but it was also a warning to any creatures that would’ve attacked them after sensing their presence.

  According to the Fire Keeper, the frozen dark sea was safe territory mostly because the Kraken scared off most cursed creatures with its bloodlust and power to consume life essence. To the habitats of this level, this was considered a red zone and no creature usually tried to even fly over it except from Storm Rider of course.

  She was bold enough to build a base of operations for herself. With her level of sorcery, she created a barrier that affected the life essence of Kraken along with any cursed creature that came close to it.

  Not even Emperors dared to approach it.

  Luna followed Storm Rider in silence as she led the way to the heart of the blizzard where she had sin the Corrupted Deity. The sound of her footsteps against the ice grew faint while the wind around them didn’t stop. Luna was sure she would be an ice sculpture by now if it wasn’t for the cloak protecting her.

  That fact alone made her wary for Valentine who wasn’t wearing his armor at all. At least that’s what Luna assumed at the moment. Len, Snow, Gail, and Darkness…were they okay? How were they coping with this level? What kind of beasts were they facing? And had one of them make it to the circle.

  All those questions were unanswered.

  And yet, she was dying to know the state of her team even though Len was going to be enraged by her presence here. But that was another day’s problem. Right now, they needed to regroup and discuss the situation.

  Luna was still against the whole thing of versing a pantheon. Even though Storm Rider had cimed it to be a possible feat for a person with a god weapon and a good level of Qi manipution.

  Of course, Luna was sure there was more than just those two factors. A god weapon wasn’t going to make her a god killer of sorts. But from the little knowledge Luna acquired from webtoons and webnovel, she learned that only something created by a god could fully destroy something created by a god. The sword and the deity on the next floor both shared a divine origin so it made sense for the sword to be a weapon capable of killing the pantheon and the Mildrith itself.

  ‘Ah, gods. I swear we can just wait for reinforcements.’ She scowled and looked ahead.

  Suddenly, she noticed a twisted figure in the snow and stopped for a moment. It was a humanoid shadow with two glowing blue orbs gazing at her with intensity. The gentle fming dimmed, warning her of the cursed creature silently watching them.

  “Lunaris Feng!” Storm Rider’s voice called out.

  Luna heard her name and was quick to respond. “Yes!”

  By the time she realized her mistake, she was already too te because the shadowy figure was gone and a blue thin hand reached out of the snow and grabbed her by the wrist.

  ‘It wasn’t Storm Rider.’ Luna reacted fast by throwing a punch with her free arm.

  Kuak!

  Her fist was stopped by another strange blue hand that emerged from the snow and grabbed her fist with incredible strength. Her opponent was a fast one it seems.

  Now that she was in its grip, the snow twisted and transformed into a maw that could swallow her whole. However, before it swallowed her Luna started to hear shallow cries coming from its mouth. They were eerie and almost sounded like whispers that weren't affected by the wind around her.

  “May the gods forgive me…may the gods forgive me…may the gods forgive me…I can't rest if you don't forgive...”

  "What the..." Luna battled to yank her hands out of its grip. But even with her strength, the creature didn't release her. It unleashed its power and the snow around them grew even more to the point where not even Storm could see them. It had picked Luna because she was easier prey in this situation.

  With its goril strength, it slowly pulled Luna in without any difficulty. Its cold breath penetrated the cloak's protection yer and reached her face. Was really how she was going to go out, eaten by a freakin snow creature?

  “You…you…you…reek of them!”

  Just then, a ring of fmes appeared between her and the snow creature. The hot golden fmes easily severed the creature's blue hands and Luna was freed from its grip. The creature then screeched and the winds grew even stronger. Ice started to materialize out of thin air but it melted right away from Storm Rider's growing fmes as they moved to create a thin dome around Luna.

  It unleashed its bloodlust and revealed a humanoid blue-skinned demon with spikey white hair and a fake wide smile on its face then lunged at Luna with ice cws ready to swing.

  Sizzle.

  Its cws melted after touching the thin barrier with its ice. Luna thought she was safe until the thin yer of heat disappeared and the creature opened its mouth to bite into her.

  Instantly, Luna summoned the Sun Ember and sidestepped to avoid its icy cws and wide mouth. She then twisted her body and swung the forged weapon with strength that made the air tremble and the ice floor crack when it stopped the sword with just its arm.

  At the same time, Storm Rider appeared behind it with a hand charged with pure golden light. She had made sure that this attack was strong but not strong enough to break the surface they were walking on.

  Bang!

  With just a palm strike, Storm Rider managed to destroy the creature's body after striking its back and sending a bst of Qi through its energy cores. The creature paused and its body shattered like perfect gss. However, that didn’t mean it was dead.

  “I told you not to respond to anything!” She turned her eyes angry gaze to the confused Luna.

  “I’m sorry. What the hell was that?”

  “An annoying creature created by Oceai, one of the sea god’s servants. It's a humanoid cursed creature that feeds on souls. It's something Oceai created during his madness, of course. They’re so damn hard to kill…because they touch souls whenever they make contact with a person. It has touched my soul so it understands my Domains.”

  While she expined, Storm Rider chanted and more rings of fire appeared around the pair. She moved closer to Luna and focused on the darkness to sense any shifts. She could feel every fluctuation of life essence in the air.

  Raaaaarrrr!

  A screech came from above and the Snow Creature appeared above them. Its form had changed once again, this time with two extra arms holding swords. Storm acted and the rings of fire merged into threads of fire that engulfed the snow creature once it came into contact with them.

  Luna watched the darkness fade away as the creature was painfully eaten up by the stoic witch’s power.

  And again, this new form shattered.

  “Lunaris, its next form is going to be immune to my fmes. Snow Puppets can adapt to Auras, so I need you to destroy its third form. I can't get into details but know that if you don't kill it now, you will die a very horrible death.”

  'Thanks for that information.'

  Luna then extended her senses into the darkness and tried to sense any movement or life. The creature seemed to be very good at using the snowy surroundings by turning to snow itself. While in that form, Luna couldn't feel any life energy leaking from it--making it invisible till it tried to move.

  ‘Focus…focus…’ she stared at the darkness as she ignored the noises in the background. Her eyes moved around for a while before narrowing when she noticed a weak change in the environment.

  'There!'

  Quickly, she dashed past Storm Rider and unleashed one of her techniques: The One Thousand Death Swings. She took on a unique stance, seconds before the snow puppet returned. This time, it looked just like a blue human with pointed ears and snow-white hair…

  Its body was now covered in a blue aura with a wide smile on its face. But. Its smile quickly faded when it saw the dark-eyed woman just about to swing her deadly weapon.

  “You reek of their blood!” it screamed, its skin bubbling as he tried to take on its previous form that had already touched Luna's soul and adapted to her strength.

  Luna’s swings vanished as she swung her new sword with great precision and accuracy that even surprised Storm Rider herself. Each swing directed the Jian to a specific part of the Snow Puppet. Its flesh was cut down to bits, bone to nothing, perfectly cutting down the cursed creature like it was made out of thin paper.

  Luna's focus didn't shudder one bit. She maintained her breaths while her muscle memory performed every swing just as she had practiced this technique a long time ago. She didn't notice she had stopped till she was hit by fatigue that forced her to colpse on her knees.

  'As expected, this was the perfect technique for such a situation.' She smirked when she noticed the blood sizzling off her bde. The creature hadn't shattered this time around and its remains were now scattered on the ice surface, steaming with heat.

  ‘One thousand swings is ridiculous, Xio Min Feng.’ She felt like compining to the creator about the sacred technique. ‘No wonder he was the only human capable of using it.’

  “Impressive. Now let's get moving. This puppet may be dead. But once it dies, its information is passed on to another one.”

  “Can’t a girl just take a breather? I barely have any stamina.” Luna spoke in broken gasps. The cold air was unpleasant to her lungs, it also left a sharp pain in her windpipe.

  “Sadly, we can’t take a breather in a pce like this.”

  “Oh, I hadn’t noticed,” Luna responded with a bnk tone and forced herself back on her feet. Even after growing to this level, the One Thousand Death Swings technique was still a one-time use technique. This was the same for its creator because humans had finite stamina.

  When Luna acquired it, she thought she could change that single fw. But, to her disappointment, no level of training could take away the fw.

  Snap!

  Storm Rider snapped her fingers and a ring of fire appeared around them. “This is a small security measure to keep you safe while you recover. Let’s go.”

  With those words, they continued crossing the blizzard and frozen sea. This time around, Luna stayed quiet and didn’t trail far behind because Storm stayed around a meter ahead to avoid getting separated again by illusions.

  She decided to stay quiet about the Snow Puppet's mumblings since Storm mentioned that the creatures reflected Oceai's madness during his final days.

  ***

  After a few more hours of nothing but silence and the sound of wind, Luna caught sight of more vague erect images in the snow. They were tall, stretching up to the sky where her eyes couldn’t follow. They leaned to the left, swayed by the relentless winds. Her eyes brightened up when she noticed the ancient structures…

  "Pilrs," Luna whispered, her voice barely audible over the howling gale. She let out a sigh of relief, her breath visible in the freezing air.

  Finally, a sign of nd.

  Picking up the pace, Luna caught up to the silent Storm Rider who wore a vigint look. Her face was expressionless, her gaze sharp and focused. The Fire Keeper wasn’t very familiar with these parts because she was used to an aerial view of this pce.

  "I guess we’re here." Storm Rider’s voice didn’t sound excited at all. In fact, when her eyes nded on the pilrs, her expression turned colder.

  "Where exactly?"

  "One of the former temples of the dead god of the sea. After its colpse, it turned into a home for a few bastards, and they’re very hard to kill."

  "Hard to kill?" Luna swallowed nervously, her initial joy at finding nd quickly turning into fear.

  "What exactly made its nest there?"

  "Bugs." Storm Rider hissed. "We won’t fight them, though. We just have to cross quietly. I know you’re familiar with hiding your presence."

  ‘Oh.’

  Luna nodded. “Yes, I am.”

  ‘Death Bugs it is.’

  Just thinking about it made her feel somber. Aside from fear, somberness was probably her second most felt emotion throughout this subjugation.

  ‘I need to take a long vacation after this and maybe get some therapy to avoid the nightmares I’m about to get.’

  When they made it to the snowy ndscape, the first thing Storm Rider did was extinguish the fireball and the fire ring. It had served its purpose of guiding them.

  Now that they were at the shore, Luna got to see what the pilrs looked like up close.

  Unlike Storm’s territory, which was mostly dark, this part of Neptune was bathed in the faint white light of something akin to the sun of this level.

  The five tall white structures stood majestically near the shore. They were a pristine white color, each one adorned with unreadable runes that seemed to pulse with ancient energy. The pilrs were positioned to create a pentagon-shaped floor with a magical circle intricately drawn into it. However, the magic circle was not in the best shape…

  The white coral floor beneath was covered in a network of cracks, with some sections missing entirely. The once-perfect geometric design was marred by time and perhaps battle.

  Between the cracks, Luna noticed millions of life forms hiding under the floor. Tiny movements caught her eye, revealing the presence of countless creatures lurking in the shadows of the cracked coral.

  ‘Cursed Beasts! Each one of them is a cursed beast,’ Luna realized, her heart racing. The sheer number of them was staggering, and the thought of what they could do if provoked sent a chill down her spine.

  Storm Rider remained vigint, her eyes scanning the area with intense focus.

  "We have to move quietly and avoid drawing their attention," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the howling wind. "Any disturbance could awaken them and we cannot afford to fight them all at once."

  Luna nodded, steeling herself for the next phase of their journey. The stakes were higher than ever and one wrong move could mean their end. With silent determination, they continued onward, mindful of the lurking danger beneath their feet.