Path of the Slayer B1 C18. The Arden You Know Is Gone

There it was.

I could see her going all out this time, like a wintery wraith aiming to bury me cold under the ice.

Ruthless. Harsh. Beautiful.

Thankfully, my visor hid my face in an impenetrable shadow. Or she would’ve seen my smile as we clashed like the mighty magic warriors we used to fantasize about when we were younger.

I ended up on the back foot, trying to survive her overwhelming avalanche of an onslaught, which certainly forced me to respect her more. It was freaking cold, and she was combining her powers in ways I’d never seen from her before.

Backing away, I tried to create distance while using the wreckage in the room to my advantage. My entire front trailed blue-white frost that coated me like a fine layer, seeping deeper into my body the longer I fought her.

Seraphina used Rime Dash twice, angling off to my left and then repositioning behind me in straight lines. The trail of ice she left behind jetted up with sharp points that promised to pierce my legs if I tried to go to my left, almost setting a boundary.

Before she boxed me in, I twisted around and swung a horizontal cut for her side. My Path Energy raged against the chilling magic seeping into me, but it wasn’t made for such an effect, which made my energy reserves suffer drastically.

Seraphina stopped on a coin and leaned out of the way of my swing.

Once I missed, she slashed upward and released a new version of her Rime Slash. A bluish crescent of ice formed from the end of her sword swing. Then a pulse of Aether and magic sent the formation flying as a short-range crescent at my front, all within a blink of an eye.

It was fancy.

But not quick enough.

I rushed out of the way with a hard side step, the growing frost breaking off of my gear and body. The crescent flew by my right side and clashed with some wreckage in the back while I closed the gap and swung at Seraphina’s legs.

Instead of stepping back, she performed a short Rime Dash back followed by another Rime Slash. But this time, she aimed her icy slash at the rising spikes of ice jutting up from her backward dash.

The impact sent shards of ice flying in a sharp spray that would’ve ripped through a Rank 1 like they were made of paper. My body while adorned in the Fallen Slayer Set was made of harder stuff, enduring every impact, even if they left me bleeding in a few spots.

The worst part was the deepening chill, but that didn’t stop me from taking advantage of Pain Eater Gluttony.

I rushed her down with a burst of extra Path Energy blasting from the soles of my boots. She tried to divert out of the way, but I readjusted on a whim, guessing left and getting it correct.

My sword went high for a thrust at her face, bringing her attention upward before I let go of the two-handed grip and freed my right metal fist.

I drew in close as our blades collided and slammed the half ripper’s inactive knuckles into the armor covering her abdomen. The metallic impact, backed by the counterattack power from Pain Eater Gluttony, should’ve folded her in half.

It nearly did, but something new I hadn’t known about replied in kind. Hoarfrost and icicles erupted from where I struck and all over her torso in a backlash that rocked me off my own feet.

The both of us flew back, with me crashing through some of the wreckage behind me and some lingering ice formations. She went flying into a wall, with her only saving grace being that she was Rank 3. The ice armor coating her absorbed most of the impact while shattering into fine pieces.

As I got back on stable feet, the bronze adventurers became more of a nuisance by combining some of their powers smartly. Christi pulled together frost and water into spears that she merged with Dan’s force pulses and Kel’s hardiness power. Nick kept flashing his lights in my face while their combined attack smashed the side of my head and actually made me stumble a little.

Huh, not bad.

I almost wanted to be proud of them.

I once told them they should combine their powers for more effective maneuvers instead of trying to hog individual kills.

Good job. Now they were a bigger threat to me while Seraphina was dashing back full tilt for another go.

I could see the full danger of going up against Rankers while holding back – they could use their powers more often than I could. Some powers were certainly weaker, but that last defensive backlash from Seraphina was certainly stronger than most – a Rare power no doubt.

It was time to end things before it got too dangerous for me.

Great Skill activated: Multi-Striker Potency.

I lunged away from Seraphina before she could reach me. The bronze adventurers didn’t realize I was turning my attention on them until it was too late – my left hand meeting all of their faces in a row of slaps that dislocated a jaw here and there.

I got the desired effect and knocked them out without killing them.

That didn’t mean any of them were out of play just yet.

I grabbed Christi by the throat and turned with her raised in front of me just when Seraphina dashed in for another magic slash. Her eyes widened at the sight of the defenseless Rank 1 girl and aborted her attack. That didn’t mean she could escape the consequences as I shoved Christi fast, like tossing the trash.

I nearly let out a tsk in disappointment when Seraphina dropped her frosted spike coating to catch the bronze adventurer. She should’ve dodged.

Instead, she left herself open to a backhand to the cheek that sent her sprawling backwards with Christi on her. The sharpness in her glacial eyes was gone, and before her Vitality could remove her daze, I was already on top of her.

Seraphina tried to roll Christi out of the way and put herself between me and the bronze adventurer. That was noble of her, but she was still being dumb by not realizing I was targeting her, so I had my greatsword rest on her neck to get the message across.

She froze beneath me, and I watched her expression in the open visor of her helmet. Flickers of emotions revealed themselves before accumulating into an icy glare that looked into the shade that hid my face.

“Do what you must with me,” she said. “Just let the others go.”

I nearly laughed.

She hadn’t changed much, had she?

She was still that noble imperial woman who was as stubborn as she was righteous. Yet, she hadn’t kept that up when it came to us.

I felt bitter about that. But it was the type of bitterness that came with acceptance. And closure.

I removed my sword from her neck and took a few steps back. She watched me retreat, and I watched her in return, the both of us remaining cautious until we had the boundaries of distance established.

Then, after half a minute of staring, I saw her relax a little. In return, I placed my greatsword on my back.

With a wave of my hand, I indicated for her to collect her people. Then I pointed at the Portal. The message was clear.

“You’re letting us go?” she asked.

I nodded. That was the message.

“Why did we fight, then?”

I shrugged.

She didn’t look satisfied by that, but she would have to make it work.

While under my gaze, Seraphina carefully maneuvered around and picked up the bronzes first. She kept an eye on me the whole time while I remained like a still sentinel, which I practically was.

I was the Realm Master of this place, and I didn’t want random adventurers poking through. I hadn’t gotten a chance to settle in and do some collecting and crafting either, which I was slowly getting the itch for.

Seraphina finished returning the bronzes through the Portal. Then she went into the hole where her friends had crashed through and collected them carefully. She returned them to the Portal as well, leaving her with me.

She didn’t leave, and I watched her curiously while keeping my emotions in check.

“Did a short, dark-skinned nomad come through here?” She turned to me with hope glinting in her eyes. “His name is Arden, and just Arden. He came from Lady Tiffany’s Home, an orphanage for nomads and imperials of unfortunate origins. He’s a little shorter than me, and he was last seen with an artificer device on his right arm. He, um, has some of your features, though not to your extent.”

The only thing she could see on me was my dark skin and my much longer dreadlocks. Oh, and that I was twice my old weight in muscle.

I was curious if she would make the connection based on the half ripper on my right side, but maybe the cursed treasure was too outlandish to be associated with the old me.

She waited, as if she couldn’t accept my silence as an answer.

Well, Seraphina, it was nice to know you still cared. But it was too little, too late. Though I supposed she would not move on until I gave her something.

Using Path Energy, I made my voice booming and unrecognizable. I sounded like a monster in the shape of a human, just to get the point across.

“The Arden you know is gone.”

Her grip on her sword tightened as her eyes widened and trembled. Then they narrowed into a fine line, almost like two blades of ice.

“What did you do to him?” she demanded.

I said nothing.

Seraphina’s eyes glowed with vengeful Aether and ice magic. A chilling frost circled around her. Then she spoke with a voice that resounded like glacial ice breaking.

“I swear this on my name as Lady Seraphina Frostmere. I will find you. I will force you to tell me everything you know about Arden before I give you my judgment.”

This time, I replied, “You’ll have to stop being a weakling for that.”

After fixing me with one more glare, Seraphina turned and left through the portal. She left half the room covered in ice. The other half had icy constructions and damages that remained because of her powers.

When I was sure she and the others wouldn’t return, I dropped the big bad nomad act and let myself shiver like I was going to die of hypothermia.

Crap, she took me down to 28% in Path Energy.

At that point, I couldn’t risk using my Path Magic, or I would’ve lost too much Path Energy. That was why I’d played dirty toward the end, although I didn’t expect her to give in that easily.

The screwed up part was that I needed to go meditate and recover Path Energy to 100% again. There was still enough time for a new party of adventurers to storm into my Realm. And I was damn certain of who they would send next.

“I really am the type to draw trouble.”

At the very least, I was a Realm Master.

[You are no longer in combat! Realm Master privileges reengaged!]

I looked back at the shimmering Portal. Back there was my home world, my humble origins. Back there, Seraphina had it in mind that the current me had done something bad to the old me, which was kind of true depending on how you looked at it.

I could’ve remained silent.

I could’ve said something more vague and thrown her off.

Instead, I’d given her motivation to seek me out. The unfortunate part was that I would probably outpace her even further, since my growth as a Pathwalker out-scaled hers as a Ranker.

Still, I wouldn’t mind seeing if she somehow grew. Maybe she would reach Rank 4 or something quickly enough and surprise me. I doubted it, but I still held out hope for her.

“That was terrible,” Hellion grumped. “The peasants got away with hurting you without paying the proper price, my liege. Where was the bloodshed? Where was the carnage?”

“We might get some of that in the next round,” I replied. “If they send the gold adventurers.”

“Well, well, well. Gold and blood are fitting colors.”

I snorted at Hellion’s cursed words.

In truth, I wouldn’t mind if they failed to send the golds in time. Then I could finally focus on conducting research, gathering resources, and starting up some artificer productions. But if they did send the gold adventurers, well, I better be ready for them.

If I wanted to survive those bastards, I would have to spill blood.