Free Web NovelChapter 47: Colder than Ice
The carven opened up to a wider carven, which turned out to be the den of the monsters who had chased her into the carven in the first place. Since she had retreated deeper into it, she had appeared right in their den.
The cavern opened into a vast underground chamber. Massive ice pillars stretched from the floor to the ceiling, while frozen streams ran through the cavern like glowing blue veins. The air itself seemed frozen solid, and right in the middle of it stood the pack.
The monsters were huge wolves, about seven feet tall on average, with white fur, blue eyes, and long blue horns jutting out of their forehead. They were a whole pack, about thirteen in number. Unlike Silas, Chloe didn’t have a system to notice their ranks, but they felt way weaker than her in terms of aura. But if there was one thing about known S-Ranks, then it was their specialness. They were outliers. Even without a system or a rank detector, Chloe could tell exactly the ranks of the beasts.
Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, it seemed she had met one of the powerful creatures of the rift. They were all C-Ranks with a B-Rank leader. Their leader remained atop a frozen mound overlooking everything. It was larger than the others with fur that shimmered like crystal ice, while its eyes glowed with intelligence.
The others surrounded it, growling at Chloe. They could feel that she was strong, but they were confident in their strength.
Chloe took a step forward, and the temperature dropped. The wolves immediately noticed, their growls faltering. Their instincts screamed warnings: something was very wrong.
The pale girl standing before them felt less like prey and more like a natural disaster wearing human skin. One of the younger wolves couldn’t endure the tension and lunged. The beast exploded forward, ice gathering around its jaws, while its claws dug into the frozen ground.
Chloe merely looked at it, and the wolf froze solid in midair, turning into a sculpture of ice and crashing onto the ground, shattering into countless fragments. The entire pack froze from shock, but they were still beasts, monsters. Animals were stubborn, and wolves were a perfect example. They loved challenges. They didn’t know when to stop, even when they were losing.
They all attacked, pouncing at her with the force of a disaster. Anyone standing in their path would die from a heart attack. It was scary. They were towering beasts, and their movements shook the earth. The old Chloe would have died from the first attack, but the current Chloe was colder than ice. Whatever had happened to her had changed her not just in appearance, but in character. Fear wasn’t in her books anymore, well, for as long as her opponent wasn’t stronger than her.
She raised her hand, and the air screamed and ripped as a wave of freezing energy erupted outward. The charging wolves became statues before they could even reach her.
Their frozen bodies shattered across the cavern floor, blood-colored ice scattering everywhere. Their natural strength, massive statures, and ice abilities were useless against her. The wolves who hadn’t joined hesitated, finally realizing the truth. This wasn’t a hunt; it was an execution.
They opened their jaws simultaneously, blue light gathering in them. The build-up was great, enough to make anyone have second thoughts and third thoughts about their next actions. Streams of freezing breath blasted toward Chloe, and the entire cavern shook. Ice spread across everything, but when it ended, she remained standing unharmed, with the same cold expression on her face.
The ice around her was already melting because hers was superior. Their ice couldn’t even exist near her. The wolves felt real fear, but it didn’t last long, as most of them were turned into ice sculptures.
The strongest among them suddenly charged, its claws slicing toward her throat. It was the largest C-Rank, just falling short of their leader, who still remained arrogantly on the mound, looking down at them with blue glowing eyes.
A spear of ice appeared beside Chloe and launched forward with a powerful force. The wolf’s head exploded, its body sliding several meters before collapsing. Ice spikes erupted throughout the cavern under her control, impaling the remaining wolves and killing them instantly. In just a few seconds, only the leader remained.
The enormous wolf slowly rose from its frozen throne, and the cavern trembled. Its aura surged, B-Rank, and its blue eyes locked onto Chloe. Unlike the others, it didn’t fear her. It was rather furious, for no apparent reason. Not as if you could reason with an animal. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
It released a deafening howl, and the sound alone shattered nearby ice pillars. Then it attacked. The beast became a white blur, shooting towards her like a missile. The frozen hill behind Chloe exploded, but she had already moved. The leader turned instantly, and its claws collided with an ice barrier.
The barrier shattered, the shockwave blasting through the cavern. Chloe’s eyes narrowed slightly as she realized that the wolf wasn’t weak. It attacked again. The cavern transformed into a battlefield in no time. Ice exploded constantly, while entire sections of the cave were torn apart. The leader fought like a monster born for battle, its movements carrying tremendous force. Every attack of it was aimed to kill, but Chloe continued adapting and learning with the power flowing through her. Absolute Zero: the ultimate authority over cold. This was one of the reasons why S-Ranks were exalted. What would’ve taken a lower rank, weeks, months, or even years to comprehend, she was doing that within seconds, and she wasn’t even a fighter to begin with. The contrast between her old self and her icy queen self was so huge that it was a mystery if Silas would even recognize her.
Eventually, she stopped retreating, and the wolf lunged. Chloe extended a single hand, and everything stopped, while the temperature plummeted lower than it already was. The cavern itself began dying. Even sound seemed to slow. The wolf leader’s body instantly became coated in frost. Its charge slowed. The wolf’s eyes widened, fear appearing in them. Its body was freezing internally. The beast tried to move, but it couldn’t. The legendary predator stood frozen in place as a perfect ice statue.
Chloe walked toward it calmly, her icy-blue eyes reflecting in the frozen creature’s terrified gaze, and touched its forehead. The entire wolf shattered into glittering fragments, and silence returned to the cavern. The battle was over.
Chloe stood alone among the frozen remains as the cold aura surrounding her gradually settled. She looked around the devastated cavern and, without a word, blasted a hole through the ceiling of the cavern and jumped out. She didn’t know where to go, but she had one thought in mind. Find Silas.
