Free Web NovelThe trees of the Elven Forest towered high and thick, a sea of green so dense it pressed in on the eye.
Behind the trunk of one such tree, a hooded girl in a gray robe—her features obscured beneath a strange hood embroidered with star patterns—leaned back, breathing in measured rhythms, regulating her heartbeat and circulation. In the next instant, her entire body tensed, and she bolted once more toward the depths of the forest.
Rumble—!
In a blink, the woods behind her began to quake. Whole swathes of trees were ripped up by the roots and hurled skyward, then smashed down toward the hooded girl in a crushing barrage!
Almost at the same moment, the hooded girl snapped her eyes open. Her speed exploded. She twisted sharply, yanked a talisman from within her robe, and flung it into the air. In an instant, a violently contracting red fireball formed overhead. Flames surged, heatwaves rolling so fiercely they warped the air itself—reducing the incoming towering trees to ash mid-flight in the span of a single breath.
But before she could even catch her breath, the second wave came down like rain.
“......”
Her face calm as still water, the hooded girl swiftly pulled several pitch-black iron rods from beneath her robe and snapped them together. In the blink of an eye, a jet-black warhammer over two meters long appeared in her hands.
“—Chaotic Cloak Hammer Art!”
With a sharp shout, she swung the hammer. Afterimages filled the air, her movements godlike, demonic. The roar of the wind shook the ground, loose stones rattling and trembling.
Boom!
Another thunderous crash shattered the final massive boulder falling from above. The hooded girl’s face flushed red as she staggered back several steps—but the second wave of attacks had been completely blocked.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several black shadows burst from the forest, brandishing sharp weapons as they lunged at her. At the same time, uprooted giant trees and horrifying boulders once again rained down from the sky. If the first two assaults had been mere probing, this was a full-scale offensive.
“Hmph!”
She smashed the incoming shadows apart with a single hammer blow, then swung again to knock aside a falling boulder. She still looked composed—but clearly, it was no longer as effortless as before.
Worse still, the black shadow assassins only grew more numerous. Smash one apart, and another immediately took its place. They attacked from all directions—and could even crawl out from her own shadow to launch sneak attacks.
Seeing herself about to lose ground, the hooded girl clenched her teeth and slammed her hammer straight into the earth!
A vast shockwave burst outward, slowing the shadow assassins for a brief moment. She did not linger. She knew these shadows were death soldiers summoned through spellcraft—unless she killed the one behind them, they would never run out.
Ding-dong~
Several black spherical objects tumbled out from beneath her cloak, bouncing lightly on the ground.
The next second, the black spheres split open, releasing blinding white light that illuminated the entire forest—bright as day!
Dozens of shadow assassins melted like snow under the sun, dissolving rapidly in the glare.
Seizing the chance, the hooded girl shielded her eyes and charged forward, fumbling medicine from her pocket and stuffing it into her mouth.
Just then, a streak of light fell from the sky.
It came with the crackle of shattered stone and splintered wood smashing into the ground.
A boot—Sompa leather, embroidered in silver thread—stepped onto the rubble with a sharp tap. The hooded girl’s heart tightened. She looked up and saw a handsome, brown-skinned young man.
“High Priestess Tiya—several days apart, and your strength has risen again.”
“The Grand High Priest Modahan has already offered everything he had to this continent. As his student, why do you insist on running?” he continued smoothly. “Stay. Help me seize the position of Great Khan of the Western Border. Rule the world—wouldn’t that be wonderful?”
“Dream on.” Tiya snorted. “Insects can huddle together for warmth, but they’re still insects. The Great Khan has barely undergone his funeral rites, his bones not even cold, and you’re already conspiring to rebel. The rules of this grassland have endured for tens of thousands of years—and you dare to break them? Aren’t you afraid of the wrath of the gods?”
“The gods?” The young man’s expression cooled, his voice suppressing anger. “Those things shouldn’t exist anymore. The Alliance has trampled our grasslands underfoot for centuries, selling us poisons that drown us in false bliss. And how many of our sons and daughters died in the war against the demon race back then... did you ever see the gods respond even once?”
“The Great Khan was also my father. I respected him deeply.” The young man sighed. “But he was too timid, too short-sighted—content with the status quo, willing to act as a lapdog for the Federation to keep the grasslands in check. The Alliance is already rotten to the core. The war in the north has dragged on for over a year without end... do you know what that means, High Priestess Tiya? This is our best chance for the grasslands to become independent.”
“No combat power, no equipment, no organization,” Tiya sneered. “What are you going to fight with—your head?” freewebnσvel.cѳm
When words fail to align, there’s no point in talking further. Tiya had only dragged this conversation out to give herself time to digest the pills she’d just swallowed and recover a bit of strength.
The handsome young man kept speaking, appealing to emotion and reason alike, trying to persuade this student of the former Grand High Priest to join his cause.
“Which prince is really behind all this?” Tiya suddenly asked. “Or is it a princess?”
The Great Khan had far too many children. Though she’d met most of them a few times alongside her teacher, only a handful had ever left an impression.
The one in front of her clearly wasn’t among them.
As expected, the moment she asked, the young man’s expression darkened. “I am who I am. I represent myself. And the next Great Khan will be me.”
“The First Prince?” Tiya said. “He stayed by the Great Khan’s side the longest, holds the command token of the Direwolf Cavalry. On the surface, gentle and courteous—but in truth ruthless and cunning. By all logic, he has the highest odds in this breeding-ground trial.”
“What nonsense. The First Prince is busy dealing with the other contenders right now. He has no time for me.” The young man frowned.
“Then the Second Prince?” Tiya continued. “He’s spent years roaming the grasslands hunting monsters and bandits, building his own network both among the tribes and within the Alliance. He has the highest popular support—his odds aren’t low either.”
“Stop guessing,” the young man said impatiently. “Give up resisting and come with me. We guarantee you the position of the next Grand High Priest.”
“I see.” Tiya replied calmly. “Then you’re from the Third Prince’s faction? He’s fond of breaking promises—mediocre in skill, but very talented at stabbing his own master in the back.”
“Are you deaf?!” The young man finally snapped.
He was the Third Prince. This damned woman truly didn’t know when to appreciate kindness—refusing a toast only to be forced to drink punishment wine!
Yet he restrained himself. Flames burned in his chest, but he merely clenched his fists in silence.
As the third son of the Great Khan, he had fought his way out on the battlefield, endured countless deaths and disasters to reach where he stood today. How could he be as worthless as this woman claimed?
Truly useless princes had long since been buried, turned into fertilizer for next year’s grass. He had lived his entire life on the edge of death, all to climb—step by step—to the very top.
That was why, this time, he would win over everyone worth winning over, and kill everyone who stood in his way.
Yes, he had cooperated with the First Prince—but given the chance, he wouldn’t hesitate to turn on him. In this contest, he was determined to win.
Whatever the reason Tiya had wasted so much breath with him, the Four-Directional Sealing Art laid here had already fully activated during that time. Once they captured her, they would have plenty of ways to make her submit.
“A sealing art?” Tiya also sensed the anomaly around her. Yet she didn’t panic—instead, she looked around with interest.
“Do you have any other trump cards?” the young man asked warily. “If not, you’d better comply. I don’t want to be rough with our future Grand High Priest.”
“Trump cards?” Tiya pinched her fingers, calculating. “It’s strange—but in my star omens, once I reached this spot, you wouldn’t be able to take me away.”
The young man fell silent for a moment, then laughed. “Mystifying nonsense!”
But just then—
From the distant sea of clouds came a sudden explosive roar, like thunder rolling through the sky, racing in from the far edge of the heavens.
“Someone’s coming?”
The handsome young man’s confident expression instantly changed. Could the First Prince have sent others?
No—!
“Four-Directional Seal!” His face went pale as he shouted, drawing a dagger and slashing his arm. A streak of blood shot out, merging with the pale-yellow sealing barrier around them, staining it faintly red. His own face drained of color as he stared in disbelief.
“This is bad—there’s a legendary powerhouse passing through! How is that possible...?”
Both of them changed expression—but unlike the young man’s panic, what filled Tiya’s eyes was confusion and curiosity.
There was more than one person approaching. And one of them had a star omen shrouded in mist—something she had only seen four times in her entire life.
This was the fifth.
Boom!
The incomparably solid Four-Directional Sealing Barrier shattered like an eggshell. The handsome young man’s body erupted with blood as backlash crushed him from within—only the ninth-tier life-saving talisman on his body activating at the final moment, sparing his life.
Surviving death by a hair’s breadth, he stared ahead in horror.
Towering clouds of dust surged into the sky like a sandstorm blotting out the heavens.
Before Tiya could even react, the dust cloud seemed to be forced downward by gravity, slamming back into the earth.
Bang!
The forest fell silent. Apart from the faint smell of blood in the air, no one would have guessed a fierce battle had just taken place here. As the dust settled and the clouds dispersed, two ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) figures—one large, one small—were revealed.
What was strange was that the smaller figure was actually supporting the larger one.
“So this is the mission location?”
Vieya looked around, glanced at the chaotic surroundings, and let go of Aislin’s hand. Was this really the commotion she’d caused when landing just now? Weird—she felt like she’d stepped on something.
“...cough,” Aislin, choked by dust, tapped Vieya on the arm, gesturing for her to look ahead and stop zoning out.
“Huh, there are two people here.”
Vieya said in surprise, putting on an act as if she were only just now noticing them. I thought it was a speed bump...
But the moment she lifted her head, one of them slid over on his knees—an absurd maneuver.
His knees plowed deep furrows into the earth as he skidded forward, then he dropped to the ground, bowing toward Vieya and kowtowing furiously.
“This lowly one did not know a great person was living in seclusion here—my crime deserves ten thousand deaths!”
Thud!
The blood-smeared youth didn’t even bother to check whether he was bowing to a human or a ghost. He slammed his head into the ground twice in rapid succession to show his sincerity.
“Please, Great One, spare my worthless life!”
