Chapter 169 :

Episode 33 : A Disaster (9)

RUSTLE!

Hollering off the ruined ground, the Ice Dragon soared upward despite its wings being burned and scorched by ‘The Rebels’ Guild's attacks.

It had to put a lot of effort to fly while undergoing the burning sensation of its sensitive wings.

And that wasn't all… 

Swish!

There were some greedy humans who desired to take down Bianca by themselves with eyes as if they were looking at a long lost treasure.

Weapons flew past the Dragon while a couple had hit it at its bottom, yet those attacks didn't hurt as much as ‘The Rebels’ Guild's, unless it was the same hellish flame that JoonChul had used earlier.

"Turn into ashes for me! I didn't mean you, Ash!" That man shouted at the Dragon before turning to reassure Asher.

Asher scowled. "Shut up." 

Anyways, that guy who was shooting the same fire as JoonChul, unleashed a surge of flame toward the Dragon.

WHOOSH!

[Is this your way of saying farewell to my departure?]

Seeing how the flame is pretty deadly to Bianca, it had taken a deep breath before exhaling a breath of chilly air toward the wave of flame.

Air as chilly as permafrost, breezed upon the hottest fire to prevent it from hurting Bianca, and it didn't work out the way the Ice Dragon had hoped for.

Swoosh!

Since, after witnessing the flame overtaking the chill and was heading in its direction at a speedy pace, the Dragon was starting to panic a little and instantly moved its wings to block the fire from hurting its body.

Even if Bianca's wings were to be harmed to the point of being unable to fly again, it wouldn't matter that much since it could just use its power, ‘Ice Step' to crawl out of the ceiling and bust out from there.

[Bombarding me with multiple attacks.. How crude.]

Needless to say, the players' attacks were quite as deadly as the flame. It was actually pushing the Ice Dragon back against the wall to stop it from flying left and right.

Because of this, the Ice Dragon had nowhere to go if not dropping down or continuing on flying.

WHOOSH!

If it were to shift itself toward the right, weapons flew in like a bullet to block the Dragon's right path. 

The Dragon groaned as it thought of a way to escape from this position. ‘What an unfortunate situation I am in..’ 

As it couldn't bail out like it originally planned, the Ice Dragon didn't expect itself to be trapped in a way that would lead it to a torturous death.

STAB!

Wounded as it may be, Bianca immediately countered out an attack that was targeting its heart.

[Heuukk!!]

Despite that, there were more attacks coming its way without a single halt. As if those attacks were mocking it, the Ice Dragon growled in all its might, blaring out a deafening scream to blow away the attacks and scare off those players' murdering attempts.

[Shameless humans, fight me fair and square.]

Though, its words couldn't get through to those greedy humans, and soon Bianca was bombarded with tons and tons of skills advancing toward its direction.

‘Is this how I'll die?’ The Ice Dragon feared yet looked so calm.

[Keukk!!!]

But… something unpredictable happened..

Although not painful, the Ice Dragon had just received a blow from below as its body got punched and was knocked away from the surge of skills.

..It was almost as if the Dragon was saved.

[Why are you helping me?]

At that moment, Bianca asked in shock and quickly found its glance to land on the one and only, Frostina.

The one who had summoned a snow golem to strike a punch, was standing on thin ice while staring at the Dragon with a disinterested expression.

The Dragon assumed it was a mistake on Frostina's part, but was it really a mistake to begin with?

‘She's not fazed by her mistake?’ Bianca pondered with its observant eyes on Frostina. 

Shaa… 

There goes a fainted grin on Frostina's gorgeous face, causing the Dragon to flinch by that somewhat chilly and creepy smile.

It was ironic to be afraid of a chilly grin when the Ice Dragon itself was the embodiment of ice.

Which was why it prompted Bianca to be quite angered by the irony..

‘No, I must prioritize my escape first.’ 

Be that as it may, it won't matter anymore since Bianca was able to escape from the upsurge of flame and countless of the players' attacks.

..Rustling!

At a height where it could dodge with ease, the Dragon flew high and wide while assuming it was going to get a free meal from having the players dying by the stage's failure.

[It's a beautiful sight to watch, isn't it?]

Upon taunting the players underneath it, Bianca was being entertained by the players' regretful and revulsion faces as they seemed to be trying their best to find a way in getting close to the Dragon again.

It was beginning to turn into a good time for the Dragon to be up high and watching the players struggle as their opportunities to kill it was near zero percentage.

..Except, something questionable popped up in the Ice Dragon's head..

‘Why haven't those clever humans attacked me yet?’

Oddly enough, ‘The Rebels’ Guild, which had dealt quite an enormous amount of damage to the Ice Dragon, hadn't done anything after Bianca left the spot where they attacked it.

..And why was that?

Apart from being saved by Frostina a while ago, none of ‘The Rebels’ Guild members had assembled another strategy to tear down the Dragon.

If they did, Bianca would be in serious trouble enough to put it in death's door even if it were to escape by flying toward the ceiling.

Why? Why didn't they kill it?

‘..!’

In regards to that, the Ice Dragon, ‘Bianca' finally realized what ‘The Rebels’ Guild was planning all along.

For the entire time, ‘The Rebels’ Guild didn't plan on putting an end to the Dragon at the beginning.

In other words, they had been going easy on the Ice Dragon all this time without it knowing. 

‘Was I fooled?!’ 

Along with stalling for time as much as possible, they had been attacking in a way that Bianca wouldn't even notice the other members of ‘The Rebels’ Guild who were planting the Plum Blossom Tree right behind it.

‘No, that is impossible. They couldn't be thinking of doing ‘that’ to me, could they?’

TINGLING!! TINGLING!!

All at once, a horde of bells rang with an ear-splitting volume while being held by the fireflies that once lit up the place for ‘The Rebels' Guild.

JINGLE!!

Those exact fireflies were now grasping onto ‘The Bell of Lullaby’, the item acquired from Stage #19's reward.

RINGGG!!!

Those bells rang as mighty as a hundred speakers being blasted into a small room or louder than that, resounding with a lullaby that could soothe and break an eardrum in a flash.

[Eekkkk!!! My ears!!]

As the Ice Dragon was the closest to the ringing of bells, it had to be subjected to an ear-piercing sound echoing throughout its huge ears.

No hands unlike humans to prevent those noises from harming its ears, the Dragon undoubtedly went through the most pulsating pain in its life.

‘The ground..!’

While it was suffering, it soon became aware that underneath it was a sudden wave of changes toward the floor and the walls.

..Everything from the interior of the temple to the snowy mountain outside was morphing into a greenery. 

The Dragon blared. [I do not accept this as my defeat!] 

But even its scream was cut short when someone and something were dropping from where the bells were ringing.

"Keep it at bay, Blackie!" Alaine exclaimed with her clones descending accordingly.

"Meow!!" 

Behemoth with a body shifting to a bigger size was falling toward the head of the Dragon.

[A cat!? What's th—]

Startled by the oversized cat, Bianca witnessed an outspread of a massive shadow being casted over it, watching the cat's gigantic body slamming down on the Dragon.

[Accckkk!!!]

Even its bafflement couldn't be experienced completely when Alaine came in with a rush and struck every inch of the Dragon's open wounds with devastating strikes.

Slash!! Slash! Slaasshh!

Seeing as clones of Alaine were everywhere, the Dragon couldn't tell which is which, and not only that, its vision was blocked off entirely by a cat, causing it difficulty to look at its surroundings.

..But that wouldn't stop the Dragon from attacking.

[Get off of me, you feline.] The Dragon opened its mouth wide and baring its sharp teeth into Behemoth's stomach.

While doing so, Bianca even included injecting frostbites right through Behemoth's stomach, commanding all the snow angels to charge at Behemoth's head at the same time.

"Meoooow!!!!" Behemoth hissed.

[Remove yourself from me!]

Bianca was exclaiming at Behemoth, but to its surprise, it didn't expect Alaine to exit the battlefield and sway away from it.

‘Why did she leave? ...!! My wounds! And my wings!’

Could it be that the reason Alaine was done with the Dragon was because she managed to damage most of the Dragon's wings, causing them to be unable to move and soar for the Dragon to fly?

‘Certainly not, unbelievable. She did it to not allow me to fly and make me crash land on the ground!’

‘That cannot be!’

Behemoth who was slamming his body on Bianca, finally took notice of Alaine's disappearance and immediately went for his move.

"Mrow!" With a kick to the Ice Dragon, Behemoth knocked it down as he was inhaling his breath.

[That's..?!]

FLAREEE!!!!

———

[Error! Error! Error!]

[Unprecedented scenario has occurred!]

[Error! Attempting to solve the issue!]

[Calculating the process. . .]

[ERROR!]

[Recalculating the process. . .]

[ERROR! ERROR!!]

[Unable to halt the process of World Transference!]

"Shut up." I said as my ears were already cramped with the sound of bells and now adding the noises of the system overheating from errors.

BOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!

Far from the ray of explosion, Behemoth unleashed a firework of eruption, blasting it all toward the Ice Dragon to get it as weak as possible.

While he was doing that, the ‘Arctic’ World was clearly collapsing from the outspread of the greenery, watching it all turn from white and blue to green and brown.

But that's not important. The system's error is the main point of my plan.

"It should begin soon." I muttered before my eyes fazed from the sudden and unexpected flash of light from the Plum Blossom Tree.

"Or maybe now.." I smirked as I knew what this light was.

FLASH!!! 

Flashes that seemed like a glitch in the system were flickering insanely and nauseatingly in front of my eyes while my body was being shifted to another place.

..Or more exactly another world.

[World Transference is processing immediately without any interruptions!]

[Transfer accomplished!]

[Welcome to the ‘Atlantic’ World!]

SWOOSH!!

"WHOAAA!! Why are we falling from the sky!?!!" Alaine shouted.

[Due to an error, Stage #21 will be proceeding with Stage #20!]

Even as we were transferred to another world, Behemoth was still at it with his beam of explosion penetrating the Ice Dragon.

Since an error has occurred during Stage #20 and the World Transference happened while we were undergoing a boss battle, the system had no choice but to allow the Ice Dragon to travel with the players as well.

If a ‘Helper’ was here, this error wouldn't have happened. Which was why it was a relief that I and Asher dealt with Alexandrite quickly.

Splash!!

[Guuh!!]

Landed into the ocean with a splash, the Ice Dragon underwent an explosion as well as an ocean of water weighing down on its body.

Drowning it and pressuring its body to not allow it to resurface, the Ice Dragon's breath was taken away from the overflow of water flushing into its wounds and lungs.

And..

"Father!" 

"Noel?" I heard Noel shouting for me as I turned to look for him. Sooner or later, I spotted Noelle falling in front of me. 

Either it's me or Eric, I went forward and grabbed hold of my daughter, carrying her with grace.

"Wake up." I said, caressing her forehead to stop her hair from flinging around.

Was it stupid to assume she would open her eyes just from my words? How silly of me.

"Can't we do something about the falling off the sky part?" Louis spoke in a way that sounded like he hasn't recovered from the injuries he received from that hellfire guy.

Alaine, who was scared because of the height, suddenly pointed out. "H-Hey.. Am I seeing it wrong or is the Ice Dragon being eaten alive..?"

"T-That's.." Horrified, Mya gasped.

We are already exhausted and overused all of our MP and SP, so it would be best if something else takes care of the Ice Dragon instead of us and those hooligans of players.

And the ones who are preying on Bianca right now.. 

[Eeekkkkk!!!!!!]

The sea creatures of this ‘Atlantic’ World.

‘Stage #21 hasn't popped up yet.. The error must be taking a toll on the system, ha.’ I sneered at the sight of the Dragon being devoured.

"Aren't we falling into that ocean soon?! If we don't do anything now, we'll be eaten alive as well!" Alaine exclaimed in horror and fear. "I don't wanna be fish food! EekkK!"

"JoonChul-ssi, was this what you meant when you were talking to Frostina?"

I stared at HwanGi who was asking me that question, but as soon as his question ended, something huge came into existence behind me.

[The Ice Dragon, ‘Bianca' has perished!]

‘Yes.. Since the dragon has died, the NPCS from the ‘Arctic’ World that turned into players.. will finally be freed from the limitations and their skills will be unlocked.’

[Stage #20 has ended!]

‘That meant Frostina's ice power is back to its fullest power.’ 

Smirking at that thought, I looked back at HwanGi and told him with my head shifting to see the vehicle behind me.

"Hop on in." I said.

Of course, anyone would look surprised when they laid their eyes on what was behind me.

A vehicle made from ice and the sails from Mirai's threads had emerged. Truly, what an awesome way to showcase a ship in this situation we were in.

Alaine gasped. "Oh my god!! W-What?! How did it appear?!" 

Followed by Louis' grasp. "A boat?! It's what we're gonna ride on?!?"

Instead of a gasp, HwanGi was stressing out as to why I needed to ask Frostina and Mirai to make such a large boat, judging from his expression.

He asked me in distress. "JoonChul-ssi.. Isn't this too overboard..?"

"The more, the merrier." I said with a shrug as to wonder why he would ask that to me.

"That idiom doesn't fit this!" HwanGi argued.

I chuckled to see HwanGi being mad over the size of the ship. Though, I guess the ship is too big to begin with..

Maybe a little too big… 

"Oops?" I said.

"JoonChul-ssi.." HwanGi seemed to have given up. 

"Haha." I chuckled since it was funny, and I assumed it would be hilarious to others as well, because they were laughing along with me.

It could be because laughter was a way to relieve oneself from stress. Moreover, since we had just survived a battle against an Ice Dragon/Boss, and at the same time completed the stage..

I think it's safe to say it was worth it to laugh it out.