Chapter 391: Chapter 390: Gifts
"Even if you know the lines from ’The Journey of Goku,’ the role of Tang Sanzang is still mine! Pikachu! Don’t try to upstage me, your master!"
Li Ang shouted at Miss Chai. His small, red-clad figure then flashed out from a crystal crevice. The Barrett M18A1 in his hands immediately roared, sending heavy armor-piercing incendiary bullets spiraling towards Anna.
As a native of this scripted world, Anna had naturally never seen a sniper rifle. However, she was facing a Monk from the mystical East and dared not be careless. Raising her vigilance to the utmost, she stretched out her palm, slapped the armrest of her wheelchair, and released the Power of the Perennial Winter. This thickened and fortified the semi-circular Ice Shield before her.
BOOM!
The armor-piercing incendiary round struck the Ice Shield, which was as thick as a city wall. Driven by inertia, the firing pin thrust forward, igniting the primer. This caused the incendiary agent within the bullet to detonate, creating a small-scale explosion. The flames were fleeting. When the smoke cleared, only a small grayish-black stain and a tiny crack appeared on the thick ice wall. The twisted, ruptured bullet remained lodged deep within the ice.
The enemy’s shield had not been breached.
Li Ang, still in freefall after leaping from the hall’s dome, fired his Barrett in rapid succession. Two bullets hammered the Ice Shield, while the third veered sharply, striking a palace window behind and to the side of Anna. The Ice Crystal Palace had been personally constructed by Queen Elsa and was nearly indestructible. The third bullet failed to penetrate the seemingly fragile glass. Instead, it ricocheted off the ice surface at an acute angle. The ricocheting bullet flew towards Anna’s back.
At the same time, Li Ang also pulled out a fresh batch of newly hatched Special Worms from his inventory and tossed them onto the ground.
Two fat Burner Worms, resembling fuel barrels, landed. They immediately began to constrict their internal sacs, pumping the flammable liquid hidden within into their throats. Through mouthparts as powerful as high-pressure water jets, they spewed this liquid, igniting it with an electrical device in their mouths. Suddenly, flames erupted skyward. The intense heat momentarily suppressed the Extreme Cold Air covering the ground, and the entire hall rapidly filled with thick steam.
In addition to the Burner Worms, three Poison Exploder Worms were also deployed. They had dark green, coconut-shaped, swollen abdomens. Upon landing, they thrust their eight long legs backward, coiled their bodies, and then, under the cover of the spreading steam, rolled forward like wheels.
Additionally, there were three unidentified white worms, about half a meter long, shaped like plump gourds, lighter at the head and heavier at the tail. Upon landing, they immediately contracted their bodies, spewing thick green gas from orifices on their spherical heads.
All of this happened almost simultaneously. Anna felt an intense threat from behind, like needles on her back, a lump in her throat. Her body had yet to react, but the surrounding cold air acted first, instantly condensing another ice wall behind her, just in time to block the ricocheting bullet.
BANG—
The sound of the bullet striking the ice, like a sledgehammer blow to the heart, drenched Anna in a cold sweat. She clenched her fists. The ice beneath her wheelchair abruptly rose, connecting with the Ice Shields in front and behind her to form a perfect, hollow, thick sphere of ice, enveloping Anna completely.
The Poison Exploder Worms rolled and crashed into the ice sphere. With three loud BOOMS, the worms exploded, drenching the ice ball with their dark green corrosive liquid. The incessant sizzling of corrosion filled the air, and acrid smoke quickly began to rise from the ice ball’s surface. Anna hurriedly manipulated the frost to freeze the corrosive liquid. However, some of the green gas had already seeped in through holes corroded into the ice sphere’s surface.
Those unidentified white worms, shaped like plump gourds, were a new type of specialized worm Li Ang had recently cultivated called ’Chlorinators.’ They were capable of spewing dense, toxic chlorine gas.
Seeing the yellowish-green gas billowing inside the ice sphere, Anna quickly held her breath. She used an innate ability plundered from other Spellcasters to summon a Gale out of thin air within the ice sphere’s confines. This Gale swept all the chlorine gas out through the holes. Not only that, but the Gale then surged upward, blowing from below towards Li Ang, carrying with it electricity, sparks, and fine ice shards.
Anna had witnessed her parents’ deaths in childhood and had later observed Elsa crushing mundane armies. Consequently, she harbored an unparalleled longing for supernatural abilities. Even if her heart malformation posed no immediate problem, she would actively seek out Spellcasters, kill them, and plunder their powers. In over a decade, she herself had likely lost count of how many abilities she had devoured and claimed. Furthermore, her long-term pampered existence, along with her efforts to conceal her Spellcaster identity, had limited her opportunities to practice her own powers.
But that didn’t matter. The gift from Elsa was simply too generous; a vast and endless stream of Energy flowed continuously from the ice sculpture into her body. Even crude and rudimentary abilities, when driven by such massive Energy, could unleash effects terrifying enough to be considered ’rule-level.’
Li Ang had no desire to come into contact with this bewitched wind, infused with who knew how many different abilities. Swinging his scythe forward, he hooked an ice pillar and dragged himself aside, narrowly avoiding the bewitched wind.
The Gale soared into the sky, bursting through the hall’s dome. Sparkling ice shards scattered like rain, reflecting the dazzling sunlight in mid-air. This Gale, mixed with ice shards, flames, and electric currents, resembled a towering, giant serpent. After a slight delay, it turned its head and dived towards Li Ang once more.
Li Ang spun his scythe, leaped between ice pillars, and bellowed, "Pikachu, use Flint Stone, quick!"
"I’ve told you, I’m not Pikachu!"
Miss Chai shouted indignantly. She too dived, grabbing Li Ang’s wrist and sharply accelerating to dodge the oncoming bewitched wind.
The sounds of fighting within the Ice Crystal Palace could no longer be concealed. Faintly, from the distant slopes, came the clamor of chaotic human voices, the howling of beasts, and booming reverberations.
An irrepressible rage and regret twisted Anna’s features. She wasn’t worried about Li Ang’s disciples taking action, but rather that if people from outside entered the palace and discovered Elsa was dead, all her meticulous preparations would be for naught. Not only would her own subordinates become witnesses, but the Magical Beast army—which had rushed here upon hearing the news and was loyal only to Elsa—would also become a massive problem. Anna had no confidence she could control so many Magical Beasts.
I must fight quickly and decisively.
With this thought, a look of steely resolve flashed across Anna’s face. She clasped her hands, veins bulging beneath her pale skin. Fine, twisted ice crystals, like earthworms, began to burrow through her skin, densely entwining her body.
She was not Elsa, after all. To wield this inhuman power, she ultimately had to pay a certain price...