Endless Evolution: Last Star Chapter 1558: Eternal Cold (Part 2)

Just like earlier, Adam continued to possess both his advantages and shortcomings. Even with all the fresh skills he had gained during his journey, he remained without powers that could shield him or wipe out vast groups of foes in a single go.

Of course, he had reached the height of his strength, and by employing the Evolution Vein Orders, he managed to strike several enemies simultaneously, yet this paled in comparison to the blazing blasts Fromund could unleash or the descending icy shards Alexia called forth.

Thus, when Adam confronted over a hundred adversaries, without the might to overpower them through just a handful of blows, he found himself in deadly peril.

Normally, Adam steered clear of such predicaments or stopped them from arising, but in this instance, he lacked any choice.

Vaarch hadn't anticipated relying on mere beasts for aid, yet if deploying them edged him toward triumph, he stood prepared to utilize them along with whatever else was required to prevail.

Crackle!

Adam hurled the creature away. It proved massive and robust enough to occupy a portion of Adam’s attention. From the flank, the pair of white wolves closed in on him, leaving no moment for him to decide.

But...

"Agh?"

Astonishment spread across Adam’s features as a chilling breeze rushed by his vision.

The beasts, familiar with the frigid chills and severe environment of the Frost Ridge, withdrew. Not even they could disregard the icy aura emanating from Alexia.

Adam swiveled to gaze at Alexia.

Her locks quivered in the breeze, glowing vividly, as flows of power coursed along her arms, flowing to her finger ends.

Adam recognized this technique.

She had employed it during their battle against the ghost spiders, freezing every one solid.

’But...’ Adam squinted, fixing his stare on the icy vapor. ’Something feels off. This doesn’t match the skill she displayed in the caverns. Did the Ancient Frost alter it?’

Previously, a dense sphere of icy power ought to have formed amid Alexia’s palms. Yet at present, the vapor drifting among her digits formed an intricate emblem distinct to Alexia and this technique.

A single look at the emblem sufficed to drive the beasts back even more. They refused to serve as the focus of her strike, and not even Vaarh’s command could suppress their instinct to survive.

Still, salvation eluded every one of them. They remained unaware of the doom in store.

"Gha..."

Alexia drew in a profound breath while eyeing the emblem hovering before her.

This stood as the outcome of her labors and the collective toil they invested in arriving at the azure tree to claim the Ancient Frost.

At last, the moment had come for her to wield this force in support of Adam, guiding them toward success.

"This will be enough."

Step.

Alexia advanced, seizing the emblem in her grasp.

With no delay, she dropped to a single knee and drove her palm downward onto the earth with full force, triggering the emblem.

The Frost Ridge got engulfed in a vivid azure glow as the initial surge of ice emanated from the emblem.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

A vigorous quake coursed beneath the surface. The beasts stood frozen in bewilderment, uncertain of what loomed, while the typically composed Vaarh creased his brow. The power surges he sensed promised nothing favorable for him.

"NOW!" Alexia shouted, channeling her lone power surge into the emblem.

Precisely then, icy spires erupted upward from the soil, blanketing the full snowy field across the Frost Ridge.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

Successively, the icy spires shattered the terrain, unleashing torrents of chill and jets of crimson fluid gushing from the beasts they impaled.

The beasts attempted evasion or shattering of the icy spires, but such efforts proved futile.

It all unfolded with blinding speed.

Within mere ten seconds, the whole snowy field lay strewn with gore-stained icy spires, a dense coating of freeze from the chill, and over a hundred lifeless beasts.

Furthermore, the beasts that evaded outright impact with the icy spires fared only marginally better than their kin.

The chill saturating the emblem’s power transformed them into frozen effigies, appearing eternally encased beside the icy spires.

"Agh... Agh... Agh..." Alexia panted raggedly as she collapsed onto all fours.

Besides exhaustion, a joyful grin also bloomed across her expression.

"Huh, now you’ve all seen what I’m capable of!" Alexia declared, lifting her chin to survey the aftermath of her solitary strike.

Roughly a hundred beasts lay slain, with the remainder encased as icy figures. Merely a handful of beasts fully escaped her strike’s influence, totaling no more than several dozen.

During the emblem’s eruption, these beasts lingered at the snowy field’s boundary, near the mountain base. Thus, as the icy spires started rising, they fled into the peaks.

Yet, the scant beasts that opted to remain at the mountain base came to rue their choice. The chill reduced them to shattered ice fragments.

Adam swallowed hard.

Regardless of the strength he poured into his skills or the mix he selected, he couldn’t produce an effect like that.

Its scope wasn’t merely the breadth of Alexia’s icy eruption, but the feat she accomplished through one technique.

’She resolved the crisis in a single action,’ he mused, glancing aside.

The white wolves poised to lunge at him now stood immobilized, encased in a heavy frost over their gazes and teeth.

’Shit, I need something like that, but how can I get it now?’

Adam shifted his eyes toward Vaarh, suspended in the air.

’I thought his blood would make me stronger, but I was wrong. What now, Vaarh? What will you do now that you lost your army?’

Vaarch scowled while directing his sight to the iced-over beasts.

He refused to abandon his scheme, and a countermeasure existed for him. The difficult path.