Chapter 54 – Awakening
The whole world was dyed white.
A chill from the blizzard completely overcame Agnes.
“Cold…”
Agnes was taken aback by how she complained of the cold. How long has it been since I felt cold in my imagery?
Her manifestation-type image holders, such as her, possess near-immune resistance to the elements she deals with. Just like fire spirits don’t burn and water spirits don’t drown.
If that’s what it should be, what the hell is this all about?
The reason was not too far away. It was because of the uniqueness of the realm facing Agnes.
Snow White Hell, White Out
It does not stop at covering the space with cryogenic blizzards, but constantly enforces the concept of ‘cold’ on the victims inside.
In a world dyed white everywhere, you cannot even recognize your surroundings, and you gradually lose your sense of space and perspective.
It was useless to believe in a strong mind or a trained body and try to endure it. Sooner or later you’ll be completely lost, wandering endlessly in the same place, slowly freezing to death.
An area unique to Liddell von Glasiel, the leader of the Frost Knights, who is considered to be the strongest in the ice and snow world.
Once they set foot here, even the most talented people will have to abandon all hope and wait for death to come.
‘Is this the end? No, no.’
Images of a similar series. The power difference is overwhelmingly inferior. But I couldn’t stand still.
Agnes hardened his heart.
It was because there was Wolfgang fighting against hundreds of enemies alone outside now, and there were precious knights like brothers and sisters who had been together for a long time.
—Bad!
A chill radiated from Agnes, covering her feet with ice.
Countless ice spears formed in the air were fired to pierce the enemy’s body. However, Liddell stood still in her place and smashed them all with a single gesture.
“The attack is too monotonous. To attack by weaponizing elements, it’s not bad, but…”
Liddell giving advice to Agnes with an expressionless face.
It was an opportunity that only the strong could afford.
Confidence stemming from the belief that he had already completely dominated the battlefield and that there would never be a variable.
In an instant, Agnes’ light green eyes sharply seized the opportunity.
—Shuaak!
Agnes’ azure hair cut through the air as her model shot towards Liddell.
A blunt stick mixed between flying ice spears. On the tip of it, she quickly put her foot on it and gained momentum.
‘Now!’
Liddell was belatedly trying to respond, but Agnes was quicker. Wrapped in her aura, the outstretched rapier penetrated Liddell’s chest.
However, at the tip of her sword, she couldn’t feel any sensation, let alone the taste of her hand as it pierced her armor and fabric.
It was an illusion.
“This…”
Agnes let out a sigh.
“It’s not that way.”
Liddell’s calm voice came from far away.
The surrounding space was now completely white, to the extent that nothing could be seen. The wind was getting louder and louder, so she couldn’t even tell where she was talking.
—Koo-goo-goo!
In the meantime.
Suddenly, an ominous sound began to be heard.
“This!”
Agnes was stunned. It was because her huge avalanche, which she didn’t know where it started, was rushing to bury her.
She quickly created a hemisphere of ice that covered her entire body.
It was only a small resting place compared to the area of her eyes where she did not know where the end was, but because of that, Agnes was able to survive.
But how much longer can you hold out?
—Whee-oo-oh!
As soon as the avalanche passed, the blizzard raged fiercely again, causing cracks in the barrier Agnes created, showing signs of slowly crumbling.
The cold air leaked through the cracks.
“It’s like… Like that time…”
As the cold wind brushed my fingertips, the hand holding the sword began to tremble uncontrollably.
It was because of the sudden, distinct sense of deja vu.
In an instant, Agnes’s mind sank deep into her unconscious.
Ten years ago from now.
When she was still a little girl before the calluses were on her hands.
‘Are you going to be a knight? Stop talking nonsense! You gave birth with a pretty face at best, so you’re talking nonsense!’
Baroness Helm, a sharp-looking woman with azure hair like Agnes, had locked her fourth daughter in her attic.
It was the reason why he didn’t listen to her and kept going astray.
Agnes, whose beauty stood out even when he was still young, in a few years he would be able to serve as an excellent commodity for connecting with a higher-ranking aristocratic family.
The reason her family made Agnes learn swordsmanship as a form of education was simply to increase her product value.
But how dare you dream in vain without knowing the subject?
It was unacceptable. That’s why she took special measures to discipline her.
When it’s midwinter. The area where this Helm estate was located boasted an unusually severe cold, so her young daughter could have died as it was.
The baroness at that time was so badly damaged that she couldn’t even care about that.
Holding her limbs, frozen in her purple from her frostbite,
Agnes, who had been left for three days in a corner of her attic, where the chilly air hit her, was found just before she died.
‘It was terrible.’
Of course, that was just the past.
Having dealt with her image, she was able to control her coldness and ice at will, and she thought she would never have to shiver in her cold again.
But, right now.
“…I’m still very weak.”
Agnes muttered forlornly as she looked at herself, unable to do anything just like she had been when she was a little girl.
—Fasasak!
Her ice barrier, protecting her from the raging blizzard, shattered helplessly.
Liddell’s grim voice rang in Agnes’ ears.
“It’s disappointing, junior. You don’t realize the nature of the image at all.”
“…Lord Liddell? Why did you leave me alone?”
Liddell’s figure was still invisible, but her voice was clearly echoing from a distance.
It must have been her fault that she had just destroyed Agnes’ little haven.
“As a senior walking the same path, I felt a great interest in you. It’s brief, but to the point of making me forget everything about the competition.”
“…”
There was a deep sense of disappointment in Liddell’s tone as he sighed.
—Saaa… !
“By the way, did I look at it wrong?”
Agnes’s body began to slowly become covered with ice, starting from the tips of her toes.
“If your limit is that far, it can’t be helped.”
It was painful.
Even if it was a situation where survival was guaranteed due to the authority of the emperor.
The pain of freezing the body and the eerie feeling of losing sensation gradually due to frostbite were not something that could be ignored.
Also, it was pathetic.
The image of oneself who was ridiculed from beginning to end and was defeated without being able to do anything in the end.
‘In the end, this is it… ‘
The chilly chill from Liddell’s image at some point rode up to Agnes’s chest and tightened her heart.
In addition, her indescribable coldness overlapped with her past memories of experiencing the horror of her death at a young age, making her extremely distressed.
Desperate situation.
‘Are you afraid of the cold?’
What suddenly flashed through Agnes’ mind was a brief piece of advice from Wolfgang, who had recently been through sparring.
Of course, I didn’t know what that meant at the time.
‘Ah!’
But at this moment, she was able to find a clue to her realization in those words.
Up until now, Agnes had been subconsciously reluctant to deal with the cold.
Rather than being a part of his whole self, he has treated it more like a dangerous and tricky weapon.
‘Yeah, I’ve been thinking about it for a while… ‘
For the first time after awakening the image.
Agnes accepted the coldness surrounding her body as it was.
—Sueuuuuu…
Then, her mana core began to greedily absorb the cold around her, as if starved.
Despite the colder cold than ever, Agnes’ body was engulfed.
I didn’t feel any more cold.
—Keyiing… !
Then, her beloved sword in Agnes’s right hand suddenly roared and released a mysterious energy she had never experienced before.
“This…?”
Also, she could feel it. The fact that an aura that resembles the one emitted by my sword must be leaking from somewhere in the white snowstorm.
Agnes held out his hand in the direction the sword was pointing.
She then declared in a whisper to the chill that she felt cozy and not cold like before.
“Freeze.”
—Bad!
The area located in the direction Agnes pointed to instantly froze in a straight line.
A large hole had been pierced in the white-colored space, and in the exposed space, Liddell’s frowning body was blocking Agnes’ cold air with her sword drawn.
Snow and ice.
The female knights, who deal with similar but different types of imagery, confronted each other with keen momentum.
—Keyiing… !
“Junior, that sword? No… More than that. The momentum has changed a lot in that short period of time? Did you realize something?”
“Yes, I’ve been missing something very important all this time. I think I’ve finally got it back.”
“I see. I sincerely congratulate you.”
Saying that, Liddell lightly pointed her sword at Agnes.
It is an expression of will to deal with the person in front of you with sincerity from now on.
‘… Can I?’
When the level rose and the field of vision opened, Agnes was able to realize once again how mature a soldier Liddell had become.
If a moment ago it felt like a huge, insurmountable wall, now it feels like a child standing in front of a giant.
—Goooh… !
However, she had a reason she could never back down no matter how strong her opponent was.
‘I’ll grant you one wish.’
The night before the match against the knights. A secret promise between Agnes and Wolfgang.
“…Then, please do something. I won’t be defeated easily.”
“You have an amazing fighting spirit. I sincerely apologize for the verbal abuse earlier.”
Championship.
After participating in the Knights Competition, that was the only goal from the beginning.
Even if she returned to the light after suffering fatal wounds, the Knights of the Black Lion had to win.
Agnes’ belly throbbed a little.
* * *
The VIP seat of the Arena of Prominence. Among them, a space only allowed to the royal family.
—Wheeeee
“Hauuuuu…♡”
Here, there was another person whose stomach was shaking.
