Summoning the Holy Sword

Chapter 1135: Shadows of the Ice City (1)

Biting cold gales blustered in the area. The little mermaid raised her arms and released a whistling snowstorm that froze the place into ice. The shadowy monsters howled in grief at this ice-cold ambush and their illusory bodies froze into ice. After a few moments, a dozen of them showed up before everyone in frost. Rhode darted ahead and his sword flickered in an ice-cold radiance, slashing an arc that split them into halves. Upon realizing how tough this human was, the shadowy monsters gave up on the thought of chasing after him. But even so, they quietly stayed away from the defensive circle and lurked on the outside.

But shortly after, another two to three huge, shadowy monsters leaped and widened their mouths to spray a dense, black mist of death aura at them. However, Mini Bubble Gum wasn't one to be trifled with. Facing this ambush, she swung her right arm abruptly and a golden radiance sparkled. A thick and massive white light column descended from above almost immediately after, smashing the shadowy monsters to the ground like an iron hammer and scattering their black mist.

After continuous failures in attacking, the shadowy monsters stopped trying. It could be seen that they were intelligent creatures. In this case, it made it even harder for Rhode's group to advance. The shadowy monsters were like a pack of dangerous wolves lurking in the darkness. As soon as one let loose, they would pounce and crunch on one. If this continued, the predicament of Rhode's group would become worse. If they were ordinary civilians, they wouldn't have a way against these monsters. But…

"Mias…"

"… iansg!"

The instant the shadowy monsters retreated to pull a distance apart from Rhode's group, the two Canaries extended their arms at the same time. At that moment, they displayed perfect rapport. Even though they attacked simultaneously, they chanted two different parts of the incantation respectively and streaked their fingers in midair. Shortly after, a huge, elegant magical ritual appeared between them. A scarlet fireball as bright as the sun appeared above them. In a rumble, a crimson halo expanded to the surroundings. Looking at this scene, the shadowy monsters sensed the dangers and shrunk back urgently. But it was too late. Everyone was blinded for a split second, while the crimson halo devoured the enemies completely. Flares flitted across the space and everything went missing in sight.

After this attack, the enemies seemed to come to a realization that Rhode's group was tough to deal with. Rhode sensed the death aura rolling around them fleeing desperately after suffering from the two Canaries' attacks and managed to escape after a while. It seemed like they didn't dare to carelessly attack anymore. But Rhode also discovered something about them. He commanded everyone to launch all-out attacks at the start because he found out that the death aura that attacked them was less than a thousandth of what he had sensed. He thought they were only attacking to probe their strength, which was why he eradicated them completely before they reacted. However, he didn't expect the death aura to fluster and continued to linger around as though it couldn't turn around and escape even if it were thrashed by his group repeatedly. This went to show that the imprisonment enchanted field on this place was useful against them. Rhode didn't grasp the entire palace yet, which was why he didn't have the intention to give chase after repelling them.

After the shadowy monsters retreated, the dimmed corridor lit up instantly. The magic crystals on both sides of the walls emanated a clear, dazzling brilliance that illuminated the corridor. At that moment, Thomas and the rest returned to their senses, gawking at Rhode's group in bewilderment. They tried and attacked the monsters earlier, but no matter what they did, the monsters weren't affected at all. On the contrary, a few random moves from Rhode's group eradicated those terrifying monsters immediately and this startled them. Thomas and the others gazed dubiously at Rhode who wielded a sword, as well as Erin and Lydia. After the battle ended, the two Canaries went to the side quietly. On the other hand, the two Mini Bubble Gums disregarded this group of 'ordinary people', let out a snort, and stopped paying attention to them—yes, that was the demeanor of an expert. Just look at those idiots like Spiderman, Superman, and whatnot. They became so powerful after their transformation and yet they had to bow down to ordinary people, leading to their wives being stolen, girlfriends being snatched, and families being killed. Not only that, but they also sat by the window in their lonesome self, listening to news about how their women broke 'unspoken rules' and got together with their best friends and wiped the tears flowing down their faces as they went on to rescue Earth… Just what was the point for such almighty superheroes to live and rescue the world?

"W-Who… exactly are you people?!"

A ghastly whiteness spread over Thomas's face. He thought Rhode's group was nothing more than an insignificant group sent here to do nothing. But after witnessing their battle, he was stumped. After all, their battle style didn't resemble any ordinary humans' at all. Upon hearing his doubt, Erin and Lydia merely smiled in response. After all, one was a night wyvern and the other was an archangel who looked at humans like they were cats and dogs. They didn't have the mentality of acknowledging them. On the other hand, the two Mini Bubble Gums seized this opportunity to sneer and gaze at the ashen Thomas proudly.

"What has that got to do with you anyway, idiot? It's none of your business what we do. You'd better follow us obediently if you want to live. If not, you can get lost for all you want! Hmph!"

Thomas had been treating them as newbies and bossing them around, which was why Rhode's group couldn't be bothered to bicker with him. But Mini Bubble Gum was a narrow-minded little fellow. Since she no longer needed to conceal her identity, she instantly used this chance to mock him back. But it was a pity that as a researcher, Thomas wasn't too affected by her. Even if Mini Bubble Gum berated his ancestors, he would treat as though he didn't hear her. On the contrary, he went up to the little mermaid and sized up the young lady curiously. The little mermaid was startled as soon as Thomas hurried toward her and quickly turned around to hide behind Rhode. At this moment, Thomas returned to his senses. He looked at Rhode and was seemingly about to speak when suddenly, Rhode shot him a cold look that made him shudder in fear and shut his mouth.

Rhode couldn't be bothered with Thomas, while the latter and the rest were speechless. The atmosphere became somewhat awkward. On the other hand, the soldiers clutched weapons, but didn't know what they should do. Logically speaking, even though Rhode was naturally their companion after repelling the monsters for them, the battle style of his group was too mysterious. Although they also used swords, their speed was faster than bullets. Moreover, the spiritual and magic spells Canary and Mini Bubble Gum released were also unusually strange. Such incredible abilities were definitely beyond the so-called human limit. Furthermore, Rhode's identity was also peculiar. That was why the soldiers didn't know if they should stay or leave.

At that moment, Canary's voice sounded and broke the awkward atmosphere.

"Rhode, take a look at this."

"Oh?"

Rhode turned to the two Canaries who were standing before a monster corpse and scanning it curiously with knitted brows. Their expressions piqued Rhode's curiosity and he went up to them quickly. Rhode was taken aback after witnessing the corpse.

"What's going on?"

What presented itself before him was a mysterious creature with a long head and neck, as well as a body and tail of a lizard the size of an adult. But due to some unknown reason, its body was completely rotten. It seemed like a dinosaur in the movies, but compared to one, something just didn't seem right…

"T-This is a Rapator!"

While Rhode pondered deeply, he suddenly heard Thomas's exclamation. Rhode turned to the latter and saw him gasping in astonishment at the corpse. Upon detecting Rhode's gaze, Thomas disregarded Mini Bubble Gum's rudeness earlier and began to explain to him.

"This is a carnivorous dinosaur from the Cretaceous Period but… why is it so huge? A Rapator should have been the size of a dog… could this be a mutant?"

Thomas questioned, knelt down, and extracted its flesh using his hand. As soon as he did, Rhode witnessed the shadow inside the dinosaur's body trembling, before surging and pouncing on Thomas abruptly. Rhode's reaction was quick; he grabbed Thomas and threw him to the back; at the same time, the holy sword in his hand burst out a dazzling sacred radiance. In the blink of an eye, several blade rays erupted, shredding the shadows and devouring it entirely like an enormous beast.

Undead creature?

Upon detecting the mysterious aura, Rhode felt increasingly suspicious. He had witnessed this method from undead creatures many times. But frankly, he couldn't relate the dinosaurs with undead creatures at all. Well, he couldn't be blamed. It wasn't tough for him to imagine a group of death knights riding on a huge and tall incubi carrying out an assault. But it was an entirely different issue for him to imagine a group of death knights riding motorcycles or tanks and yelling attack slogans. And now, upon witnessing this group of dinosaurs who had seemingly become undead creatures, it just felt too strange for him.

At this thought, Rhode said no more. Even though he didn't know what exactly it was, it didn't seem like anything good. He flourished his sword and a blade ray flashed before him. Shortly after, the remains of dinosaurs erupted with silver-whitish, holy flames that turned them into ashes instantly. Although Thomas shrieked in pity, Rhode didn't care about his thoughts at all. After cleaning up the place, he turned around and continued heading forward. At this moment, the rest had no choice but to put up a bold face and follow him. After all, they didn't have any power to take down the monsters if they were to show up again in this place. On the contrary, Rhode's group eradicated them effortlessly. Although they didn't know what exactly the monsters were, their priority was to make it out alive. That was why they remained silent and followed him quietly.

After exposing his identity, Rhode wasn't as careful as before anymore. After all, he had sealed up the entire palace and these people couldn't contact the outside world even if they wanted to. On the other hand, although Rhode didn't kill them immediately, he had no intention of letting them walk out of here alive. After all, if they did, they definitely would reveal the secrets of his group and cause even more trouble. So he might as well find an opportunity to kill them all, since he was an expert in this aspect.

After facing such a violent ambush, Thomas and the other researchers weren't in the mood to inspect the place anymore. All they hoped for was to leave this place as soon as possible and didn't consider the fact that Rhode would slaughter them. As of now, they continued to move forward under the protection of Rhode, Mini Bubble Gum, Canary, and the others.

The deeper they headed into the palace, Rhode sensed the death aura becoming denser. Besides, the uncertainty in him from before the ambush also became stronger, which startled him. Even though he spoke to his younger sister about it, it was a pity that she didn't know what exactly was going on. The sacred palace was clearly abandoned and yet there seemed to be signs of life. Moreover, the deity warden who should have been here had also disappeared. This was just too strange for him.

Even though Rhode's group faced ambushes from the 'undead dinosaurs' along the way, the enemies seemingly had no intention of attacking as they retreated immediately after spotting Rhode's group as though they were sounding them out. This increased Rhode's worries because their reactions clearly belonged to those of a thinker. But the fact that they were imprisoned in this palace proved that they might be incredibly powerful. Strong and intelligent undead creatures were never easy to deal with.

However, Rhode was cautious to not let Lydia reveal her true form. Even though Lydia could basically crush the undead creatures after showing her true form, Rhode wasn't in a hurry to make his move after realizing that the enemies were sounding him out. Instead, he coordinated with Canary and Mini Bubble Gum and repelled all the monsters that probed them.

After passing through the long passageway, Rhode's group arrived at yet another stone door. This time, Rhode concealed himself no more, extending and placing his right hand on the stone door. Then, the stone door opened in loud rumbles. A chilly wind whistled from the gap and as soon as everyone witnessed the scenery behind it, they were taken aback.

"This…"

Not only Thomas, but even Rhode, Lydia, and Erin were amazed.

It was a huge plaza like a city dug by dwarves in the cave. Stone buildings on both sides extended upward along the wall. In the middle of the huge plaza stood a pyramid-like altar. Large, carved stone statues were erected around the altar and were seemingly majestic.

However, what surprised everyone wasn't the buildings. Instead, it was the scenery. At a glance, the surroundings were covered in a thick layer of ice. Not only that, but thousands of human figures were also within the ice layer as though they once lived here and were frozen overnight.

"What… is that?"

One of the soldiers shrieked and went up to touch the ice before him cautiously. Rhode and Erin exchanged glances before shaking their heads. Although they were knowledgeable, it was indeed rare to find such a crystal-like ice layer that was so thick and strange.

"This seems like the work of a legendary spell. But… according to you, Your Majesty, this place existed for tens of millions of years, right? What kind of legendary spell could last for so long?"

Erin sized up the tall ice layer, knitted her brows, and muttered under her breath. On the other hand, Canary observed the place and extended her hand. Shortly after, a sphere of fire appeared in her hand. She pointed her finger forward, launching the fireball at the crystal-clear ice, but the fireball vanished like an air bubble. Looking at this scene, Canary's expression changed slightly.

"Rhode, I can't destroy it."

This is really strange.

Rhode thought after hearing Canary's remarks. Canary was adept in the flame and wind elements. Her mastery of the flame element was at the same level as an elemental lord's and yet, she couldn't break down this ice layer?

At the same time, Lydia extended her arms suddenly, and two blades appeared out of thin air and slashed the wall mercilessly. With her strength, it should have been enough to destroy the ice layer even if she weren't in her true form.

But what stunned everyone was that after hearing two soft rasps, her incredibly powerful attack was resisted and ineffective at all!

"Me neither, Your Majesty."

Lydia gazed at her sword tips and shook her head. Upon hearing her remark, Rhode turned slightly grim. After pondering for a few moments, he gave an order.

"Let's check out the situation inside."