Ch.123Girl – 3

“Y-You… lowly, wench…!”

Charlotte’s arms trembled slightly. Intense rage seeped from her contorted face. Her blood-red eyes emitted a menacing aura.

As the cold metal dug into her delicate white hands, her fingers tightly gripped the blade. Droplets of red liquid appeared where the blade met her skin.

The beaded liquid soon formed a small path of blood, flowing down her wrist and soaking the sleeve of Charlotte’s uniform.

Her fingers tightened around the World Eater’s blade. She didn’t care that the sharp edge cut deeper into her palm.

The blade began to crumple under her crushing grip. As the self-inflicted wound grew larger from the forced pressure, the stream of blood thickened. The stain on her uniform sleeve gradually spread.

Charlotte violently swung her left arm. The World Eater’s blade, caught in her hand, was completely torn away and crumpled miserably in her fist.

“Know your place!”

With a thunderous shout, the girl’s body was driven deep underground, carving a hole in the earth.

From the pit, roughly the size of a human body, came the continuous sound of soil and gravel being ground away.

After burying the girl completely by unleashing dozens of lightning bolts into the pit where she had been driven, Charlotte staggered back several steps.

The aftermath of the collision between Star Drop and the pure mana breath was devastatingly horrific.

A crater wide enough to contain an entire castle with room to spare had formed, its surface glazed like pottery from the intense heat.

Lava flowing across the ground gradually gathered inside along the slope. The glossy surface began to boil again from the heat.

Charlotte created a teleportation magic circle and transported herself to the edge of the crater. Then, she drew in all the nearby magma and buried the entire crater.

After briefly looking down at the crater, which had instantly transformed into something resembling a volcanic vent, Charlotte examined the condition of her left hand.

It was the hand that had seized the World Eater.

Despite layering several top-tier defensive magic circles in that brief moment to reduce the damage, her left hand was far from what anyone could call intact.

Skin charred to reveal bright red flesh beneath, bones half-severed and oozing blood mixed with marrow, muscles constantly spasming and on the verge of necrosis.

It had been a very long time since she’d sustained such injuries. She had rarely been wounded since her desperate battle to the death with the beast named Serena.

Charlotte raised her right hand and swept it over her left arm from top to bottom. A green light briefly enveloped where her right hand had passed.

When the green light disappeared, her left hand, which had been horrifically damaged, was completely restored to its original state.

After flexing her hand open and closed to confirm that sensation had fully returned, Charlotte waved her hand once more to remove all the stains that had seeped into her uniform sleeve.

The metallic scent of blood lingered briefly in the air before dissipating.

‘If that wench’s technique had been just a little more powerful, I would have lost my entire left arm.’

Charlotte recalled what had happened just before the magically created dragon form had unleashed pure mana.

A streak of yellow light that had pierced through the torrent of mana head-on and plunged toward the ground. Its meaning was clear.

However, in nearly 150 years, Charlotte had never seen anyone other than Serena use Star Drop, or even anything resembling it.

Not even the Royal Knights, a collection of knights praised as the continent’s finest, nor the S-rank adventurers, called the Adventure Guild’s greatest force, could do it.

Star Drop was a technique permitted only to Serena Elizabeth, a human who had transcended human limitations.

The puzzle pieces fit together. Who the two people that wench buried underground had mentioned were, and what had happened between them.

“I know you are not dead.”

A magic circle appeared in the air again. Her long silver hair fluttered with the surging flow of mana.

If this being could truly replicate an opponent’s technique perfectly after fighting them just once, then mimicking the magic Charlotte had used wouldn’t be impossible.

It was best to kill such a troublesome wench right here, before that could happen.

“Show your filthy self this instant.”

The temperature of the air dropped dramatically.

The surrounding landscape, which had resembled a scene from hell with boiling magma and melted earth, now transformed into a freezing hell of extreme cold.

The river of magma solidified in its flowing state. The completely melted, muddy swamp of soil and rocks froze solid.

A blue light surrounded everything. It was the color of light one might only see in the extreme cold regions of the northernmost continent, where even formidable magical beasts struggle to survive.

In the distance, magma that had shot skyward was frozen in the shape of an erupting fountain. Petrified magma fragments fell onto the frozen ground with a clatter.

Snow and frost covered the frozen lava terrain. The land mass that had been colored orange and yellow was now blue and white.

“If not, I shall personally grab you by the hair and split your body and head into two pieces.”

No sooner had those words ended than a girl’s figure burst through the hardened magma.

The counterfeit World Eater that Charlotte had torn apart with her bare hands was nowhere to be found. Only the greatsword embedded in her heart moved slightly with her body’s movements.

Charlotte’s image reflected in the girl’s wide-open black eyes. Her legs lightly stepped on the ground that had turned to permafrost.

Despite being driven into underground bedrock, struck by dozens of lightning bolts, and covered with an enormous amount of magma, her appearance showed not even a trace of soot, let alone any wounds.

“Kik kik kik.”

The girl let out a mocking snicker. Noticing the clear contempt in that laughter, a vein bulged on Charlotte’s forehead.

“Have you finally lost your mind? I have long known that your mind is not sound, so there is no need for such petty behavior. Just looking at you fills me with disgust.”

“After using so much magic, you still couldn’t kill me. I’m still perfectly alive right here. What do you mean ‘know my place’? You don’t even have the ability to back up those words. You’re the one who doesn’t understand your own place.”

It was provocative, but also undeniable. Regardless of the process, the fact remained that Charlotte had failed to kill this girl.

“I do not lie.”

The magic circles floating in the air writhed and merged into one. It was a multi-incantation technique that Charlotte had devised herself.

She divided one magic circle into dozens of smaller ones, partially recited each incantation to complete the casting in advance, and then merged the magic circles to use the spell.

Since it was possible to delay the casting even after reciting the incantation, it had the advantage of making it difficult for opponents to predict the timing of the attack.

Conversely, it required simultaneous casting of as many incantations as there were divided magic circles, which often resulted in tangled incantations unless one had exceptional mental capacity—but this posed no problem for Charlotte.

“When I say I will kill you, it is as good as fact.”

The temperature, already lower than the northern cold regions, finally began to drop to the extreme.

Even though the magic circles hadn’t completely merged, the leaking mana alone could lower the temperature below that of the northern cold regions.

Absolute Zero.

If Purgatory was a magic that created a hell of fire and lava in the world, Absolute Zero was a magic that created a hell of snow and ice.

The dark blue sky gradually became more black. The fierce blizzard slowly subsided.

This wasn’t because the weather was improving, but because the temperature had dropped too low. The snowflakes in the sky froze before they could reach the ground.

All matter within range of the magic, both living and non-living, ceased activity—except for Charlotte and the black-haired girl.

The minute moisture mixed in the air completely froze, creating a whitish fog of frost.

The sunlight from the sky was insufficient to melt the cold that froze the world itself. It couldn’t even penetrate the icy clouds.

All matter touched by Absolute Zero transformed into eternal, unbreakable ice.

Finally, even the last ray of light could not withstand the temperature that had dropped to the extreme. Darkness so thick you couldn’t see an inch in front of you spread everywhere.

All space affected by Absolute Zero tore away from the original dimension, becoming something separate.

Everything visible crumpled.

All concepts constituting the world creaked, unable to withstand the rift originating from a space where everything was splitting in two.

“My word is eternal, immutable truth.”

Charlotte clenched her fist.

The isolated space was instantly compressed to smaller than a fingernail, dragging in everything contained within it.

Including the girl trapped inside.

She was briefly wary that the girl might tear through space itself like some unruly beast, but it seemed to be unnecessary caution.

Charlotte counted down internally.

3 seconds.

The compressed space, smaller than a fingernail, twisted and convulsed wildly.

2 seconds.

A perfect sphere formed.

1 second.

The trembling stopped abruptly.

0 seconds.

Charlotte snapped her fingers.

The compressed space was pulled back out into the world.