Ch.197197. Kagan (5)

Orc Khagan, El-Temur, sensed the sudden shift in the flow of mana around him and recalled a memory from his past.

In the past, when he was a Khan before ascending to Khagan. During his journey to defeat all other Khans and claim the position of Khagan, El-Temur had once fought against a shaman who had risen to the position of Khan.

In the extremely warlike orc society, close combat capability was essential to attain the position of Khan, even for shamans. Therefore, the shaman he had faced was also a warrior of considerable skill.

And among the techniques that shaman-Khan used, there existed abilities that could form special domains like this one.

In El-Temur’s memory, it resembled the afterlife where orcs were said to be guided—a soggy prairie stained with blood where hundreds of thousands of chosen orc warriors engaged in endless slaughter.

Except that in the alternate dimension formed by that shaman-Khan’s mysterious ability, blood-formed orc warriors had poured forth endlessly. Considering this, this alternate dimension must also be a world dominated by an individual’s characteristics…

El-Temur inwardly believed his conjecture to be true.

Because the scene unfolding before his eyes was a snow-covered plain—familiar to him yet something he had never quite adapted to.

‘…It’s cold.’

At first glance, it appeared to be just a snowy plain commonly seen when heading north of the prairie, an area often called tundra.

But the fact that El-Temur, a high-ranking warrior, could feel the biting cold in his body meant that the coldness of this snowy plain clearly existed in an unnatural domain.

Perhaps that human shaman who communicated so well had used some method… likely an artificial alternate dimension formed using abilities available to a shaman of Khan-level power.

‘…Huff.’

The moisture in his breath froze and fell, and the body heat endlessly stolen just by existing in this space was certainly not advantageous for activity.

But what truly troubled El-Temur was the cold-natured mana slowly penetrating his body.

This substance, which should rightfully be considered a separate material, was gradually absorbed and accumulated into the body through the skin, respiratory system, and substances released externally.

This cold not only slowly consumed and depleted the body, but true to its cold nature, made the target’s body dull and sluggish.

As this cold mana (provisional name) accumulated in the body, it not only reduced physical abilities but eventually caused necrosis in areas where the cold mana concentrated, and even caused the cold to protrude in the form of spikes through the skin.

Of course, a high-ranking warrior could expel this cold by circulating mana through his body once, but having to concentrate on this during high-level combat where even 0.01 seconds of attention was insufficient created vulnerabilities.

Worse, during the process of removing the cold mana from the body, it crystallized like blades and disrupted the circulation pathways, making the current situation extremely troublesome for El-Temur.

Unfortunately, El-Temur’s crisis did not end there.

[[[—AWOOOOOOOOOO!!!]]]

After an unidentified wolf howl echoed uniformly throughout the snowy plain, El-Temur encountered a mighty beast with a presence powerful enough to make his expression harden.

A majestic ice wolf covered entirely in white fur with a light blue tint—best described as “ice-colored”—with an impressive size larger than the Khagan’s largest ger.

Judging by its aura, this creature, presumed to be a type of “divine beast,” had suddenly appeared in this world of cold.

—Sring.

He tilted the green meteorite greatsword in both hands slightly to find the timing to launch an attack, but the creature, presumed to be a high-ranking pureblood divine beast, was no easy opponent.

—Fssss…

Without doing anything, the surrounding cold gathered around it by its will alone, floating around its body.

The wolf, openly displaying the unique “authority” of a high-ranking divine beast, suddenly charged without warning.

—KWAAANG!! KWAAANG!! KWAAAAAANG!!!

Amid the incredibly loud and resonating sounds of claws clashing with blade.

El-Temur, who was pushing back the rising cold with his aura release, suddenly… realized he had forgotten about that human shaman.

‘…Where are you!’

Sensing through his spiritual perception that the divine beast before him was merely a summoned entity through magical means, not a transformation of the human shaman himself, he began to feel uneasy.

And… as if in response to him. Suddenly, the cold of the snowy plain condensed around El-Temur.

—KWAGAGAGAGAGAGAK!!!

After El-Temur hurriedly threw himself away to create distance, an enormous iceberg had risen where he had been standing just moments before.

If, if he had been trapped in that, he would have died instantly—as El-Temur personally judged the situation.

—KUGUGUGUGUNG…!!

The iceberg split in half, and from between the halves emerged the divine wolf and the human shaman.

Both had become more sharp and explicit in their emanating aura compared to before, and ice spikes similar to icicles protruding from various parts of their bodies proved their transformation.

Of course, even in that state, if taken one by one, El-Temur would have the advantage, but there were two enemies, and the current battlefield was disadvantageous to El-Temur and advantageous to those two.

“…”

Therefore, to turn this situation around, El-Temur extended a strand of mana into this masterpiece he had been treating merely as a weapon until now, activating its “function”…

[[[WAAAAAAAAAAA—!!!]]]

With a roar stained with ecstasy and madness, thousands of semi-transparent entities wrapped in green mist gradually appeared from around El-Temur.

These were the ancient warriors who had already departed for the orc paradise but had responded to the rightful Khagan’s call—vaguely recognizable as orcs with blurry, translucent humanoid forms.

Each was at least mid-rank, and while not quite high-rank, some among them had high-rank software despite mid-rank output.

El-Temur’s trump card. Having activated the secret behind his undefeated legend, he was about to gather some souls to possess physical bodies and order a charge, but…

[[[—AWOOOOOOOOOO!!!]]]

As if to counter him, wolf-shaped figures began to appear with the howling sound, enemies even he had not anticipated.

These ice wolves, seemingly made of condensed cold, comparable in size to wargs, clearly emanated mid-rank mana.

Of course, compared to the army of legendary orc warriors summoned by El-Temur, even at the same mid-rank, their quality was incomparable.

But… instead, these ice wolves were truly countless in number.

At least tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of ice wolves. They were barely mid-rank magical beasts or constructs, but their combat power was certainly sufficient to be classified as mid-rank.

Bluntly speaking, even if each one was inferior to the spirits of the great orc warriors El-Temur had summoned, purely in terms of numbers, each spirit would have to face at least dozens of mid-rank ice wolves.

‘…What’s going on, why do they keep coming no matter how many are defeated?’

Thus, El-Temur felt slightly displeased at the endless emergence of these abilities with no end in sight, but regardless of his displeasure, there was nothing he could do now.

He could only face them head-on resolutely.

He assumed the stance of his unique swordsmanship—what could be called the form of his martial art—which he had learned from an orc warrior who had acted as his master and perfected through countless battles.

He pointed the blade at the enemy, kept both elbows close to his body. He skillfully spread his legs to take an exquisite yet stable stance, and naturally drew in aura to envelop his entire body.

Perhaps from the outside, he would now appear as if his entire body was a swirling storm of green.

The manifestation of power, its activation, happened in an instant.

—KUGUGUGUGUGUGUNG!!!

With a thunderous sound, the aura enveloping his body burst forth from the tip of his sword, and the moment the resounding boom was heard, El-Temur extended his arm and swung his sword, causing a flower of destruction to bloom from his hand.

And, as if this were a signal flare, the two formations of mid-ranks charged toward each other, burning with the will for slaughter…

Above the snowy plain, a storm of cold and green began to rage.