Extreme Cold Era: Shelter Don't Keep Waste-Chapter 915 - 143:
Noticing the web-like cracks suddenly appearing on the ice columns, Perfikot's pupils contracted sharply, and she immediately barked a cold command: "Everyone be careful! Withdraw from the main hall!"
Her voice exploded in the empty temple, carrying an unmistakable sense of authority.
Perfikot always maintained the highest level of vigilance for such ancient ruins. Although she didn't bring Steam Knights into the site ostentatiously this time, her chief maid Beifa always followed her like a shadow.
This seemingly elegant maid was in fact a Godslaying Level Alchemy Puppet crafted by Perfikot's own hands.
"Master, please step back." Beifa stepped forward, shielding Perfikot.
A mechanical humming emanated from beneath her exquisite maid uniform, and the vents on her back and arms simultaneously opened, spewing scorching air currents.
The delicate hands that usually held a tray now gleamed with a metallic luster, sharp alloy blades springing out from her forearms.
Although the scholars and workers were unaware, their survival instincts made them abandon their equipment and sprint towards the exit.
Heavy exploration gear clattered to the ground with a loud crash, but it was soon overshadowed by another sound—
"Bang!"
The first ice pillar exploded with a roar, and glittering ice fragments burst out like bullets.
An ancient priest trapped in the ice broke free from the ice column, his skin retaining the bluish-white hue of being frozen, a terrified expression from millennia ago fixed on his face.
Eerily, his body maintained a praying posture, his hands forming a complex Dharma Seal in front of his chest.
At the instant of leaving the ice column, time seemed to accelerate its passage upon this priest.
His lavish priestly robe blackened and carbonized visibly to the naked eye, the gold embroidery turning into flying ash; the exposed skin shriveled and blackened rapidly, turning into a charred mummy in the blink of an eye.
Yet, this body that should have decayed moved bizarrely, with parched lips opening and closing to utter a raspy spell.
"Safura... Hecate..." The raspy spell squeezed out from the mummy's throat, and the temperature in the temple plummeted instantly. The ice crystals on the ground wriggled like living things, coalescing into sharp ice spikes that shot toward everyone.
Beifa's eyes sharpened as her right leg stomped down fiercely, the seemingly slender leg unleashing incredible power, creating web-like cracks in the ice surface along with the stone slabs underneath.
Using the recoil, her figure shot out like an arrow, leaving a residual shadow in the air.
"Ha!" A swift side kick swept through with a whistling sound, shattering the barrage of incoming ice spikes.
Ice fragments scattered in all directions, leaving deep marks on the walls.
As Beifa landed, she spun her body and lashed out with her left leg like a whip, delivering a heavy kick to the mummy priest's waist.
"Crack!" The mummy's spine snapped with a crisp sound.
Yet eerily, its upper body remained suspended in the air, with skeletal fingers quickly forming seals.
Countless icicles abruptly coalesced on the ceiling, cascading downward like a torrential downpour.
Beifa snorted coldly, her fists clenching tightly.
Her fists glowed with an unnatural red light, a sign of the core energy within her body operating in overload.
With an uppercut punch, the fiery punch wind directly shattered the falling swarm of icicles into mist.
Before the mist dissipated, her figure had already appeared in front of the mummy.
A straightforward punch landed squarely on the mummy's chest, a seemingly gentle strike that caused the entire mummy's body to explode like it was struck by a Siege Hammer.
Decaying bones and frozen internal organ fragments splattered everywhere, striking the walls with a dull thud.
Yet, more ice columns began to shake as the second and third mummy priests struggled to break free from their icy prisons...
The moment the third ice column shattered, three mummies clad in priestly robes with different patterns landed at the same time.
The leading priest wore a golden Scarab Beetle crown and formed the Eye of Horus Dharma Seal with both hands; The priest on the left had an ice-crystal cobra coiled around its neck with its right arm inscribed with hieroglyphs, while the priest on the right held a freezing Magic Staff, the blue Gem in the head of the staff emitting an ominous glow.
"In the name of Safura—" The triple hoarse chant resonated within the hall as the meteoric iron on the dome suddenly emitted a blinding blue light.
Countless ice crystals condensed in the air, transforming into hundreds of palm-sized scarab beetles, their wings buzzing with a teeth-gritting drone.
Beifa took a half-step back, her right leg carving a perfect arc.
The sweeping wind of her leg strike directly shattered the first wave of ice beetle swarm, but more icy insects surged from all directions.
She suddenly crouched, left palm supporting the ground, her long right leg scything towards the nearest crown-wearing priest.
This strike was intended to shatter its kneecap but was blocked by a suddenly rising ice wall—the surface of the ice wall bore the Eye of Horus pattern, fully deflecting the impact force.
With an unchanged expression, Beifa kicked off the ice wall, using the momentum to backflip and avoid the rebounding shockwave.
When she landed, she found her feet had been ensnared by ice vines sprouting from the ground, the vines bristling with tiny ice spikes that attempted to pierce through her leg defenses.
"Freeze..." The Scepter Priest swung the staff, its gem casting a beam of extreme cold.
With a sudden twist of her waist, Beifa's body spun like a gyroscope, forcibly tearing off the ice vines. The cold beam grazed past the tips of her hair, freezing the stone pillar behind her into an ice sculpture.
At that moment, the Snake Pattern Priest struck the ground, summoning three ice crystal cobras that burst from the earth.
These snakes had horn-like ice crests on their heads, spewing blue mist from their mouths, leaving frost blossoms in their wake.
Beifa's eyes narrowed, and she suddenly leaped three meters high, her right leg chopping down like a battle axe.
"Boom!"
The snake group shattered into ice shards under the heavy stomp, but seven ice spears suddenly pierced from the exploding ice mist—a follow-up killing move from the crown-wearing priest.
In mid-air, Beifa twisted her body forcefully, slicing three ice spears with a karate chop from her right hand, deflecting two with a side kick from her left leg, and headbutting the last two into splinters!
Using the impact from the ice spears, Beifa flickered backward.
The three priests seized the opportunity to form a triangular formation, chanting a long incantation together.
A gigantic hexagonal frost flower appeared on the ground, while innumerable icy long swords condensed in the air, the sword bodies covered with cursed runes.
The heat emission from the vents around Beifa seemed to slow, and even her movements became noticeably sluggish.
"It's time to end this, Beifa switch to high-output mode." Perfikot, seemingly bored, ordered Beifa to end the battle.
Accompanied by Perfikot's command, the thunderous hum of Beifa's internal energy core became clearly audible, a faint red light glowing beneath her skin.
The moment the first wave of ice swords attacked, Beifa vanished.
The next second, she appeared behind the Scepter Priest, slicing down with her hand-blade wrapped in scorching steam.
The hastily conjured Ice Shield by the priest vaporized instantly, the strike severing its right shoulder along with the Magic Staff.
Before the severed arm landed, she grabbed the priest's head and smashed it to the ground, the shockwave shattering the forming Array.
The Snake Pattern Priest attempted to summon Ice Snakes for rescue, but was pierced through the chest by the half-magic staff tossed by Beifa.
The final crown-wearing priest summoned an enraged ice crystal giant, but she slipped into its embrace, launching a close-range punch to the chest armor—the Eye of Horus shattering on contact, the impact force penetrating through the body, leaving a web-like crack on the wall behind.
As the ice mist cleared, the remains of the three priests rapidly weathered away.
Beifa panted while shaking off the ice shards from her hand; her maid uniform was in tatters, yet the hem of Perfikot's dress behind her wasn't even lifted.
