Imp to Demon King: A Journey of Conquest-Chapter 305: Clash of Frost and Flame

The muffled noise of his steps against the snow drew Hrimgar’s attention. Like a living tower, the jotun turned and leaned forward, shoving his ugly pale blue face down.

"Interesting." He tucked his fingers around his chin and raised his brow over Adam, not recognising his new looks. "How can something survive this eternal permafrost?" His gaze shifted to Mimir’s strapped head. "Someone freed you, old friend? Lucky aren’t we?"

Adam shook his head, going straight to the point as the biting cold assaulted his ashen skin. "We don’t have time to engage in lengthy conversation. I’m the lord you interacted with ten years ago. We need you to open the spatial tear to my demon den."

"You changed quite a bit, little demon." Hrimgar retrieved his pipe from his loincloth with a grin and took an icy puff. "Your disappearance almost thwarted Loki’s plans."

Adam’s scarlet and blue eyes narrowed. As expected. A shroud of deception accompanied everything he had obtained.

He clenched his jaw. "What plan?"

"What do you think?" Hrimgar’s lips curled into a vicious smile. "Tiamat’s primordial chaos has too many uses to let her run free." His grip tightened around his pipe, the blunt edge glinting a frozen light. "Loki likes its impact on instincts. Wouldn’t it be a pity to let her monopolise this power?"

Adam snorted, understanding the plan. They wanted to let him form a powerful jotun division, gather a few of Tiamat’s body parts, then turn on him to get everything at once.

"What didn’t happen doesn’t matter, Hrimgar." His voice grew somber. "Will you open the tear or not?"

The jotun’s smile broadened, his arm rising. "Guess."

Without warning, the pipe whistled down, the frosty wind solidifying around its edge into a building-sized icy boulder. freewebnσvel.cѳm

Adam watched it collapse like a meteor, the tundra beneath his feet cracking like glass. Yet, his hand calmly reached for the God Slayer despite the threat.

With a buzz and an ocean of vapor, a condensed plasma blade erupted from the circular guard.

"The tear will open, with or without your consent, old fool."

His arm tensed, each muscle fiber roaring his unsaid rage as a scarlet streak deformed the air.

BOOM

The two weapons met, the collision blasting tendrils of flame and shards of ice outwards. Vapor swirled, a sizzling and splashing noise accompanying the burning water dripping down the pipe.

Beneath the melting boulder, Adam snickered. His physique now matched the ancient jotun’s and the potential of flames would always surpass that of ice. After all, they weren’t limited by the absolute zero.

"Don’t drop your guard, brother." Mimir’s worried voice echoed from his belt. "Hrimgar never goes all out!"

Simultaneously, the pipe’s blunt edge trembled against his plasma blade. His arm recoiled, the pressure increasing gradually as if to test his limits.

’Shit.’ Gritting his teeth, he pushed back as his feet deepened the crater and threatened to buckle.

With no time to ponder, plasma erupted into a blinding sphere in his right palm. He swiped it, pitching it upward at full force.

"The ant I could crush beneath my thumb has grown so much." Hrimgar snorted as the plasma ball brightened his face. Yet, the shadows dancing on it froze mid-air as his icy breath swirled. "Let me guess: flames are stronger than ice? Bullshit!"

Adam’s brows twitched as the scalding arcs of plasma froze. The ball, then, turned pale white, like a frozen sun crashing to the ground as Hrimgar continued.

"It took Odin and his two brothers everything they had to defeat Ymir, the incarnation of frost. I’m his descendant you, fool!"

The ground exploded into sharp shards as the swirling breath condensed into giant spikes. They simultaneously whistled from beneath and above to impale Adam while he still grappled with the pipe.

’Ignore the smaller down.’ A steely glint flashed in his eyes. He gritted his teeth, hurling an uppercut that blasted a roiling sea of plasma above.

The spikes held for a second before they exploded into a drizzling rain. Yet, he cursed as the smaller ones coming from the ground pierced his legs.

"Brother!" Mimir exclaimed as he watched the blood freeze in horror and how the ice crawled onto Adam’s skin like a devouring beast.

"I’m fine!" Adam roared despite his buckling legs and the soul-chilling frost assaulting his muscles.

"You’re not! Retreat for now. We’ll return after you strengthen yourself a little more."

Adam heard the pleading in Mimir’s voice, but it only fueled his rage further. Retreat? Him? Never!

As frost swirled around him, Hrimgar’s mocking laughter poured oil on the fire.

"Hahaha. Ymir predates the universe and its concepts. Even time froze upon touching his existence."

"You keep spewing bullshit in my ears." Adam’s voice cracked, his bones groaning and muscles bulging. "You’re not your loser ancestor, just a dog wagging his tail before Loki and barking."

Scales burst on his skin as his teeth and nails elongated into fangs and claws. His size rose as he canceled his shapeshifting spell, his giant wings blasting the frost away with a draconic roar.

CLANG

His horns clashed against the pipe, their structure snapping with the collision. But he didn’t care about the pain. The pipe was flying back and his target was at arm’s reach now that he matched his size.

He snapped his open jaws at the surprised jotun, the scales covering his throat turning scalding white. His hands blurred simultaneously, the claws glinting toward the shoulders.

However, Hrimgar snorted in ridicule. A frozen blade formed on his elbow, already on its way to split Adam’s giant head. "I won’t belittle it. It was a nice, desperate try."

WHOOSH

The frozen blade whistled with his words. Yet, the jotun frowned. Where were the screams, the pleading, and the blood? No... he paled slightly. The sensation of tearing through flesh didn’t register either!

As the fake he had just cleaved faded, his eyes widened down to where Adam’s scalding open jaw was.

An icy shudder ran down his spine, the spine of the only jotun entirely immune to cold. What a joke. He gritted his teeth, his energy rumbling into action and condensing around him to endure the imminent plasma discharge as he roared.

"Mere tricks. I’ll behead you the moment you stop!"