Chapter 12-2
“Fuck it! I am going to die here if I don’t risk it!” Gungnir was someone that could let go of things. When he realized the circumstance had come to a life deciding choice, he crushed the three rank C energy stones in his hand without a moment of hesitation. That was a rank B reward. A white freezing air rose from his arm. The air flowed from his arm to his body and enclosed his whole body in ice.
On the other hand, Heng and Legolas initiated the first wave of attacks. Both of them used Explosive shot. Two accelerated arrows flew through with invisible speed and penetrated the Balrog’s body instantly. Heng was using +3 enchanted arrows and Legolas’s arrow was glowing green. The final Ringwraith might not be able to take this attack too, not to mention the Balrog.
The arrows opened up two large holes on the Balrog’s body. It wailed but as a more intense fire burned on its body, the holes were closing by themselves. It seemed like the fire turned into part of its body. This miraculous healing ability surprised the two archers.
Gandalf shouted. “It’s no use. The Balrog is the spirit of fire before it corrupted. Fire is its life. Normal earthly weapons can’t kill it. Only ice attribute weapons are able to harm it but they still won’t be able to kill the Balrog. The only exception is on the peak of the snowy mountain. You have to exhaust all its fire!”
Gandalf showed off his knowledge again. But the Balrog spew a pillar of fire and cut him off. He quickly raised his staff. A faded barrier blocked the fire on its outside. The temperature around however kept increasing. Gandalf was suffering untold misery in the center of it. Yet, he couldn’t step away or else those behind him would be burned to ashes.
A veteran player behind Gandalf also brought out a small and exquisite staff. This young man looked rather soft and gentle. He was also rather quiet in the previous days. He chanted his spell facing at the fire. A few seconds later, the staff sprayed a small cloud of icy mist. Everyone immediately felt the temperature decreased and let out a sigh of relief.
“My apologizes. The leader took all my ice energy stones so I can’t use any magic level 3 and higher. This ice beam is the only magic I can use to lower the temperature.” He said coyly. Then he repeated the magic a few more times.
Gandalf chanted at the same time. “I am the servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the Flame of Anor. The dark fire will not avail you! Flame of Udûn!” After the chant, a circle of silver ember conjured outside his barrier. The ember began to absorb the Balrog’s blue fire. Gandalf’s expression eased a little bit.
The rest of the group behind him let out a sigh of relief. But Gandalf shouted. “It’s too early to let your guard down! The ember can only stop it for ten seconds. This Balrog is too powerful. It isn’t a creature we can rival. It’s a foe of the gods. I know you are strong, Zheng and your comrades. Use whatever you have or there won’t be any chances left to use them!”
YinKong rushed to Gandalf’s back. She entered The Shining at once. Her body turned blurry and her arms moved in a flurry while holding the invisible Excalibur in her hands.
The light up to two meters in front of her bended along with the sound of strong wind blowing. That was due to a disruption to the balance of air density. The bending of light passed by Gandalf’s barrier and struck right at the center of the Balrog’s chest.
The Balrog bellowed. Its chest and the fire around there began disintegrating inch by inch as the bending light hit it. It was as though countless tiny blades sliced its body. Seconds later, the bending light penetrated the Balrog’s body, taking half its chest along. Fire were spewing from the edge of the hole.
Legolas and Heng looked at each other. Legolas placed three arrows on his bow. Heng’s body formed an arc as he drew the bow to a full moon. The aura he gave off surpassed that of the Balrog’s at this moment. Everyone stared at him with shock. Heng was using his Charged Shot that could only be used once every fight.
Legolas fired his three arrow Explosive shot first. The arrows hit the tail of the one in front with a blast sequentially. The first arrow accelerated to an unbelievable speed. Pah! It hit the side of the Balrog’s chest, right next to the hole. Just then, Heng released his Charged Shot. This arrow flew even faster than the Explosive Shot. Heng released it late but the arrow hit the other side of the Balrog’s chest at the same time. Their cooperation was so perfect. The two arrows blasted both sides of the Balrog’s chest. There was nothing holding his upper body anymore aside from the fire bursting out. The three of them split the Balrog in halves.
The group saw the damage clearly. The Balrog wailed more violently with the separation of his chest. Fire spewed out from the rest of his body like it was worth pennies. Seeing that the Balrog seemed about to die, the group cheered out loud.
Yet Gandalf yelled. “No! The Balrog is getting into a frenzy. This wound won’t kill it before exhausting all its fire!”
As he expected. The around on its body burned at an increasingly intense rate. It was the fire that held his body in place. At the rate that it’s healing, it looked like the hole on the chest was going to be recovered.
Heng had collapsed on the ground due to exhaustion. YinKong’s arms were shaking. And Legolas hid his arm on the back. There was no way they could perform the same cooperation again.
“Thank you for delaying it for so long. Haha! Now look at my performance!” An arrogant voice suddenly said. And at the same time, everyone felt the decrease in temperature. Gungnir broke out of the ice when they weren’t looking. His lower body became a cloud of icy mist and floated in the air. The rest of his body was translucent as crystal. It seemed like the body was carved out of ice.
Gungnir laughed. “The authentic version of Ice Age. Leave it up to me! This attack is immensely powerful but it takes too long to prepare and absorb the huge amount of energy. Haha.” His body whirled and floated him out of Gandalf’s barrier.
The authentic version of Ice Age consumed three rank C energy stones. So if it wasn’t strong enough, those ranked rewards would be so not worth it. Gungnir whirled into a blizzard as he exited the barrier. The temperature in the hall rapidly decreased in just several seconds. A layer of ice formed on the floor and stone pillars. The ice also protected the group inside. It began spreading and in ten seconds, the whole hall that was thousands of meters in area turned into a hall of ice. The only place the ice didn’t reach was within eight meters of the Balrog.
Zheng thought to himself as he saw the scene. The self created ability was indeed powerful. Gungnir’s whole body had turned into ice so it wasn’t a lie when he said he could challenge team Celestial by himself. Zheng exclaimed then felt that he was too over himself when he thought he could take on anyone with Explosion and Destruction. The self created abilities from other teams were all impressive. The difference between self created abilities and exchanged ones were huge. What you could use at 100% potential was the real deal.
Though Gungnir was aware of his fatal flaws. The authentic version of Ice Age required too much preparation in consumables and time. Its duration was short. That was why he created the simple version that used a single energy stone. The power was many times lower but it didn’t require any time for preparation and would last longer. But he was an arrow on a drawn bow right now so he had to use the authentic version and finish the fight in under a minute.
The Balrog’s power exceeded his expectation. His ice forced the fire back to the Balrog but he also couldn’t advance any further. If this persisted, he would be dead after a minute. There was no way to enter the barrier again as it only allowed things to leave. Gungnir clenched his teeth and held his position. As soon as he saw Zheng coming back on the Nightmare, he immediately yelled with excitement. “Hurry up and slice it to pieces. I can extinguish the fire after it gets weakened!”
Zheng rode the Nightmare over and gave him a confirmation. He channeled Qi to Tiger’s Soul then enveloped himself in the light blade. Then he extended another light blade from the sword. The Nightmare leaped. He slashed the sword at the Balrog’s head.