My World to Free-use

225: Wood vs Ice

“There she is.” Wrapped in a dark robe, an old man, somewhere in the middle of the forest, said to a handsome man standing next to him in golden armor.“Do you think she is trustworthy?” The man in the golden armor asked.

“No.” The old man replied.

The conversation was brief, as they stood silently for a few seconds before the space in front of them rippled and a portal opened before their eyes, through which monsters began to make their way out.

“No matter how many times I see them,” the man in the golden armor said, “they are appalling.”

“The queen is gaining power every day, and the seal you placed on her is almost gone.” The old man said, in a completely irrelevant reply to the man’s remark, but it wasn’t exactly so, “You do not have the time to be picky.”

“I didn’t expect there to be someone so… unique.” The armored man replied, “Even Lady Elara couldn’t detect it.”

“That boy is special.” The old man said, slowly rising in the air as the monsters assumed their position, ready to charge in a certain direction.

“Or should I say, was.” Carlson chuckled as he waved his hand to the monsters, and the monsters made of flesh began to run in the direction of the camp, where a battle was already underway.

The golden armored man, the king of that nation, George, looked at the monsters, and then at the old man, and then suddenly he felt something, something coming from another direction.

Still in the direction of the campsite, but not in the direction where the battle was currently underway or where the monsters were heading.

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” George murmured.

“What?” Carlson turned his head down to look at George, but he was no longer there.

George silently disappeared from his spot.

Carlson looked there for a moment before his attention was drawn by an explosion in the distance, a massive pillar of ice, freezing hundreds of monsters and soldiers alike in it.

Carlson disappeared from his as well, heading in that very direction.

~~

“My husband sure did something troublesome,” Elara said as her sharp eyes glanced over the battlefield, where hundreds died as they battled each other, monsters of a strange kind, made of flesh, wreaked havoc as they killed without caring for the ally or foe.

Whoever got in their way, they killed them.

“Master.” Elizabeth looked at Elara’s feet, which had turned to stone, the effect slowly rising from her feet upwards, and was expected to eventually envelop her whole body.

“Do not look away from the battlefield,” Elara said.

No, more like scolded. Elizabeth looked at her for a second before she turned her attention back to the battlefield before her.

It was safe to say that most of the weak ones had died, and only a few strong ones remained. The monsters were about a tenth of their original number, and the human armies of both sides were now also in the hundreds, from the original thousands.

Elizabeth raised the staff in her hand and cast another spell, killing scores of monsters and the soldiers at the same time, making sure her allies, who weren’t that many in the first place, weren't harmed.

There were still clangs of the battle coming from another direction, from all directions, but the clearing in which Elizabeth and Elara were clear, no enemy or monster left to kill.

As for the allies who were left…

“Kugh!!!”

Vines erupted from beneath their feet, impaling them all at once, killing them in one swift blow.

Elizabeth protected herself and Elara from the vines with an icy barrier, leaving only them alive in the clearing.

Carlson slowly descended from the sky, looking at Elizabeth, who was also looking at him, ready to face him in a battle, and then he looked at Elara, at her stoned feet, and smirked, “Not so mighty now, wife.”

Elara remained silent, looking at him with no apparent emotion in her eyes.

Receiving no reaction, not even a flicker, Carlson turned her attention to the queen.

A battle was unavoidable.

Carlson stood at one edge of the clearing, his tall, broad-shouldered frame clad in a dark robe of deep forest green embroidered with silver runes that pulsed faintly.

His hair, streaked with gray at the temples, framed a face etched with the calm authority of a man who had ruled both through diplomacy and decisive action.

As a peak mage and lord of considerable power, his presence commanded the space around him. Mana radiated from him in steady waves, thick and earthy, resonating with the forest around them.

In his right hand, he gripped a staff of twisted oak, its head crowned with a glowing emerald crystal that hummed with mana.

Elizabeth’s form across from him, a few feet away, was as regal as ever, even in her battle attire, a flowing gown of midnight blue silk that hugged her slender yet curvaceous figure.

Her chestnut brown hair cascaded down her back like a silken waterfall, framing a face of delicate beauty, high cheekbones, full lips, and eyes of the same rich brown that now burned with focused intensity.

She no longer seemed like the frail woman confined to her bed. Her mana flared like a beacon, sharp and luminous with the unmistakable chill of ice.

Frost already rimed the edges of her gown and the tips of her fingers, a subtle manifestation of her ice affinity.

The two mages regarded each other in silence for quite a long moment, the forest holding its breath around them.

Finally, Carlson spoke, his voice low and measured, carrying the weight of experience, “Elizabeth. You and I, we have no qualms. Step aside, and you shall be spared.”

Elizabeth scoffed gently, her reply soft yet edged with steel, her nature tempered by resolve, “Carlson, you of all people should know it is not good to trust liars.”

“…”

Carlson remained silent as Elizabeth scoffed again and continued, “Besides, you should already know…”

Elizabeth gripped her pale, icy fists: “You are not getting to my master without killing me first.”

“So be it.” Carlson simply replied.

No further words were exchanged. And soon, the battle began, not with a roar, but with a whisper of power.

Carlson moved first, slamming the butt of his staff into the earth. The ground trembled as roots erupted from the soil like living serpents, surging towards Elizabeth in a wave of twisting wood and thorny vines.

The forest itself seemed to answer his call; trees groaned, leaves rustled in unnatural unison, and the very air thickened with earthen mana.

Vines lashed out with whip-like speed, aiming to entangle and crush their target.

Elizabeth’s response was swift, fluid, and precise. She raised both hands, mana coalescing into a shimmering barrier of translucent ice that expanded outward in a dome, covering both her and Elara.

The vines slammed against the ice barrier with thunderous cracks, splintering on impact and scattering splinters across the clearing as frost rapidly spread across the wood, freezing it solid.

With a graceful twist of her wrist, she countered by summoning a hail of razor-sharp ice shards, glittering projectiles that streaked forward like frozen daggers.

The detonated against the incoming roots in bursts of crystalline energy, shattering the frozen vines into glittering fragments that rained down like deadly confetti.

The explosions sent shockwaves rippling through the forest, toppling smaller saplings and sending flocks of birds exploding into the sky in panicked flight.

Carlson pressed the advantage, his staff glowing brighter as he channeled deeper into the earth. Massive stone pillars erupted from the ground beneath Elizabeth’s barrier, cracking the ice dome and forcing her to leap aside, no longer protecting Elara because she was no longer Carlson’s primary target.

Carlson knew that as long as Elizabeth was in the way, he wouldn’t be able to attack Elara, so he gave up on it and focused all his attention on her.

And he was right to do so because Elizabeth was far from done with just that first exchange.

Elizabeth landed lightly amid a cluster of ferns, her gown fluttering as she retaliated with a sweeping gesture.

A blizzard erupted from her palms, a howling vortex of wind and razor ice that barreled toward Carlson.

The storm tore through the underbrush, flash-freezing shrubs and hurling them aside like brittle grass.

Carlson countered by raising a wall of hardened earth and roots, the blizzard slamming into it with a deafening roar that sent frozen debris flying in all directions.

The impact shook the trees, causing branches high above to crack and fall like deadly spears, some shattering on impact with the frozen ground.

Everything fell silent for a moment as both of them locked eyes, both preparing their next moves as their battle was far from done.

~~

Tomorrow's chapter since I'm busy tomorrow.

Let me know if there's a mistake.