The remaining sword-and-shield soldiers continued to hold up the barrier, not daring to let their guard down for even a moment.
But Zeke’s appearance had undoubtedly lifted a deadly burden from their shoulders.
Zeke landed lightly from midair, steadying himself on the snow.
He smiled, his voice not loud, but just enough for everyone around to hear.
“What World-Destroying Level Monster? It’s nothing special.”
He casually twirled his swords and lowered them to his sides.
“Oooh…!”
The crowd erupted in astonished cheers. Zeke looked at the Ice Snow Dragon in the distance, a flicker of greed passing through his eyes.
If he could solo kill this dragon, his status in the Church Nation would absolutely skyrocket.
Then the Archbishop would surely see him in a new light.
He only had to wait for one of the Elder Lords to fall, and then he could smoothly rise and secure the position of Elder Lord.
At that thought, Zeke became hot-headed.
“Beast, die!”
Zeke let out a wild laugh and charged at the Ice Snow Dragon alone, dual swords raised.
Zeke’s speed was extremely fast. He infused wind-attribute mana into his legs, and his entire body skimmed just above the snow as he flew.
He had absolute confidence in the Judgment Cross Swords in his hands.
With the Dispel Runes, any magical attack was useless against him.
Plus his absolute speed. As long as he got close, he could slice this cumbersome dragon to pieces.
This was his absolute confidence in his own strength.
The two-kilometer distance was only a few breaths away for Zeke.
He quickly reached the foot of the Ice Snow Dragon.
Looking up at this behemoth up close, Zeke truly felt the suffocating pressure.
“Take this!”
But he wasn’t flustered at all. Zeke leaped violently, soaring into the air with swords crossed, thrusting straight at the Ice Snow Dragon’s chin.
The Dispel Runes on the blades writhed wildly, emitting an eerie glow.
The Ice Snow Dragon lowered its head and glanced at the little bug that had jumped before it.
In its ice-blue vertical pupils, there wasn’t even a flicker of emotion.
It didn’t cast any magic. Nor did it breathe Dragon Breath. The Ice Snow Dragon simply raised its mountain-like giant claw casually.
To be precise, just the nail on one of its fingers.
Then, like shooing a fly, it gently swiped.
“Boom——!”
An extremely dull, heavy sound. In the face of absolute numbers, all techniques were just a joke.
His prideful speed. His big-shot Crimson Grade weapons.
All meaningless. Zeke didn’t even have time to scream.
Midair, his eyes wide open, only one thought remained in his mind.
‘How… is that possible?!’
The next instant. His entire body, like a baseball struck hard by a bat, was sent flying by that nail tip.
His body instantly broke the sound barrier, creating a white sonic boom cloud in midair.
Then, like a shooting star on the horizon, he flew for thousands of miles.
In the blink of an eye, he disappeared into the wind and snow.
On the battlefield.
Dead silence.
The adjutant’s mouth hung open, unable to close for a long time. The soldiers who had been cheering just moments ago now all became speechless, like ducks with their necks squeezed.
Is that it? He put on such a show and got one-shotted in a second? That was way too anticlimactic!
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Miracle Snowfield.
This area was about a dozen kilometers from the main battlefield.
The wind and snow were still heavy.
Dolores’ silver-gray twin tails swayed gently behind her head.
Her lone figure walked slowly through the swirling snow.
She wore a standard Church Priest Steward Uniform.
Pure white base with blue trim.
Strangely, as she walked through the thick snow, each step left no trace on the surface.
As if she had no weight at all, like a ghost.
Dolores’ golden eyes, marked with an intersecting pattern, stared calmly ahead.
She could clearly sense an extremely violent magical fluctuation nineteen kilometers straight ahead.
Though only snow obstructed her view and she could see nothing, she knew.
“There.”
Dolores said in her heart.
That was where the Crusade Army was fighting the Ice Snow Dragon.
She didn’t have to come. Her father had kept her safe in the castle to protect her.
But she had sneaked out anyway. She didn’t want to be an artwork trapped in a glass case.
Besides, she was the one most capable of defeating the Ice Snow Dragon in the entire Church Nation.
Just as Dolores was about to speed up, at that moment, a sharp sound of something breaking through the air came from the sky.
Like something was falling at an incredible speed. Dolores stopped and looked up slightly.
“Thump——!”
“Boom——!”
With a loud noise. Over a dozen meters to the right in the snow, a dark mass crashed down heavily. The immense impact exploded instantly.
The thick snow was smashed into a huge pit, even the frozen black soil below was completely cracked. A violent shockwave, carrying snow and dirt, spread wildly in all directions. The strong wind made Dolores’ silver-gray hair fly and her loose official robe flutter.
But her body stood rooted to the spot, motionless. After the shockwave fully dissipated. Still expressionless, she turned her head slowly.
Dolores walked unhurriedly to the edge of the deep pit and looked down.
At the bottom. Only a mess of mud remained. Flesh and blood blurred. Bones all shattered. Completely unrecognizable as a human form.
Beside it, two Western swords lay broken into several pieces.
Those were the Judgment Cross Swords that Zeke was most proud of.
Still, Dolores barely recognized the outline of the bloody mess.
It was Zeke. The one who had boasted to her in the corridor and snatched her spot.
Dolores gazed quietly at the bottom of the pit. No surprise on her face. No sympathy at all.
As if she had just seen an ant crushed on the roadside.
She said nothing. Nor did she linger. Just turned around and continued walking steadily toward the direction of the great battle.
Soon. The wind and snow buried the deep pit once more.
On the battlefield center. Though Zeke died in an extremely ridiculous way, almost one-shotted in a single move.
But his reckless charge wasn’t entirely useless. At least. He used his life to buy a full ten seconds for Augustus.
Everyone finally snapped out of Zeke’s fleeting appearance.
“Elder Lord, are you ready yet!”
The adjutant stamped his feet anxiously. The Ice Snow Dragon had already opened its massive jaws again. The second Dragon Breath was about to be unleashed.
Just then. Augustus suddenly opened his eyes. His originally gray hair now turned into a blinding silver-white.
His entire skin kept oozing fine beads of blood.
That was the price for overloaded mana circulation.
But on his face, there was only a nearly mad determination.
He gripped his staff with both hands and raised it high toward the sky.
“Multi-combination · Upper-Level Magic — Chapter of the Resonant Poem!”