The Stonehearted Knight
Chapter 206: Taking the skies (2)

Chapter 206: Taking the skies (2)

"You survived?"

Elsa’s disappointment showed clearly on her face seeing the toddler in Solos’ arms. She turned and walked away, leaving the door open.

Solos looked indecisively at Elsa’s back. Her satin morning gown flowed with her posture, highlighting her small waist and curvy backside.

Enter.

And close the door.

Solos followed the voice in his head. The toddler remained still, his wide eyes remained fixed on the young woman before them.

What did you do with your attackers?

The Divine Lord skipped the obvious question of whether she was attacked. He expected it and his reaction upon seeing them confirmed it. The fate of her attackers intrigued him more.

Elsa shrugged and signaled them to follow behind her. She led them to the kitchen and opened a door hidden behind a cabinet. As she opened the door, the moonstones inside the room lit up.

Did you build a hidden room so quickly?

The Divine Lord sounded genuinely surprised. The houses were built recently. Building a secret room, without being detected, surprised him. Even his ’father’, the youngest prince, wouldn’t be able to pull it off.

"It’s not a secret room. It’s the cellar," Elsa corrected him. "I had them built them to store my room. You know, like nobles are used to." She smiled sweetly at them and entered the cellar.

As soon as Solos entered, he shivered. It was freezing!

I see you turned them into living statues.

Solos understood what the Divine Lord meant when his eyes landed on the figures before him. They were frozen. Icicles grew all over their bodies. There were two of them. One held a dagger and the other carried a bag. They held onto them, unable to move even the slightest.

If not for their clattering teeth and panicked gaze, Solos would assume them to be corpses. Solos couldn’t care less about their fate but he felt a sense of fear in Elsa’s presence.

He only knew her as the daughter of the Chief of Court but it didn’t explain how she knew the Divine Lord. Even worse, they treated each other almost like equals. It wasn’t something a young girl of a noble family could be capable of.

Also, looking at the cellar, he noticed another thing. The two humans remained frozen but there was no frost anywhere else. And the icicles weren’t thawing.

Your control over the ice element is better with this body.

Solos looked confused. What did the Divine Lord mean with ’this body’? But he didn’t dare to ask. He glanced at Elsa, trying to learn something from her reaction.

"Indeed. Finally, a descendant with a proper bloodline," she chuckled, confusing Solos even more.

Good. We will need the Forbidden Technique. As you can tell, the royals have moved to the next phase of their plan. If we don’t prepare sufficiently, both our work so far will be for naught.

Elsa stopped smiling. "I won’t allow it. I waited centuries to reclaim what once was mine."

...

"Wake up."

Althea hissed through her teeth as she readied her spear. Her well-trained team jumped on their feet and took her position.

They didn’t know why their officer woke them up but they didn’t need to know. The principle of ’do first, act later’ was strongly ingrained in them during their training.

Althea focused on her surroundings. Silence hung in the air. And that worried her. It was almost dawn.

Usually, the chirps of birds, the growls of returning nocturnal predators, and the rustling of leaves, would disturb the silence of the night. But none could be heard.

Her team was worn out during these few days. Their task of clearing the forest in the central area took more energy than they anticipated. The hordes of Fiends led by Disasters took blood and sweat to vanquish.

All her warriors were injured and needed rest to recuperate. To do so safely, she attacked and conquered a dome. The resident Disaster took some effort to defeat but their incredible coordination and Althea’s dragon-like spear killed it in the end.

She stood beside the opening of the dome and peered outside. She only moved her head enough to see the outside.

Woosh.

It happened suddenly. One moment there was nothing in her sight but as she blinked an arrow was a breath away from hitting her eye. She jerked her head, watching the arrow slide past her face, brushing against her eyelashes.

Thuck.

The arrow shot past and hit the wall on the other side, sticking deep into it.

Ding.

With her face turned toward the inside, Althea thrust her spear outward, hitting the next incoming attack. Her spear struck against the weapon of her attacker, producing a metallic sound.

The speed with which these attacks happened surpassed the processing capabilities of the other Hawks. Only when they saw Althea kick off against the ground, shooting out of the dome did they realize that they were under attack.

"Let’s go."

They filed out. It took another second to complete this. In this period, Althea already faced multiple attacks from three opponents.

Boom!

Althea’s spear thundered as the rising sun dispelled the darkness. Her spear struck at blinding speed, producing shockwaves as it sliced through the air.

Her three opponents draped black clothes all over their bodies and fought with everything they had. But in front of Althea’s raining spear, they looked amateurish.

Seeing more attackers rush out of the bushes, the rest of the Hawks huddled into a formation. The ensuing fight took the lives of the incoming attackers. But the Hawks were nearing the end of their limits too.

Althea knew this. She could see them panting and suffering more injuries as the battle raged on. She knew if things couldn’t continue like this. She gritted her teeth and jumped back, creating some distance between her and her opponents.

She stood still as her opponents rushed toward her. Slowly, she slid her left leg to the back, doing a lunch. Her spear stuck close to her body and her eyes shone with indifference.

The unmoving wind started to flow, first slow but turned into a little storm in the blink of an eye. This alarmed her attackers, stopping them in their tracks but it was too late.

"GET BACK!"

The shrill shout didn’t come from her attackers. It was one of her Hawks. They panicked and rushed toward the dome. A sense of foreboding filled the attackers. They turned toward Althea but she wasn’t there anymore.

Bang!

The wind exploded. It came from above. The attackers raised their heads but the sight scared them so much that they froze in place.

The wind, lightning, and clouds swirled around her. She was like a goddess and the dark clouds formed her wings.

It looked so divine that some of the attackers even fell on their knees, prostrating before her. The Hawks inside the dome felt their throat go dry. Their eyes bled as if they were being punished for sullying her with their mortal eyes.

Althea’s gaze landed on the ground. She lifted her spear, pointing at the people below. In the next instance, she dived. With her, the sky fell.

BOOM!

She struck in the middle of the group of attackers. Thunder and lightning flashed. The wind howled.

The Hawks inside the dome endured the deafening snapping of wood. They sensed the reverberating ground beneath their feet. Some even fell on their back.

It took a while for everything to turn back to normal.

Looking out, they saw Althea’s head. She stood in a deep crater. Hundreds of meters around her lay devastated. All the giant ancient trees stood uprooted. The morning sun glowed behind Althea, giving her a divine aura.