Frozen Resolve

The fierce battle atop the mountain had been raging for nearly half an hour. The wind and snow seemed to have been driven back by the intense killing intent, bypassing the area. Himmel, Eisen, Ruby, and Heiter were besieging the Demons general. Sword light, axe shadows, magic, and holy light intertwined, and the sounds of collisions were incessant, yet they could not break through the Absolute Defense formed by the unsheathed longsword.

Lowell stood outside the battle circle, calmly observing the fight before him, but a subtle assessment flashed through his mind.

It seems that Himmel and his men cannot defeat him.

A thousand years have passed. Thanks to the long-standing memory of the Demons, he vaguely remembered that the original story's recollection of this period seemed to consist of only an inconspicuous little panel, and Frieren's narration was merely a brief mention.

Although Frieren's position has been Ruby, and Ruby's talent is high, she is only eleven years old and far from the accumulated experience of a thousand-year-old elf, so it is reasonable that she is suppressed. However, after being tempered by Gravity Magic during this period, Himmel and Eisen should be much stronger than they were at the same time in the original story. With the help of the Heiter, they should not be struggling so much... At this moment, the battle seems intense, but the Demons general's sword is still steadily sheathed.

"Tsk," Lowell clicked his tongue silently, his thoughts wandering. "Speaking of which, according to the original story, when Frieren's team traveled back to the seventh year of the Himmel Demon King's extermination, and faced 'Afterimage Zart,' a subordinate of one of the Seven Sages of the Seven Sages of Destruction, she commented that 'even the three members of the Himmel at that time would have had a hard time defeating him.' And his overall strength was far superior to that spatial magic-wielding subordinate of the Seven Sages of Destruction of the Collapse, Zat... And this guy, Heiter..."

His gaze swept over Heiter, who was chanting a healing prayer. This seemingly unrestrained monk, when he first met Frieren, whose hidden strength and magical power were about one-fifth of what a normal person had accumulated over a hundred years, said, "His magical power is about one-fifth of mine." In other words, the 16-year-old Heiter already possessed the magical power that a normal person had accumulated over five hundred years.

When Himmel was in her seventh year of fighting the Demon King, she had grown stronger after six more years of adventure. Eisen was described as the 'strongest warrior,' but Frieren also mentioned that 'there were several warriors stronger Eisen on the journey,' meaning he was at least a top-tier contender. With these two, plus Himmel, the three were still no match for 'Afterimage Zart' in the seventh year of fighting the Demon King. This suggests that Himmel's strength at that time wasn't particularly exceptional, so the current situation isn't surprising...

Although 'Afterimage Zart' is a mechanic-based monster, if someone is truly exceptionally strong, they can ignore those mechanics; they haven't reached that level yet.

So, given the current situation, can they win?

Just then, the battle situation suddenly changed.

The Demons general, who had been facing the enemy with only one hand holding the scabbard, finally moved his left hand, which had been resting on the hilt of his sword. A hint of impatience flashed in his golden vertical pupils.

"Buzz--!"

A deep, dragon-like sword cry rang out, seemingly emanating from the depths of an ancient icy plain. As the blade was drawn inch by inch, an unimaginable chill erupted, slightly distorting the space around the sword. Moisture in the air instantly condensed into countless tiny ice crystals, which fell in a soft rustling sound. The snow beneath his feet turned into hard ice at a visible speed, spreading outwards.

"Watch out, he's getting serious!" Himmel shouted urgently, his handsome face showing extreme solemnity for the first time, and a layer of white frost instantly formed on his short blue hair.

"Hmph! I'm not afraid of you! Blazing Flame Burst!" Ruby's face was pale with cold, but she stubbornly waved her staff, gathering several huge, blazing fireballs with all her might, and smashing them towards the Demons general with a whistling sound, trying to use fire to fight against ice—after such a long and intense battle, she still had plenty of magic power left, which showed her talent.

However, the fireball, hot enough to Melt rocks, seemed to hit an invisible barrier as it approached the half-drawn ice-blue longsword. Its size shrank rapidly, its light dimmed, and finally, with a few "poof" sounds, it was easily extinguished like a candle flame just a foot away from the blade, without even producing an explosion.

"What?!" Ruby 'Ruby blue eyes widened in disbelief. Her magic had been easily neutralized by the sword's power.

The sword was fully drawn.

It was a transparent longsword, as if sculpted from millennia-old ice, its blade shimmering with a faint blue light and radiating a chilling aura that Frozen the soul. The Demons general flicked his wrist, delivering a simple, straight thrust.

There were no fancy moves, only sword light faster than the eye could see, and the terrifying sword pressure that followed, seemingly capable of freezing everything! The target Ruby!

"Ruby!" Himmel and Eisen tried to rush back to help, but were forced to retreat by the chilling sword energy that the longsword deflected.

Heiter's holy light shield shattered instantly; he groaned, a trickle of blood escaping from the corner of his mouth. Ruby was about to be engulfed by the sword light—

At this critical moment, adversity unleashed the true potential of the Hero Party.

"Don't even think about it!"

Himmel let out a clear whistle, and the Battle Aura within her body circulated wildly at an unprecedented speed. The blue Battle Aura light surged, even diluting the surrounding cold air.

He transformed into a blue comet tearing through the snowstorm, recklessly crashing into the deadly icy blue sword light. At the same time, a thick, earthy-yellow light Bloom from the Eisen Battle Axe, unleashing a fierce, unreserved slash at the Demons general's sword-wielding arm, forcing him to defend! Ignoring his injuries, Heiter simultaneously cast Holy Light on Himmel and Ruby, forcibly boosting their stats.

"Boom--!"

The three forces collided violently with the icy blue sword light!

A blinding light erupted, and a violent energy shockwave Swirl in a ring, shearing down three feet of snow from the mountaintop! Himmel spat out a mouthful of blood, flying backward and crashing heavily into the snow. Eisen also staggered backward, a thick layer of frost forming on his battle axe. But their desperate attack finally managed to deflect the sword light, barely saving Ruby.

The Demons general slid back a few steps. He looked at Himmel who had stood up, and for the first time, a genuine surprise flashed in his golden eyes.

"Is he truly worthy of being called a hero?"

His tone remained calm, but the meaning behind it was different. He slowly raised his ice-blue longsword, the blade gleaming brightly, the surrounding temperature plummeted again, and sharp ice blades began to condense in the air, clearly preparing an even stronger killing move.

"Since that's the case, then..."

Himmel wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, straightened up with his longsword as a support. Although injured, his blue eyes shone with even stronger fighting spirit. He took a deep breath of the cold air, and the little Battle Aura he had left began to gather again. He was clearly ready for a final battle.

Just as this ultimate showdown was about to begin—

"Alright, alright, pause. If we keep fighting, someone's really going to die. Give me Red-Haired Shanks... uh, give me Lowell, some face."

As he spoke, Lowell silently appeared between Himmel and the Demons general, standing precisely at the center line of their sword clash.