Hail Bead

BOOM!

Though the Knight squad was small in number, the seven of them were of one mind, unleashing a fierce aura and unparalleled offensive power.

The Great Snow Ghost swung the massive ice-carved wolf-tooth club in its hand, intending to directly confront the Knight squad's charge.

But at this moment, Eric's willpower was highly focused. As the Great Snow Ghost swung the wolf-tooth club, he guided the Battle Qi resonance of the entire Knight squad, forcibly amplifying his already surging Battle Qi to its limit and concentrating it on his sword's edge.

BOOM!

With a single thrust, the Battle Qi sword light pierced through a distance of five to six meters, accurately striking the Great Snow Ghost's neck.

Crack! Even with the Great Snow Ghost's formidable physique, it was directly decapitated by this attack, which surpassed the peak of a Great Knight.

Its head flew off, soaring high and far.

The body remained standing, the wolf-tooth club still descending along its original trajectory. Clang! It struck Eric's unstoppable sword blade.

However, the force was already weak, posing no trouble to Eric.

Yet, the regular Snow Ghosts, following closely behind the Great Snow Ghost, swarmed forward, causing some trouble for the Knight squad.

Especially after Eric withdrew the power condensed by the Battle Qi resonance, the Knight squad's movements slowed. This was followed by awkwardness and sluggishness in their actions, giving the regular Snow Ghosts an opportunity. One of them immediately slew a warhorse.

Thump! Caught off guard, Charles fell headfirst with the warhorse.

Two Snow Ghosts, with bared fangs and gaping mouths, swung their ice-carved sabers at Charles's limbs from front and back. Just as they were about to strike, a silver-gray longsword sliced through the air, powerfully deflecting the two ice-carved sabers.

It was Russell, who had intervened in time to save Charles.

"Thank you, my lord!" Charles broke out in a cold sweat.

"Keep up!" Russell said expressionlessly, his mind still immersed in the shock of Eric's decapitating strike against the Great Snow Ghost.

The sword light, possessing both power and beauty, the irresistible Battle Qi, had a primal impact that made one's blood surge.

"Gotcha!" Knight Retainer John reached out, bending down.

Charles quickly extended his hand, grabbed John's, and with a borrowed push, flipped onto John's warhorse, following the Knight squad out of the Snow Ghost encirclement.

Once outside the encirclement, Charles quickly dismounted.

Eric re-formed the squad. Seven riders became six, but the charge formation remained unchanged. After catching their breath, they once again charged towards the roaring Snow Ghosts.

The decapitated Great Snow Ghost's headless body had not fallen. It merely stood frozen in place, flailing its arms and wildly swinging its ice-carved wolf-tooth club at the air.

"Charge!"

Russell withdrew his shocked thoughts and followed Eric in breaking through the Snow Ghost horde once more. The Battle Qi in his meridians burned hot, but its reserves were slowly diminishing.

"Can you still fight, my lord?" Eric asked, looking back during the squad's brief respite.

Russell gritted his teeth: "I still can!"

Upon hearing this, Eric raised his Knight's longsword high and roared again: "Charge!"

On the other side, Knight Captain Chris, riding a Nightmare Ghost Horse, smiled as he observed the Knight squad's battle, merely watching from the sidelines without intervening in their attacks.

However, seeing the headless Great Snow Ghost's body still flailing, he quietly approached it on his Nightmare Ghost Horse.

Clang!

He drew his sword. It was almost impossible to see how he moved before two crescent-shaped sword energies shot out, severing the Great Snow Ghost's arms.

Then, with a turn of his sword, another two crescent-shaped sword energies flew out, cutting off the Great Snow Ghost's legs.

Clang! The Great Snow Ghost's corpse fell to the ground, but its arms and legs were still twitching. Its head, lying upside down in a muddy puddle in the distance, had a mouth exposed, silently opening and closing, but without vocal cords, it couldn't make a sound.

"Sigh, to die once and then die again... This damned Snow Demon, to torment people like this." With a soft sigh, Chris stroked the neck of his Nightmare Ghost Horse.

They were of one mind.

The Nightmare Ghost Horse immediately reared its front hooves high, then stomped down heavily, directly crushing the Great Snow Ghost's head.

In an instant, the Great Snow Ghost's torso, arms, and legs seemed to lose all strength and fell completely silent.

Then.

As if time, which had been frozen, began to flow again, the fragments of the Great Snow Ghost's head, along with its torso and limbs, decayed at a visible speed until they turned into a pool of foul-smelling powder.

Waving away the stench from in front of his nose, Chris extended his sword and picked out a white, marble-sized ice bead from the muddy puddle.

Battle Qi attached to the sword tip, sticking to the ice bead as if it were sticky. He rinsed it simply in another puddle.

Only then did he sheath his sword.

"Not bad, the luster is very good. It's a top-quality Hail Bead," Chris said casually, pinching the ice bead between his fingers. "You must have been a Great Knight in life, otherwise, you wouldn't have been able to condense such a superior Hail Bead."

A quarter of an hour later, the hunt was over.

Without the assistance of Knight Captain Chris, a Phantom Beast Knight, Russell and Eric's combined efforts alone had perfectly resolved the Snow Ghost invasion.

The headless corpses were smashed in the head by four Knight Retainers.

Only by smashing their heads could the ice-binding power be dispelled, allowing the Snow Ghosts, into which the corpses had transformed, to return to the silence of death.

What remained were only small Hail Beads.

"Eleven Hail Beads, all recovered, my lord." Charles, hopping with joy, presented a handful of white ice beads to Russell as a treasure, then muttered softly, "As for the Great Snow Ghost's Hail Bead, well, it's not here."

"Mm." Russell waved his hand, not taking the Hail Beads.

He just wanted to catch his breath. This was his first battle, his first hunt for a Snow Ghost. Everything had happened so suddenly, yet it was so exhilarating.

Now, not a single drop of Battle Qi remained in his body.

Sweat soaked him through. The lining of his dark gold ceramic armor was filled with steaming sweat, more refreshing than a sauna.

"Your performance was outstanding, Young Master Russell." Chris walked over, casually tossing a top-grade Hail Bead to Charles. "One Great Snow Ghost, eleven Snow Ghosts. It can be called a glorious victory."

Eric grunted and panted nearby, not joining the conversation. He was good at fighting, but not at the post-battle flattery.

Russell panted and laughed, "Without your presence, how would we dare charge with all our might... Oh right, Teacher Charles, return the Great Snow Ghost's Hail Bead. That is Knight Captain Chris's rightful spoils of war."

"No need. I didn't exert any effort. These are your spoils, not mine." Chris firmly refused.

Russell didn't insist.

After catching his breath, he laughed heartily, "Let's go, Lord Chris, everyone. Follow me back to the manor's annex for a celebratory lunch."

He sheathed the Green Ceramic Sword and declared loudly, "Today, we drink from noon till night, until we drop!"

"Praise Russell, praise my lord!" Charles, who had lost his warhorse and spent most of the subsequent time slacking off, cheered enthusiastically.

After a quick regroup, everyone prepared to return.

Russell suddenly reined in his warhorse and looked back at the battlefield. The only traces of the Snow Ghosts were some foul-smelling powder, which was slowly dissipating in the wind.

In a few days, perhaps even the powder would have merged with the earth.

"Teacher Charles, arrange for someone to erect a stone tablet here later... not to record our battle here, but to commemorate the return of twelve humans."

Charles was stunned for a moment, then solemnly replied, "Yes, my lord."