Hail Bead

Boom!

Though the knight squad was small, all seven were united as one at this moment, erupting with fierce momentum and unmatched offensive power.

The Great Snow Ghost swung the massive ice-carved spiked club in its hands, intending to meet the knight squad's charge head-on.

But Eric's will was highly focused at that moment. As the Great Snow Ghost swung its spiked club, he guided the entire squad's Battle Aura into resonance, forcibly elevating his already surging Battle Aura to its peak and concentrating it upon his blade.

Boom!

With one thrust, the Battle Qi Sword Aura shot out five or six meters, accurately piercing the Great Snow Ghost's neck.

Crack! Even with the Great Snow Ghost's formidable physique, its neck was severed outright by this strike, which surpassed the peak of a Great Knight.

Its head spun through the air, flying high and far away.

Its body remained standing, its spiked club still smashing down along its original trajectory. With a clang, it struck Eric's blade, which had not slowed in the slightest.

But its strength had already gone limp and weak, causing Eric no trouble at all.

However, the ordinary Snow Ghosts behind the Great Snow Ghost swarmed forward, still causing the knight squad some difficulty.

Especially after Eric exhausted the power gathered through the Battle Aura resonance, the squad's movements slowed. Their motions became distorted and sluggish, giving the ordinary Snow Ghosts an opening. One of them immediately chopped a warhorse to death.

Thud! Charles, caught off guard, fell headfirst along with the horse.

Two Snow Ghosts opened their fanged mouths and swung their ice-carved sabers, one after the other, at Charles's hands and feet. Just as they were about to hit, a silver-gray longsword swept through the air, powerfully knocking both ice-carved sabers aside.

Russell had acted in time and saved Charles.

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

"Keep up!" Russell remained expressionless, his mind still immersed in the shock of Eric beheading the Great Snow Ghost with a single sword strike.

The sword aura combined strength and beauty, while the unstoppable Battle Aura carried a primal impact that made one's blood boil.

"Got you!" Knight Retainer John bent down and reached out.

Charles hurriedly grabbed John's hand, borrowed his strength, and flipped onto John's warhorse. He followed the knight squad as they broke out of the Snow Ghost encirclement.

Once they were out of the encirclement, Charles quickly jumped down from the warhorse.

Eric reassembled the formation. Seven riders had become six, but their charging formation remained unchanged. After taking a breath, they charged once more at the roaring Snow Ghosts.

The headless body of the beheaded Great Snow Ghost had not fallen. It merely stood there blankly, baring its fangs and claws as it wildly swung its ice-carved spiked club through the air.

"Charge!"

Russell cast aside his shock and followed Eric in piercing through the Snow Ghost horde once more. The Battle Aura in his meridians was blazing hot, but its reserves were steadily dwindling.

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

Russell gritted his teeth. "I can!"

Hearing this, Eric raised his knight's sword high and roared again, "Charge!"

On the other side, Knight Captain Chris, riding a Nightmare Ghost Horse, watched the knight squad's battle with a smile. He merely held the line nearby and did not interfere with their attack.

But when he saw the headless Great Snow Ghost corpse still flailing about, he quietly rode the Nightmare Ghost Horse closer.

Shing!

He drew the sword at his waist. Before anyone could even see how he moved, two crescent-shaped sword auras shot forth, severing the Great Snow Ghost's arms.

Then his sword spun once, sending out another two crescent-shaped sword auras that cut off the Great Snow Ghost's legs.

Clang! The Great Snow Ghost's corpse fell to the ground, but its arms and legs continued to twitch. Its head, upside down in the muddy water some distance away, still opened and closed its exposed mouth soundlessly. Without vocal cords, it could not make the faintest sound.

"Alas, dying once only to die again... That damned Snow Demon has tortured people into this." With a soft sigh, Chris stroked the Nightmare Ghost Horse's neck.

They understood each other perfectly.

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

In an instant, the Great Snow Ghost's torso, hands, and legs seemed to lose all strength and became completely still.

Then—

It was as though frozen time had begun to move again. The fragments of the Great Snow Ghost's head, along with its torso and limbs, decayed at a visible rate until they became a pool of foul-smelling powder.

Fanning away the stench before his nose, Chris extended his sword and picked a marble-sized, snow-white bead of ice from the muddy puddle.

Battle Aura clung to the tip of his sword, adhering to the ice bead as though it were sticky. He gave it a simple rinse in another puddle.

Only then did he take it into his hand.

"Not bad. It has a fine luster—an upper-grade Hail Bead." Chris pinched the ice bead between his fingers and remarked casually, "You must have been a Great Knight in life. Otherwise, you could not have condensed such a fine Hail Bead."

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

Without relying on Knight Captain Chris, a Phantom Beast Knight, Russell and Eric's group alone had perfectly resolved the Snow Ghost incursion.

One headless corpse after another had its head smashed apart by the four Knight Retainers.

Only by smashing their heads could the frozen power dissipate, allowing the Snow Ghosts transformed from corpses to return to the silence of death.

All that remained were tiny Hail Beads.

"Eleven Hail Beads, all recovered, my lord." Charles eagerly held out a handful of snow-white ice beads to Russell, then muttered quietly, "As for the Great Snow Ghost's Hail Bead, uh, it isn't here."

"Mm." Russell waved his hand and did not take the Hail Beads.

Right now, he only wanted to catch his breath. It was his first time in battle, his first time hunting Snow Ghosts. Everything had come so suddenly, yet it had also been so exhilarating.

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

Sweat had soaked his entire body. The lining inside his Dark Gold Ceramic Armor was filled with steaming sweat vapor, more refreshing than a sauna.

"Your performance was truly outstanding, Young Master Russell." Chris walked over and casually tossed the upper-grade Hail Bead to Charles. "One Great Snow Ghost and eleven Snow Ghosts—this can be called a brilliant victory."

Eric breathed heavily at the side without speaking. He was good at fighting, but he did not know how to exchange flattering words after a battle.

Russell smiled as he caught his breath. "Without you holding the line for us, how would we have dared to charge with all our strength... Oh, right, Teacher Charles, return the Great Snow Ghost's Hail Bead. It is Knight Captain Chris's rightful spoil of war."

"No need. I did not contribute even a bit of strength. These are your spoils, not mine." Chris firmly declined.

Russell did not insist.

After catching his breath, he laughed loudly. "Come, Sir Chris, everyone—join me at the manor's annex for lunch."

He sheathed the Green Ceramic Sword and shouted, "Today, we drink from noon until night. We will not stop until we are drunk!"

"Praise Russell! Praise my lord!" Charles, who had lost his warhorse and spent most of the rest of the battle merely going through the motions, immediately cheered along.

After making some preparations, everyone got ready to return.

Russell suddenly reined in his warhorse and looked back at the battlefield. Only traces of foul-smelling powder remained from the Snow Ghosts, and even the stench was gradually dispersing in the wind.

In a few days, perhaps even the powder would have melted into the earth.

"Teacher Charles, arrange for someone to erect a stone monument here later... Not to record that we fought here, but to mourn the return of twelve humans."

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