The black and brown thorns wrapped around the forest looked almost like teeth waiting to tear any living being drawing near.
Sharp shadows, darker than the deepest forest shrink about just out of sight while unseen dark spooky creatures with hollow bodies move branches, after seeing which one may swear that it was a place filled with ghosts and nefarious creatures.
The trees seem to close in, choking out the light and letting the fog roll around like the breath of a wriggling organism carrying countless maggots and dark small insect spirits.
The mist was greenish yellow at the periphery of the forest while at the centralmost part, it was as red as a blood mist with acidic properties that can erode your skin.
In the middle, the blood smog swirled like a hurricane around an altar made of decaying dark wood overlaid with the huge robust hard skeleton of some behemoth creature. In each of its four corners, the projection of horns up to 10 metres rose to the sky.
The altar was hollow in the middle with a central pit that burned with greenish flames.
In the flames, one could see the sight of countless humans, monsters, and beasts getting burned.
In that small mystical space, thousands of beings were stuffed to death by dark magic for refinement.
Though the entire place was shrouded with silence, on the other side of the invisible wall formed by four horns enacted at the corner of the square shaped altar.
Unbearable depraved howls of agony, and despair that etched one heart with nightmare reverberated inside the invisible wall that soon ceased.
In front of the altar, stood an old man with a humped back watching calmly with an indifferent expression.
Behind him, stood 100 people with wrinkled skin, odd-toed fit and gruesome faces that looked far from being human.
Seeing the living things stuffed in the place soon burnt leaving behind a small greenish essence, the old man extended his head.
The small orb levitated up and came over his palm emitting a dark nefarious energy.
Looking at it with a calm expression, he murmured, turning towards the 100 dark-robed clothes.
"The sacrifice is ready."
"All we need to do is to wait."
"Wait for the portal to connect to the other side and then catch the ripened fruit."
The old man's shrunk dried lip curled upwards thinking about the glorious upcoming events.
He will be the first one to collect the piece of the puzzle and make a grand contribution that would allow him to climb higher.
"Don't worry Lord with a hundred men and plans carried out by the pawns, this time there will be no failure."
"Yes Lord, this time you can finally fulfil your dream to raise your level and gain resources."
"After this mission, I may finally ascend beyond the limit imposed by the world."The old man's hollow eyes burned with greenish flames.
"Hahhahahah!"
A cry of madness erupted from him.
.....
Frederick, seeing his spear tip stopping just an inch away from shattering the core, shook his head in incredulity. If this was Doom Piercer, it would have surely dug a hole in her chest and shattered the core but The Tower will disqualify him if he does that.
Since he had an ample amount of spear, Frederick let it go and immediately retreated noticing the weirdness in the Ice Witch.
The students who were fighting close to Ice Witch retreated backwards however it was too late.
A bright light illuminated the whole space, seeing which many couldn't help but gasp in fear.
"Pour everything out now."
Monica shouted trying to neutralize the blow released by Ice Witch.
In response to the cry of Monica, the range of participants including wizards poured out the prepared attacks on the remnants.
QUANG!QUANG!QUANG!
Flowed by the outburst of spells, warriors also contributed by adding momentum to the wizard's attack.
[Blazing Inferno Strike]
[Art Style 9 Cuts]
[Sand Art.]
[Flame Ignition]
Led by Ezekiel whose dual swords glowed brightly like a hot iron rod, others flowed his suit and slashed from the distance towards the Ice witch shooting their sword arts.
Many arcs of compressed magical energy emerged from the sword and shot toward the Ice Witch cutting through the swirling wind.
A blow that everyone decorated, making a concentrated offence clash against the Ice Witch.
In an instant, the temperature of the cavity dropped below the freezing point and the cold aura soared making everyone's field of view filled with bright light.
The radiant right reached towards the sky scattering dense cold mana in the vicinity and making everyone grit their teeth in a shiver.
"What is this power?"
"Isn't this overkill? We are just mere weaklings in front of this?"
"Even our combined attacks were fend off?"
The united force of attack created a strong blast that shook the entire place.
A compressed mass of air exploded creating a ripple exploding with a thunder boom.
No matter how strong the monster was, it was impossible to survive such an attack.
But their expectations were crushed.
The remnants of Ice Witch that emerged from the loud howl in an explosion slowly dissipated and crumbled into liquid.
The moment the body of the remnant broke down, people reacted but before they could gasp in relief, another ice figure appeared.
A magical wave of pure mana that started from a howling remnant began to spread throughout the cavity.
"You can't touch that wave."
No one knew who shouted but it alerted them to brace for the impact.
The students quickly defended the waves approaching them and heard someone shout but it was too late.
The force of the wave crashed onto everyone with a pulverising pressure and spread around the arena like a shockwave.
The ground along with the air seemed to be frozen and shards of concentrated ice shot around like bullets.
Charles enacted a huge sturdy wall followed by many layers that burst on contact with icy waves behind which many took shelter.
Frederick, who was left in the open, summoned all his strength and struck his spear on the ground to create an aura field that repels the invading chill.
Rose flew into the sky to avoid the wave creating many hurricanes of wind that absorbed the impact.
Monica stood before the injured Humphrey and protected him, making Humphrey shed tears of joy.
If not for the situation, he would have jumped in joy.
While many magicians cast barriers enacted by Ice walls.
Roan, who was quiet at the back, used a barrier spell while hiding behind a rock and he was still completely blasted away by large gales.
Falling onto the ground, he cuddled up creating a small firewall around him.
It was then, his eyes that turned back were suddenly dyed in shock and confusion.
At the other end of the floor, Lucas sat on a boulder folding his legs leisurely and watched the show with an indifferent expression.
Most of the power in the wave dissipated a lot when it reached the other hand and dissipated as Lucas waved his hand.
Meanwhile, others who were at the forefront and bore most of the impact weren't as lucky as Roan.
Those who tried to block by swinging their weapons with brute force were overwhelmed and enveloped.
They were completely frozen like a statue.
Soon after,
KWANG!KWANG!
The students who were frozen like a statue were crushed and crumbled into pieces.
"Ahhhhh....."
"Holy Shit!"
"Damn!"
The students who managed to remain looked at them and let out a gloomy voice with a bewildered look.
The crystal particles of dead students teleported out giving a state of shock as now only one-third of the students who entered were left.
A single attack one-third of the people here.
Wouldn't that mean, another two attacks and all of them will sweep away?
"Shit!"
"Damnnn!"
"Fuck..."
The previous attack was just over but the Ice Witch had already started gathering cold energy once again.
To prevent another attack, all the students poured their attacks. The attacks were swept by the second wave that exploded several times faster than the previous ones though it was a bit weaker.
At the same time, the bodies of the students who touched the wave immediately froze and began to crumble.
"What the hell?"
The Ice Witch seemed to have grown used to their attack and was now maintaining a distance, the moment you get closer to her she detonates the attacks no matter how much energy she is collected.
As if the initial dominance was just an illusion of despair, fear lingered in the eyes of people who were left behind.
It was the same even for Frederick.
'I can't think of a way to win. If I use Doom Piercer and unleash everything into one attack, I may manage to kill it but I can't due to Tower restriction.'
'Should I use Time Dilation to get closer.'
Frederick bit his lip, weighing the pros and cons because if he used Time Dilation, cause if didn't manage to land a solid hit, he would be in trouble.
He had already been weakened severely due to cold blasts and Time Dilation would take a severe toll on him.
If they keep going like this, they will definitely be wiped out.
"Wait! Am I forgetting something?"
A sudden realization struck him out of nowhere as his heart felt something was missing.
Something crucial that can change the whole tide of the battle with mere presence.
Frederick's eyes shone with disbelief at the image of the figure who always managed to find a way in such a situation.
"Where the hell is Lucas?"Frederick screamed.
His scream echoed in other ears who also looked for the same.
For a moment, a deadly silence lingered in the moment.
Except for cold blowing winds and the sound of gasping heavily, all noises ceased to exist.
Question marks appeared over everyone's expression and they looked around for the person who seemed to have disappeared into thin air.
''Did he get eliminated.''
Parth muttered with an astonished expression because as far as he knew that guy was the last person to get eliminated.
He was simply a zombie.
An unkillable roach.
The more you hit him, and the more you push him down, the faster he will get up stronger than before.
It was simply impossible for such a guy to get killed without anyone noticing.
Before they could look around, the Ice Witch let out another howl creating a wave of ice mass prepared to take them down making them swallow their saliva in anxiety.
Frederick falling into pinch witnessing the massive influx of mana, finally decided to use Time Dilation to strike down the wave.
While everyone felt inching emotion of despair getting near, a shadowy figure passed beside everyone keeping an eye on the cold wave with emotionlessly.
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