The Last Place Hero's Return

Chapter 249: The Frost (4)

Inside the frozen city, amid the ruins of buildings blanketed in frost, a woman with deep violet hair waved at Laneige and smiled brightly.

Tangled with countless emotions, Laneige staggered backward, staring at her mother. “H-how? Mom, h-how... can you?”

Seria Maram had died sixteen years ago at the hands of the Holy Sword and the Pope. Her final moments—her heart pierced through, blood spilling from her body—were vividly etched into Laneige’s mind. So, how could she be standing here now?

Seria smiled softly. “You’re wondering how I’m alive?”

With eyes that seemed hollow, as though all light had vanished from them, she continued, “He brought me back to life.”

“Brought you back?” Laneige muttered.

When Dale heard Seria’s explanation, his expression twisted. “Nonsense.”

He had died and returned to life thousands, no, tens of thousands, of times. He was someone who had wandered through unfathomable stretches of time, trying to resurrect fallen comrades in the past. More than anyone else, he knew this truth well. Reviving the dead was impossible even if the Seven Gods themselves were to descend into the world.

Seria turned to Dale, a faint smile curling her lips. “It’s not nonsense. As proof, aren’t I standing right here?”

Her lips held a smile, but her eyes were empty, like a winter night sky devoid of stars.

“Are you... really my mom?” asked Laneige.

“Of course.” Seria slowly stepped toward Laneige and spread her arms wide. “Come here, my beloved daughter.”

“M-mom!”

Tears streaming down her face, Laneige ran toward Seria. Faded memories resurfaced like that day long ago, when her mother had held her tightly, patted her back, and whispered words of love.

However, Dale grabbed Laneige’s shoulder in a panic. “Laneige!”

As he yanked her back, a surge of pure white frost erupted from the ground right in front of her feet. The frost had congealed into sharp, spike-like points. If Laneige had taken even a few more steps toward Seria, those icy spears would have skewered her.

***

Having just escaped a gruesome fate by a hair’s breadth, Laneige turned deathly pale. I stepped in before her and glared at Seria.

Seria burst into giggles, still standing with her arms spread wide. “Oh my, what’s taking you so long? Come here already.”

I had heard before that when Seria lost control in the past, she had even tried to kill Laneige after murdering her husband. Had she revived in the same state she was in when she went berserk? I wasn’t certain, but if she intended to kill Laneige, she was an enemy.

I drew the sword at my waist and slowly advanced toward Seria. “Ignite.”

Ashen Flames wrapped around me, flaring violently. The Archbishop of Frost, Seria Maram, was a powerful demon who had lost only after the Holy Sword and the Pope, two Masters, had joined forces. No matter how much I had accomplished recently, she wasn’t an opponent I could afford to underestimate.

“Oh my, I was calling for Laneige, though.” Seria gave me a sidelong glance, smiling with her eyes. “What’s your relationship with Laneige? Wait, don’t tell me you’re her boyfriend?”

I observed her quietly.

Seria clutched her stomach and burst into raucous laughter. “Ahahaha! My goodness, my goodness, my daughter has a boyfriend now. I’m so glad I came back to life.”

Exhaling an excited, heated breath, she continued, “Did you know? How miserably Laneige cried when my husband died?”

Her face overflowed with uncontrollable joy and anticipation. “Truly! How fortunate this is. Now I get to see my daughter scream and cry once again!”

Twisting her lips into a grin that looked ready to split her face apart, she crossed her widely spread arms into an X. Then, a white frost mist spread outward from Seria. The ground it touched froze solid in the blink of an eye. A storm of condensed frost formed in midair and rushed toward me at blinding speed.

Grinding my teeth, I stared at the incoming frost storm. “You!”

Then I swung my sword, wrapped in Ashen Flames. A wall of blazing embers melted the storm of pure white frost.

“Oh my! Saying ‘you’ to your girlfriend’s mother? Where did you learn such bad manners?”

“Shut up.”

I didn’t know what kind of person Seria had been before she went berserk. But the person standing before me now was far too twisted to be wrapped up in the word “mother.” Drawing in a deep breath, I pulled up the power of the Primordial Flame. Then, I kicked off the ground and charged straight at Seria. As the burning gray flames melted through the raging frost storm, I closed the distance instantly.

Seria looked at my face up close, a dark smile spreading across her lips. “Heh. Up close, you’re quite handsome, you know?”

Suddenly, a surge of frost exploded upward. At that instant, the Ashen Flames scattered, and the frost storm slammed directly into my body. The moment it touched me, my skin necrotized into a purplish hue.

I hastily leaped back, then hurled my fist toward the oncoming frost storm, executing Berald Combat Style: Mountain Breaker. Ashen Flames erupted from my fist, punching a hole straight through the frost storm. I aimed the tip of my sword at the opening and poured my mana into it.

Ashen Flame Style Third Form: Flame Lance!

The condensed embers shot straight toward Seria. In response, she spread her hands toward the incoming flames. Frost and flames collided. The frost melted away, producing thick steam that spread like dense fog.

***

Seria stared down at her arm that had been scorched and eaten away by the Ashen Flames, her eyes widening in surprise. “Impressive! Where on earth did my daughter find a man like you?”

It was a sensation she had never felt before, not even when she had fought the Holy Sword, Johan Basilio, and the Pope, Marianne. The violently blazing gray flames were unlike any power she had ever witnessed. And more astonishing than that, her opponent hadn’t used them to their full extent yet.

“It doesn’t even look like you’re fighting at full strength,” she added.

***

As Seria said, I was still holding back.

“Heehee. Is it because I’m the mother of the woman you love?” she asked.

Frowning, I tightened my grip on the sword. “You’re annoying. Who revived you?”

“Ahh, you mean the Prophet of Eternity.”

“The Prophet of Eternity?”

“Yes. That’s right. The great Prophet who carries Eternity within him.”

Was the one who revived Seria the Prophet of the Church of Eternity? I recalled that the wolf-masked man and fox-masked woman I fought in Valhalla City had also been unnaturally old. If this Prophet of Eternity was the one who had extended their lifespans, then no matter who he really was, one thing was clear—he possessed power that could directly interfere with the lives of others.

“He granted me an opportunity.” Seria smiled brightly as she stroked the arm that had been charred pitch-black by the Ashen Flames. As if time itself were reversing, fresh flesh began to sprout over the blackened limb. “The chance to meet my beloved daughter again.”

The power to revive the dead, the power to extend the lifespan of the living, and on top of that, regeneration of wounds inflicted by Ashen Flames. Just who and what the hell is that Prophet of Eternity?

I pressed my lips together and tightened my grip on the sword.

Seria raised her regenerated arm high. “Now then, don’t interfere any further.”

Her empty gaze turned toward Laneige. Meeting Seria’s eyes, Laneige staggered back, her face drained of color.

“Because I want to hug my daughter tightly... even one second sooner,” Seria added.

The thick steam hanging in the air froze instantly. A storm of frost gathered in the sky. Then, a sphere of ice appeared in the air tens of meters, no, hundreds of meters wide, floating high above. The white sphere swirled violently in midair.

I found it familiar. “That’s...”

I had heard about it before. During the Archbishop of Frost’s rampage, a white meteor had fallen from the sky, instantly freezing the entire city.

Seria exhaled softly and swung her raised arm downward. The white meteor of frost crashed toward the ground. Frozen buildings shook violently as thunderous explosions echoed throughout the city.

Staring up at the falling white meteor, a sight like the end of the world, I clicked my tongue. It was an attack that would engulf the entire city. Even though this was a ghost city with no inhabitants, if I let that meteor fall as it was, Laneige would be caught in the aftermath.

I decided to use the technique I had yet to master, the Cataclysmic Flame. It was not a technique currently ready for real combat, but in this situation, I had no choice. Ashen Flames spread outward in a circle from my body. Gray fire dyed the surrounding space, forming a domain.

However, this wasn’t enough. The domain was far too small to stop a meteor hundreds of meters across. To swallow it whole would require ten times, no, perhaps even more mana than I currently had.

If my mana is lacking, then...

Ashen Flames engulfed me entirely. My flesh itself transformed into embers. Then, the ground itself trembled as colossal flames erupted upward. It was only for a few seconds at most, but the near-infinite mana produced when the Ashen Flames burned my body expanded the Cataclysmic Flame’s domain to encompass the entire city.

Seria stared in shock, her eyes wide open. “What?”

Leaving her behind, I stretched my hand high into the sky. “Devour it.”

The hundreds-of-meter-wide meteor was swallowed whole by Ashen Flames so massive that they made the meteor seem like a pebble.

Seria stumbled backward. “H-hiikk!”

I kicked off the ground and closed the distance between us. Just as I raised my sword high, ready to plunge it straight into her heart, our eyes met, mine and Laneige’s, and I flinched. Without realizing it, the strength left from my grip. My body reverted from embers back to flesh, and the backlash of the Flame Body state tore through me. A wave of agonizing pain came surging, as if molten lava were flowing through my veins instead of blood. Then, the sword slipped from my hand and hit the ground.

A strange light flickered in Seria’s eyes. “Oh? My, my? Oh dear, did you overexert yourself to protect my daughter?”

A deep smile crept across her lips. “Heehee. At this rate, I might just fall for you.”

Seria slowly reached out and stroked my cheek. “Instead of Laneige, what about me? My husband’s dead, you see, I’ve been rather lonely.”

Just as she tried to pull me closer by the neck in a seductive gesture, Laneige moved. She slapped away Seria’s hand from my cheek. “Take your hands off Dale, Mom.”

Then, Laneige struck her mother’s cheek without mercy.