Chapter 174: March Of The Dead
"March right through it," Yena repeated slowly, her amber eyes reflecting the swirling purple light of the expanding rift.
"Kai, our men are seasoned veterans, but they are still mortal flesh and blood. The atmosphere on the other side of that tear will rot their lungs in a single breath."
"They will not breathe the void," Kai replied smoothly, raising the pulsing astral core he had just ripped from the Herald’s chest. "They will breathe my winter."
He held the heavy, glowing sphere of dark energy up to the cold air, letting his freezing mana wrap around the foul magic.
[System: High-Tier Astral Core detected]
[Action: Synthesize with Kingdom Core Fragment to generate localized dimensional shielding?]
Kai confirmed the prompt with a lazy flick of his mind.
The heavy purple core dissolved directly into his open palm, sending a massive, freezing jolt of raw power racing up his arm.
His internal winter core greedily devoured the foreign spatial energy, forcing the dark magic to submit to his unyielding, zero-degree authority.
[System: Core Synthesis Successful]
[Absolute Domain upgraded: Astral-Frost Insulator]
[Description: Your winter domain now actively repels hostile spatial radiation, establishing a breathable, stable ecosystem within foreign dimensions.]
Zara threw her head back and laughed, a rich, throaty sound that echoed loudly off the dark volcanic rock.
"You are a beautiful, terrifying madman," the warlordess grinned, gracefully sheathing her bloody scimitars. "The Northern kings built massive walls and hid behind their golden shields for centuries to keep the dark out. You conquer their impenetrable city, and your very first royal decree is to launch a full-scale invasion into hell."
"Defense is for men who fear losing what they have," Kai stated coldly, his starlight gaze fixed on the bleeding rift. "I prefer to take what belongs to my enemies."
"If we take the main army through the rift, who holds the capital?" Yena asked, ever the pragmatic Chief Enforcer, pacing slowly around the shattered remains of the dead monsters. "The outer rings are still crawling with angry, displaced nobles and thousands of starving citizens. They will riot the moment they realize the throne room is empty."
"Let them riot," Kai smirked, turning his back on the growing tear. "I am leaving the broken brass golems and the frozen Paladin corpses scattered across the Thousand Golden Steps as a very clear warning. If the merchant guilds want to reclaim this freezing spire, they can bleed for it."
"Our war is no longer concerned with this pathetic dirt," Kai added softly, stepping toward his two commanders.
He reached out, grabbing Yena and Zara by their armored shoulders.
Instead of pushing raw mana down his legs to run, Kai triggered his newly acquired class skill, [Frost-Void Step].
The dark cavern did not just blur; the physical space around them folded inward like cracked glass.
Kai stepped seamlessly through the frozen gap between reality, bypassing the endless spiral staircase entirely.
They reappeared instantly in the center of the grand throne room, the sudden drop in atmospheric pressure sending a rush of cold wind howling through the high arches.
Lieutenant Elian jumped backward in genuine shock, nearly dropping his heavy iron spear as the Winter King materialized out of thin air.
"Summon the vanguard captains," Kai ordered Elian smoothly, releasing his grip on his commanders. "Gather every working blacksmith from the lower rings and bring them to the frozen plaza."
"My King, the local blacksmiths are currently melting down the temple gold, just as you commanded," Elian stammered respectfully, bowing his head.
"Tell them to stop playing with useless yellow jewelry," Kai instructed, his deep voice carrying a dark, lethal edge. "Tell them to bring their heavy hammers to the plaza. We have real weapons to forge."
An hour later, the frozen plaza at the base of the Thousand Golden Steps was packed with shivering, terrified Northern blacksmiths and hardened Southern rebel captains.
Kai stood on the high marble overlook, watching his loyal soldiers drag the massive, severed pieces of the dead Void-Stalkers out of the palace sub-levels.
The heavy chunks of dense obsidian bone hit the frozen paving stones with loud, heavy thuds, leaking foul, freezing purple ichor across the white marble.
The gathered blacksmiths gasped in unfiltered horror, shrinking back from the alien carcasses.
"Normal steel will bounce right off their dark armor," Kai announced to the massive crowd, his magically amplified voice rolling across the plaza like a creeping glacier. "If you march into the dark holding standard iron, you will die before you can swing a second time."
Kai walked down the frosted steps, stopping right in front of a massive, severed obsidian claw.
He drew the Void-Star Fang, letting the purple glass blade flare with hungry starlight.
He sliced a thick shard of obsidian bone from the dead monster, holding the jagged, incredibly dense material up for the master blacksmiths to see.
"You will shatter this alien bone into thousands of sharp, jagged splinters," Kai commanded the trembling artisans. "You will use my freezing mana to graft these dark splinters directly onto the tips of my army’s spears and the edges of their scimitars."
"My King," an old, heavily scarred master blacksmith spoke up, his breath pluming into thick mist. "This material is unnatural. Our hottest forges cannot melt it, and our heavy anvils will break if we try to strike it with standard hammers."
"You do not need heat to shape this bone," Kai replied softly.
He placed the thick obsidian shard onto a nearby frozen marble bench.
He pressed his bare left thumb against the center of the dark bone, channeling a highly concentrated needle of Absolute Zero directly into the dense alien marrow.
The supernatural cold forcefully expanded the foul moisture trapped inside the bone, causing the massive shard to fracture neatly down the middle with a high-pitched crack.
"The bone is highly vulnerable to extreme cold," Kai explained smoothly, turning his glowing eyes toward the old blacksmith. "I will provide the freezing pressure. You will provide the sharp edges. Do you understand your task?"
"Yes, Winter Sovereign," the old man bowed deeply, his fear rapidly transforming into profound, professional awe. "We will arm your men with the dark."
For the next ten hours, the plaza echoed with the relentless, rhythmic sound of heavy iron striking frozen obsidian.
Kai walked tirelessly among the roaring forges, letting his Domain blanket the working area to keep the alien bones brittle enough for the artisans to shape.
Yena stood by the armory racks, personally inspecting every single modified spear before handing them back to her veteran rebel infantry.
"The balance is heavy at the tip," Yena noted, testing the weight of a newly grafted obsidian spear shaft. "But the edge is undeniably lethal. It cuts through standard sun-gold like it is made of soft butter."
"My riders are ready," Zara reported, walking up to join them with her twin scimitars now heavily lined with jagged, dark void-bone. "The horses are rested, and we have packed enough captured grain to feed the army for a month."
"We will not need grain where we are going," Kai said mildly, looking up at the dark, snowy sky. "The void does not obey normal time. A month in the dark might only be a few hours on this dirt."
Yena stepped close to him, lowering her voice so the busy soldiers around them could not hear her seasoned concern.
"Are you truly certain about this, Kai?" Yena asked, her amber eyes searching his cold, handsome face. "We are marching eight thousand mortal men into a realm of endless nightmares. We might not find a way back."
"I am not looking for a way back, Chief Enforcer," Kai whispered, reaching out to gently trace her jawline with his freezing fingers. "I spent my entire youth starving in the desert, looking up at a burning sun that hated me."
"I am going to find the things that created that sun, and I am going to freeze them solid."
Dawn broke over the conquered capital, casting a pale, gray light over the frozen ruins of Helios.
Eight thousand heavily armed warriors stood in perfect, unyielding formation across the central plaza.
Three thousand Sand Wyrm cavalry sat atop their restless mounts, their bronze armor now reinforced with jagged plates of dark obsidian.
Five thousand Southern rebels held their newly grafted void-spears high, their faces set in hard, unwavering loyalty to the sovereign who had broken a god.
Lieutenant Elian stood at the front of the formation, his young face pale but determined as he held the royal banner of the Winter King—a silver frost sigil on a field of pitch black.
Kai stood at the top of the Thousand Golden Steps, looking down at the massive army he had forged from blood and ice.
He did not deliver a long, arrogant speech about glory or divine destiny.
He simply raised his left hand.
He channeled a massive, continuous surge of zero-degree mana through his core, triggering his spatial authority on a massive, terrifying scale.
Instead of stepping through the void alone, Kai aggressively pulled the bleeding Astral Rift up from the deep sub-levels, forcing the massive spatial tear to manifest directly above the frozen plaza.
The massive, purple wound ripped open the sky, stretching fifty feet wide and projecting a heavy, crushing gravity field that made the warhorses snort in panic.
[System: Massive Spatial Breach Authorized]
[Destination: The Astral Abyss]
[Warning: Hostile environment detected. Engaging Astral-Frost Insulator.]
Kai expanded his Absolute Domain to its maximum limit, pushing a massive, shimmering dome of pale blue frost over his entire army.
The protective winter bubble aggressively pushed back the foul, suffocating pressure of the open rift, allowing his men to breathe crisp, clean mountain air while standing on the threshold of hell.
"We march," Kai commanded, his deep voice vibrating right through the frozen stones.
Zara let out a fierce, throaty war cry, spurring her black stallion forward.
"Sand Wyrms, ride into the dark!" the warlordess roared, leading her heavy cavalry straight up the frosted steps and directly into the swirling purple abyss.
Yena raised her heavy ice spear, turning back to look at her infantry.
"For the Winter King!" Yena shouted, her voice echoing with fierce, unbroken devotion.
"For the King!" five thousand voices roared in unison, stepping forward in perfect, synchronized rhythm.
Kai watched his army pour into the spatial tear, their dark weapons disappearing into the swirling, endless void.
He waited until the very last rebel foot soldier crossed the threshold before he finally turned his back on the mortal world.
He adjusted the heavy silver crown resting upon his head, resting his cold hand securely on the hilt of his Mythic dagger.
The Winter King stepped into the dark, and the frozen gates of reality closed firmly behind him.
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