The Paladin in the Abyss

"Boom!"

The sound of metal crashing against solid ice rang out, yet the Dwarf's hammer did not strike the Incarnation of God but was blocked by an ice wall that had appeared out of nowhere. Lancelot had seen such spells several times before, but none could compare to the works of the Goddess of Ice. What materialized in front of him was practically a fortress made of ice, impregnable by his sword and the Dwarf's hammer.

However, Kalalin once mentioned a simple principle, "Magic must be defeated by magic." To deal with this ice wall, surely the spells of the Succubus Lord would be more effective. As Lancelot retreated, he turned his head to check on Tijana.

He witnessed the fate of the three Ice Demon Bats: self-destruction. These frail magical creatures, of course, could not withstand the powerful Tijana, but suicide explosions were one of their intended purposes. Accompanied by a dazzling white light, the bats exploded simultaneously, sending out numerous sharp ice blades that covered a ten-foot radius around the center of the explosion.

Faced with this attack, even with Tijana's agile movement technique, she couldn't avoid it completely. She could only wrap her large wings tightly around her body as those razor-sharp ice shards flew across her beautiful bat wings.

"Tijana!" Lancelot yelled anxiously, his figure darted over like an arrow released from its bow, and he caught her in his arms before she hit the ground.

"I actually could have stood on my own!" Tijana opened her eyes in Lancelot's arms and screamed at him from close range with the loudest volume she could muster, "But I didn't move on purpose! To make you run over and hold me!"

"Yah-hah!" Bruto protested loudly not far away, "There are other people here!"

"Uh..." Lancelot's face fell, "I'm glad to hear that, but it would have been better if only I had heard it."

"Sorry! I forgot that right now I can only yell when I speak!" Tijana, blushing profusely, pushed Lancelot away and yelled at Bruto, "Forget it! You didn't hear anything just now!"

"Whoa! What happened? Why am I here?" the Dwarf Warrior shouted back in an extremely exaggerated tone, "What's that? An ice fortress! How beautiful! Surely there isn't an incarnation of a deity inside wanting to kill us, right?"

"Leave it to me." Tijana's voice suddenly returned to normal, "Thank God, the Wave Surge has finally ended... You all stand back!"

The Human Knight and Dwarf Warrior immediately stepped back, watching as the Succubus Lord began to cast a complex spell. With her gestures and incantations, a powerful energy converged in her hands, a Magic Aura appeared out of nowhere around Tijana, growing increasingly bright. When the brightness reached a certain limit, Lancelot knew the spell had been completed.

"If I start showing any other abnormalities in a bit, don't be surprised," Tijana suddenly turned to Lancelot and said, "This is the price of wild magic."

Before Lancelot could reply, Tijana released the spell she held in her hands. Lancelot felt a wave of heat rush toward him, as if he were standing in front of a fiercely burning forge. A storm filled with searing smog was conjured by her, covering at least a fifty-foot radius and completely enveloping the fortress made of ice.

Even though the fortress's ice was constructed by the Goddess of Ice's Saint, it couldn't withstand the terrible high temperature. Although the thick smog blocked everyone's view, it was still evident that the fortress was rapidly shrinking, clearly melting away.

"Won't this burn Mohoi to death as well?" Bruto asked worriedly as he watched the dense smoke, "What a pity, I haven't yet tried the ice slush he made…"

"That Tiflin Priest? He probably died the moment Olul descended," Tijana shrugged her shoulders, and seeing Lancelot's questioning gaze, she continued to explain, "In the face of a True God's will, mortal souls are like ants, weak and insignificant. When a True God descends through the body of a believer, the soul originally in that body is instantly crushed, unless the True God intentionally protects it. But given the Goddess of Ice's cold and cruel nature, I don't think She would bother to do that."

"That's too harsh…" Bruto stuck out his tongue from his thick beard, "What was Mohoi's original goal? To create a blizzard to prove his goddess's greatness? And yet he ended up like this…"

"You think he's pitiful?" the Succubus Lord glanced at the dwarf, "For most priests, merging with their revered deity is their ultimate pursuit, even if they know the outcome, Mohoi would likely do it again."

"But is it worth it?" Lancelot gazed at the continuously rolling smoke, "To become part of something greater, yet give up one's own existence?"

"Of course it's not worth it, but that's just my answer. As foolish as it sounds, since mortals possess free will, it's not surprising that they make such choices," Tijana said, her interest clear as she looked at Lancelot, "If there's an appropriate opportunity, I would very much like to discuss this topic with you in depth, but we still have a problem to solve—Olul isn't so easily dealt with…"

Before Tijana could finish her words, a chilling strong wind suddenly burst from the center of the searing smog, dispersing the smoke in all directions. Everyone had to shield their eyes with their arms at that moment, and when the smoke had completely cleared, they saw the Goddess of Ice, standing unscathed, all her frightening wounds fully healed.

"What?" Despair shone in Bruto's eyes, "Was all that effort in vain?"

"Don't lose heart, dwarf, She can't possibly use that level of power indefinitely," Tijana said sharply as she flapped her wings and flew into the air, her hands lighting up again with magical glow, "Let us try again…"

She couldn't finish her sentence. Around Olul's incarnation, three Ice Magic Spheres, the size of fists and floating in mid-air, had appeared. The spheres emitted a bright white light, and Lancelot immediately felt a dreadful suction force. This force was special, resembling a vortex of nature's spiritual energy. Despite exerting all his strength, he was still unable to resist it.

The next second, he found himself 'imprisoned' inside one of the Ice Magic Spheres, feeling as if an entire glacier was pressing down on him, rendering him completely immobile, while the cold incessantly invaded his body.

Yet Lancelot could still see the surroundings through the ice, such as Bruto who was trapped in another Ice Magic Sphere. He then realized he was falling rapidly, hitting the ground heavily, which was very muddy from the melting snow. It seemed that after pulling him inside, the Ice Magic Sphere had lost its ability to float.