Chapter 440: D162. Miracle
On the vast snowfield, a black chocobo with glossy feathers, clearly well-treated, pulled a bird carriage, racing across the snow at an unbelievable speed.
From a higher viewpoint, one would notice that no footprints or carriage tracks were left in the snow, leaving no trace.
On the carriage seat, a gleaming scale serpent in the guise of a middle-aged housekeeper lightly held the reins. The superb chocobo needed hardly any instructions to find its way forward on its own.
Having inherited the power of the White Snake and transcended to a Fantasy Species, this frigid snowfield was entirely its domain. Compared to freezing water vapor into an icy road in the meadows before, manipulating snow to make it easy for the carriage to pass was a piece of cake for it.
Beside it sat the Hero, wrapped tightly in her snowfield fur coat she never thought she’d use, with a fluffy hat on her head and the collar covered by a thick scarf.
She clutched a Finger Claw emanating warmth in her arms, squinting at the pure white snowfield ahead.
Although she had yet to reincarnate, as an Innate Sorcerer, after defeating the Devouring Curse Demon, her magic power seemed to be undergoing a qualitative change, moving closer to the Legendary Realm. Last night, just sitting by the lake, enjoying the night scene, she became unconsciously sensitive to changes in the outside world.
If she reached out and touched, her body temperature would not significantly change, whether she wore her coat or not.
Even without specialized skills, the self-regulating ability of a Legendary Physique would allow her to lie naked in what would be desperate situations for ordinary people.
But her subjective experience was vastly different. For instance, even slightly loosening her scarf made her feel a breeze of ice sliding from her collarbone to her waist, shivering unexpectedly.
Having seldom caught a cold growing up, the Hero sniffed and gazed at the unending white until a chasm stretching across the snowfield appeared on the horizon.
“Your Majesty, is it there?”
“Mm!” The Hero nodded in response to the gleaming scale serpent’s query.
In the final moments of her dream, the place she vaguely sensed should be at the bottom of that chasm, deep within the Ice Abyss.
After the ancient Hero sacrificed herself to subdue the demons, many who fought alongside her, including some of her closest comrades, thought she had perished.
But due to the Phoenix’s undying trait, despite the entanglement to the end, the ancient Hero’s soul was not extinguished. Instead, to some extent, it shared in this strength, continually suppressing the Corrupted Phoenix.
So though she had indeed perished, she could still sense what happened afterward to some degree.
“In that ancient final battle, many of her comrades, expending their life force to fight…and even after the war ended, they were mostly at their limits. Even returning to recuperate, they likely wouldn’t have survived more than a few years.”
The Hero’s expression turned serene as she softly spoke.
“They believed the seal on the Corrupted Phoenix wouldn’t hold for long. One day, it would surely break free, so they entreated the White Snake and the Snow Woman Clan at that time, to use powerful ice magic to seal their souls and bodies under the abyss, awaiting the day they could once again battle the Corrupted Phoenix.”
Recalling the Undead Warrior encountered at the Forbidden Melting Peak, perhaps their decision was also influenced by her.
“However, with the predecessors’ power and Sister White Snake’s reinforcement efforts, the seal endured till now. None of them were wrong, but as a result, those frozen have passed away from old age before the Corrupted Phoenix’s escape.”
The Hero spoke sorrowfully.
One wonders if the predecessor, when in the volcano, could sense each comrade’s silent disappearance within that icy confinement over the ages…
Just imagining such a scene made her feel a pang of sorrow.
“Since the place where the predecessor’s sword fell wasn’t ideal, the sealing site was chosen near the Sword Tomb, which was also once the predecessor’s village and the sacrificial holy ground for the whole regional tribe.
“However, time changed everything. Due to the Corrupted Phoenix, the environment suffered massive destruction, rendering the battlefield unlivable. Thus, the village and tribe gradually migrated away. As even the landscape changed, the only ones left who remembered the Prayer House there were a White Snake and the Snow Women who stayed behind.”
The chocobo gradually slowed down, finally stopping its legs. After a slow glide, it came to a halt precisely one meter away from the chasm’s edge.
The Hero gazed down into the seemingly bottomless Ice Abyss, sensing both familiar and foreign magical auras below, a serene smile appearing on her lips.
“Let’s go down. They’ve already waited too long.”
[Essence Capture: Believer’s Tenacity]
3d67+45=d67(6)+d67(16)+d67(38)+45=105
[Who is coming to meet us—]
1～3. White Snake ♛
4～6. Snow Woman Archer
7. Frost Matron
8. Other Snow Women
9. Little Snow Elf
10. Critical Success/Extreme Failure
D10=d10(1)=1
→☆→☆→☆→✧←★←★←★←
On the snowfield like a white canvas, a sudden chasm stretched across the land. The fracture formed by unfrozen solid ice seemed bottomless. Standing on the edge and looking down only gave the impression that the sight and light alike were swallowed by its depth.