CHAPTER 1517: CHAPTER 1517: HUNGER

The sound of howling wind echoed between Heaven and Earth, the sky was roaring.

The drifting snow connected to form a pure white canopy between Heaven and Earth, scattering within the shattered ruins.

The monster that Kaster transformed into was taller and much larger than the previous scrawny Elderly.

The intense madness, greed, and hunger he brought were also much stronger.

This hunger even affected He Ao’s thoughts, inexplicably giving him a sense of wanting to eat.

He Ao quietly gazed at everything around him, those transparent monsters, carrying sharp solid ice, roaring as they charged towards him.

It was as if the blizzard extended into tangible tentacles.

Spreading along the ruins and snowstorm, creeping to his front.

A dim Shadow covered his head, it was gigantic, resembling solid ice, carrying a severe sense of hunger.

The huge monster, twenty to thirty meters tall, had already reached He Ao’s front, opening its sharp fangs and giant mouth, hovering before He Ao’s forehead.

And those mutated transparent monsters also finally reached He Ao’s front.

They swung their sharp claws, about to pierce He Ao’s flesh and Soul.

At that very moment, all the monsters quieted down, their body frozen in place.

Crack—

A faint sound seemed to echo in the void, fine cracks slowly appeared on the cheek of the small monster in front of He Ao, then quickly spread inward, filling its body.

Subsequently, all the mutated small monsters were covered with dense cracks.

Soon after, those cracks spread to the gigantic transparent monster Kaster had become.

The cold wind, mixed with snow, blew across the land, causing the whole world to tremble slightly.

Bang—

Accompanied by a slight sound, all the small monsters more than a person’s height, standing in front of He Ao, collapsed at this moment, falling with the snow into scattered Ice Crystals.

And just then, the Shadow suspended above He Ao’s head suddenly pressed down.

He Ao raised his gaze, looking up, above his head, the gigantic monster formed by Kaster still stood overhead.

Even though this monster was covered with cracks, it didn’t shatter, but instead lowered its gaping mouth with sharp fangs, intending to Swallow He Ao whole.

He Ao could even see through that Open mouth, inside this transparent monster was solid ice, which squirmed like flesh, resembling an acid that could dissolve everything.

Fierce thoughts spread from this Opened giant mouth, it was anger, hunger, greed, brutality...

He Ao raised his gaze, quietly watching the continuously lowering giant mouth.

The sharp tusks had already touched his head.

Whoosh—

A gentle breeze blew across the sky, and in that instant, the gigantic solid ice monster shattered with a bang, scattered into countless Ice Crystals.

Once again, only sweeping snow was left between Heaven and Earth, a vast sea of white.

He Ao raised his hand, his palm brushing through the drifting Ice Crystals.

Nested orange-gray rings slowly vanished in his pupils.

A few Ice Crystals melted in his palm, quickly dissolving away.

These Ice Crystals still carried some residual corruptive power, rapidly vanishing at this moment.

The essence of these transparent monsters was actually similar to those Snow Giants, although they shed from human Husks to be born, their core was hidden at the world’s foundation.

In other words, these monsters couldn’t be killed by conventional means; they would at most enter a sort of short-term dormancy due to exhaustion.

Although their power did not reach that of a Higher Being, in some sense, they were a close approximation of higher life forms.

However, the Power of Truth Eye had no such limitations; He Ao could directly cut into the world’s foundation, completely shattering the cores of these monsters.

But monsters with shattered cores did not always crumble into Ice Crystals.

The monster Kaster became did not completely shatter even after He Ao broke its core in the world’s foundation, still able to launch attacks.

Then He Ao discovered, that Kaster’s core, ’deconstructed’ by the Eye of Truth, though gone, still existed through some invisible force maintaining its existence conceptually via a special Mysticism link.

This allowed him to act as if the core still existed even though it had been erased.

Like a person whose heart was destroyed, but an invisible force allowed them to live as if the heart was still there.

In the end, He Ao attempted to deconstruct the ’core existence’ concept with the Power of Truth Eye, completely ’killing’ the monster Kaster had become.

The mystical force transmitted through the Mysticism link was minimal and couldn’t last to maintain the concept’s existence.

Thus, He Ao crumbled it with a light strike.

He Ao gazed at the scattered Ice Crystals before him, the invisible lines attached to the transparent monsters vanished with their death, leaving no trace.

It seems these ’lines’ were not purely Mysticism links either.

He gently raised his hand, a breeze swept across in front of him, blowing the Ice Crystals aside, opening a path leading to the street.

He turned back, looking at the little girl behind him.

The little girl blinked wide-eyed at her, gulping nervously, while the two children lying on the ground involuntarily swallowed in their sleep.

Even though He Ao blocked most of the corruption upfront, subtle waves of corruption still reached behind.

"Are you okay?" He Ao turned his head, looking at the gulping little girl with a smile.

"Mm-hmm," the little girl tightly clutched the wooden box, "I’m very strong! Glug—"

She fell silent, biting her teeth tightly.

He Ao gently raised his hand, the power of Super Memory extending out, dispersing the lingering invisible corruption around.

Without spiritual-level influence, the hunger would not intensify, but the body’s invoked hunger desire would not fade quickly.

Even eating wouldn’t satisfy this desire; it would instead further ignite it, the more you eat, the hungrier you get, only sheer willpower pushing through can free one from this desire.

"Do you want to sleep for a bit?" He Ao looked at her, pointing at the two sleeping children behind her.

In sleep, the hunger wasn’t as strong.

"I can!" the little girl clenched her teeth, holding the wooden box tightly, stubbornly and earnestly staring at He Ao.

"Alright then." He Ao looked at her, suppressing a laugh.

He slowly moved forward, along the path he just cleared, heading towards the street.

The little girl saw this, hugged the box tightly, and followed behind him.

Soon, they reached the not-so-wide street.

Thick Snowflakes drifted down from the sky, seeping into the cracks of the stone bricks.

The fierce snowstorm obscured people’s vision; the little girl looked back, unable to see the ruins they came from.

Yet the street was so silent, leaving only the sound of howling wind and snow.

The grand battle just now seemed insufficient to draw any attention; no discussion echoed in the snowstorm.

The world was so silent, as if it had already been covered by snow and wind, leaving only two lonely figures, one large and one small.

The little girl watched this serene scene, seemingly sensing something. She lowered her head, looked at the wooden box in her arms, and slowly opened the lid.

Brilliant light burst forth from the Ice and Snow Gem, its radiance never so fierce, shining like a blazing sun amidst the fierce snowstorm.

Thud——

Crisp footsteps echoed from the darkness.

In the bewildering snow, vague human figures gradually emerged.

They stood densely together, slowly advancing.

Like fine tentacles, they surged out from the depths of the snowstorm.

——

Boom——

The solid stone wall shattered suddenly, and a blood-stained figure crashed into the silent rest room.

Broken stones flew into the fireplace, smashing the burning wood inside with crackling sounds.

Kela, who stood by the window, slowly turned around to look behind her.

Rote rolled over on the ground, his head seemingly dizzy, not knowing where he was.

He lifted his head, looking around at the walls and fireplace before suddenly realizing this seemed to be a rest room.

He immediately turned his head and saw Kela standing by the window.

"Your Majesty, please leave here immediately!" he exclaimed with a hint of surprise, then shouted loudly, "Something has changed in this palace, my guards are all gone, and the maids as well—"

Before he could finish speaking, a wide and fat figure rushed out of the broken hole, reaching directly for his throat.

He quickly raised his hand, blocking the grasping hand, and with effort, pushed the wide figure away.

Only then did the full appearance of the wide figure come into view.

She was wearing an old maid’s uniform, her disheveled hair covering her cheeks, which were stained with fresh red blood around her mouth.

Her hands were also covered in fresh blood, with some unknown bright red spatter on the hem of her skirt, seeming like traces left by some kind of ’massacre’.

"Your Majesty, jump out the window," Rote said, looking at the maid in front of him, quickly getting up, "the nobles outside have their servants and guards, they’ll protect you."

He faced the wide maid before him, "Leave this one to me."

A faint blue light seeped from his blood-stained wounds, and he gritted his teeth, his own strength and power climbing rapidly, "I’m not a warrior, but I do have some strength."

Before, he hadn’t encountered anyone, solely being hunted by the maid, unable to find a chance to call for help.

Now, finding Kela here, as long as he held off the maid to let Kela out, Kela would surely inform the nobles in the outer castle region of the events in the palace.

No matter what the intentions of those great nobles were, they would have to come for a rescue on the surface.

He just needed to hold off this one, to buy Queen Kela time to escape.

He looked up at the wide maid who had been chasing him like a beast that had lost all sense of reason.

Damn it, what on earth was happening!

He held his breath, forcibly raising his aura again.

As his aura rose, the wide maid in front of him seemed to be intimidated, not rushing forward recklessly.

It’s working! This one’s really turned into a beast!

If he could hold out longer...

Rote held his breath, paying close attention to the maid in front of him.

He dared not look back, that would show weakness, and the maid would definitely attack immediately.

But the sound of the wind and snow outside was loud, he couldn’t hear the sound of the queen climbing through the window.

He could only pray for the queen to leave quickly, to find reinforcements soon.

Then, as if suppressed by his aura, the maid in front of him suddenly trembled slightly.

In this instant, he immediately focused, carefully watching the maid, further elevating his aura.

If he ignited his full power and fought to the death, he might be able to hold down the maid.

Just as this thought flickered through his mind, the maid before him suddenly trembled, and the once intact skin showed cracks.

Before he could react, those cracks rapidly expanded.

Then he saw that familiar face splitting from the inside, as a transparent monster emerged, shedding its skin slowly before him.

A fierce hunger swept through the entire room in an instant, making him pause his thoughts slightly.

At that moment, he saw the transparent monster stuffing the shed skin back into its body, swallowing it back.

He wanted to say something, but couldn’t find the words.

This strange and bizarre scene intensified his hunger, making him involuntarily swallow his saliva.

It’s okay, just a monster, he took a deep breath.

Now that it was exposed, he didn’t have to worry about what mutation had occurred.

If he could hold down a maid, he could hold down—

Rote’s thoughts weren’t even fully formed when the twisted transparent monster disappeared instantly from his sight.

Following immediately was a sudden fierce whistling of a body cutting through the air.

No way?! So fast?!

He hadn’t even reacted when the monster’s gaping maw and sharp teeth appeared before him.

The deep vast mouth seemed capable of biting his head off in one bite.

Time seemed to freeze, and Rote stared at the scene, even forgetting to react, he simply didn’t have time to.

Everything he had experienced in life seemed to replay in that short moment in his mind.

The troubles of childhood—wait, why am I not dead yet?

Rote looked at the monster overhead, it wasn’t that time had frozen, but that the monster had genuinely frozen.

This monster formed of Solid Ice now had another thin, almost invisible layer of ice covering its body.

This thin layer of ice enveloped the entire monster, extending to the ground, forming a cluster of ice that surrounded and locked its legs firmly to the floor.

The entire transparent ice monster had now fully turned into an ice sculpture.

Rote finally returned to his senses, turning to look behind him.

Queen Kela still stood at the window, her hand just slightly raised.

The surrounding air was permeated with the faint chill of ice and snow.

Noticing his gaze, Kela slowly lowered her hand, looking at him calmly, "Is there anything you need to tell me?"