After Ten Millennia in Hell

Chapter 488 - We Have An Army

“This place is so damn large.”

Cha Yeon-Joo shook her hand to fan herself, her breathing slightly labored. Around her were piles of the corpses of knights made of translucent ice. White fluid was flowing out of the areas penetrated by the red chains.

“Is this really blood?”

Yeon-Joo poked the white fluid oozing out of the Frostborn knights’ corpses with her finger.

“Ah! That’s cold!” She flinched and quickly drew her hand back. “Hey, Oh Kang-Woo! Are these things really alive?”

Their bodies, made of ice, and their blood as cold as liquid nitrogen did not give off the feeling of life.

“Die, intruders!!”

A Frostborn soldier guarding the entrance of the Frozen Temple charged at Kang-Woo with a large halberd in hand. Kang-Woo slightly leaned back to dodge the halberd and grabbed the shaft.

Crush!

“Well, they only look like ice blocks, but they’re alive.”

Kang-Woo recalled the information regarding the Frostborn that had entered his mind through the Authority of Predation. Although they couldn’t be classified as lifeforms based on human standards, they were alive nonetheless. They were even capable of reproducing.

‘They look like they’d be delicious as shaved ice or something.’

Kang-Woo clenched the ice soldier’s neck tightly and looked into the soldier’s translucent ice head.

‘Some sweet red beans on top and lots of condensed milk...’

Kang-Woo wiped his drool with the back of his hand.

“E-Eek!”

“Oh? You can even feel emotions?”

Kang-Woo looked down at the ice soldier, trembling in fear, and smirked. He had barely felt any emotions from the ice giants guarding the gate, but the ice soldiers they had met on the way to the temple were no different from humans aside from their appearance.

Crush!

Kang-Woo gripped harder to shatter the ice soldier’s head and slowly headed toward the temple.

“Hm, hm, hm, hm~”

Just then, someone hummed excitedly. Kang-Woo turned to the direction where the sound was coming from.

“Ah, found you!” shouted a woman after she clapped her hands together.

Although she was made of translucent ice, one could easily tell she was a woman based on her curvature accentuated by her tight dress.

“Hehehe. Are you guys the intruders?”

The woman in the dress giggled with her eyes shining.

“You’re...”

“I’m Arianne! The princess of the Frostborn!” shouted the woman known as Arianne as she raised one arm above her head.

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes in silence. He could tell that she was on another level compared to the ice giants and soldiers they had faced until now.

“Hehe! I’ve come to kill you all!”

Unlike her cheerful tone, her voice was filled with bloodlust.

Thump!

Frostborn knights appeared from behind her and surrounded Kang-Woo’s party in perfect formation. Their vigor was as sharp as a knife.

“Yeah, I knew it wouldn’t be that easy.” Kang-Woo chuckled.

They had been far too weak for Bael to have accepted them into his army.

“Aren’t there too many of them, Kang-Woo?” Yeon-Joo asked anxiously.

There were easily over a thousand of the Frostborn knights that had appeared out of nowhere and surrounded them. The seven of Kang-Woo’s party members were severely outnumbered, but...

“It’s exactly for situations like this that I made you my incarnation,” Kang-Woo said as he lightly patted Yeon-Joo’s shoulder.

Her abilities were highly specialized for one-versus-many battles.

“Hmph,” Yeon-Joo snorted, her expression mixed with joy and a sense of burden.

Clatter.

She took out her red chains and looked around fiercely.

“Hehe, you seem to be the leader of the intruders,” said Arianne as she stared at Kang-Woo with shining eyes. She unsheathed a white sword from her waist and shouted as she lifted it, “Let’s fight!”

“No,” Kang-Woo answered apathetically as if uninterested.

“Hm? What? Why? Didn't you come here to fight?” asked Arianne wide-eyed, not having expected that answer.

Kang-Woo picked his ear and answered, “Because I might get a one-way trip to the boat ending if I raise any more flags[ref[This is a School Days reference... I won’t explain it for the sake of the innocent souls who have not watched that garbage show.[/ref].”

“...?”

“For real, though, an ice block is crossing the line.”

Ice was not disgusting like tentacles were, but that did not make it okay either.

‘I know I’m getting a little ahead of myself, but...’

Every single crazy woman he had met became romantically interested in him.

‘I can’t handle any more of them.’

There was already one Chinese heroine who had become irrelevant to the story one day. Kang-Woo turned to Han Seol-Ah and grabbed her hands.

“Darling... you trust me, right? You’re the only one for me.”

“Pardon? Oh, yes.”

“So don’t think about cutting it off, okay?”

“Umm... I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Kang-Woo.”

“I see, okay. That’s great.” Kang-Woo nodded in satisfaction. “Si-Hun.”

“Yes, hyung-nim.”

“I’ll leave her to you,” he said as he gestured at Arianne with his chin.

His desire to escape the boat ending was part of it, but Kang-Woo had another reason why he had let Si-Hun be her opponent.

‘It’s pointless for me to fight her at this point.’

There was no better fertilizer for growth than battling against the powerful; it could not be substituted with training. Hence, if Kang-Woo were to fight him, he would be throwing aside the chance for his party members to grow stronger.

‘Especially Si-Hun.’

Considering his immense talent, such opportunities were hard to come by and therefore very important.

‘And...’

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes and stared at Arianne, who was looking this way dumbfoundedly.

‘She introduced herself as the princess of the Frostborn.’

In that case, there should also be a king of the Frostborn.

‘It’s best to hide my powers until he appears.’

It would be a pain in the ass if he were to run away.

“What?? You dare send an underling to face the great Arianne?” asked Arianne in disbelief. She stomped her feet and shouted, You’re so, sooooooooooooo funny! How dare you pieces of filth disrespect me?!”

“Oh, thank God. I’m in the clear,” Kang-Woo expressed.

She was excluded from the heroine candidates the moment she spouted that line.

‘Watch me bob and weave to dodge these boat ending flags.’

“Arrrggghhh!” Arianne yelled temperamentally and stomped her foot.

The hems of her ice dress fluttered and the Frost Sword, emitting chilling frost, aimed for Kang-Woo’s throat.

Clang—!!

Si-Hun blocked Arianne’s powerful swing and stood in front of Kang-Woo as if protecting him. Si-Hun’s hair slightly fluttered from the shockwave formed from the clashing of swords. He grimaced slightly due to the impact being more powerful than he expected.

‘Dear lord, you’re so fucking cool. For real, though. Aren’t you just way too handsome? Look at that sharp-ass jawline. It’s sharp enough to cut through my Deific Essence barrier. What are you doing, Si-Hun? You’re making my heart flutter.’

“Your opponent... is me.”

‘Kyaaaaaaahhh! Si-Hun oppa!!’

“Argh! Move! I have no interest in filth!”

Arianne swung the Frost Sword in irritation as if she wanted to fight Kang-Woo no matter what. Her swings looked random at a glance but every single swing perfectly targeted Si-Hun’s vitals as if she were a master martial artist.

Clang! Clang! Clang—!!

“Kurgh!” Si-Hun grimaced.

Her swordsmanship was highly refined despite her looking like she was running wild like a mad beast in a frilly dress.

“Oh...?”

Kang-Woo watched the battle between Si-Hun and Arianne with shining eyes.

‘She’s no joke.’

She was completely overwhelming Si-Hun purely in terms of swordsmanship. In all of Si-HJun’s battles, the only opponent whom Si-Hun had been inferior in terms of swordsmanship was Tai Wuji.

‘But she’s not being pushed back against Si-Hun at all.’

Rather, Arianne’s swordsmanship was overpowering Si-Hun.

Clang—!

Arianne and Si-Hun were pushed away from each other after a powerful sword clash.

“This is...” Si-Hun’s eyes filled with shock.

He seemed to have not expected his battle against an ice block wearing a dress to be such a challenging one. Si-Hun was not the only shocked one.

“What the hell are you?” Arianne also stared at Si-Hun, her blue eyes shaking in shock. “What’s happening? This can’t be.”

Arianne tilted her head in confusion and looked down at her sword. She couldn’t comprehend the fact that a human was able to combat her swordsmanship.

Si-Hun bit his lip and fixed his grip on his formless sword.

“Hehe. I thought you were just human filth, but I guess not!”

Arianne cheered as she jumped up and down in place.

Crack!

She ripped the hem of her frilly dress and exposed her smooth legs made of translucent ice.

“Hihi. Let’s continue!”

The Frost Sword shone brightly white. Arianne’s swordsmanship sped up and barraged Si-Hun like a raging storm.

“Haaa, haaa.”

Si-Hun calmly blocked her swordsmanship as he slowed his breathing. As their battle was taking place, the Frostborn soldiers surrounding Kang-Woo’s party shrank the encirclement.

“Suppress the intruders!”

“Stay in formation and march forward!”

The general who seemed to be the leader of the guards raised an ice sword and pointed it at Kang-Woo.

“You are surrounded and have nowhere to go! Surrender peacefully!”

The Frostborn general glared at Kang-Woo.

Kang-Woo shrugged and asked, “Why should we?”

“What else do you think the mere seven of you can do?”

The general chuckled and stared at Kang-Woo’s party. Although the warrior battling Arianne, who was known as the Sword Princess of the Frostborn, was no doubt powerful, the soldiers as well as the rest who were standing by in the rear were the elite soldiers of the Frostborn, numbering ten thousand. It was seven versus ten thousand; trying to figure out who would win was just simple math.

“We have an army,” the Frostborn general remarked threateningly.

“Is that so?” Kang-Woo cackled as his shoulders moved up and down. “We have a Balrog.”

Wham—!

A muscly demon wearing black full-body armor swung his fist, obliterating dozens of Frostborn soldiers in formation.

“Graaaaaaaaaahhh!!”

A ferocious Demon Roar shook the entire Frozen Temple.