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Chapter 220: [Side Story] Barren Lands of Winter Surgence (9)

Bareth's Plain, Pinewood ForestDeep Woods [ Day / Hazy ].

"Hah... Hah..." Rushing through the woods of the forest, a young man by the name of Sanke frantically glanced around the area. "Nicole! Are you here?!" With an uneasy expression and an out of breath voice, he shouted out with all his might.

During the fight with Lier and the wolf, Sanke took the opportunity upon himself to leave the dirt roads as he headed out to chase after Nicole and the child. He didn't know where they went, however, he knew that they'd be making their way deep into the forest.

"Ugh... They couldn't have gotten far," Sanke frowned as he continued down the forest. "But... Even then... If I don't know where they went... It's useless."

Stopping at his footsteps, he took a deep breath as attempted to see whether or not there were any signs of footprints on the grounds filled with snow. But, to his dismay, what subtle footprints seemed to have been tactfully covered up.

"...argh. C'mon. Give me a sign. Anywhere... I just need..." his expression grew heavy. "...anything that can lead me to them... Huh?" as his voice slowly turned into that of surprise, Sanke's head suddenly turned towards the direction of heavy winds progressively gaining strength by the south. "...the same thing as the one back last night? This is..." As if he knew where Nicole was now, Sanke began rushing towards the southern area of the forest.

"Grr..." Just as he was about to move out towards the south, twilight wolves and multiple ice elementals appeared before him from that direction.

"Damnit... Monsters? At this time?" Sanke frowned. "Ugh... I'll need all the energy I have for that brat..."

Ting...

Without waiting for Sanke, the ice elementals moved forward as they sent down a storm of hail towards Sanke. Following that, the wolves all pounced towards him.

"Argh... Whatever! I'll just end this" Just as he was protruding out his hand forward in order to cast out a spell, a figure of a slim woman, with long hair and a cold aura to her appeared before the man.

"My... This place sure is crowded with plenty of monsters, huh?" Speaking out in a soft but gentle voice, the woman silently snapped her fingers as the monsters were all placed into unconsciousness. "...hmm, still weak as ever even if the population multiplied."

"...what?" Sanke blinked in confusion. "You are...?"

"Oh me?" The woman averted her gaze away from the mobs as she turned to face Sanke. In the young man's eyes, he saw the sight of a veil, seemingly to be that of a nun covering her head. Though, it wasn't only thatthe nun's veil also had a blusher that covered her entire face. "Hmm... Don't you have other important things to do?"

...

Bareth's Plain, Pinewood Forest??? [ Day / Snowstorm ].

"Let go!" A child's voice screamed at the top of her lungs as following that, small bits of ice protruded out from the ground, forcing the one who had tightly held onto the silver-haired child's hand to jump backwards. "I don't want to go back! No more! No more!"

"Ugh... Annoying," the child grumbled. "Do you think you have a choice? Stop whining and come back! Do you want the stupid dog to come and punish you? You best be a good girl to mummy before her wrath goes to your 'saviours'."

"No, I don't want that!" Nicole shouted out as the atmosphere began to grow colder. In the next moment, pillars of frost began to protrude out from the ground and strong winds began to surround the child. "If... If it means to escape from you and everyone else, I'll... I'll fight! Even if you..."

"Grr... Such a nuisance," the child glared at the sobbing Nicole. "Do you think I care whether you fight or not? We've done a test of strength countless times and..." with a silent smirk, the cold winds suddenly slowed down as suddenlythe child appeared before Nicole. "...I always win in the end."

"...ack!" With a sudden force of magic power protruding from the side of the child, Nicole's body was thrown down to the snow as if she was flightless weight. "No... I need... To properly use my powers this time..."

"Hmph... Using your powers properly?" The kid smiled innocently as he walked up towards Nicole who was struggling to get up from the ground. "Useless. Don't bother fighting. You'll never be able to beat me even when you try to properly use your powers. So, stop being annoying already!"

"Mm... I won't!" Nicole cried out as a blue aura shone within her eyes. At that moment, cold winds blew past her body and over towards the child.

"Grr... Useless!" The child angrily stated. "Just... Stop... With this annoying charade!!" Out of patience, the child ran towards Nicole. However, as he stepped forward, a pillar of ice protruded out of the ground.

"Don't come near!" Nicole shouted out. "You'll... You'll... Regret it!"

"..." with a frown, the child's fist clenched as he prepared to punch the icy pillar that was blocking his way. But, as he was about to throw a punch at ita magic ball narrowly shot out towards him from the side. "...?!" Noting the attack, the child leapt backwards. "Argh! Who is it now?!"

"Hah... Hah..." Sanke muttered out as if he was out of breath. "I... Made it in time..."

"P-Papa... Help!" Nicole shouted out.

"You... How did you find us?!" the child clicked his tongue. "Grr... Annoying... Annoying... Why!?" he cried out as his chromatic eyes shone. "Ugh. Just die or don't interfere!"

With the atmosphere around him seemingly slowing once again, the child soon appeared in front of Sanke in the next instantwith a black aura around the kid's arm, he threw it over towards the young man.

"...!" Belatedly noticing the assault, Sanke dodged the attack by saying to the side. "Again...  That child's power... Is it the ability to control time? No... If it was, I wouldn't have felt the way I did earlier," muttering out to himself, Sanke prepared to initiate a skill against the kid, but, just as he did so, spears that were seemingly covered in a tint of black swiftly pierced through his limbs. "...?!"

"Hehehe... What got you so shocked?" The child amusingly chuckled. "Shouldn't have been in such a deep thought," snapping his fingers as more black spears appeared around the young man, the kid raised his hand. "Should've run when you got the chance. Now just die"

"Frozen within the moonscape," as the kid was about to move his hand down in command, a blue flash shot forward towards the child. "Dance within the hail!"

[ Lier's Sword Technique - Flash of Hollow ]

"...?!" With eyes opened wide at the sudden blue light, the kid quickly retracted his black spears as he jumped back. However, as he did so, the child was greeted by a gale of wind that had shot forward from the other side. "...a pincer attack?!"

Surprised by the two attacks, he gritted his teeth as he took one of the blows.

"More nuisances..." coughing out in a berated voice, he glared towards the side, where the abilities were shot forthnoting that Lier and Renryth were standing by. "...grr stupid wolf, can't even get two idiots out of the way."

"M-Mama...!" Nicole who had been forming up a defence out of ice cried out as she saw the sight of Lier through the gaps of pillars. Moments after, with a struggle to step forward, she lowered down one of the tall pillars and soon rushed over towards the woman. "Mama!!"

"Wow, this stupid kid..." The child furrowed his brow. "I'll end this now. I don't want to waste time anymore before" Upon nearly ending his sentence, the temperature of the area began dropping. "Ack... No... Mummy... She's... She's..."

"Hmm... A struggle, huh?" With a figure of a woman suddenly appearing in the middle of the battlefield, the cold winds around the area grew much stronger. Not only that, the temperature continued to drop rapidly. "My... All because my little child decided to play a game of tag."

"Mama...!" Nicole's body leapt towards Lier's as the two hugged. But, the meeting was cut short by the growing hail storm around them.

"Good... You're safe," Lier nodded her head as she then averted her eyes over to the mysterious figure, similar to that of a slim woman in the middle of the area. "We should hurry out before..."

"...hmm, it seems that this child prefers the knight over me, huh?" The woman chuckled as she steadily made her way over to Lier. "My... Could she have been mistaken?"

"What?" Sanke's eyes suddenly opened wide in shock at the sight of the woman. "You're..."

"M-Mom... W-Why are you here?" The boy's body froze in place.

"Hush, my child. Let mummy handle it," with every step made forward, glacial ice protruded out of the ground from around her. "Now... Nicole~ Would you care to explain?"

"N-No... Go away... Go away..." Nicole muttered out with a shaky voice.

"...Nicole?" Tightly gripping onto the child with one hand, Lier's sword pointed at the woman in the other, "Hey... Stay away from her."

"Hmph, preventing me from going to my own child? How rude," with a snap of a finger, the winds around the area began crowding. A blizzard was coming. "Let go, or everyone here gets hurt."

"U-Ugh... You..." Lier gritted her teeth as she glared at the woman. "No! She's staying with me."

"A-Ack... This wind..." Renryth muttered out as his voice felt distant away from Lier. "A blizzard... We have to hurry...!"

"Staying with you?" the woman tilted her head. "Hmm... I would've considered it, but you're too weak to care for her. Either way," finally reaching towards Lier, the woman gently smiled at her. "But, I thank you for caring for this child. Perhaps someday..."

"...ugh..." As if feeling an immense pain within her, the grip around Nicole loosened. "W-What the?"

"No... Mama! Mama!" Nicole cried out.

"Unfortunate. But, allow me to provide you with a gift for your troubles," touching the forehead of Lier, "The gift of the snow witch."

"...w-what...?" Powerless against the witch before her. Her presence itself was that Lier could've never triad against the woman before her. If she were to fight against her, Lier would die. "This is..."

"Have fun, dear," disappearing into the distance along with the cries of a child, Lier who helplessly sat by in the middle of the ongoing storm reached out towards the back of the witch.

"Argh... No...!" desperately attempting to stand up from the grounds, Lier limped her way through the snowy fields as she tried to catch up with the woman. However, it seemed that the blizzards were strong. It wasn't possible for her to catch up to the witch. "Hah... Hah..."

"Please..." muttering out with a tired breath, her vision shook. "Survive..." The young woman's movement slowly stopped as everything around her blacked out.

...

Bareth's Plain, Pinewood ForestDirt Paths [ Day / Clear ].

"Hah... Hah..." With a deep breath as two men rushed out of the forest, the two safely reached towards a zone in which was untouched by the blizzard. "...hah. We've got out of it safely."

"Right... But where's Lier?" In a hurry, Sanke had rushed out of the forest in hopes that Lier was following behind them. However, she was nowhere to be seen. Realizing the fact, his fists clenched tightly. "...ugh. I should've made sure she was with us..."

"The blizzard was strong. There was no way we can see our surroundings," Renryth shook his head helplessly. "We can only hope she'd come back safely..."

"For such a thing to happen..." he sighed. "...that woman, who was she?" Closing his eyes in thought, he was reminded of the woman he saw within the forest. "...her?"

"I've no idea," he shook his head. "But... She's dangerous. If we had to fight her... We'll die."

"That kid too... And the wolf," Sanke muttered out. "Just who are they?"

"..." Renryth shook his head without another word.

"Damn it..." Sanke gritted his teeth. "Nicole... We couldn't save her," his fists continued to clench tightly as his eyes turned towards the road ahead of them. "The only thing now we can do is..." Upon gazing at the horizon, Sanke's eyes opened wide in shock as he saw the body of a woman lying on the grounds of the dirt roads. "L-Lier?!"