Chapter 451: Evacuation
Stelle thumped a fist against her chest, the metallic clink of her jacket echoing in the quiet ruins. She shot a sideways glance at March 7th, who was leaning heavily against a nearby pillar, chest heaving. A sly grin crept onto Stelle's face. Time for a little reverse psychology.
"Oh, March, March," Stelle teased, clicking her tongue. "Look at you. It's just a little scuffle. What are you so afraid of? With Dan Heng and me holding the front line, even if the sky itself shatters and falls, we'll be the ones catching the pieces!"
She hoisted her Flame Lance higher onto her shoulder, the fiery tip leaving a faint trail of embers in the air. "You just stay safely tucked in the back. Wait for the perfect opening, exactly like you did back there, and hit him with a heavy blow! A couple of those, and wouldn't he be nothing more than a giant ice sculpture? We Trailblazers travel across the entire universe. When have we ever backed down from a brawl? Retreating simply isn't in our vocabulary!"
The speech was a chaotic blend of shameless boasting and genuine encouragement. Paired with Stelle's imposing posture—chin tilted up, the heavy, glowing lance resting casually on her shoulder—it had an immediate effect on their youngest companion.
"Wow! Little Gray, you are so cool!" Trianne gasped. Her small face tilted upward, practically glowing with absolute admiration, as if she were staring at a living legend.
"You are exactly like the heroes in the storybooks! The ones who never ever back down, no matter how scary the enemy is, and always charge right to the very front!" Trianne declared, her voice pitching up with excitement. "Trianne wants to fight right alongside Little Gray too!"
To prove her point, the little girl gripped her small ceremonial dagger with both hands and slashed it through the air with exaggerated vigor. She chopped at an invisible enemy, fully immersing herself in the fantasy of being a fearless vanguard.
Stelle puffed out her chest. Her vanity drank in the praise like a sponge, and the lingering, suffocating tension from their recent life-or-death encounter instantly evaporated.
She gave her shoulders a triumphant shake, causing the heavy metal of the Flame Lance to rattle against her back. "Now that is what I like to hear!" Stelle proclaimed, pointing a finger forward. "Let's move out! I will personally clear the path for you guys. I guarantee smooth sailing all the way back!"
Without waiting for a response, she spun on her heel and marched toward the massive hall gates they had initially breached. She deliberately lengthened her strides, making each footfall heavy and dramatic to maximize her imposing aura.
Trianne immediately fell into step right behind her. Hugging her small dagger tightly to her chest, the little girl puffed out her cheeks and tried her absolute best to mimic Stelle's swaggering, fearless gait. She stomped her little boots against the stone floor, fully embracing the role of a seasoned warrior marching off to war.
"Oh! Charge, charge, charge!" Trianne cheered, her tiny voice echoing through the ruins.
Dan Heng watched the two chaotic live wires march off, one towering and one tiny. He let out a slow, helpless sigh and shook his head, though the tight, anxious line of his mouth finally softened into something resembling relief.
He gestured toward Castorice and March 7th, silently signaling them to support the weakened Anaxa. Once the center formation was secure, Dan Heng smoothly dropped to the very back of the group, his piercing gaze sweeping the shadows as he assumed his usual duty of guarding the rear.
The makeshift party quickly fell into a solid formation. Stelle led the charge as their self-appointed vanguard, with Trianne practically stepping on her heels in excitement. Castorice and March 7th flanked Anaxa in the center, keeping a steady grip on her arms to ensure she didn't stumble, while Dan Heng anchored the formation from behind. Moving with practiced efficiency, they abandoned the dangerous, oppressive ruins of the Throne of Enlightenment and began the long trek back toward the city of Okhema.
Surprisingly, the return journey proved far more peaceful than their initial infiltration.
Whether it was due to the Black-Robed Figure's abrupt retreat, or simply a stroke of luck in choosing a safer route, the outskirts of the Garden of Enlightenment were eerily quiet. The suffocating presence of the black tide creatures had thinned out significantly. The few monsters that did wander into their path were sluggish, low-level aberrations, dragging their limbs with agonizing slowness and completely failing to notice the group's approach.
This lack of threat completely ruined Stelle's grand plans to show off her martial prowess. Every time a sporadic enemy shambled into view, Stelle would ready her lance, only for a streak of freezing energy to zip past her ear. March 7th, positioned safely in the center of the formation, had re-condensed her crystalline ice bow. With a few casual twangs of the bowstring, she sniped the creatures from afar, turning them into shattering ice sculptures before Stelle could even swing her weapon.
The high-intensity, life-or-death clash with the Black-Robed Figure's clone had clearly pushed March 7th past her limits. After successfully unleashing the devastating power of Ultimate Dance: Shattered Jade, her mastery over her ice manipulation had visibly evolved. Her draws were smoother, her aim sharper, and the freezing energy she commanded felt far more condensed and lethal.
Up at the front, Stelle dragged her boots against the dirt. Another black tide creature lumbered out from behind a ruined wall, opening its maw to roar. Before a single sound could escape its throat, an ice-blue arrow punched through its chest, pinning it to the masonry in a burst of frost.
Stelle lowered her Flame Lance, her fingers twitching with restless energy. She chewed on her lower lip, her head turning slightly as she prepared to throw a teasing jab at the archer. 'Kill stealer,'she wanted to say.'Save some for the rest of us.'
The words danced on the tip of her tongue, but she forced them back down.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Trianne. The little girl was still marching right beside her, gripping her dagger and staring up at Stelle with that same unwavering, starry-eyed admiration. Ruining that heroic image over a few stolen kills felt like a crime. Stelle clamped her mouth shut and swallowed her petty complaints.
Instead, she cleared her throat and gave a slow, highly exaggerated nod of approval. "Hmm. Good shot," Stelle muttered with feigned seriousness, playing the role of a stoic commander praising her subordinate's long-range support. She adjusted the heavy lance on her shoulder and continued marching with steady, measured steps, leading the group further away from the Garden of Enlightenment.
Only the slight, annoyed twitch at the corner of her mouth betrayed her deep regret at not being able to smash anything herself.
From his position at the rear, Dan Heng caught every single one of Stelle's subtle micro-expressions. A faint breath of amusement escaped his nose, though he quickly buried it, shifting his focus back to the surrounding shadows.
The brief pocket of safety created by the Black-Robed Figure's retreat was a blessing, but he refused to let his guard down. The journey home was far from over.
The foul corrosion of the black tide clung to the very air, seeping into the cracked stones and twisted roots around them. There was no telling what sort of nightmare might drag itself out of the darkness at any given moment. Their primary objective was clear: return to Okhema in one piece. They needed to deliver the critical intel regarding their clash with the mysterious enemy, secure the newly acquired Spark, and get Anaxa proper medical attention.
As they finally crossed the boundary line, leaving the suffocating, pitch-black domain of the Garden of Enlightenment behind, the atmosphere shifted. The environment ahead was still a dilapidated wasteland, scarred by deep, weeping traces of black tide corrosion, but the sheer weight of the air had vanished. That thick, suffocating malice that had pressed against their lungs was finally gone, replaced by the ordinary chill of the wilderness.
With the wandering monsters becoming increasingly scarce, the collective tension gripping the group began to unravel. Shoulders dropped, grips on weapons loosened, and their frantic, hurried pace slowed into a steady, manageable march.
The heavy silence hanging over the team finally broke. Castorice, walking on the right flank, chewed on her bottom lip. A flicker of hesitation crossed her features before she finally turned her gaze toward March 7th. The archer was currently rolling her shoulders and flexing her wrists, staring blankly ahead in a slight daze.
"Lady March," Castorice called out softly, her voice laced with pure curiosity. The sudden question drew the attention of the entire group. "Could you tell me how you all... managed to fight off that 'Flame Reaver' earlier? Of course, if it involves your personal combat secrets and is inconvenient to discuss, please pretend I never asked."
She paused, her eyes darting toward the injured woman they were supporting. "'Flame Reaver'is the title Anaxa just gave to that Black-Robed Figure. In the old tongue, it translates to'one who attempts to steal or usurp the Spark'."
"Flame Reaver..." Dan Heng repeated the title under his breath, the syllables rolling off his tongue like a curse.
He analyzed the name against the enemy's actions. The sudden, vicious ambush on Anaxa right in front of the Throne of Enlightenment, the overwhelming strength, the bizarre and twisted combat arts—it all aligned perfectly. The title wasn't just a dramatic moniker; it was a direct confirmation of the enemy's core objective. They were hunting the Spark of Amphoreus.
March 7th's boots scuffed to a brief halt. A complicated look of recollection washed over her face. Just thinking about the clash brought a phantom chill to her skin, the memory of that terrifying, freezing blade intent scraping against her nerves all over again.
"The actual battle process..." she murmured, her eyes distant as she tried to organize the chaotic, adrenaline-fueled blur into a coherent story.
Hearing the start of a story, Trianne immediately abandoned Stelle's side and trotted over to March 7th. The little girl slowed her pace to match the archer's, tilting her head back. Her eyes practically shone with anticipation, desperate to hear exactly what kind of epic, devastating battle the three Trailblazers had fought after being dragged into that terrifying void.
Taking a deep breath to steady her racing thoughts, March 7th finally spoke. Her tone held a slight tremor of lingering fear, heavily masked by the unmistakable pride of surviving an impossible situation.
"Well, to keep it short... that Black-Robed Figure—or, right, the 'Flame Reaver'—suddenly activated some kind of crazy spatial ability. I still have no idea how he did it, but he dragged the three of us straight into this incredibly strange, suffocating pocket dimension..."
She gestured wildly with her hands, mimicking the clash of weapons. "It was pure chaos! But in the end, thanks to Stelle and Dan Heng stepping up and parrying his heaviest attacks, I managed to find a tiny opening. I drew my bow and hit him with absolutely everything I had. Honestly, even I didn't expect the attack to work that well! The blast froze more than half of his entire body into a solid block of ice right on the spot!"
"And then..." March 7th dropped her hands to her sides, letting out a frustrated huff. "Then he used some other weird trick. He ripped open this massive, swirling black hole in the middle of the air and just dove into it, running away before we could finish him off." She offered a helpless shrug, flashing a bright, slightly tired smile. "And yeah, that is pretty much the whole story."
[Inorin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/InorinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/InorinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]