Chapter 487 159 - Perserios territory - part 4 - Countering the plan that was thirty years in the making (part 19)
"GET AWAY FROM THAT!"
*WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH*
The air emperor roared, but she was too late, the white-as-snow hand opened into a palm and an eruption of snow turned the murky-black sentinel into an unresponsive snowball.
"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!"
The vibrant-green serpent fully spread open her jaw, intending to deal with the colorless opponent for good, but...
*crack*
"...eh...?"
As she was lounging forward the finally felt how heavy her body was, and when she glanced back she realized that more than three-quarters of her body length was fully covered with snow.
"...when...?"
The air emperor managed to mutter before the same snow stream that dealt with the sentinel had swallowed and turned her into a sculpture.
*crack*
Only after everything became silent, did Metavicera Hontreu push herself out, gently placing the unconscious Burushi on the hardened snow beside her before climbing her way out on her own.
"Good thing they didn't ask me to kill everyone, miss healer had enough trouble because of me already."
The colorless girl glanced over at the blond girl and nodded faintly, not at all okay with what happened.
When it comes to being hexed and being forced into obedience with curses was that the hexed person often isn't even fully aware that there is something wrong with them. Such realization comes only after the hex is broken or removed.
But it was a different matter with curses – the victim was always fully aware that they were doing something, especially an activity they would normally never do, but they would be unable to do anything about it regardless.
Control curses allowed for completely overwriting the target's free will and because of the complexity of that, they were taking a lot more time and preparation to cast- depending on the target.
Metavicero shook off her clothes, unleashing a sparkling cloud of snow particles that shone even in the cloudy sky.
"Roiso, Mirienne, don't play around, get out already. I know that you can melt through it with your passive ability."
The colorless girl checked with her hand whether Burushi was breathing or not and then nodded to herself before calling out over the snow-covered landscape.
"..."
But there was no answer, making her tilt her head in confusion,
"Ah, wait, there are at least thirty or forty feet of snow here..."
Metavicero realized and muttered to herself.
"Never mind getting here fast. Take your time and watch where you are going."
She ended up changing her instructions as the magical snow adjusted itself to transfer her voice thorough the entire buried area – even though the same could not happen the other way around, so the colorless girl could not be sure that her friend wasn't knocked out in an unfortunate circumstance.
"I will talk to you so you would not get lonely – or start freaking out and melt everything around you without reason, okay?"
After a moment of silence, Metavicero furrowed her brows and looked down, even though she wasn't sure where the acid magician could be.
"I messed up a bit, you know? I should have asked Gerizen to come too instead of having him throw me at the right place and pick us up a bit later. With him here we would be able to get you out right away. I was afraid that since the mana stones feeding the curses controlling you all broke apart, then you would be dead, so I was gearing up for the hard fight to avenge you, but it thankfully turned out to not be the case... Although considering that even you decided to take a careful approach with the fight, I should not underestimate the nobles here... I bet that because of that at least some of them survived and I will not be scolded. Honestly, I bet the next curse they put on me would be to not be able to talk about the curses at all... right after completely taking away my free will."
Metavicero stretched o much that she almost bent down backward completely, which revealed a rather voluptuous figure that even Ehmi could have trouble competing against.
"...wait... by any chance did that guy drain your mana or figured a way to freeze it so your passive acid shield was off and I am talking to you like it's nothing while you are suffocating...?!"
The colorless girl suddenly twitched and straightened her back with a horrified expression as she realized another reason for the acid magician taking so long to get away from her snow – which was never the case before.
"This is bad...! This is so not good...! If you didn't have your acid shield active then my snow must have completely cut you out of your mana and...!"
*crack*
Metavicero began walking back and forth in panicked strides, about to start biting her nails from nervousness, but just then the surface of the snow right by her right foot bulged up and a hand pushed through it.
"Ah. There you are! Seriously, do not make me worry so mu... wait... why are you pushing through and not melting it all awa..."
The colorless girl pressed her hands to her chest and breathed out in relief – but then she frowned in confusion...
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH?!"
Before screaming out in a loud voice when a hand that came out of the snow grabbed her ankle and pulled her leg in, knee-deep.
"Get of me you...!"
*crunch*
"GHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHH...!"
Metavicero growled angrily, trying to pull her leg back up, but then she felt it being twisted and the sound of her ankle breaking was loud enough to even pass through the layer of snow – similarly, the girl's scream of pain carried far within the mountains, not causing an avalanche only by some miracle.
"LET GO! LET GO! LET ME GOOOOOO!"
The colorless girl fell face-first into the snow and cried out as streams of tears were gushing down her face.
*crunch*
"AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHGGHHGHGFGFGFGHGHGHHHH...!"
But what she got instead was the crack of her knee as whoever was holding onto her leg broke it too, and with such a morbid sense of humor that the girl's already messed up foot ended up sticking back up on the surface.
"YOU FUCKER...! WHOEVER YOU ARE I WILL KILL YOU! YOU HEAR ME?! I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU!"
Metavicero roared through the tears and unleashed one of her spells – this one didn't cause a snowstorm, it worked a bit different – all the coldness was focused on the point of contact between her and the attacker, as it was meant to turn them into an icicle.
*crack*
But as if the magic had absolutely no effect on the person hidden within the snow, Metavicero was pulled deeper into the snow and now her hip was almost twisted clean off, with only the skin and some of the stretched-out muscles connecting it to the rest of the body.
"HGJKHGIYUHLKHBJVJKHJVUGKJLHGMHJGKHBJVGHJ??!?!??!!!?"
Forget about crying or screaming in pain, what came out of the colorless girl's throat was an uneligible screaming and foam as her eyes rolled into her skull and she lost consciousness unable to handle the pain.
"..."
For a good minute that was it. Metavicero was laying on the snow, flashing the whites of her eyes as the blood from her destroyed leg was slowly dyeing it crimson.
Then, something tugged on her body, and since there was no effect, even with the amount of pressure put onto the almost loose limb, something pushed on it from below, sending it tumbling onto the side.
"Hmph."
A few seconds later, a black-haired boy with shining eyes and a terrifying expression emerged from the snowy grave and scoffed – not even in anger, but rather in annoyance.
He smacked his clothes a few times to get rid of the snow stuck to them and approached the colorless girl.
*THUMP*
Without a moment of hesitation, he stomped at the back of her head and forced it as deep within the snow as her neck allowed for.
Without moving away or removing his foot, he straightened his back and looked at his hands, furrowing his brows.
He slowly closed his fists and then opened them.
"...I cannot feel my mana at all, but then why does my body feel so strong...?"
He wondered to himself.
*kshhhhhh*
As he did, the snow was melted away by the acid magic, and a neon-pink-eyed girl wearing a well-fitted hazmat suit emerged from the snow, leading Miriette, Xeonith, two corpse puppets sentinels, and the chief of the Far-South Tusk Tribe.
"Puhuah...! That took a while! I'll try to go back and find more people, but don't hold your breath – my attribute isn't suited for rescue missions, only cleanup ones."
The acid magician gasped for air in an exaggerated motion, considering that she was wearing a gas mask and didn't even need to breathe in the first place before she nodded at the people she saved and moved back down without even looking at Zoemi's side.
"I'll be counting on you, Mirienne."
"I will not fail you, lady Miriette!!"
The dark-haired girl nodded her head benevolently, and the acid magician trembled from happiness over being relied on.
"Miri, is everything okay? Little ones and Xeonith – how about you? Did the acid shield around Mirienne and Roiso hurt you? Miss Eltrena?"
Since the acid magician literally dived right back, Zoemi motioned his head at the dark-haired girl, the corpse puppets, and the woman with a geometric tattoo.
"We are fine master."
"Yes, we don't know how she did it, but the acid magician made only the snow melt, it was tingly."
"It's how they said."
The two corpse puppet sentinels answered in a lot mellower way than usual, and the brown-haired corpse puppet waved his hand at them and nodded in confirmation.
"Miri?"
Zoemi asked in a worried voice looking at the girl he cared about the most.
"Fine. I'm fine. Don't worry."
Miriette looked at him and smiled faintly, pale as a ghost, and hurriedly combed her hair with her fingers, hoping to hide a few platinum strands that lost their hue.