Book 3: Chapter 58 (1/2)
Alice’s aura tail stiffened as mana surged out of the gem on Tafel’s staff, radiating outwards like an explosion. The ice-cold mana washed over the room, coating everything it touched with a layer of frost. Alice shivered and shook herself off, shattering the crystals forming on her skin. “You said it’d be only a little chilly!”
“You shook it off, didn’t you?” Tafel asked in reply. “And it’s not done yet.”
Icicles blossomed like flowers from every surface with frost on it. They grew in size until they were as large as an infant before exploding into clouds of snow and hail. Wind picked up from underneath, whirling around and around, turning the room into a snow-filled landscape. The bloody people’s movements were stiff as they struggled to wipe off the snow accumulating on their partially frozen bodies. Alice had retreated towards Vur, taking shelter underneath Sheryl, who was canceling out some of the effects of Tafel’s spell.
A moment later, another wave of ice-cold mana radiated out of Chi’Rururp, slowing the bloody people’s movements even further. The snow and hail in the room became thicker and thicker until it was impossible to see anything other than white. Tafel picked up Chi’Rururp and stuffed it inside of a portal along with her staff. The two blizzard spells ended and the snow and hail died down, revealing four frozen red statues sticking out amongst a snowy field.
“I hope you didn’t damage any of the books,” Mr. Skelly mumbled as he dug himself out of a pile of snow. He shook himself off and took off his helmet, leaning forward and patting the back of his skull with his hand to knock snow out of his eye sockets. Once his vision cleared up, he tapped the frozen buckler-wielding man. “It seems like he couldn’t null this spell, eh?”
“I figured if Vur could freeze those children, then I could freeze these adults,” Tafel said with a nod. “I think I’m starting to understand how null-magic works and how to counter it. The icicle I shot at it before was created through mana, so all he had to do was disrupt the flow of mana within to destroy it. But blizzard creates lots of ice and snow to drop the temperature. The only way to cancel out blizzard would be to destroy each individual snowflake to prevent the temperature drop. At least, that’s my theory.”
“Speaking of temperature drops,” Alice said and clutched her shoulders while shivering. “Am I the only one who’s cold!?”
Vur shrugged. “I feel fine.” Despite standing in the middle of the blizzard without moving, there wasn’t a single speck of snow on his skin, in his hair, or covering his pants. “The snow melted before it could touch me thanks to Sheryl.”
“You’re welcome, Vur,” Sheryl said, the red orb of light hovering around him flashing twice.
“I’m undead,” Mr. Skelly said. “Cold and heat are foreign concepts to me. After being dead for so long, I forgot what they felt like.”
Alice turned towards Tafel. The demon shrugged. “Phoenixes don’t get cold, sorry.”
“Well, Ms. Phoenix,” Alice said, narrowing her eyes at her companion, “you can be the one to dig out all those books with your non-cold hands.”
Tafel snorted. “Excuse me, I’m married. It’s Mrs. Phoenix.” She walked over to the bookshelf and gestured towards Vur. “Hey, can you move these bodies into the other room with the children?”
Vur scratched his nose. “So now I’m needed, huh?”
Mr. Skelly whispered to Vur, “She phrased it like a question, but it’s actually an order.”
Tafel glared at Mr. Skelly. Then she smiled at Vur. “Please?”