Chapter 165 (2/2)

The weapon of ice met the weapon of obsidian, and both screamed their displeasure as the materials clashed. Luckily, this didn’t last very long, as Randidly was thrown backwards, smashed away by the weight and force.

Such was the power of the blow that the wind was knocked out of Randidly, and he struggled to find his breath as he slid over the iced ground of the tower towards… well, what he thought was the edge. The wind was still so thick with snow it was hard to be sure. Luckily, Randidly crashed into a group of mini yetis, who were knocked aside like bowling pins.

Randidly stood and rubbed his head. The power had definitely gone up, probably by a factor of 5x. But there didn’t really seem to be any strange effects from the golden Engraving, unless power was the effect…?

Rolling to the side, Randidly lost his train of thought as the Yeti appeared behind him and smashed downward with a ice hammer. After gaining his feet once more, Randidly watched as the Yeti faded back into the blurry snow.

“This is my realm. Here, you cannot win. And I will slowly strip from you your stolen gifts.”

Randidly twisted and slashed with his spear, using Haste, Empower, Mana Strengthening, and the Active of the Golden Roots of Yggdrasil. Still, the clash sent Randidly stumbling, which was profoundly annoying. Randidly much preferred when he possessed the superior strength in the fight.

But, that wasn’t how he had spent the last two years training.

As the Yeti came to follow up with another attack with his other hammer, Randidly used Spear Phantom’s Footwork and moved a meter to the left, his spear Sweeping towards the Yeti’s leg. It was annoying, but the strange creature had more than enough time to see it, based upon Randidly’s slow movements. The cold and ice were very restrictive.

Suddenly he regretted spending so much time on the Carnage path that netted him so little. He probably would have put some PP into the Initiate of Ash Path. Maybe there was an ability there that would help resist all this fucking frostbite.

As it was, the Yeti dropped both his hammers, which crashed to the ground, and knocked the Sweep upwards with one hand, while striking Randidly’s chest with the other. Again, as he struck, the Yeti’s hands glowed with that golden engraving. So it wasn’t a thing on his weapon, but a larger engraving on his person…?

Again, the attack was strong, and Randidly stumbled backwards, his bones definitely fractured, but he had experienced much worse in his time with Shal in even the lightest spars. But the Yeti seemed very pleased.

“Perhaps you finally see it. Each of my strikes… severs one life you devoured to become a Heretic. Do you feel your hope slipping away? I will grind-”

Randidly lashed outward, almost fully recovered through the Yeti’s strange monologue, his balance regained. Unfortunately, although it penetrated deeply through the ice armor and scratched the Yeti, the wound was a shallow one, and this action seemed to incense it further.

The Yeti bellowed and charged towards him, unleashing a flurry of blows.

Randidly’s eyes narrowed. He had grown up a lot since his last fight with the Judgement. He also didn’t really expect to be able to compete with it in strength, but some stubborn part of him wanted to try. However, now that that bit of stupidity was out of the way, and the Yeti was talking about a weird effect of its attacks, Randidly didn’t plan on taking many more.

He was trained to be a successor to the Spear Phantom. So it was time that he began acting like one. His steps quickened, and more and more he shifted slightly to the side, effortlessly leaning out of the way of attacks. Ghastly Slash was his quickest attack, and he used that time and time again to harass and wear down the ice armor.

But this didn’t even seem to matter to the Yeti. After all, all of the wounds were only small surface cuts, and his ice armor reformed very quickly in this swirling snow storm. They were at a strange impasse, albeit one where Randidly was slowly being pushed back.

And that slowly was becoming increasingly quick as the coldness seeped into his bones. His fingers were tired and numb, and the Yeti’s implacable gaze remained locked on him.