Chapter 134: Fear Made Flesh
After wrapping things up in Savannah,
it was well past noon by the time Walfred set out on his journey to Key West.
There was only one reason.
He hadn’t slept while exterminating the Soul Eater, and his condition was in rough shape. So after taking a short rest and finishing every last preparation,
Flash!
Elsa returned to her original form.
Walfred climbed onto Elsa’s back with practiced ease, and soon the flight began in earnest. Then, just as they left the mainland behind and passed out over the sea,
Ding!
[Divine protection activation conditions met.]
[Divine Protection: Blessing of the Frozen Sea]
A notification appearing out of nowhere.
Walfred tilted his head.
’What? The Blessing of the Frozen Sea is supposed to...’
Didn’t it say the blessing only activates while on a frozen sea? But right now he was on Elsa’s back, so why?
As he puzzled over it,
something suddenly flashed through his mind.
’Wait.’
Could it be that he didn’t have to physically stand on the frozen sea? That the blessing activated as long as he was, quite literally, above the sea’s domain?
Walfred’s eyes went round.
’If that’s the case...’
The condition isn’t as strict as I thought.
It meant that if he fought over the sea while riding on Elsa’s back, he could battle while soaking up the full effects of the Blessing of the Frozen Sea.
Of course, he had no intention of dragging Elsa into danger, so the odds of that happening were slim.
Walfred let out a small chuckle.
Whoosh! Whoooosh!
Meanwhile, the blizzard battered his face.
Maybe it was just his imagination, but the wind felt stronger than it had when flying over the mainland.
Bracing himself against the wind,
Walfred pulled a map out of his backpack.
He wanted to know the distance from Savannah, which they’d just departed, to their destination of Key West.
’About 105 miles in a straight line.’
Considering their current flight speed and the maximum distance Elsa could fly in a day, he estimated they’d arrive comfortably within the day.
After folding the map back up,
Walfred pulled up the list of skills he’d acquired so far. Before they departed, notifications had appeared saying that several of his skill levels had risen.
And.
’They all went up by one level across the board.’
He confirmed that the skill level of every skill had risen, except for his unique skill [Frost Feast] and his passives [Cold Resistance] and [Cold Emission].
Among them, one stood out in particular.
’Rapid Freeze.’
The skill he’d acquired in Philadelphia.
A skill that instantly froze whatever his hands touched, and one he’d used quite often in recent battles.
Maybe that was why?
Unlike [Ice Spear], which he’d acquired at the same time, [Rapid Freeze] had climbed all the way to Level 3.
’Nothing else has changed much.’
Elsa, on the other hand, was a different story.
Compared to when they’d first arrived in Savannah, Elsa had gone through some fairly major changes. The most notable of all was her physical growth.
Elsa was now about one and a half times larger than she’d been right after finishing her first growth phase.
According to Elsa, it was thanks to consuming a huge amount of the snow of pure mana.
’And...’
She’d also acquired two brand-new skills.
Just as he was about to view one of them,
Elsa’s voice suddenly reached him.
[Dad.]
Not a voice lingering in his ears, but one that seemed to echo inside his head. Elsa was speaking to him without moving her mouth at all.
[How much farther do we have to go?]
A sensation humming through his mind.
This was one of the two new skills Elsa had acquired. Receiving her question, Walfred closed his eyes and formed his thoughts.
[We have to keep going until a big island comes into view.]
[Mmm, so we’re still a long way off?]
[Pretty much.]
[Got it!]
A conversation exchanged without a single spoken word.
An ability that made conversation possible purely through thought. Walfred pulled up the details of the first skill Elsa had acquired.
-----
[Trait: Telepathy]
[Enables telepathy between resonators.]
[As long as both are in the same dimensional plane, it remains active at all times regardless of distance or time zone. It stays valid even if one of the two is inside a phase-separated space (a gate).]
▷Activate / Deactivate
▶Mana cost: 100 per second
-----
’This is more useful than I expected.’
At first, hearing that telepathy only worked with Elsa, he’d thought it wasn’t much to write home about.
But in moments like now, when the roar of the wind made it hard to hear each other’s voices, telepathy allowed for stable conversation.
He also liked that they could send telepathic messages to each other anytime, regardless of distance.
’Not that I ever plan on being separated from Elsa...’
Still, you never know what the future holds.
Knowing they could always reach each other no matter how far apart they were brought him a considerable sense of security.
After finishing his review of [Telepathy],
he moved on to the second skill.
-----
[Authority: Dragon Fear]
[An Authority unique to pureblood Dragonkin.]
[Projects an overwhelming presence onto a single creature, or all creatures within an area, branding them with a primal fear effect.]
[Targets branded with the fear effect receive debuffs for the duration, including reduced physical abilities, reduced resistance/tolerance, and a slowing effect.]
▷Physical ability reduction: -50%
▷Resistance/tolerance reduction: -50%
▷Slow: -50%
▷Duration: 300 seconds
▶Mana cost: Proportional to the target’s caliber
-----
’Reduced physical abilities and all resistances.’
Plus a slowing effect on top of that.
A powerful debuff skill that kept enemies cowed for the duration. No, strictly speaking it wasn’t a skill, but an Authority unique to the Dragonkin.
And there was one more thing.
A skill that had improved beyond its previous form.
None other than [Blessing of the Frost Dragon].
-----
[Divine Protection: Blessing of the Frost Dragon]
[A growing Frost Dragon blesses you.]
[When the being who granted the blessing is within a 3-mile radius, [Blessing of the Frost Dragon] activates.]
[If the blessing activates within the Nest of the Frost Dragon, all blessing effects increase (threefold).]
▷Cold/frost resistance: +50%
▷Dragonkin skill tolerance: +40%
▷Physical enhancement: +800%
▷Special skill: [Ice Shatter]
▷Special skill: [Absolute Zero]
▶(Locked)
▶(Locked)
[Special Ability: You can automatically understand the languages of all Dragonkin, including young dragons.]
-----
The first thing that had changed was the wording.
The blessing was now granted not by a young Frost Dragon, but by a growing one. The blessing’s effects had likely improved as she went through her first growth phase.
And above all,
’The blessing’s effective range has expanded dramatically.’
From 1,600 feet to 3 miles.
Honestly, this was the biggest change of all.
It meant he’d no longer need to bring Elsa along onto dangerous battlefields.
On top of that, the various resistances and physical enhancements had also improved considerably. Walfred looked over the results of Elsa’s growth with quiet satisfaction.
Just then.
Happening to glance down below, Walfred narrowed his eyes. Even at a glance, the terrain of the frozen sea looked anything but forgiving.
’...That’s some seriously rough ground.’
Perhaps because the waves had frozen mid-crash, the surface wasn’t just uneven; jagged hills of ice stretched endlessly in every direction.
If he’d traveled on foot, it would have taken far longer than moving over the mainland ever had.
’Thank goodness I have Elsa.’
Letting out a sigh of relief,
Walfred stroked Elsa’s head.
[Dad? What’s up?]
[Nothing. I’m just grateful.]
Thanks to Elsa, he didn’t have to cross that brutal terrain on foot. After his brief exchange with Elsa, Walfred leaned back.
And then.
’Now what do I do?’
Boredom set in almost instantly.