Chapter 988: Sage Annette
Four tentacles shot forward with blurring speed, crushing into the ground as Annette flew forward. A comet of fire propelled her beneath her feet. She moved like a streak of light, running from the tentacles that each looked like ancient trees. The ground shattered as they crushed it instead of her.
She circled back and plunged toward the sky, stopping for a moment. A ball of fire ignited as she opened her hands. It exploded outward with searing heat, making the air blow with hot wind. Everyone braced themselves and stepped back. In half a second, after the flames ignited, all of them were already sweating.
The tentacles tore out of the ground, scattering debris and sending large chunks spraying into the air like they were weightless. Some crashed into pillars. Some crashed into instructors who were too slow to react.
The whole ground of the academy was a mess. Holes decorated the earth in different patterns, as if gigantic moles had burrowed up from below. But it was all the result of Annette trying to defeat the creature.
She didn’t think it could be defeated. She had been fighting the creature for almost twenty minutes, and she could swear that every second of those twenty minutes had been her using her entire life and strength to protect herself from instant death.
If the creature hit her once, there was no escaping it. She was going to die. That was why she flew through the air with a speed she never thought she could reach.
She had claimed that she would hold the monster down, but in battle, she was barely holding onto her own life.
The tentacles drew back, writhing for a moment, as if they were waiting and watching. Then suddenly, they launched forward.
One went first, turning to a blur. Then two followed with crushing speed.
The flames in Annette suddenly compressed into a small dot of fire. The compression exploded a vast shockwave of hot wind that caused the loose concrete stones to lose their hold and crumble immediately.
She held it with one finger, her eyes blazing but calm. Then a shadow fell upon her face. As the tentacles flew toward her with deadly speed, she pointed the flames at them and spoke:
"Flames of Ruin."
The air went silent and dead for a moment. Then the world was swallowed by flames.
An enormous, all-consuming cone of fire exploded outward—so vast and hungry that it seemed to swallow even the sky as it ate through the ground, flying forward with great speed and devouring everything in its path.
Everything was blazed by the massive cone of flames and swallowed. The flames blasted toward the creature itself—standing like a dragon rooted from the depths of hell.
Its eyes did not blaze or shine with any light. They seemed dull and lightless, but primal and filled with a depth of something that made anyone who looked directly into those crimson voids feel uncomfortable and afraid.
The Evil Dragon opened its massive jaws, revealing endless rows of sharp, narrow fangs. Each fang could serve as a sword on its own, sitting together like conspirators in an evil conference deciding the world’s fate.
The creature opened its maws wide. Instead of flames consuming everything, it began to swallow them. The flames shot forward with greater force, destroying the ground and turning the sky’s clouds to vapor, only to be devoured by the Evil Dragon’s gaping jaws.
After devouring the flames, it belched. Smoke poured from its mouth and nose.
Annette stood frozen, dismay written across her face. She stared at the creature, her eyes wide and trembling.
The tentacles shook for a moment, then shot forward with lightning speed. They didn’t fly straight—they twisted and rolled like sea serpents swimming through water, moving with deadly grace.
Something else was different about them now.
Annette didn’t wait to find out what. They were coming for her fast. The fire beneath her feet blazed fiercer. She launched into the sky to escape the tentacles, but they followed, shooting upward in wavy patterns that didn’t slow their incredible speed.
Annette rolled as she reached the clouds. She stretched both hands out. Fire exploded from her palms, then condensed and shaped into two long swords.
The compression was so intense they glowed like flames from a volcano’s core—deep, molten red. Gloves of fire covered Annette’s hands as she gripped them. Flames danced around her body, tracing the delicate metal armor she had summoned when the fight began.
A cloak of fire erupted behind her back. A helmet of flames covered her head, leaving only her eyes, nose, and mouth visible like a sentinel’s mask. Fire blazed and flowed from the helm like burning cloth.
Even her boots were carved from flames.
High in the sky, Annette watched the tentacles reach for her.
Each one was enormous—too enormous. Tentacles weren’t supposed to be that large and thick.
She glared at them and clicked her tongue.
’This would be the perfect time for Northern to show up. I sure as hell can’t defeat a Leviathan alone. I can’t even scratch this damn thing!’
She surged forward in an explosion of flames, holding both flame swords ready. A split second before collision, she tilted her entire body sideways, dodging the tentacle’s cruel maw and gliding down its long, thick length.
Annette moved like a tide of fire and steel. She whirled around the mass of the first tentacle, slicing with her flame swords as she glided around one o at breakneck speed.
Her entire body writhed in flames that exploded with surging speed and force, propelling her beyond her usual limits. The whirling descent was swift—incredibly swift.
She hit the ground with bone-jarring force, concrete scattering like broken glass. But she didn’t rest. She was already moving, running at blistering speed.
She knew the truth. As spectacular as that attack looked, it hadn’t left a single scratch on the tentacle. Worse, three more had turned and were diving down. As she rolled forward, they crushed the ground in rapid succession.
She ran like her life depended on it—because it did.
The tentacles were terrifyingly fast, especially flying through the wind right beside her.
One lunged sideways to crush her, but Annette slammed her legs to a sudden stop. Using perfect momentum control, she leaped backward. The tentacle crushed empty air.
The second tentacle moved too, and they crashed into each other in that vacant space.
The third was behind her. Another was diving down from above. She couldn’t fly up, turn back or continue forward. The time it would take to turn and run, the third would catch her—even with her flames boosting her speed.
Worse, that sudden stop and momentum shift had strained Annette’s leg terribly. As she tried to move, she felt something snap, causing a slight delay in her movement.
That delay was enough to seal her death when fighting a Leviathan.
Annette’s eyes widened with fear and pain as the tentacles flew toward her with their relentless, blistering speed.
’I’m going to die...’
As the third tentacle was about to crush her head and the one above came within a meter of turning her to paste... everything froze.
Turned to ice.