From Beyond The Rift

Chapter 21: Battles of Bamboo

[Riece's POV]

Evasively sidestepping the ghastly swipe of a corpse, I promptly utilized [Freeze] to transform it and its innards into a solid block of ice, not the most creative name I know, but it is what it is. Following this, I delivered a calculated blow with my elbow, shattering its now brittle form and rendering it obsolete!

That's gotta be close to fifty by now, right? And it's only been like... what? Five minutes? Ten, tops! To make matters worse, she doesn't seem to be running out of corpses, and on top of that, I can't seem to find her! I don't think she managed to get too far, so she has to be in the area, just damn good at hiding!

I gave [Freeze] another go, and this time, with just a flick of my wrist, I froze seven of them at once. Nice! Getting the hang of it, but hey, [Freeze] isn't my only trick. I whipped out [Frost Shard] and aimed for their heads, hoping to nail their brains, but ended up blowing their heads clean off. Turns out, they're weaker than I figured. Noticed something interesting though—while they don't need hearts or lungs, their brains are still crucial. This is evident by how they fall apart when they lose their head, no pun intended.

There's still plenty more of them lingering around, but when I unleashed the wave of spikes from [Glacial Spikes], it had the same head-blowing effect as [Ice Shards], only this time, it also blew away the rest of their bodies into bone fragments, blood and things I'd rather not talk about.

Is she saving her best for last or something? It's incredible how just the force of a penetration attack is enough to obliterate them!

Questions for later.

Their numbers seemed to be multiplying relentlessly, so I launched a ball of frost energy into the air, letting it soar just above the trees. This wasn't for a spectacle; it was me preparing for [Hailstorm]. As soon as I activated it, the ball erupted, unleashing a torrent of hail directly from its core. I was hoping this might also take out the undead user, but my hopes were dashed. Despite around thirty of them being vanquished by the onslaught of ice blocks that are currently falling from the sky, more just kept coming!

Riece:
Y'know, this is getting painfully tedious! I mean like, explaining to Thaijou how babies are made tedious! You strutted around the village earlier, all grandiose, as if you were some venerable master testing the strength of your disciples. Yet here you are, scurrying about like a rat in a flea market! Seems all that bravado was just a facade, eh?

Seems like my taunt was a bit too obvious. Oh well...

Since this might be the only chance I'll ever get to do this and actually make it count, I might as well seize the moment! I'll make that hag rue the day she decided to start this mess!

As the corpses persisted in their valiant suicide charge, I clenched my hands together, concentrating more than half of my mana into the tight space between them, ensuring not a drop leaked out. It's a tricky technique, one neither my sister nor I typically employ – Dad's famous "Winter's Embrace" style is just too darn complicated. Ah well, I'm not expecting to replicate anything close to what he does anyway!

But yeah, it was a messy affair. Despite my efforts, there were small leaks every now and then, proven by the bright glow of the cyan mist seeping through the gaps between my fingers. Thanks to that, the ground below me was frosting over, as if nature itself was freezing in response. Even the bamboo nearby wore a layer of ice, a stark contrast to the lush greenery it once boasted.