When the first rays of sunlight hit the snowy hill, all the people woke up and started to bundle up and pack their camps. Felt brought a cup filled with warm tea to Lex, who had been standing guard for the whole night.

  “How was the night?” Lex asked while taking the cup.

  “Pretty good,” Felt said while taking a sip from his own cup. “With you standing guard, nobody was worried at all. But are you okay?”

  “No worries. I don’t need sleep for several days. Just sitting and absorbing some elementals is enough,” Lex nonchalantly replied.

  Then, moving his gaze towards the people who had nearly tied everything up, Lex commented, “It’s already been more than a day since we entered the mountains. We may soon encounter hostile forces. Tell others to be on guard. Remember, no matter what happens to me, reaching the safe house is the priority.”

  Felt just smiled at these words. If even a Rank One Demigod was not safe, then how could the Paragons and Awakeners survive?

  Soon, everything was packed and stored in storage relics. The march continued with Felt leading from the front and Lex trailing from behind, erasing their traces. Even though the bright rays of the sun were shining on the snow, far from melting, it showed no reaction to them, showcasing its extraordinary nature.

  After traversing some distance, a snow bear came across them. At first, it was going to charge at the entourage, but as its eyes fell on the coat worn by several of them, it turned tail and ran. It had easily recognized the fate of the previous trespasser of its kind.

  Looking at the sequence of events, Lex unconsciously let out a small breath. Letting the Paragons fight would leave traces, and his taking action would trigger the pain in his chest.

  Seeing the snow bear run, the Awakeners and Paragons also lowered their guards and continued the march. Just when the sun was above them, and they were about to take a small break, the space in front of them tore open, and two orange-haired youths stepped out of the void.

  At that moment, large ice walls rose from the ground and surrounded all the Paragons and Awakeners. The ice elementals in the snowy plains started to vibrate and move toward Lex, who had appeared on top of the ice walls. Not wasting any time, both youths launched their Ascension Spells. Their power was unrestrained, and sensing it, the world threw all the Ascenders into the Void Realm.

  “Take them and leave. I will join you later.” These words were heard by Felt, and all the ice walls dropped down. Realizing the situation, he shouted, “Hurry up, we have to reach the next checkpoint by today itself!” Hearing his words, everyone started to run, not caring about the tracks they were leaving behind.

  In the Void Realm, Lex was pincer-attacked from both sides. The advantage of having a superior quantity of elementals was gone. Manipulating the elementals in the void, he shaped two thick shields against the attacks. Fire met ice, and their collision released steam, but the shields formed from ice elementals could not compete with the Ascension Spells and were swiftly destroyed.

  At that moment, Lex had to use his elemental energy, and the Nexus Rings began to churn out power. A multilayered barrier formed around him, and this time the attacks collided with it and were not able to pierce through. The two Fire Ascenders separated from the barrier and began to eye Lex warily. From the looks of it, they were both Rank Three Archons but had extensive experience working together.

  The barrier around Lex disappeared, and he felt a dull ache in his chest, which he knowingly ignored. Looking at the two youths, one was encased in fire armor, and the other, while not showing external signs, had a large amount of energy stored in his body.

  As if by tacit understanding, they both launched an attack at Lex. They had already sent the signal, and soon backup would arrive. They just had to prevent Lex from escaping. Knowing their intentions, Lex just let out a dry laugh. It is going to hurt quite a bit, he thought, closing his eyes.

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  Sensing the change in his atmosphere, the youths attacked simultaneously. Just when they were only a few feet away from him, Lex opened his bright cyan eyes.

  Ascension Spell: Tomb of the Frozen.

  A mirage of a large tomb appeared, centered around him. Everything inside it began to slow down.

  The distance of a few feet seemed hard to cover in a short time to the two Rank Three Archons. They felt something soft enveloping them, preventing them from moving at their original speed. At that moment, Lex rapidly approached the Archon, who was radiating burning energy from his body. Sidestepping the punch, he touched his opponent’s gut and used Ascension Spell: Negative Ice.

  The Archon felt a cold sensation in his abdomen and was thrown back. When he exited the mirage of the dome, he felt the force that had been slowing him down had disappeared. But when he tried to get up, a sharp pain tore through his abdomen, and he looked down. A purplish ice shard had pierced him and was spreading a purplish substance through his body. He quickly concentrated all his energy into removing it.

  Having dealt with one person, Lex turned his head to the other, who was trying to escape from the Ascension Spell: Tomb of the Frozen. He quickly grabbed hold of a string of space floating around him and disappeared from his place.

  The remaining Archon had tried using strings of space to escape, but had discovered they were not responding. Hence, he had to run to the end of the mirage covering him on foot. Seeing his companion get beaten back, it was obvious that this tomb was an Ascension Spell, which somehow affected their speed.

  Just as he got close to the end, Lex appeared in front of him and punched him with a fist encased in ice. Although it did not do any real damage, as he was covered in full-body fire armor, he was thrown back inside the mirage. When he tried to move after stopping, he felt the suppressive force limiting his movements once more. Finding no way out, he started to pour all his elemental energy into the armor, increasing its heat and size.

  Lex’s face had grown a little paler, but it was hard to tell without careful observation. He approached the Archon using strings of space and tried to attack from behind, but his attempt was easily thwarted. The uncontrolled use of elemental energy had lifted quite a bit of pressure from the Archon, and his movements were no longer as sluggish. He easily countered the attack from behind by creating a pillar of fire behind him.

  Lex had to jump back as soon as he appeared. But just as the pillar of fire went out, he attacked again. A dagger made of purplish ice was in his hands. The Archon threw a punch at him, which he dodged with practiced ease. The dagger was then embedded in the armor, and Lex jumped back. When the Archon tried to follow him, he felt the armor had started to burn more fiercely and was going out of control. Looking at his shoulder, the embedded dagger had already melted into his armor, causing it to destabilize.

  He rapidly recalled his Ascension Spell, and the next moment, he felt a heavy punch to his face, rendering him unconscious. Lex looked at his hand encased in purple ice. Nearly half of it had been destroyed by that single punch. He picked up the unconscious Archon and threw him toward the other one.

  Then, recalling the Tomb of the Frozen, Lex exited the Void Realm. Looking at the tracks left behind by the others, he started to follow them while erasing the traces. After going quite some distance, he coughed violently while covering his mouth. His chest was sharply burning, and he was barely able to keep the corrosion in check using a continuous supply of elemental energy from his Nexus Rings. Even his vision had grown a little blurry.

  Bringing his hands in front of him, there was purplish blood on them. He lightly wiped it on his clothes and continued on his way, bearing all the pain.

  In the Void Realm, the unconscious Archon woke up and looked around. His companion’s face was twisted in pain, and there was no sign of Lex. He quickly went to his companion to help him. The elemental energy in his Nexus Rings was severely depleted, and he used the remainder to restrict the purple ice.

  Suddenly, he felt a strong energy fluctuation rapidly approaching them. Must be backup, he commented and got up. Then his vision spun, and he saw his own back. Why is my body burning? were his last thoughts before his vision went dark.

  Everything happened so fast. As soon as the Archon stood up, he was decapitated, and his body was enveloped in dark flames. The other Archon tried to resist, but felt his body suddenly go numb. His energy, which was being used to restrict the purple ice, began to lose power. Freed from its cage, the ice ran rampant through his body, completely freezing him. There was no pain—only numbness spreading across his limbs.

  Looking at the dark silhouette silently observing his end, he concluded: the killer was definitely at least a Rank Two Ascender, a Sovereign. Soon, his mind slowed, and his vision went dark.

  The silhouette burned the decapitated head and erased all traces. Then, carrying the frozen corpse, it exited the Void Realm. It gave a final look toward Lex’s direction, then turned and walked in another direction.