Chapter 1676 Chapter 1494: Fire Drake

Chapter 1676 Chapter 1494: Fire Drake

A flicker of loneliness, a rare and unwelcome guest, crossed Maria's icy gaze as she surveyed the frozen wasteland she'd wrought. This wasn't a true victory, just a cold, sterile solution. A temporary respite in the face of a relentless storm. Stanmore was silent, yes, but the silence held the weight of a thousand shattered lives, both monstrous and human.

A sigh escaped her lips, a wisp of condensation in the frigid air. "Come back soon, my love," she murmured, a plea more for herself than the frozen city.

"Things are escalating, and the war draws closer." She missed Alex, her fiancé, a yearning that gnawed at the edges of her composure. He was within the treacherous Infinity Maze, another front in this never-ending conflict trying to give them a chance in this war. And she wasn't the only one who felt his absence. The others, the scattered members of the family and friends as well, shared her longing.

Shaking her head, she pushed aside the loneliness, a necessary act for survival. There was no room for sentimentality in a world teetering on the brink. Her mission wasn't over. The heart of the infestation, the core zone, thrummed with a malevolent energy. There, the most powerful monsters lurked, waiting to be purged.

Maria, the Ice Goddess who had recently stepped in the False God realm, was more than capable of handling this task. It was why she'd been sent alone. The others had their battles to fight, their own demons to vanquish. Here, amidst the frozen ruins of Stanmore, she would stand as a bulwark against the encroaching darkness, a solitary sentinel wielding the power of winter itself.

Maria approached the core zone with the deliberate grace of a predator stalking its prey. The air itself seemed to grow colder as she neared, the very moisture in the atmosphere clinging to her skin in a shimmering frost. As she crested a rise in the frozen rubble, the core zone revealed itself.

Unlike the desolate outskirts, the heart of the monstrous infestation thrummed with a twisted vitality. Buildings, though still warped parodies of their former selves, were shrouded in a sickly green haze. Grotesque howls and snarls echoed through the polluted air, a symphony of violence. And in the center of it all, perched atop a jagged shard of twisted metal, stood the first of her adversaries.

Maria stood amidst the clash of elements, a serene figure in the heart of the chaos. The air crackled with a chaotic energy, a tempestuous dance between fire and ice. The Fire Drake, its obsidian scales now dull with frost, thrashed its head in a desperate attempt to ward off the encroaching chill. Its fiery breath, once a weapon of destruction, now sputtered and died before reaching Maria's icy shield.

With a flick of her wrist, Maria pressed her attack. Icicles, each the size of a man, materialized from the swirling frost and launched themselves towards the beast. They struck the Drake's hide with a resounding clang, leaving deep gouges in its obsidian scales. The creature roared in pain and fury, its flames flaring momentarily before being choked by the relentless frost.

The battle raged on. The Fire Drake, cornered and desperate, unleashed a final, desperate attack. With a mighty bellow, it gathered its remaining strength and unleashed a torrent of fire so intense it briefly pushed back the encroaching ice. The heat scorched the already brittle structures of the surrounding buildings, causing them to crumble and shower the area in debris.

But Maria remained undeterred. Her ice shield, though momentarily weakened, held firm. With a serene expression that masked a steely resolve, she raised a hand. The swirling frost obeyed her will, condensing into a massive spear, its tip a shard of pure, glacial ice that gleamed with an otherworldly light.

"Sleep now, creature of flame," Maria intoned, her voice a chilling whisper that carried over the cacophony of the battle.

With a swift and deadly throw, she hurled the ice spear towards the Fire Drake. It sailed through the air, a blur of white against the smokey haze, and pierced the beast's chest with an sickening thud. The Drake let out a final, ear-splitting shriek before collapsing onto the frozen ground, its fiery glow extinguished forever.

Silence descended upon the core zone, broken only by the soft crackling of the encroaching frost. The battle was over, the first obstacle in Maria's path vanquished.

First one down, time to move to the second one.