Second Life of a Dragon Raising Hunter

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Chapter 432: The Towering Ice Wall

A massive wall of ice stood tall. The blue ice wall crossing the Earth Smash Gorge felt oddly out of place, yet emitted an indescribable beauty.

“Now that I see it, it’s a spectacle,” someone remarked.

“Huff…”

Baek In-hwa sighed wearily.

Fortunately, she hadn’t collapsed from exhaustion. Yeon-woo had taken care of the parts he could handle.

It was within Yeon-woo’s capabilities to freeze the moisture on the walls and ground and stack ice upon it.

He entrusted the task of firmly binding the ice to Baek In-hwa; after all, she was more adept at such details than Yeon-woo.

“We finished quicker than I expected. The waves will start rising soon, so let’s get up there.”

“Got it. Thanks to that, I haven’t used much mana, so I might still be able to fight.”

“Yeah, I’m counting on it.”

As Yeon-woo said this, ice wings sprouted from his back. He hugged Baek In-hwa from behind, causing her face to flush bright red.

Perhaps it wasn’t shyness but an emotional reaction.

“Let’s run. Be careful not to bite your tongue.”

Yeon-woo, forcefully ignoring the flustered response, infused mana into his feet. Silver mana unraveled, lifting both Yeon-woo and Baek In-hwa high into the sky.

Far beyond the ice wall, a yellowish muddy torrent was rushing toward them from afar.

“Now that’s a massive scale.”

“…Can we really stop that?”

Seeing the scale made Baek In-hwa uneasy, and she asked nervously. With that question hanging in the air, Yeon-woo had only one answer.

“No, we can’t stop it with just the ice wall.”

Of course, even if Baek In-hwa put her heart into it, an ice wall couldn’t hold back such a natural disaster of that magnitude.

The ice wall was bound to shatter eventually.

“But just because we can’t stop it doesn’t mean it’s pointless.”

Regardless, it was necessary to halt its momentum. Even if it would break easily, Yeon-woo believed that the ice created by the little ice princess could hold for at least five seconds.

Then, a method existed.

He had also received permission from the Earth Serpent for this. Given the situation, the Earth Serpent had no choice but to grant it.

“Tae-oh, are you all set?”

[Yeah! The Hunter big siblings helped us!]

The plan was straightforward and simple.

Reduce the flow with the ice wall. Collapse both sides of the gorge over it to block the torrent.

Of course, the Earth Serpent hated disturbing the terrain, so they promised to restore it afterwards.

Yeon-woo asked Tae-oh and the Hunters to plant the bombs along both sides of the gorge, and they dutifully carried out the request.

He locked eyes with the Hunters below. Nodding in gratitude, he watched them scurry back. It was better for them to stay away from the gorge as much as possible.

Yeon-woo gazed at the torrent that was fast approaching. Somewhere within it, the Demon King must be lurking. It wasn’t just about stopping the flood.

…Kugagagagah-!!

A tremendous roar echoed. The torrent crashed down, sweeping away everything in the Earth Smash Gorge. The ice wall stood firm against it.

Then came the moment of impact. The ice wall collided with the torrent.

An overwhelming shockwave erupted, shaking Yeon-woo’s body high in the air.

One couldn’t even imagine what could create such a sound, as if a factory had exploded; the ringing in Yeon-woo’s ears was deafening.

Yet, the ice wall did not crumble. It held its ground. Cracks spread all over, but not a single drop flowed from its surface.

The moment they could push the torrent back, even by a single drop, would be when the ice wall began to collapse.

“…Now-!!”

Yelling to shake off the ringing in his ears, Yeon-woo manipulated his mana.

The shadow of the bombs that Tae-oh had planted responded to Yeon-woo’s mana, lifting his body.

The crystals of the spirits contained within the bombs reacted, and flames erupted from both cliffs of the gorge.

Boom, bang! Boom, boom!

The explosive sounds, reminiscent of a fireworks show, burst out successively.

Compared to the clash between the ice wall and the torrent, they were insignificant, but along with that, the cliffs began to crumble.

In the meantime, the ice wall paused the incoming flow, severing it a bit further ahead. With this alone, the ice wall had bought itself some time to endure.

“I had one more preparation in place, but I don’t know how it’ll turn out.”

“…It seems to be going somewhat well.”

Though still distant, Baek In-hwa appeared to have somehow taken control of the situation, as the cracks in the ice wall began to slowly mend.

Though the waves were raging fiercely, it seemed they were barely holding on, at least for now.

Kugugugugu….

Whatever the scene, it was certainly a spectacle. Humans felt inexplicably small in comparison.

Even if the landscape was intermingled with the Demon King’s power, it was an awe-inspiring sight.

“But, how do we fight the Demon King in there?”

“…Can’t we just freeze everything?”

“If it were that easy, I wouldn’t have any wishes left to fulfill.”

As the flood’s momentum died down, Yeon-woo and Baek In-hwa kept their eyes on it from the sky.

No one noticed that Shar was internally giggling in delight.

*

They could say that they succeeded in dampening the flood’s momentum. Of course, it wasn’t merely about the ice wall and the collapsed cliffs.

In the end, they hadn’t completely suppressed it, and had to resort to the last resort, Shar’s breath, to stop it.

And the situation wasn’t all that good. The flood might have halted, but the Demon King hiding inside was still intact, and demons lurked in the lake.

Naturally, there was no way the demons could take on the Earth Serpent. Yet, it was concerning that the enemy dug a tunnel to their main base, Nexus.

But there was no time to worry about that. Feeling an unpleasant sensation brushing against his legs, Yeon-woo flung Baek In-hwa away.

It was a blessing he was lowering his altitude; had he been at a higher elevation, he might have accidentally killed Baek In-hwa.

“Choi Yeon-woo!!”

Baek In-hwa yelled urgently upon belatedly realizing the situation.

Yeon-woo turned his gaze toward his legs. Below, a massive tendril of water extended from the muddy torrent, grasping his ankle.

It was pulling him in. He attempted to resist, but it wasn’t a force he could easily shake off.

“I knew something was there!!”

In a rush, he swung his sword, but even slashing the water tendril didn’t sever it.

Was it the Demon King’s power? Attempting to move through shadows using Tae-oh failed, hindered midway by a surge of mana.

In other words, there was no choice left but to be dragged into that muddy torrent. Ridiculously.

At least it was somewhat fortunate. Had Baek In-hwa been dragged in, she would have drowned for sure, but not Yeon-woo.

It was reasonable to say that Baek In-hwa was moving from the outside while Yeon-woo moved from the inside.

“Damn it, Baek In-hwa! Since there’s no way to distinguish, assume all this mud is the enemy-!!”

Gurgle, the taste of muddy water flowed into his mouth. The mana of courage swirled inside his body, allowing him to unleash its power.

With a squish, his physical form morphed. Gills sprouted at his neck, and his lung’s function changed.

Breathing was entirely assigned to the gills, while his lungs transformed into a mana source for breath attacks. A layer formed between his eyes and the water to ease the pain.

Webbing grew between his fingers and toes, and a tail emerged. Yeon-woo’s tail resembled that of a shark. It looked rather cool, indeed.

In an instant, Yeon-woo adapted to the muddy water and scanned his surroundings.

There was so much. Earth, sand, stones, and wood of nature were most visible.

‘…No, there’s actually a lack of things.’

Naturally occurring and expected elements were absent. Fish or land animals’ corpses were specifically missing.

The absence of something that should be there signaled that something was amiss.

[Hello there? Our little hero, it’s your first meeting with me, right?]

An alluring voice flowed into Yeon-woo’s consciousness.

If Nea’s was the gentle older sister vibe, this voice could be described as the sexy older sister style.

However, it wasn’t overwhelmingly pleasant. The more he thought about it, the more unsettling the voice seemed.

Was it because he associated such speech with the Demon King?

Or perhaps he was already satisfied enough with his relationship with Nea.

“Is that you, Demon King? Were you hoping to die?”

[Why would I wish for that? I need to swallow the hero and the Earth Serpent, then take hold of this world. Sorry, but could you obediently allow yourself to be eaten?]

“Who would obediently get eaten just because you asked?”

[Hmm, well, the hero could have such peculiar tastes, couldn’t they?]

That’s a rather open-minded attitude. But coincidentally, Yeon-woo didn’t have such tastes.

The only one allowed to eat him was Nea.

“I’ll kill you, so look forward to it.”

[Oh my, what an eager approach!]

Somewhere lurking… or rather, it wouldn’t be wrong to say the entire muddy water was Shuyo’s Demon King.

Yeon-woo muttered while drawing his sword.

*

Rumble, immense power surged from Choi Yeon-woo beneath the submerged surface.

It was clear that Yeon-woo was fighting down there. Therefore, rather than feeling disheartened at her companion being pulled in, Baek In-hwa needed to fulfill her role earnestly.

Her task was evident: freeze all the massive amounts of water before her.

It was a straightforward yet rather tricky requirement.

At this moment, it seemed impossible for Baek In-hwa. No matter how obstructed the water was by the ice wall and slowed by the mud, the volume was far too great.

She wondered if even her father could manage to freeze it all.

Even so, Baek In-hwa moved onto the piled-up mud. She gazed at the pristine white gloves encasing her hands. They were unlike her dirtied self rolling in the mud.

A symbol of the Ice Palace. The untouched snow represented the little ice princess.

The finest treasure of the Ice Palace, rivaling the head of the family’s icy demeanor.

[Do you wish for power?]

“…No, I want to do it with my own strength. It must be done by me.”

Baek In-hwa answered the Earth Serpent’s playful tone, which seemed like something from a cartoon.

That blunt response could’ve easily been taken as an insult, yet the Earth Serpent only watched with satisfaction.

(To be continued in the next chapter)