NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 16: Fearsome Ice Breath
Baron Snow slammed the palm of his hand on the wall and laughed out loud.
"What a brave lad." He signaled one of his men with his eyes, and that man left. A few moments later, he returned with a rotund, fair-skinned man. Fair-skinned was used to describe this man because those who lived in the wasteland had pale skins.
It was hard to see them looking rosy like this man.
"That's the Jon you asked for, and the rest of them are still alive, so... come sign." Baron Snow took a sheet of paper from the same man who brought Jon and waved it toward Asher.
"I would like to see all of them, and I hope for your sake that you haven't touched the women."
Baron Snow frowned as Asher's words fell into his ears. 'This brat has the spines of a dragon.' He said it inwardly. He meant that Asher was as confident as a dragon but had misunderstood his current position.
"Bring all of them."
Not long after that order was given, nine other individuals were brought out. Six of them, excluding Jon, were men, and the other three were women.
Asher could see that, apart from being tied, none of them were harmed, but they looked starved.
"Bring them out of the gates, and we'll discuss other matters."
"You brat!" Baron Snow bellowed and pointed at the merchants, who had glimmers of hope in their eyes.
"Kill them."
Shing! Shing!
His men unsheathed their swords and approached them. "Boss, should we kill the women?" One turned to Baron Snow and asked.
However, the answer he received was a mighty white wolf landing right before him! Sirius had closed the gap in that short span.
None of them were able to react to its astonishing speed.
Thud!
The soles of Asher's boot connected with the bandit head, launching him off the wall. Asher quickly unsheathed his sword and swung upward at the second man. The man swung downward to intercept, but the power behind Asher's sword was beyond his imagination.
The sword flew out of the man's hand, and Asher slashed his chest without thinking. He could hear Sirius dealing with the others.
Asher took a step backward, watching the sword of the third man almost graze his nose. The moment the sword tilted downward, he closed the gap and thrust his sword through the man.
He wasn't able to pull it out when the fourth man swung his sword horizontally. Asher threw away the thought of retrieving his sword and went backward. The mercenary rushed him, swinging his sword while yelling.
While Asher retreated, he could see Baron Snow staring at him with murderous intent.
Thud!
Asher heard a sound behind him, causing him to roll forward toward the first one that was attacking him. The figure behind him swung his spear so fast that his comrade, who was recklessly swinging his sword, couldn't react to his throat that had been slashed open!
At this point, Asher had already picked up his gold-ranked sword and turned to his second attacker. It was a man of average height wielding a spear taller than him. His aura was that of a silver-ranked warrior.
Asher gripped his sword's hilt with both hands and closed the gap. He deflected the spear, as trained by Alec, and borrowed the momentum to spin. His sword reached the man, but instead of slicing through his flesh, it scraped a hard surface. Asher felt like he swung his sword against a metal.
When he got a better look, he noticed there was a faint yellow barrier that slowly vanished from the man's body.
'A talent!'
His eyes narrowed.
The spearman came again. His spear was moving like a snake. Asher swiftly recalled when Alec used the same move against him and stopped at his eyes. Had Alec not been a loyal subordinate, it would have been a good opportunity to kill him.
'My eyes are the target!'
Knowing this, he titled his body and leaned backward. The position made him unstable, but as the spear was about to be retrieved, he grabbed it and swung his sword with every strength he could muster. His battle force blasted out. It unleashed a red force that increased the sharpness of his sword by two folds.
Swish!
The spearman was shocked to see the cut in his abdomen. He spat blood and fell off the wall.
Breathing heavily, Asher looked forward but didn't see Baron Snow anymore. The man was on his way into his castle!
He could see him and his guards getting close to the entrance of the castle.
"Sirius!" Asher yelled.
Awoo!
Sirius jumped off the wall and raced toward Baron Snow. Before he arrived, ice sealed the gate to the castle, causing Baron Snow's expression to sour. He never expected that the beast Asher had was a gold ranked beast.
"You know, I've never killed a noble before." A dangerous light flashed past his eyes. Almost instantaneously, he suddenly became a 2.5-meter-tall giant, took a guard's spear, and hurtled it toward Asher.
The spear tore through the air, whistling like a missile.
Asher threw himself to the right, narrowly avoiding a spear that carried such a force that it could blow up a human head!
When he stood up, Sirius was engaged in a fearsome battle against the giant man. No doubt, his talent shocked Asher to the core.
He never thought there existed a talent that could make a man a giant.
Sirius growled and clawed Baron Snow, but he evaded. He picked up a stone and threw it. The stone slammed Sirius' face so hard that its head turned to the left.
His men tried attacking it, but their weapons bounced off Sirius' fur.
Consumed by anger, Sirius took a deep breath and breathed out a white mist everywhere. When the mist vanished, Asher saw himself standing in an ice fortress.
Baron Snow and his remaining men became frozen statues. Baron Snow himself was frozen, trying to attack Sirius.
Apart from Asher and the merchants who were trembling at the terrifying might of Sirius elemental powers, no one else outside the castle survived.
"Sirius. You might have anger issues."
Asher came down from the wall and patted his wolf. "The last silver-ranked warrior must be inside the castle. Come, let's find out what he's doing inside there."