Chapter 244: Awakened Dragon

Allison could barely stay upright. Her body was in tatters, blood dripping steadily from her wounds. The Ant Queen’s katana was gone, shattered, and with it, the carapace enchantment that had been her shield. Now, if even a single blow landed cleanly, it would mean death. Not even her draconic resilience could save her.

All she had left was the new weapon: a katana of ice, born from her own craft. Its cold bit into her flesh, but she raised it without hesitation, pointing the blade at the towering orc before her.

The Orc Lord stared down at her with open contempt. His chest heaved, but his eyes held nothing but the arrogance of a monster that had never known defeat. A low, rasping laugh rumbled from deep in his throat.

“Your courage is nothing but desperation,” he said, his voice booming across the battlefield. “You’re the last one left. And you’ll die here, among the corpses you froze. Alone. Forgotten. A little dragon with no wings.”

Allison’s grip tightened on the ice blade. Her eyes burned with a cold fire that refused to die.

“That look…” The Orc Lord smirked, tilting his head. “Did I strike a nerve? Is that it? Maybe you were abandoned by the other dragons?”

His laughter erupted like a war drum, guttural and cruel. His wounds meant nothing to him, he believed himself untouchable.

“You’re in my domain,” he growled, his voice turning dark. “Here, I am king. Here, even dragons kneel and die.”

Then he charged. The earth quaked under each massive step, snow cracking and scattering beneath his weight. The chains at his sides clattered, the twin iron spheres dragging deep grooves through the ground. But he wouldn’t use them. Not this time. He wanted to crush her with his bare hands.

Allison didn’t move. Her body trembled with exhaustion, but her gaze stayed locked, unyielding, sharp as a predator’s. And then, like a true dragon, her breath came alive. White clouds of freezing vapor poured from her nostrils and lips, thick and relentless, far too much for a human frame to contain.

The Orc Lord raised his arms high, ready to slam her into the ground like a raging gorilla. At the final instant, Allison twisted her body and slid across the ice, slipping past the strike with perfect precision. The impact shook the battlefield. Cracks spiderwebbed through the ground, snow and shards of ice exploding skyward.

“Keep running!” the monster roared.

But when the snow settled, she was already standing in front of him again. Steady. Unbroken. Her eyes hard as steel.

“This is not your domain,” she said, her voice as cold as the blade she held. “This is mine.”

She closed her eyes for a heartbeat, sinking into the depths of her own essence. Then she drew it forth, the deepest power of her craft, sharpened by her bloodline. Her chest rose sharply, and the ice blade in her hand pulsed with life. The frost in her veins resonated with the ancient force slumbering in her soul. She channeled it.

[Funerary Ice Sculpture (Ultra-Rare)]: When the Ice Sculptor slays an enemy, they can instantly freeze the corpse, preserving it exactly in the position it fell and transforming it into a macabre ice sculpture. These sculptures remain standing for several hours, radiating an intense cold that gradually lowers the surrounding temperature. This effect creates a frozen terrain that strengthens all ice-based skills cast within its area of influence.

By channeling the power of [Heart of the Ice Dragon], the Sculptor can intensify the effect, causing the sculptures to drain even more heat from the surrounding space, making the environment severely cold and further amplifying the potency of ice arts. However, this additional strength comes at a cost: while sustaining this effect, the sculptures begin to melt, vanishing more quickly.

All around them, the frozen orc corpses began to glow faint blue. The ice that bound them shimmered like crystal in the phantom light. A biting wind swept through the field, carrying snow, until the battlefield itself was swallowed by a supernatural cold.

With each passing second, the air thickened, the ice grew denser, and the temperature plummeted further. A domain of white death took shape around them. And within that glacial storm, Allison rose, more imposing than ever.

The Orc Lord narrowed his eyes. For the first time, his laughter fell silent. She spread the invisible wings of her draconic heritage, not of flesh, but of spirit. The cold was no longer just the battlefield. It was her. It was the extension of her breath. Allison tilted her head back and let the fury of the dragon pour from her lungs.

[Draconic Exhalation (Ultra-Rare)]: The Draconic Swordsman does not need to strike. The very breath of a dragon is enough to declare sovereignty. Empowered by the [Heart of the Ice Dragon], you can exhale a frost-laden mist that rolls outward like a silent curse. The air chills, creeping and merciless. Frost crawls across stone, armor groans as it cracks, lungs seize in the bitter cold. No rage, only inevitability, patient, constant, absolute. Beware: this power is bound to your emotions, for a dragon’s fury is its greatest weapon.

White mist rolled outward, smothering the air like a living fog. The cold was so deep it seemed to slice skin open with every brush. Enveloped in the storm, the Orc Lord let out a furious growl.

He didn’t know it yet, but the battlefield no longer belonged to him. The frost thickened, swallowing the world in a deathly silence. The air was so frigid it felt brittle, ready to shatter with each breath. Allison slid across the ice, her movements as light as the storm itself. In her hand, a translucent sphere took shape, pulsing with the power of the [Heart of the Ice Dragon].

[Iceball (Uncommon)]: The caster forms a compact sphere of solid ice in their hand using [Ice], further amplified by [Heart of the Ice Dragon]. When hurled at a target, the sphere detonates on impact, releasing explosive damage and a cloud of frost-laden snow that reduces visibility and hampers movement. In naturally cold environments, or areas already affected by frost skills, the spell’s power and explosion radius increase, making it significantly more devastating.

She fired it with force. The impact against the Orc Lord’s torso detonated in a burst of snow and piercing blue light. The creature roared as the freezing energy seeped into its thick hide, slowing its movements. He tried to charge, but Allison was already in motion, circling him. More iceballs flared into being and were fired in rapid succession, each one exploding into shards of frost that clung to his body, layering him in thin sheets of ice.

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The Orc Lord bellowed, his breath erupting in scalding steam. He tried to raise his body’s heat to resist, but Allison’s storm overwhelmed him, the synergy of her power pressing in from every side. She seized the opening, gliding across the frozen ground. Her katana gleamed with an icy light, and she struck.

[Freezing Slash (Uncommon)]: The Swordsman delivers a strike that inflicts a wound coated with frost, freezing the area around it for a short duration through the power of [Ice]. If the cut lands on vital parts of the body, the chilling effect can gradually slow muscles, weaken attacks, and reduce the target’s speed. This skill is empowered by [Heart of the Ice Dragon].

The blade carved through flesh, and ice spread instantly across the wound. The Orc Lord roared in fury, lashing out with his chains. The iron spheres slammed into the ground, tearing the earth apart. But Allison had already slid out of reach, another Iceball flying into his exposed flank. Now the battlefield was hers. Every breath she took deepened the storm. Every strike spread the winter further, the cold seeping into the Orc Lord’s body, corroding him from within.

The creature spun wildly, swinging its chains in a desperate arc. The metallic whine split through the mist, but the visibility now belonged entirely to her storm. The Orc Lord roared, whirling his chains with reckless fury. Each iron sphere slammed into the ground with earth-shattering force, throwing up waves of snow and ice. Allison slipped between them, loosing iceballs, striking whenever an opening appeared. But even weakened, the monster was still massive, still a king among orcs.