161: Chapter 161

The snow forest was deathly silent.

Only the wailing of the cold wind remained.

The mountain-like body of the Lord of Frost Howl crouched slightly.

Those massive wolf eyes no longer held their previous playfulness and amusement; only a vigilance as if facing a formidable enemy remained as they looked at the seemingly insignificant human.

It let out a low whimper:

"Human, I have no intention of delving into your grievances with them."

"How about you and I call it quits here?"

It paused slightly, its wolf eyes observing Rowan's reaction while throwing out its own conditions:

"This beast tide will also end here."

"I can promise that for the next three years, the tribes of the Mess Mountains will not proactively cross the border by even half a step to harass your territory. How about that?"

Hearing this, Rowan chuckled.

Then, he shook his head.

There was no explanation, just a simple refusal.

The Lord of Frost Howl's massive body stiffened slightly.

The caution in its wolf eyes was quickly replaced by a sense of offended rage.

It, the Lord of Frost Howl, one of the lords ruling the vast snow forests of the Mess Mountains, when had it ever been so subservient?

And when had it ever been so contemptuously rejected?

"Roar—!"

A low roar suppressed with fury erupted.

"Human! Do not push your luck!" Its voice rose sharply, filled with bestial ferocity:

"Do you think that by using devious means to kill those two pieces of trash, you can easily handle me?!"

Ice-blue light surged around its body, and countless tiny ice crystals condensed in the air.

"My ice is enough to..."

Its harsh words were not yet finished.

Rowan simply reached out his hand.

His clearly defined fingers closed lightly.

A longsword appeared in his hand out of thin air.

Immediately, his figure suddenly became blurred.

The next moment.

The figure had already appeared directly in front of the Lord of Frost Howl.

Winter · Drifting Snow!

The sword blade tore through the air, slashing down diagonally.

The Lord of Frost Howl's angry roar came to an abrupt halt.

An unprecedented warning sign pierced into its mind!

At the critical moment of life and death, its centuries of combat instinct and overlord bloodline erupted!

The fur on its neck stood on end, instantly hardening and covering itself with a layer of deep blue ice armor!

At the same time, it violently shook its head, its bloodthirsty maw opened, and a breath more condensed than before spewed out toward Rowan!

It wanted to freeze this arrogant human into frozen dust.

However...

Rowan's sword still descended.

The ice armor, which had condensed majestic frost power, at the moment it touched the phantom purple sword blade—

vanished silently.

"Pfft—!"

The muffled sound of a sharp blade cutting into flesh came.

A terrifying wound deep enough to see bone appeared on the side of the Lord of Frost Howl's neck.

"Awoo—!!!"

It let out a howl of extreme pain.

In that miserable howl, for the first time, there was an unmaskable... fear!

That ice breath, capable of freezing everything, brushed past Rowan's afterimage, turning large swathes of forest into ice sculptures.

And Rowan's true body had already landed lightly more than ten meters away like a ghost.

He lowered his eyes, looking at the purple light slowly dissipating on the sword body, as if savoring the feel of that strike just now.

Then, he raised his eyes to look at the Lord of Frost Howl, who was almost insane with rage, and said softly:

"Interesting, you actually withstood it?"

"Awoo—!!!"

Hearing these words from Rowan, the Lord of Frost Howl's last shred of reason was instantly drowned by humiliation.

As the pride of a lord-level magical beast, it could not accept being forced into such a state by an insignificant human!

"Human! You have enraged me!!"

It threw its head back and let out a heaven-shaking roar!

The ice and snow between heaven and earth seemed to respond to it!

With it as the center, visible ice crystals exploded, instantly sweeping across the entire forest clearing!

Extreme Cold · Eternal Frozen Cage!

It used its trump card innate ability!

Countless giant, jagged ice spikes rose from the ground.

The wound on its neck was forcibly sealed by solid ice.

Its aura began to climb steadily!

"Die... for me!!"

It stomped its four limbs violently on the ground!

Boom!

Countless giant ice spikes, as if possessing life, crazily stabbed out from the snow under Rowan's feet, the air beside him, and even the void above his head!

Each ice spike contained extreme cold!

At the same time, it opened its huge mouth, spraying out a beam of deep blue light condensed to the extreme!

It shot straight at Rowan!

However—

Facing this terrifying offensive that seemed like a natural disaster.

Rowan just sighed softly.

Deep in his left eye, a noble and eerie crimson spread like blood, rapidly expanding.

A blood moon, glowing brightly!

In his right eye, there was a deep, endless phantom purple vortex, slowly rotating.

A cluster of purple flames, burning silently!

The dignity of a Vampire Prince and the indifference of the power of annihilation were perfectly fused on him at this moment!

"Not bad power. Pity... it's still far from enough."

Facing the deadly ice spikes shooting in from all directions, he did not dodge or avoid, just simply—

raised his sword again.

Winter · Royal Authority · Annihilation · Flash Slash!

A terrifying pressure that made the Lord of Frost Howl's blood almost flow backward and explode descended with a bang!

At the same time.

He swung the longsword in his hand lightly.

A slender purple arc gently cut through the space in front of him.

Sss—!

The deep blue light beam shooting from the front, the moment it touched the purple arc, melted away silently like ice and snow under the scorching sun.

The purple arc's momentum remained undiminished, easily cutting open the Eternal Frozen Cage, plowing a briefly existing void channel in the air.

The end of the channel pointed directly at the Lord of Frost Howl!

The Lord of Frost Howl's ice-blue wolf eyes were finally filled with boundless horror and despair!

It felt it; that light, fluttering purple arc contained pure power of annihilation!

"No—!!!"

It exhausted all its strength, compressing all the energy in its body forward, condensing a shield of extreme cold ice!

At the same time, its massive body twisted desperately to the side, trying to avoid this fatal blow!

However, under the suppression of the Blood Sovereignty, its power operation was ultimately a fraction slower.

It was just that tiny difference—

That seemingly gentle purple arc appeared in the Lord of Frost Howl's infinitely dilated pupils...

Time seemed to stand still at this moment.

The Lord of Frost Howl's desperately twisting body solidified.

The crazy blood color in its eyes quickly faded, leaving only a blank void.

It opened its mouth, seemingly wanting to roar, but only cold air poured in.

The next moment.

Its massive head, along a smooth, mirror-like cross-section, slowly separated from its body.

At the cut, no blood sprayed.

All flesh and bone were completely annihilated the moment they touched the purple arc.

Only slightly away from the neck stump, there remained some blood crystals instantly frozen by the extreme low temperature.

Boom—!!!

The wolf head fell to the ground, smashing into the ice-spike-covered snow, kicking up a sky full of ice dust.

Those ice-blue eyes remained wide open, freezing the final shock and disbelief.

The lord-level magical beast that had dominated the snow forests of the Mess Mountains for hundreds of years, the Lord of Frost Howl, had fallen!

Rowan took a look at the Lord of Frost Howl's headless wolf body, which was gradually losing its luster, his eyes calm and waveless.

The wind and snow had stopped completely, though it was unclear when.

The forest clearing was a mess.

In the ice-sculpted forest, only the following remained:

A massive headless wolf corpse.

Two withered human corpses.

And a human man standing quietly with an indifferent expression.

At this time.

The longsword in Rowan's hand dissipated silently.

Only then did he walk unhurriedly toward the corpse of the Lord of Frost Howl.

He looked at the massive wolf corpse and frowned slightly.

The internal space of his silver star ring was only two to three cubic meters; it wouldn't fit.

As for this Lord of Frost Howl, he did not intend to use his Vampire Prince ability to Drain it; that would be too much of a waste.

Therefore, in his previous battle, he had deliberately avoided contaminating the opponent with his Vampire Prince ability.

"A bit troublesome."

He murmured to himself.

But, it was only a bit troublesome.

He flicked his finger, and two wisps of purple flame swept over the two human corpses, turning them into the finest ash, which scattered with the wind, leaving not a trace.

Immediately after, he walked to the side of the Lord of Frost Howl's corpse.

He grabbed the wolf's tail with one hand.

He held the wolf's ear with the other.

Dragging it, he walked further and further away along the path he had come, disappearing into the snow forest...

...