Dungeon Of Pride, Laplace

"Let's go and free my clansmen from their pain and suffering" Cecilia said with a determined look on her face.

Irene looked at her and didn't say much, she could guess the reason behind her initially revealing such a distraught face. 

The Bloodthorn Demonic Warhorse neighed at Cecilia's request and reared its hindlegs before swiftly flying towards the bamboo house.

"Who is there? Who dares to barge in our territory?" the adventurers who saw the Bloodthorn Demonic Warhorse flying over from the distance became alert immediately and shouted out.

The voice of the adventurer was very loud and could be heard across the whole place. Shortly after his voice boomed out, ten or so adventurers surrounded the trio of Irene, Bloodthorn Demonic Warhorse, and Cecilia as they landed in front of the village square.

The adventurers unsheathed their weapons and threatened "W-Who are you people.... and what motive do you have for barging here at this moment?".

The adventurers were quite wary as they looked at the huge frame of the demonic warhorse. Its three pairs of crimson red eyes and its flaming body was releasing a domineering aura. They were trying to cover the sense of dread that was trying to overwhelm them with their numbers.

But when they gazed upon the alluring and charming figure of Irene, all their wariness disappeared as if it was never there. The woman was so soul stunningly beautiful that she immediately stole all their senses and left them in a daze.

They who had never seen a beauty of this magnitude, immediately became smitten as desire and lust immediately overwhelmed them. The desires of the adventurers were quite blatant and nobody bothered to even conceal it. 

Irene's crystal blue eyes frosted over at this display, she didn't even bother to glance at these pests surrounding her. A frosty aura pervaded the entire village of the Forest Spring Spirits. However before she could make her move, one of the adventurers came out of his daze and looked at Cecilia, and pointed out.

"T-that little girl, isn't she the one that sir Laris and the others went out after? How come she is here?"

Listening to the person, the other adventurers also snapped out of their daze and stared at Cecilia with wide amazed eyes.

One of them said, "That is true. That little girl is exactly the one that the team that died went after."

"Then why is she here? Did sir Laris and others lose her again?" another adventurer said.

"She might have slipped out and came here in hopes of saving her clansmen".

"Hahaha what an idiot. Did she really think that she could just come and save her clansmen as she pleases?".

Discussion of such rang out among the adventurers as they started to realize that the situation was in their favour and started laughing.

Some even revealed their lust-filled eyes as they stared at Irene. If they could capture them, then they would have made a huge contribution to the guild and their ranking would be raised quite high.

"Capture them. Do not let any one of them escape. If we make sir Laris happy, he might even allow us to indulge ourselves tonight" said one of the adventurers as he drooled looking at Irene's figure.

The adventurers nodded and revealed ugly smiles. They immediately charged at the group of Irene but before they could even come closer they were impaled by what looked like crimson thorns that protruded out from the ground.

ROOOAARRRR... the Bloodthorn Demonic Warhorse neighed and thumped its powerful forelegs into the ground shattering it and causing a small earthquake. It was given the mission to protect them by its master therefore it wouldn't allow anyone to approach near them.

Many of the adventurers couldn't dodge in time and had their arms or legs impaled by the thorns that out of a sudden appeared from the ground. The crimson thorns were so sharp that the defensive gears that the adventurers wore, was nothing but paper in front of it.

PUFFFFF... SPLAT

"Ahhhhh w-what is this?"

"My arm, my arm got impaled ahhhh".

"Gugh... damn it what are these thorns, my legs got impaled I can't move".

Shrieks of pain rang out among the adventurers, the crimson horns on the Bloodthorn Demonic Warhorse started shining a bright scarlet as the screams of pain and agony sounding out from the adventurers got even louder.

However, none of the bodies that got impaled died immediately. Since all the adventurers were around level 180—200, they managed to shift their bodies in time and prevented the damage from being lethal.

Nevertheless, at this moment they only thought that they were unfortunate enough to dodge the thorn and felt like dying instantly would have been much more better. One could imagine the kind of pain that was being inflicted upon the adventurers by the crimson thorns for them to reject life.

More than five adventurers were impaled and screamed in agony as peculiar patterns started to appear in the places where the thorns had pierced them. What was unusual about the scene was that even after impaling them, no blood flowed out of their bodies.

The remaining adventurers that were lucky enough to dodge the attack in time, sighed in relief as they watched with dread and trepidation at their fellow teammates who were now crying pathetically in agony.

The adventurers looked at the trio of Irene, Bloodthorn Demonic Warhorse, Cecilia and shuddered. They no longer had their carefree and mocking grin on their face and their eyes trembled intensely whenever they looked at the overbearing frame of the demonic warhorse.

In just a moment, the sense of dread that they felt whenever they looked at the demonic warhorse, magnified manifold. Fear gripped their heart and the remaining adventurers started backing out. The exchange before clearly displayed that they were not its match. If they stayed here any longer, it would be their turn next.

However, they couldn't just run away as that would be akin to death for sure. If they faced the demonic warhorse, they had a chance they could die but if they ran away from here, their death was guaranteed and it would be their own that would reap them. 

The only thought going around in the minds of these adventurers was that they must inform their leader Laris who was out in the forest of this situation, and delay the intruders here for as long as they could until he arrives.

But even they knew that it was not going to be easy. The adventurers that were left behind in the village were the weakest ones and were left here as a lookout and also to watch over the enslaved Forest Spring Spirit children.

Those who had higher levels went out with Laris to capture the little girl who mysteriously appeared in front of them. They did not know what was going on?... was the report of the little girl being seen near the sight of the explosion false? what was clear to them was that the situation here didn't look good for them. 

Some of the adventurers started sneaking back towards the exit of the village and those that were near the ones that got impaled by the crimson thorns used their weapons to cut the thorns down. The adventurers thought that they could at least save their fellow teammates by cutting the thorns impaling them down.

But to their surprise, they soon realized that the thorns were as tough as steel or maybe even more. No matter how many times they hacked, they couldn't even make a single scratch. Even if they did manage to damage the thorns using their skills, the thorns swiftly recovered as they glowed a peculiar red all the while the screams of the adventurers impaled by it amplified.

After a while, they realised that it was their weapons that had nicks and dint on them.

while all of this was happening, a cold wind bringing along an arctic chill that could even freeze one's bones started slowly blowing across the whole village. The environment became eerily silent as if all the sound were frozen and all the adventurers shivered when the cold wind brushed across them.

Irene's beautiful blue hair that was like a waterfall danced with the wind as she raised her jade white hand. Her hands and fingers were so perfect that one could instantly get mesmerized while looking at them.

An azure light shined across her palms giving her an otherworldy ephemeral look. Those that were trying to sneak back, and those that were impaled by the crimson thorns all looked in the direction of the azure light enthralled by its beauty, and before they could even realize what was going on, a shrill noise piercingly loud rang out.

SHIIIIIIIING…

Moments later everything was covered in a layer of ice, the ground, grass, trees, the bamboo houses, and even the adventurers that the trio was facing were frozen solid. Frosty white smoke rose all over the place and amidst them were the ice statues that still held the same expression they had before being frozen solid.

Cecilia's small mouth made an 'o' shape and her eyes were wide open. It was only a few moments ago that she had seen the amazing power displayed by the demonic warhorse she was riding on top of which left her stunned in disbelief.

And before the realization could hit her, she was once again flabbergasted to see Irene's immense power that left the enemies frozen solid.. She could never have believed that the absolutely beautiful lady and who had a warm smile just like her mother possessed this much power.