The Song Of Sword And Magic

Chapter 61: Azure Abyss

[Translator — Asuka]

[Proofreader — Karane]

Rae and Stan continued dashing forwards as the Dark Tide’s army was running after them. Although this was the outcome they were trying to achieve, they were still terrified. After all, it wasn’t easy to deal with the fact that they were being raced after by two fiends. Fortunately, they were strong, and having grown up in the North, they were used to the climate and the terrain. That was why they were able to keep some distance away from the Dark Tide’s army.

At the break of dawn, Rae took a turn and sprinted toward the wasteland in the Northeast. Seeing that, Stan quickly followed her pace. The wasteland was covered with ice and moss, so they could feel that the ground beneath them was quite slippery. Stan was especially worried that having run for such a long time, he wouldn’t be able to get up with ease should he fall down. 

“Is it always like this? In such a climate, the ice is supposed to be thick rather than crushed.” Stan wasn’t sure if this was also the Dark Lord’s influence that this place looked like those wetlands in the South.

Rae skipped across the ice with ease. “The Dark Lord’s influence must have reached here. However, this place is always like this. I suspect that there’s heat coming from beneath the ground.”

Stan tried to follow her footsteps, but after he moved past, the ice would break into pieces. “This is such a magical place. I can’t believe there’s a heat source beneath the ground.”

“You’ll see more magical places ahead of us.” Rae kept dashing forward as she could feel that the Dark Tide’s army was getting closer to them.

***

With difficulty, Stan tried to stay close to her. Just then, a large area that was azure in color came into their sight. Stan even suspected that he was seeing an illusion. As they approached the area, he finally saw the magnificent view before his eyes clearly. With the help of the faint sunlight, he could see that there was a large area of azure ice blocks that floated on a swamp. The ice blocks came in different sizes—the largest one was as big as a ship, and the smallest one was about the size of a shield. The area was so large that they couldn’t see the end of it. Beneath the floating ice blocks was a mixture of ice water and swamp. There was some crushed ice floating around as well.

“No way… This isn’t a lake, so why would the ice blocks float on a swamp?” Stan was amazed by the sight before his eyes and couldn’t speak clearly. 

“Maybe this is the intelligence of our Maker. No one can explain why there are so many floating azure ice blocks here.” Rae raised her head to feel the environment. “I used to come here to play around when I was a young kid. It’s a dangerous place, and the adults would always chide me for coming here, but I really liked this place.”

“Your hobby was quite different from the other young kids.” Stan turned around worriedly. “How are we going to cross it now?”

“Leave it to me.” Excitement was written all over Rae’s face as she was no longer anxious. “Stan, you must follow my footsteps closely and accurately.”

“Sure. Let’s go.” Stan urged the magician.

***

Rae kept the magic cane and jumped onto the ice block nearest to them. Stan’s chest tightened as he was worried that the ice block would tilt, but it turned out that Rae could stand firmly on it. “Most of the ice blocks are really floating on the swamp, so if you step on any of them, you’ll fall down. However, there are some ice blocks that extend to the bottom of the swamp. These are the ice blocks that’ll help us escape.” Rae motioned for Stan to follow her and looked around before leaping toward the next ice block.

Stan carefully followed her steps. As soon as he landed on the ice block, he could feel how stable it was. “I guess only you can cross this area.”

“No, there was someone who ignored the mockery of others and played with me here, but… a long time has passed that I don’t even remember his name.” Rae replied dispassionately. As her slender figure skipped across the ice swamp, her black hair and cloak swayed along with the cold wind, making her look like an excellent dancer.

Feeling nervous, Stan followed the magician closely. As soon as she jumped toward the next ice block, he would leap off to the previous one she stepped on.

“Stan, after you come here, use your sword and push that ice block further so that the fiends would go to the other side.” Rae gave him some instructions on how to change the location of the ice blocks. “Also, push that one toward the bigger one on the left.”

Stan followed all her instructions as his forehead was beaded with sweat.

***

When they reached the middle of the ice swamp, the location of many ice blocks behind them had been changed. Just then, the neighing of horses could be heard from behind them. Unlike normal horses, the intimidating sound came directly from the chests of the beasts.

“Are they here?” Stan asked in a small voice and wanted to turn his head.

“Don’t look back!” Rae yelled, whereupon the knight stopped what he was doing. “Don’t ever look back. Once you meet the fiend’s eyes, you won’t be able to move again.”

Stan slowly turned his head back. “Is the fiend so powerful that I won’t be able to move again by looking into its eyes?”

Rae still looked ahead. “Fern came across a fiend twice. Do you remember his descriptions of the events?”

“Yes, I do.” Stan brushed away the sweat on his forehead. “Let’s keep moving forward.”

Without uttering a word, Rae leaped off to another ice block. Ignoring the Dark Tide’s army behind them, they kept skipping forward.

***

Just then, the growling of the fiend could be heard behind them, which sounded like the yelling of a prisoner who was about to be executed. In such an open space, its voice was extremely horrifying. Following that, the zombies could be heard wailing as the fiend threatened them to charge forward.

“It seems that the zombies have their own consciousness as they don’t have the guts to step into the swamp.” Stan panted and made a guess.

“You’re right, but as long as the fiend is here, they can’t run away. So, they will definitely sink into the bottomless abyss.” Rae’s breathing became heavy as well. 

They had been running and jumping for a long time. Moreover, since last night, they hadn’t eaten any food. The tiny bit of water they had consumed wasn’t enough to replenish their energy. At that moment, they could feel that their energy was leaving their bodies quickly.

When Rae heard the splashing sounds of water behind them, she curled up her lips, for those sounds were like music to her ears at such a moment. As they moved forward, more splashing sounds could be heard. She secretly counted the number of zombies that had sunk into the swamp. A moment later, all they heard was the wailing of the zombies. Gradually, even the wailing died down.

“I guess it’s over now.” Stan said excitedly.

“Not yet. The fiend is still alive.” Rae started reciting a spell. All of a sudden, she leaped into the air and whirled around, whereupon a dark fog was launched from her magic cane toward the fiend. When she landed on the ice block again, she immediately turned around.

“You…” Stan asked puzzledly. “Weren’t you afraid that you’d meet its eyes?”

“I was afraid, but in order to agitate it and make it follow us, I had no choice.” Rae let out a breath and patted her face. “Anyway, a shadow magician can resist the power of a fiend better than the average person. Furthermore, I chose to whirl around in the air so that I wouldn’t stop to look into its eyes.”

“You’re incredible. But did you look into its eyes? Was it just like how Fern had described it?” Stan followed her and looked at her profile.

“Yes. Even though it was just a short moment, I could never forget the feeling.” Rae let out a breath of relief as though she had just escaped from an apocalypse. “Fortunately, it was just a short moment.”

***

Just then, the fiend and its horse growled at the same time as they charged toward them. Following that, the sound of the hoofs tapping on the ice blocks could be heard behind them. It seemed that the fiend and its horse had skipped across quite some ice blocks. However, the fiend was just dashing forward with brute force, so when its luck ran out, it would mean the end of its life. Finally, the fiend and its horse fell into the swamp and made a splashing sound. After five minutes of growling, the voice of the horse died down first, followed by the fiend. The entire swamp fell into dead silence, as though the Dark Tide’s army had never appeared before.

“Finally…” Rae became at ease.

“But that’s only one fiend. There’s supposed to be one more.” Stan reminded her.

“Yes, I almost forgot about it as I was overwhelmed by the victory.” Rae’s expression turned solemn. “They will reach us soon, so we have to leave immediately. I doubt they’ll take the risk like what their companions did.” Upon finishing her words, she continued jumping forward.

“Do you have a trump card to deal with the other group?”

“No.” Rae stopped to take a short break on an ice block, for she could feel that she didn’t have much energy left. “We’d better leave in a hurry. They’re coming at us from the South.”

“They’re cleverer than I thought.” Stan muttered and followed her closely.

At the moment, the sky had been fully illuminated, so Rae could see the end of the swamp. “There’s solid land over there!”

“Both of us must persevere.” Stan took a deep breath as his legs were trembling slightly. 

***

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