Lord: I have built a witch's sanctuary.

Chapter 137 First Battle Against the Frigid Winter

Chapter 136 First Battle Against Winter (Part 2)

The deepest part of the blizzard.

The Winter Lord rode atop a frost behemoth the size of a small mountain, overlooking the battlefield ahead.

He watched as the demon army was forced to retreat by the Witch's Tower, but he showed no signs of anxiety.

"As expected, there is a fourth-tier witch's tower."

The Winter Lord's deep voice echoed through the blizzard, carrying a chilling rationality, "There are still quite a few—it seems that little lord does indeed have some skill."

Beside him, several third-tier demonic lieutenants cowered, not daring to utter a sound.

From the very beginning, the Winter Lord did not expect these second- and third-tier grunts to pose any real threat to a city with a fourth-tier witch.

They are just pioneers.

The least valuable piece on the chessboard.

Their sole mission is to shorten the distance between the Winter Lord and Frostwolf City.

Under the cover of these cannon fodder, the Winter Lord can advance steadily with the army until they enter his attack range.

At that time, a mere human city will be nothing more than a lamb to the slaughter in the face of a fifth-tier monster.

but----

The Winter Lord's gaze lingered for a moment on the hordes of fallen monsters before him.

"We can't let them die in vain."

He whispered something.

These monsters are low-level and worthless.

However, he has a trump card that requires some low-level monsters as a medium to unleash.

Too many people can't die.

The Winter Lord slowly raised his right hand.

A terrifying magical power surged from his body, as vast as the sea and as heavy as a mountain.

The magic pierced through the blizzard, passed over the heads of thousands of monsters, and condensed above the entire monster horde into a colossal, massive, ice-blue, mobile shield.

The shield descended from the sky, like an inverted giant bowl, enveloping tens of thousands of monsters.

The surface is covered with intricate ice patterns, each line containing the laws of winter.

Winter Shield.

On the city wall, Catherine's expression suddenly changed.

"Shield!"

A bolt of lightning that her Storm Tower had just fired struck the ice-blue shield with a deafening roar.

Arcs of electricity leaped wildly across the shield's surface, emitting blinding light, but the shield remained completely still.

Ohm's magic-powered cannonballs followed closely behind, with all twelve shells hitting the same area of ​​the shield simultaneously, turning that area a fiery red with the light of the explosions.

However, when the flames subsided, only a few shallow cracks appeared on the surface of the shield, which were then repaired to their original state by the newly surging icy blue energy.

Olivia's thorny vines tried to penetrate the bottom of the shield, but as soon as they touched the edge of the shield, they were frozen into ice sculptures by the extreme cold and broke off brittlely.

"It can't be broken." Olivia frowned, her voice filled with suppressed anxiety.

Lorraine's gaze darkened.

The shield supported by the fifth-tier monster was indeed difficult to break through in a short time, even with the help of the fourth-tier and third-tier Witch Towers.

This isn't a matter of whether the firepower is strong enough; it's a matter of overwhelming superiority in terms of rank.

At least, this shield cannot be broken in a short time.

Below the city wall, the monster army, protected by the Winter Shield, has regrouped.

No longer needing to withstand the barrage of fire from the Witch's Tower, they began to advance towards the city walls at an even faster pace.

The icy blue shield moved slowly across the snowfield, like a mobile fortress, blocking all attacks from the walls.

The Witch's Tower continued to fire relentlessly, with lightning, cannonballs, and thorns raining down on the shield, but with little effect.

Each attack could only create a ripple on the surface of the shield before being smoothed out by the power of the Winter Lord.

Three hundred meters.

Two hundred meters.

One hundred meters.

The monster army is getting closer and closer.

The atmosphere on the city wall became heavy.

Fear returned to the faces of the militiamen, and some of them began to tremble.

Deep within the blizzard, the Winter Lord watched as the demon army beneath his shield was about to reach the city walls, and couldn't help but burst into laughter.

The laughter pierced through the blizzard and the roar of the Witch's Tower, reaching clearly into the ears of everyone on the city wall.

"Ha ha ha ha""

The laughter was filled with a brutal, savage pleasure.

soon.

Soon I will be able to step into that city.

The world rules reward those who kill a human.

If you kill enough monsters, the rules may even bestow upon you rare artifacts that can indirectly enhance your monster's strength.

And when he returns to the far north with the spoils of war, the gods of the Abyss Order will bestow upon him divine blood.

Divine blood.

That's a treasure that can make a fifth-tier monster reach the threshold of the sixth tier.

Thinking of these things, a rare glimmer of anticipation welled up in the heart of the Winter Lord, a heart usually filled with tyranny and slaughter.

He stood up, straightening his massive body from the frost behemoth's back, and roared towards Frostwolf City, "Humans on the walls!"

His voice, amplified by fifth-tier magic, boomed like thunder across the heavens and earth, causing the snow on the city walls to fall in a flurry.

"You weak creatures, do you think you can stop me with a few dilapidated third or fourth-tier towers?"

The Winter Lord's blue eyes burned with a cold light. "I am the Winter Lord! A monarch-level monster, all should kneel and tremble at my feet!"

The city wall was deathly silent.

The Winter Lord basked in the silence brought about by the fear he had instilled, then changed the subject, his tone surprisingly generous.

"But I'm in a good mood now."

He stretched out a finger covered in ice crystals towards the battlements, pointing to where Lorraine was.

"You, little lord. If you are willing to open the city gates and surrender to me, I might spare your lives."

He paused, then added, "But only those of you at level four or higher can survive. The conditions are simple: undergo a transformation ritual, become a monster, and become my subordinate."

The voice of the Winter Lord turned cold.

"You killed three of my fourth-tier generals. Perfect, let you professionals fill the gaps."

On the city wall, Lorraine couldn't help but laugh after hearing these words.

It wasn't a sneer, nor a bitter laugh, but a heartfelt mockery that found utterly absurd.

But he didn't rush to refute it.

"All fourth-tier professionals are being transformed into monsters? What about the common people in the city?"

Lorraine's voice wasn't loud, but amplified by Catherine's wind magic, it still reached the ears of the Winter Lord clearly. The Winter Lord paused for a moment, then burst into even more unrestrained laughter.

"What? You also want to enjoy the benefits of monsters gaining strength after slaughtering humans?"

He laughed so hard his entire ice armor trembled. "It's alright, I'm in a good mood right now. If you're willing to surrender, I might as well give you a share of these prey."

His laughter suddenly stopped, and a vicious glint flashed in his blue pupils.

"Or are you nobles somehow still possessing humanity? So much so that you care about the lives of these commoners?"

A few seconds of silence lingered on the city wall.

The Lord of Winter awaits.

He didn't think Lorraine would refuse.

In his view, any rational human should choose to compromise in the face of the threat of a fifth-tier monster.

After all, you have everything if you're alive.

As for nobles, when have they ever cared about the lives of commoners?

However-

"I refuse."

Lorraine's voice was calm and crisp, without the slightest hesitation.

The Winter Lord's smile froze on his face.

"Don't misunderstand, it's not because of any kindness, it's just that I still prefer to be human."

"After all, you monsters..."

Lorraine paused, looking at the face of the Winter Lord distorted by ice crystals in the blizzard in the distance, and slowly uttered the last few words: "It's just too ugly."

On the city wall, Victor was the first to burst into laughter.

Catherine's lips curled up slightly.

Ohm covered his mouth and chuckled.

Leila lowered her head, her shoulders trembling slightly.

Anna stood behind Lorraine, her lips slightly pursed, her eyes filled with undisguised pride.

Deep within the blizzard, the Winter Lord's expression turned completely somber.

In his icy blue pupils, tyranny replaced all other emotions.

"You arrogant human."

His voice no longer carried any pretense of "generosity," but was filled with naked murderous intent.

"I gave you a chance, but you didn't cherish it."

The Winter Lord slowly straightened his body, and the pressure of winter suddenly surged. A blizzard swirled wildly around him, forming a snow vortex that was hundreds of meters high.

"Then don't blame me for being impolite!"

He turned around, facing the tens of thousands of restless demonic troops behind him, spread his arms, and let out a roar that shook the heavens and the earth: "All troops, heed my command!"

"Attack the city with all your might!"