Chapter 90: Crossing the Line
"Lord..."
"Go!" Baron Ster suddenly pushed Ion hard. "Lead them in breaking out."
Molly, directly charged toward Ion, without a word,.
Her thought was very simple.
Ion and Roda were only Second-Tier and First-Tier Bloodline Users, respectively. It wouldn’t take much time to deal with them.
As for those soldiers, there was even less to be said. So killing these people wouldn’t take her much time, and after that, she could turn around and kill the Lord of White Mountain Territory to complete her mission.
But just as Molly moved, she abruptly stopped.
She exerted so much force that she drove her foot several inches into the ground; her right ankle sank directly into the earth.
Over a dozen sharp ice spikes tore through the air, shooting forth and grazing right past her, had she not stopped, she would have had to face the full brunt of these ice spikes. Even with her strength, handling such an attack would not be easy, because the coverage of these spikes was too concentrated.
Molly glared furiously, the red in her eyes deepening several shades.
Baron Ster remained calm in expression.
But the frosty mist and cold aura around him surged ferociously, practically baring fangs and claws.
One ice spike after another rapidly condensed mid-air within the frost mist. In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen ice spikes had already formed.
Ion looked deeply at Baron Ster, then finally gritted his teeth, turned around, and ran, raising his sword and charging at the soldiers Molly had brought. "Everyone, break through with me!"
Following Ion’s lead, all the soldiers quickly followed.
In less than a month, these veteran soldiers felt as if they had experienced over a year of war: during this time, they rapidly absorbed combat riding, mountain climbing, continuous breakout battles, defensive combat, and extreme environment survival, skills they hadn’t even dared to dream of learning before.
All those who failed to grow swiftly had already become corpses; and those who had survived these many battles and deadly encounters were beyond the elite now.
Several long spears thrust out sharply.
With a swing of his longsword, Ion sliced off the front ends of these spears.
Then Roda, relying on his tough bones and strong recovery ability, charged into the crowd without hesitation, smashing open a gap.
Originally, Baron Ster would have followed up with his ice spikes to quickly tear through the enemy formation, laying the groundwork for the veteran soldiers’ charge.
But now, Baron Ster was entangled by Molly and could not provide support.
However, after so many battles, even the originally mediocre militia had transformed into elite veterans.
So these soldiers were not bewildered; instead, just like in countless previous battles, they followed closely behind Ion, charging into the enemy lines, using their blades and swords to swiftly cut down all enemies in sight and rapidly widening the breach that Roda had opened.
Just as Baron Ster had done so many times before.
Now, the task of breaking the formation fell to Ion.
Black flames blazed furiously.
Ion continued swinging his sword, killing enemies, slashing, and killing, wiping out every foe in his field of vision.
Then, when he suddenly realized there were no more enemies in front of him, he became aware that he had already pierced through the enemy formation.
So he quickly stopped, turned around, and began cutting down those enemies attempting to encircle them.
From spearhead to rearguard, he enabled more veterans to break through the enemy formation and escape, preventing them from being trapped inside.
But even so, by the end of this breakout charge, fewer than twenty veteran soldiers remained around Ion.
Roda led the team to continue advancing, while Ion was responsible for rearguard combat, a role usually taken by Baron Ster, since only his frosty mist and cold aura was best suited to stop enemy pursuit.
Compared to Baron Ster, Ion clearly lacked that particular advantage, but he possessed something the baron did not: a stronger deterrent through killing.
Watching Ion and the others break through, Molly made several attempts to disengage and intercept them.
But Baron Ster equally exhausted all his strength to block her.
For the first time, the frosty mist did not spread out around Baron Ster but coiled like a flexible python around Molly, forcibly affecting her speed, even though Baron Ster knew that his mist could not truly restrain Molly and at best would only slightly slow her down, he could not give up, not for Ion, Roda, nor those soldiers who had followed them east and west in search of a sliver of survival.
Sixteen ice spikes once again launched forward in a fierce volley.
Seeing the rapidly approaching ice spikes, Molly’s eyes instantly turned blood-red, and her snow-white skin rapidly flushed pink.
The frosty mist that coiled around her like a giant python swiftly evaporated into a puff of white smoke.
It was the result of the boiling blood generating extreme high temperatures.
The most terrifying aspect of the Bloodthirsty Beast stemmed precisely from this point: when the blood in their bodies flowed rapidly, they would enter a frenzied state.
This condition not only increased their speed and intensified their desire to attack, but also significantly enhanced their physical strength, power, and various bodily functions.
The ability gained from Molly’s awakened Bloodthirsty Beast bloodline was a special power called the Boiling Blood Effect. It enabled Molly to instantly enter a state of blood-boiling eruption, greatly amplifying her speed, strength, stamina, dynamic vision, and other bodily capabilities.
However, most Bloodline Users who awakened the Bloodthirsty Beast bloodline would usually enter a state of irrational chaos upon activating this ability.
But Molly, due to that pair of pendant earrings, usually did not lose her rationality because of it. On the contrary, she was able to maintain a relatively clear-headed state.
The oncoming ice spikes appeared to be moving at a turtle’s pace in her eyes.
Blood seeped from the capillaries of her hands, quickly converging into a pair of blood-red gauntlets.
In the next instant, Molly raised her fists and struck repeatedly.
All sixteen ice spikes were instantly shattered by her punches.
Yet what seemed like slow motion to her appeared, to outside observers, as if the ice spikes exploded into stardust-like powder before reaching her, they hadn’t even seen Molly make a move.
Immediately after, the white smoke radiating from Molly’s body completely dissipated.
And she herself had somehow already appeared in front of Baron Ster.
Without a single word, her right hand pierced directly into Baron Ster’s heart.
The intense pain caused Baron Ster’s vision to go black.
Yet he did not collapse.
He suddenly reached out and grabbed Molly’s right hand, his previously calm face revealing a trace of a mad grin.
"Shu—"
Two large ice spikes, considerably thicker than the others, suddenly erupted from the ground, thrusting at Molly from both sides.
However, Molly showed no fear or panic.
Her figure suddenly leapt into the air, flipping upside down midair. The two ice spikes collided with each other, shattering on impact. Then, Molly slowly descended from midair.
"Nice try. Maybe someone else would’ve been dragged to death with you, but unfortunately for you, it’s me you’re dealing with."
Molly twisted her right hand and broke free from Baron Ster’s grip.
Baron Ster seemed like he still wanted to speak, but as soon as he opened his mouth, only blood poured out.
He tried several times, but ultimately failed to utter a word, and a look of deep regret appeared on his face.
Then, his breath gradually faded.
After pulling her hand back, Molly casually crushed the heart she held and turned, without a backward glance, to chase in the direction Ion and the others had fled.
However, she had barely gone far when she had to stop.
She stared at both sides of the mountain path, her expression growing increasingly vicious.
Two figures slowly emerged from the mountain path.
They watched Molly with wary expressions, weapons already drawn, poised to enter combat at any moment.
One of them spoke directly: "According to the agreement, Baron Ster is already dead. You should be retreating."
"Those who escaped earlier must also die!" Molly stared at the two Bloodline Users blocking her path and said in a deep voice, "And the Second-Tier Bloodline User who tried to ambush me earlier, Yam Soderbell! He must die too!"
"The Soderbell Family was not part of the agreement," the man who had spoken first replied gravely. "We gave you plenty of time. You wasted it. Now Ion Soderbell has returned to the White Mountain Territory. The agreement between our Red Eagle Territory and your Fertile Territory is over."
"Get out of the way!" Molly’s aura grew increasingly intense. "Or die!"
As Molly’s presence grew heavier, with white smoke continuously rising from her body, clearly reaching a state of near-berserk eruption, the two Bloodline Knights of the Kasein Family standing in front of her began to falter.
They had heard of the name Blood Knight, and that very knowledge made them all the more apprehensive.
Especially since their true leader, the one in charge, Hans Kasein, had gone off in pursuit of Yam after seeing Nail give chase.
After all, they all knew that the Marquis held Yam Soderbell in extremely high regard, and thus could not allow anything to happen to him.
But they had not anticipated that this Blood Knight would actually have the intent to break the agreement.
The two Bloodline Knights exchanged glances and saw the hint of retreat in each other’s eyes.
But Molly had already lost her patience.
Seeing that the two of them had no intention of stepping aside, she no longer hesitated. With a roar, she charged straight at them.
Agitation, fury, unease, a host of emotions, combined with the aftereffects of the Bloodthirsty Beast bloodline, finally pushed Molly into complete madness: she had begun to lust for blood.