Sensing someone approaching, the strange Crystal Man's neck emitted a series of cracking sounds as it slowly turned its head toward Castorice.
In the next instant, it abruptly raised the bow in its hand. Castorice could see that the weapon had actually grown directly from the Crystal Man's arm, seamlessly fused to its limb.
Though the bow lacked a string or arrows, the Crystal Man mimicked the motion of drawing back an arrow. A blue mist surged from the ground beneath its feet, automatically gathering on the bow and condensing into shimmering crystal arrows.
Whoosh!
With a sharp crack through the air, the Crystal Man's arm twitched violently, moving so fast it left afterimages. In less than a second, a dozen arrows streaked forth in rapid succession, forming a nearly perfect line as they hurtled toward Castorice at blistering speed.
So fast!
Since Castorice wasn't far from the Crystal Man, the first arrow reached her in the blink of an eye.
In countless films and television shows, any character with a name seems capable of effortlessly deflecting a hail of arrows with a flurry of clanging strikes. Castorice, however, possessed no such martial prowess, especially now that she was wielding a scythe rather than a sword.
If I could spin this scythe rapidly, creating a barrier to deflect all the arrows, that would look so cool! she imagined.
But that was just a fantasy. In reality, Castorice simply raised the scythe before her, gripping the handle and blade so that the widest part of the blade faced the incoming arrows, using it as a makeshift shield.
Though the Crystal Man fired arrows with incredible speed, they all targeted the same spot. This meant Castorice only needed to position the scythe correctly to block the first arrow; the rest would clatter harmlessly against the blade and ricochet away.
Despite this, the relentless barrage numbed her wrist and forced her to stumble backward several steps.
It was clear that each arrow carried formidable power. Castorice was fortunate her scythe was exceptionally durable; an ordinary shield would likely have been pierced instantly.
Realizing its basic attacks were ineffective, the Crystal Man ceased its rapid-fire assault and drew its bowstring taut, as if charging up a powerful special move.
The next instant, a massive dragon claw descended from the sky with a thunderous crash, slamming directly onto the Crystal Man's head.
Pollux had been watching from the sidelines all along. How could she possibly stand by and watch Castorice get hurt?
When Pollux retracted her claw, a human-shaped crater remained in the ground, the Crystal Man embedded within. Seeing this, Castorice couldn't help but mentally groan, Is this really happening? I thought scenes like this only existed in slapstick cartoons.
All Crystal Men were notoriously tough, and this one proved no exception. But to Castorice's surprise, instead of slowly pushing itself up with its hands, the Crystal Man bounced back to its feet like a roly-poly toy.
Castorice noticed that the Crystal Man's feet hadn't moved an inch throughout the entire fight, as if they were rooted to the ground—or more accurately, frozen in place.
The Crystal Man continued to draw its bow, gathering energy. Seeing this, Pollux slammed another claw down, plunging the battle into a bizarre cycle: Pollux clawed, the Crystal Man sprang up to recharge, Pollux clawed again, and the Crystal Man continued to spring up to recharge.
For some reason, the scene inexplicably reminded Castorice of a twisted game of whack-a-mole, except this mole only had one hole.
Boom! The sound of Pollux's claw striking.
Duang~ The sound Castorice's mind automatically supplied for the Crystal Man's springy rebound.
After countless repetitions, the Crystal Man finally changed its attack pattern. The bow vanished from its hands, and two blue crystal daggers extended from its forearms. It began slashing wildly forward.
With a rapid swish-swish-swish, its arms moved so fast they left multiple afterimages, making it seem as if six limbs were attacking simultaneously.
The outcome was predictable: since the Crystal Man couldn't move, it stood no chance against Pollux. She merely tilted her head slightly, extended a single clawed finger, and flicked the crystalline figure.
Boom!
The immense force struck the Crystal Man squarely on the head. Still rooted to the spot, it didn't fly backward but instead slammed face-up into the ground, leaving a humanoid crater in its wake.
Meanwhile, Castorice twirled a strand of hair around her index finger, lost in thought:
Before the Black Hand used the Sorcerer Divine Artifact, touching the blue mist had only frozen people to death. But since his widespread deployment of the artifact during the battle at the Mage Tower, he had unleashed the latent Extreme Cold power of the Demon Lord, dormant within the city.
A colossal pillar of mist erupted into the sky, blanketing the city in heavy snow. Vast swathes of blue mist materialized and drifted erratically. Anyone who touched this mist afterward was frozen solid and slowly transformed into Crystal Men.
Theoretically, all the Crystal Men were criminals from Chaos City. But... was it possible that the Crystal Man before Castorice wasn't recently created, but a relic from a distant past?
Could it be the corpse of a Hero who had perished from the Demon Lord's power and been transformed into an Ice Puppet?
Castorice began by considering the geographical location. She turned to Aisha and asked, "What used to be here?"
Aisha thought for a moment. "I remember it being a large marketplace. Most of the buildings were dilapidated, and very few people lived here. Oh, and there was this hideously ugly humanoid statue in the center of the market, depicting someone drawing a bow towards the sky..."
As she spoke, Aisha suddenly realized something. She looked at the Crystal Man, whom Pollux was repeatedly poking and prodding, and exclaimed in astonishment, "Could that be... him?!"
The statue's ugliness stemmed from its crude craftsmanship. It didn't look like the work of a skilled artisan; instead, it resembled a person covered in globs of mud that had hardened after drying, leaving only a vaguely discernible outline of a humanoid figure drawing a bow.
Castorice nodded, whispering, "That's highly probable."
The Crystal Man had been dormant until the towering pillar of blue mist erupted beneath the Mage Tower. This event unleashed the Extreme Cold power from three centuries ago, activating the statue and bringing the Crystal Man back to life.
If this Crystal Man truly was a Hero, his identity was easily discernible. The simple fact that he wielded a bow immediately pointed to the Ranger Hero.
While Rangers aren't purely ranged archers, agility remains their paramount attribute. Faster bow draws, quicker enemy maneuvers, and even in close combat, Rangers rely on nimble footwork to outwit opponents—that's the hallmark of their class.
The Crystal Man's previously absurdly fast bow draw and his sword strikes, as if executed with six hands, further corroborated this. In a game, he would undoubtedly be a character with maxed-out attack and movement speed.
Yet this agile warrior now stood frozen, completely immobile. Without a second thought, this was almost certainly the Demon Lord's handiwork. Just imagining it made Castorice shudder. If her theory was correct, she could only imagine the Ranger Hero's despair at that moment.
If the Crystal Man could still move freely, he might have posed a significant challenge for Castorice. But now... Castorice glanced at the Crystal Man pinned to the ground by Pollux's fingernail. There was no contest; he was nothing more than a living target.
The next question was: how should Castorice deal with him?
Since the creature was immobile, could she simply stand back and let Pollux melt him with a single breath? The Crystal Man might be durable, but he shouldn't be able to withstand Pollux's fiery breath.
But that would reduce everything to ashes. What if the Crystal Man was carrying any equipment? Wouldn't that equipment be incinerated along with him?
Just then, a deep voice boomed from behind them. It was Nathaniel, the Barbarian leader. "Attack these monsters' eye sockets!" he shouted. "Extinguish the flames within their eyes, and you'll kill them!"
Castorice glanced back briefly, nodded gently, and slowly approached the Crystal Man. She raised her scythe, aiming the sharpest point of its blade at the creature's empty eye socket.
Under normal circumstances, Castorice's skill would have made piercing the Crystal Man's eye socket with the scythe tip an impossible feat. She simply wouldn't have been able to hit it.
But now, the creature was pinned to the ground by Pollux, completely immobilized. It could only flail its arms, conjuring short blades that clattered harmlessly against Pollux's nails, like a manicurist filing her claws.
Getting too close would risk entering the Crystal Man's attack range, but the scythe's long handle allowed Castorice to maintain a safe distance. She held the scythe steady, aimed carefully at the eye socket, and gently thrust downward.
Ding!
A crisp metallic sound echoed as the scythe tip pierced the Crystal Man's eye socket. The creature's movements froze momentarily, becoming sluggish. Castorice repeated the action, stabbing a second time.
Instantly, the Crystal Man froze completely, as if someone had pressed the pause button.
Seeing this, Pollux slowly raised her paw. Tiny cracks began to appear on the Crystal Man's body, and the blue crystals slowly dissipated, drifting into the air and transforming into small, faintly glowing white specks.
Beneath the crystal, the person's true form gradually became visible to Castorice. The first thing she noticed was a head of loose, shoulder-length green hair, topped with a pair of cat ears.
This Hero... is a catgirl?!
For some reason, Castorice's first thought was, Dio would totally be into this.
Next, she observed a very modest light green outfit that resembled a ghillie suit. If worn in a forest, it would blend in seamlessly, making her nearly invisible.
The bow and dagger she had used earlier had been weapons formed from ice, so the Ranger Hero's hands were now empty.
However, Castorice noticed that the Ranger Hero wasn't wearing any shoes. Her bare feet were small, and a silver ring adorned the second toe of her right foot.
Overall, the Ranger Hero had a very cute appearance, but she was ultimately just a long-dead corpse. The moment the ice crystals completely dissipated, fully revealing her body, it began to slowly dissolve.
Ding!
A crisp chime rang out as a silver ring fell to the ground, the only thing the corpse left behind.
Castorice bent down and picked up the ring. "So, it really did drop equipment?" she thought. "Looks like holding back Pollux's breath attack was the right call, or this ring would have been reduced to ashes."
The dropped item surprised Castorice. Normally, monsters dropped weapons, armor, shoes, gloves, and things like that. But this time, it was an accessory—and a toe ring at that. Was that even a thing?
Though she had no idea what it was for, she decided to stash it away for now.
Having successfully dealt with the Crystal Man version of the Ranger Hero, Castorice approached Nathaniel. Seeing her, Pollux obediently shuffled sideways with a few muffled thuds, clearing a path.
"Thank you very much for your warning," Castorice said. "It was a great help."
Nathaniel replied, somewhat surprised, "It was nothing... But little girl, I never expected it would be you."
Nathaniel wasn't foolish. He could clearly see that the dragon followed Castorice's orders.
Hearing Nathaniel's words, Castorice showed no reaction, but Aisha stepped forward, frowning. "Don't be disrespectful to the Holy Maiden!"
"Ah... Is that so?" Nathaniel scratched his head, then abruptly bowed ninety degrees to Castorice. "It was nothing, but... I never expected it would be you, the Demigod Lord of Death from Okhema, the Eternal Holy City, one of the twelve Chrysos Heirs."
Clearly, Nathaniel had only changed how he addressed Castorice. The rest of his statement was identical to his previous one, word for word, echoing Castorice's earlier self-introduction to him.