Chapter 529 - Frozen Calamity
Grassland Region.
Moments before the Cataclysm erupted, the advance party of the army had departed for the Western Frontier.
Lilith sat in the back of a large military truck along with two dozen other soldiers despite being offered the privilege to sit in the front seat with the driver, where it was more spacious.
Lilith had insisted on sitting in the back with the other soldiers.
She did not want to take up the seat of another high-ranking soldier due to special treatment from the commander leading the advance party of roughly 2000 men.
The military truck traveled along the main road with 100-odd other military trucks following in tow behind one another, forming a long single row of military trucks.
Lilith's military truck was the leading vehicle in the advance party.
At that moment, when the entire world was struck by the eruption of the sun's great solar flare, the entire advance party managed to avoid the scorching heatwave coming from the sunlight.
Even so, the temperature quickly soared, causing the military trucks' interiors to become hot and stuffy.
The leading military truck came to an abrupt stop due to the sudden change, causing the rest of the transport vehicles following behind to also stop.
"What happened? Where did this heatwave suddenly come from?" A soldier spoke in the back of the leading military truck.
"I don't know, but this heat is killing me! I'll go out and check!" said another soldier, who was seated on the far rear just opposite of Lilith.
However, the soldier only stuck his head out before the intense sunlight burned him.
"Ahhh!" The soldier cried from the searing heat before another soldier seated near the front urged, "Quickly pull him back inside!"
Nevertheless, the nearby soldiers had immediately reacted and pulled the soldier back inside before the person could finish speaking.
Shortly after, they gazed at the burns on the soldier's head before gasping with shock, "How can sunlight be so intense?!"
"How bad is it?" The burned soldier asked with a bitter smile before saying, "I will make sure to always wear my helmet from now on…"
Meanwhile, the commander sitting in the front passenger seat narrowed his eyes before he stated, "The Cataclysm must have erupted!"
"What shall we do now, commander?" The driver asked.
"We can't stay here in the open sunlight. We need to quickly find some shade. Go, take us off road!" The commander spoke before pulling out a communication device to notify the others.
Commander quickly understood that the temperature would eventually drop after the initial surge. However, everyone would be grilled before that happens.
"Yes, sir!"
The driver answered.
Unfortunately, the truck refused to move like it was stuck in something.
"What's the matter? Why aren't we going?"
"Sir, I think the tires have melted!"
…
Meanwhile, Demonic Energy surged from the deep subterranean space underneath the World Tree after the cataclysmic eruption.
Lynne's eyes snapped open from her meditated cultivation before shooting to her feet with furrowed brows.
Looking at the heatwave transforming the world around her into a field of red, Lynne muttered, "Is this the so-called Cataclysm recorded in history. It came so suddenly…"
Shortly after, she frowned at the red energy seeping out from underneath the World Tree while the screams and growls of explorers within could be heard.
She was suddenly surprised by a deep sense of loathing for the red mist despite not knowing what it was. The feeling seems to be surging from deep within her very soul.
A few people managed to take the rope lifts and escaped the subterranean space before they were stopped by soldiers.
"What is happening down there?" The soldier interrogated.
The explorer's eyes darted left and right at what was also happening outside before he responded with panic, "I don't know! Red mists suddenly surged from out of nowhere before people started going crazy and tore at each other!"
"People went crazy and tore at each other…?" The soldier repeated incredulously before he suddenly noticed the explorer's eyes turning red from numerous blood veins. "Hey, are you alrigh—"
The explorer suddenly lunged at the soldier and bit his neck, tearing off a piece of flesh from the person before the soldier wailed, "Ahh! Get him off me!"
"Are you f*cking crazy, cannibalistic psycho!" Two nearby soldiers quickly pulled the frenzied explorer off the soldier.
Bang!
The frenzied explorer was shot dead in the head by another more decisive soldier before the person urged, "Leave the body here and quickly take this brother to get treated by a Wood Awakener!"
"Yes, sir!" The soldiers said after a moment of surprise.
Blood spurted crazily from the soldier's bitten neck while the person tried to stop the bleeding with his hands.
Nevertheless, strength rapidly left the soldier's body due to the blood loss.
"Quickly! We are losing him!"
"Yes, sir!"
At the same time, numerous people in the World Tree vicinity could be seen rushing towards it while holding items of all kinds above their heads, shielding themselves from the intense sunlight.
Without a doubt, the World Tree provided the biggest cover from the sunlight and was also the coolest spot in the Grassland Region!
Anyone taking shelter elsewhere is either too far away or simply idiots! Even so, the World Tree was not exactly the safest place to be either!
"What should we do, sir? We cannot stay near these red mists, but we cannot leave the region either," Asked a soldier as he hoped for a good solution from his immediate superior.
The higher-ranking soldier furrowed his brows in thought before he noticed Lynne approaching the red mist.
"Be careful of the red mists, Miss Lynne! They are dangerous!" The person warned.
However, Lynne did not seem to have heard the soldier.
She continued walking towards one of the many entrances leading to the subterranean space underneath the World Tree before she waved her hand.
A cold breeze quickly flew past, freezing all the red mist before they dropped to the ground like blocks of ice and shattered into countless pieces.
"Leave the subterranean space to me," Lynne said impassively.
While she approached the entrance equipped with rope lifts, her eyes glowed with blue light.
Frosty mists exuded from her being and surrounded her in biting coldness while every step she took left behind patches of frozen soil.
The coldness froze all the red mist before they could come close to Lynne. Even the nearby soldiers suddenly shivered from the chilly air.
On one side, they were freezing from the temperature drop, while on the other side, they were melting from the rising hot temperature.
The temperature around Lynne continued to drop below freezing point, causing the surrounding ground to quickly freeze as they were no longer limited to her footsteps.
Even her black hair quickly turned white again.
Shortly after arriving at the edge, she took her first step into the air before stepping onto a quickly forming staircase of ice.
After reaching the bottom of the subterranean space, all the berserker explorers and researchers in the area were quickly attracted to Lynne's scent and rushed towards her.
Facing a few familiar faces among the group, Lynne's expression was surprisingly calm as she softly uttered, "Ice Phoenix's Absolute Blizzard of Frozen Calamity."
Swoosh—!
A blizzard storm surged out from her body and instantly transformed the entire space into a domain of frozen hell.
The red mist, the people, the ground, the walls, the air itself, everything was frozen in a layer of ice.