Conjunction.

—

[Two hours later. Morning.]

After closing his eyes for a bit to clear his mind after the emotional roller coaster he had been through, Richard woke up to a loud shout followed by a volley of explosions. Grabbing his longsword, which was still shiny like a brand new forged blade, unlike the katana that had already bent after using the First and Second Forms of his Breathing, Richard quickly dashed forward, exiting the caravan.

Seeing the snowy ground once more, and not just the snow but also feeling the temperature continuously dropping, he looked in the direction of the forest where he found the culprit. Ten-meter-tall ice elementals spewed large amounts of frozen water, turning the surrounding forest into blizzard lands.

Luckily, the projectiles were unable to break the yellow protective barrier created by the Aretuzan sorceress. Numerous monsters that looked like hounds but had scales made entirely of ice scattered throughout the forest, making the once vibrant land colder and colder.

Jumping from the platform, Richard instantly executed the Second Form: Dance of the Whirlwind Dragon, gliding through the terrain and decapitating every hound monster in his way. Finishing his final slash on the elemental's legs, he only chipped a small amount of ice crystals. Dodging the club-like hand that swung toward his head, Richard took a step back.

Knowing that his blade and breathing form were only good for slashing and not smashing, he tried to come up with a different form entirely. Dodging the swing once again, Richard saw Margarita teleporting some of the caravan company to safety. Remembering the time he exited the portal, where his fourth form could refine every part of his muscle, he then channeled this breathing form entirely into his arm. Subsequently, he coated the blade with the same rejuvenating pattern to prevent it from bending completely from the sheer force of power he was about to unleash.

Dodging the swing again, he lightly turned the blade to use its side faces. Slashing and pounding downward, the ice elemental's club-like hand was destroyed in an instant. However, unaware that the elemental didn't feel pain, Richard only saw the creature stomping its leg into the ground before a large amount of glacial mass knocked him upward.

Falling to the ground with a loud thud, Richard braced for the pain that would come with it. But looking down at his tattered and destroyed nagagi kimono, he found only a small scratch on his slightly muscular body. Amazed by the defensive capability given by the fourth form, Richard stood up once again to finish the job. This time, instead of relying solely on brute strength, he added a touch of AOE attack by utilizing the scorching element in a 360-degree radius.

With one pound after another, every ice elemental in the area fell to his hand, along with the surrounding hounds that were too close to his fourth form attack, which he named Whirl of Blue Sky, as it was currently morning with a blue haze in the sky.

—

Flicking the black blood of the last hound to the side, Richard cast his gaze at the longsword, now bent from the sheer force of multiple Fourth Form attacks. Even when he tried to sheathe it, the blade could not enter the scabbard because it was already curved and twisted at a funny angle. Sighing at the sight of the precious king's blade reduced to no more than a lump of iron, he tossed it aside, not caring in the slightest that it was once wielded by the ruler of Redenia.

"Is that the last of them?"

Turning his head to the side where Margarita had teleported, Richard answered and requested at the same time, "Yes. Care to tell me what they are?"

Looking at the slain hound on the ground, Margarita replied, "They are the favored spawns of the Aen Elle elves. Hounds of the Wild Hunt. But I don't know why there are so many ice elementals here."

"Say, do you have a spare sword that I can use? No matter what kind. Any sword will do."

"Hmm… Just a sec. Let me sense my wizard's grotto. A sword, a sword. Ahh, here they are."

With a wave of her hands, an oriental scimitar that Richard guessed was mainly used for decoration appeared before his eyes. Catching the falling blade, he then heard Margarita describe the sword's origin.

"Ofieri Saber. From the land of Ofir. Sigh, oh how long has it been? Sixty or seventy years ago, I can't seem to remember."

Scrutinizing Margarita's alluring figure up and down, which looked like that of a twenty-five-year-old woman, Richard tuned his vision to see deep into the Transparent World. But truly seeing the same alluring young lady's body instead of a grandma-like physique, Richard couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "Is it really sixty years ago?"

Noticing Richard's scrutinizing gaze, Margarita rolled her eyes, "Yes. And yes, I am old. Old enough to be your grandmother."

Seeing Richard still looking at her suspiciously with even more intensity than before, Margarita bloomed her hand and produced sparkling ice, "Magic."

"Now come. We don't have time for idle chatter. Novigrad might be in danger."

So, just like that, Richard and the company resumed their journey, albeit at a slower speed this time since they needed to stop from time to time to clear the waves of monsters blocking their passage. By the time they arrived and saw Novigrad in the distance, or what was left of it, they couldn't help but cry aloud in despair.

Seeing thousands upon thousands of these hounds, some turning black from their original icy blue color, Richard sucked in a deep, cold breath. There was no way the people in the city survived this kind of assault, especially when he gazed at the ten-meter-tall ice elementals that looked like a human sitting on a makeshift frozen throne in the distance.

To the right of him, large piles of corpses wearing black armor decorated the scenery. While on the left, a large portal that was constantly getting bigger and bigger continuously poured out bunches of hounds and ice elementals. If not closed, maybe, just maybe, the frozen land itself would be teleported.

"Arch-mistress, look! It's Lady Philippa and Lady Triss!"

Turning his head and looking at the opposite side of the city where the dock was located, he saw the two ladies in question. The blind one was keeping a protection bubble activated so that many refugees could safely board the ship while the red-haired one launched a meteor shower from atop the lighthouse.

Gazing back at Margarita, still terrified upon realizing how messed up the Second Conjunction of the Spheres was, Richard ordered, "Rita, go ahead first and protect everyone. I will open up a passage."

—