The Frost Flower Knight

Chapter 4

Yulia looked back at where she had been standing. There was now a deep crater. Next to it stood a two-headed monster, baring its yellow fangs at her.

Her eyes widened. “A twinhead?”

The twinhead ogre was a mutated ogre with two heads on its shoulders. These mutants were several times stronger than regular ogres, not to mention much larger—and it just so happened that this one was targeting Yulia.

The double-headed beast snorted loudly, glaring at the girl who had dodged its club. It was angry because it wanted to kill her in one blow but had failed to do so.

Graaa!

The twinhead charged at her with visible fury on its face. With every stomp, the ground shook, and trees fell. It was a frightening sight to behold as it swung its cudgel around madly.

Yulia drew her sword, dodging the attacks with all her might. This ogre’s movements were very agile for its size. She would become mush in an instant if she moved even a split second too slowly.

“I just came back to life… I won’t let this be my grave.”

As Yulia continued to dodge like an annoying pest, the twinhead started banging on its chest and charged in at a greater speed. She moved quickly away and used her mana to shroud her sword with a chill. As she swung it as hard as she could, the chill that blasted forth from her sword froze the air around it to form an ice spear, which went flying toward the ogre.

Whoosh!

Clang!

“Urgh…!”

The ice spear was deflected by the monster’s wildly swinging club in an overwhelming display of force. The ogre swung the cudgel again at Yulia. Seeing the weapon coming for her head, Yulia turned, dodged to the side, and jumped into the air. She swung her sword in an X shape. The surrounding air froze once more and formed blades of ice that flew toward the twinhead’s eyes.

Even though the monster had tough, armor-like skin, its eyes were soft. This was common knowledge to her. It wasn’t the first time she had faced off against an ogre, so she knew how to weaken them.

The blades of ice slashed one of the ogre’s eyes.

Kraaa!

With one of its eyes bloodied and out of commission, the twinhead went on a rampage, shrieking loudly. Yulia ended up getting struck by one of its randomly flailing arms.

“Urgh!”

She was using mana to maintain a layer of protection on her body, so she avoided any fatal injuries. Still, the physical shock was unavoidable. She wiped the blood from her mouth with the back of her hand. It wasn’t time to relax yet. Although it was missing an eye, the twinhead was just as strong as before.

Yulia’s eyes flickered with fierce determination. She would go head-to-head with this terrifying beast regardless of the outcome. Her heart beat hard with the thrilling prospect of an all-out battle.

“Okay, monster. It’s you and me, in a fight to the death!”

She got up and raised her mana level. Her sword began to exude an aura. It was incomplete, but a faint blue aura was now enveloping the blade of her sword. She had poured all the mana she could muster into the sword.

This was a highly risky move on Yulia’s part. If a non-master ever attempted to use the Aura Blade, the body would not be able to withstand the burden. But this was Yulia, after all. She endured it—the robust body and blood of the Rosenthals made it possible. A regular person would have crumbled instantly under the pressure.

“Hah!”

Yulia darted forward and instantly sliced through the twinhead’s left leg. Aura Blade could cut through anything it touched, and the fortified skin of an ogre was no exception. The leg of the monster was cut cleanly off by her sword like bamboo.

Kroarrr!

The twinhead lost its balance and fell with a painful roar. Seeing a golden opportunity to finish it off, Yulia gulped the blood pushing up against her throat back down and swung her sword at the monster’s head with all her strength.

Slash!

Thud.

The massive heads of the twinhead fell, as did Yulia herself.

Huff, huff. Gasping for breath, she wiped away the blood around her mouth. She had pushed herself much too hard by using all of her mana, and she coughed up some blood as a result.

As she began to calm herself and breathe a sigh of relief, she heard a voice from behind, which startled her.

“It’s still too early to lower your guard.”

When she whipped around, she saw the blue-haired man smiling, sitting on a tree and pointing somewhere.

“Look behind you.”

Yulia’s gaze followed the direction he was pointing. To her dismay, another twinhead was furiously charging at her, frothing at the mouth.

The man spoke again.

“You’ve killed the female, so the male must be very angry.”

Yulia’s face went pale.

The man grinned and said, “All the best. I wish I could help, but I must be going now.”

Yulia glared at him incredulously. What the heck?

“Please don’t look at me like that. I really want to help, but I do have to get going. Do your best. You can do it! I know you can!”

And with those words, he departed without so much as a glance, leaving Yulia to fend for herself.

“Huh? Did he really leave just like that?”

Isn’t it normal to help out in a situation like this even if you’re busy? she thought and grimaced.

“Does he not want to help me because… I’m ugly?”

That was the only reason she could think of. Regardless, she didn’t have the time to lounge around. It wasn’t time to relax yet.

From a distance, the enraged male twinhead raced toward her at a frenzied rate. Perhaps she was destined to meet her end today at the flailing arms of the two-headed beast.

***

Thud.

Finally, the gigantic twinhead ogre fell. Yulia also plopped onto the ground. She looked up at the sky, panting. Daybreak was already approaching. There was no energy left in her body. She felt like she couldn’t move a muscle.

Due to her overuse of mana, her insides were a mess as well. She really had to reach deep to squeeze out every last bit of mana to fight the intimidating beast. Her well of mana had gone dry, with not a single drop left. In her current state, there was absolutely nothing she could do other than barely move her eyelids to blink.

I must remain conscious.

She kept repeating this over and over in her head, but it was nearly impossible to stop her eyes from drooping shut.

I… have to get up…

She tried to move but couldn’t. A fearful thought crossed her mind.

Am I going to die like this?

It felt like her whole body was torn up. There was no knowing what would happen if she let her eyes close.

I mustn’t…

She was in a prohibited zone that was heaven for monsters. If she faded away like this, they would find her and devour her.

Yulia tried her absolute hardest to stay alert, but no part of her body would budge. She realized how massively heavy her eyelids felt.

I don’t want to die…

She had just come back to life. It was so unfair that she was going to die so soon again. Who knew she would kick the bucket so quickly? If there was a god out there, he was a cruel one, that was for certain.

In the end, Yulia closed her eyes as her body went limp. As soon as that happened, monsters began creeping out of the shadows, drooling at the prospect of devouring fresh human meat.

Then, as the creatures began to reach for Yulia’s body, something miraculous happened. A blinding flash of light came out of her chest. The monsters all scurried away in panic.

Fshhh!

Yulia’s body floated in the air as the light embraced her whole, and then a change began to occur. Her dark, rough skin cracked and began to flake away to reveal a milky white texture. Instead of the dirty-looking bushy hair, there was now long, silky smooth silver hair. Her physique changed as well. All the bulky muscles of her chunky figure went away. Her chest became fuller, her limbs turned slender, and her waist now had an attractive curve.

Of course, her face also changed from the burly square-jawed appearance to a nice round shape. Her flat nose became straight and sharp, her eyes became large and beautiful, and her cherry-red lips completed the perfectly proportioned features of her face. Her damaged insides also regenerated, becoming stronger than before.

She was born again into a new vessel. The new body gathered mana from its surroundings and filled it with a brilliant blue color. A radiant blue mana core emitted light from right above her chest. Finally, Yulia’s new body slowly began to descend. Her eyes were still closed, and she was still unconscious.

Whoosh!

A refreshing breeze came sweeping in and brushed against Yulia’s whole body. After some time, she finally opened her eyes. She felt much lighter than before and full of energy. She lifted her hand and looked at it. It was delicate and fair, like the one she had seen before she died the first time.

Her eyes widened. “Is this my hand?”

She abruptly rose and examined every part of her body that she could see. Not only her hands, but her legs had become slim as well. Her chest had become full, her waist thin. Her body had become a slim, feminine type, so the clothes she was wearing naturally became quite baggy.

She felt her arms and legs and every other part of her body with her hands. Those large muscles that she had trained were no longer there. Her skin was soft and fair with a silky texture. An appropriate amount of muscles rounded out her womanly figure. Then, she moved her hands to her face. Instead of the intimidating square shape of her face, her chin had gotten significantly smaller. She couldn’t see it right now but could tell it was beautiful.

“Did I… really do it?”

She bolted upright, overly excited. Her loose clothes hung down. Her pants, which used to be fitted to her previous body shape, were now loose. Even her boots were too big now. She really had transformed.

“I-I need to check.”

Feeling it out with her hands wasn’t enough. She wanted to confirm with her own eyes, so she started to head immediately for the cave where she was staying. Inconveniently, there were monsters waiting for the opportunity to strike.

Yulia picked up her sword from the ground with a sigh.

“Sorry, guys. I’m a little busy, you see. Let’s get this done fast.”

The sword felt much lighter than before. Her swings had become more swift. With a smile, Yulia began slashing at her enemies. All the monsters dropped dead almost as quickly as the fight began.

The ease of this battle made her realize she was now in a whole new body.

***

Once she returned to the cave, Yulia checked out her reflection in the small pool of water. Her orc-like face was gone. Instead, a lovely face like a fairy’s looked back at her.

“It happened. I really changed…”

It didn’t really sink in for her right away, so she kept feeling her face. But this beautiful face truly was her own.

She thought about the fight she had with the twinhead ogre. She had drawn out every last bit of her power to take down the monster. She had focused one hundred percent of her senses on the sword, with her sole purpose at that moment being the beast. That was her determination behind each swing of the sword. The only thing that kept it together for her was her unwavering resolve to survive, avoid death at all costs, and defeat the ogre. In the end, she had successfully slain her opponent.

I poured out everything in me to kill that thing. And then…

She had lost consciousness. And when she woke up, her body had undergone a transformation, with the mana core over her chest giving off a dazzling blue light.

“Have I really become a master?”