Chapter 144: The Unyielding Ice Wall

“Was this the wall the Old Woman spoke of?” Ellie Roth Charlotte gazed at the ice wall, towering into the clouds before her, her expression grim. It wasn’t due to any specific danger, but rather the sheer, unbelievable height of the barrier. It soared far beyond anything they could have ever conceived, a structure reaching an altitude previously thought impossible.

“What should we do?” Ellie Roth Charlotte asked Bai Yu, a genuine doubt creeping into her voice about their ability to scale such a formidable obstacle.

“Why, we’ll simply fly over it, of course,” Bai Yu replied, shrugging nonchalantly. “What difference does a tall wall make to us, when we can soar through the air?” For her, even the most colossal barrier was but a trifle when confronted with her near-supersonic speed.

“I’ll scout ahead,” Bai Yu declared, her movements devoid of hesitation. She simply refused to believe that this so-called wall could truly imprison her.

“Alright,” Ellie Roth Charlotte assented, then began to employ her [Shrink Earth] ability, conjuring air walls in rapid succession to form a makeshift staircase as she ascended, step by laborious step.

Ellie Roth Charlotte’s ascent was swift, her lithe form leaping from one air wall to the next, until she quickly vanished from Bai Yu’s view.

Bai Yu, too, wasted no time, unfurling her wings and rocketing skyward.

Her pristine white wings, refracted by the colossal ice wall, shimmered with an ethereal beauty as she ascended at a speed utterly imperceptible to the ordinary human eye.

Disregarding any expenditure of her spiritual core, Bai Yu poured every ounce of her strength into an upward sprint, soaring directly along the face of the ice wall.

Everything on the ground quickly dwindled to insignificance, and it wasn’t long before Bai Yu had pierced through the cloud cover.

Yet, the ice wall persisted, an endless expanse stretching upwards, seemingly without limit.

‘I refuse to believe you could possibly extend beyond the atmosphere!’ Bai Yu fumed, a rare surge of anger coiling within her. She hadn’t yet tested her ability to leave the blue planet, given her current reliance on oxygen, but she utterly dismissed the notion of any structure reaching such an impossible height. ‘If it were truly that tall, surely it would have been detected from space ages ago.’

Bai Yu continued her relentless ascent. The air around her grew frigid, reaching a point where, both macroscopically and microscopically, this altitude approached absolute stillness; the very atmosphere seemed to have congealed.

Yet, Bai Yu remained utterly impassive, her face a mask. She harbored no desire to linger in this desolate place for even a single additional second.

The faint crackle of ice crystals fracturing reached Bai Yu’s ears, yet it did nothing to halt her progress. At such extreme temperatures, the formation of ice crystals was only to be expected.

A frown creased Bai Yu’s brow, but the sight before her quickly transformed it into a thrill. She had finally glimpsed it—the very apex of the ice wall.

While undeniably immense, the wall, as expected, did possess a zenith. Its altitude truly surpassed that of any other point in the world.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Bai Yu surged directly towards the summit.

However, just as Bai Yu neared the very pinnacle, on the cusp of her escape, an unforeseen anomaly abruptly manifested.

Bai Yu’s body felt as though it had plunged into a thick mire, completely immobilized, preventing her from advancing even a single step further.

‘What is happening?’ Bai Yu wondered, perplexed. There was clearly nothing visible before her, yet she found herself utterly unable to advance another step.

Refusing to yield, she fully activated the wings on her back, even drawing upon the Heaven’s Fire simmering within her.

In an instant, crimson flames blazed forth from her wings once more, propelling Bai Yu upward, directly towards the peak.

This attempt proved significantly more effective than her previous one, yet she still found herself unable to breach the invisible barrier at the wall’s summit.

Bai Yu gasped for the frigid air, her breath misting in the extreme altitude. The exit lay tantalizingly before her, yet she remained utterly trapped, unable to break free.

‘Damn it!’ Bai Yu’s brow furrowed in frustration. She decided to try flying upwards from a point slightly further away from the ice wall. ‘Perhaps,’ she mused, ‘that might circumvent the problem.’

Bai Yu initiated her attempt, but despite her efforts, she found herself utterly unable to ascend beyond the ice wall’s height. She was unequivocally trapped.

Bai Yu retreated to the ice wall, hovering motionlessly in the air, utterly at a loss for what to do next.

Just then, from below, Ellie Roth Charlotte ascended, leaping step by step using her [Shrink Earth] ability. She, too, had spotted the ice wall’s apparent end.

“Why aren’t you out yet? Isn’t this the very top?” Ellie Roth Charlotte asked, standing on an air wall and looking at Bai Yu with a puzzled expression.

Bai Yu could only offer a helpless shake of her head.

“Just try it yourself; you’ll see.”

Unaware of the true predicament, Ellie Roth Charlotte simply continued to conjure air walls and leap higher.

Yet, the moment she was about to clear the ice wall, her body was abruptly constrained, as if by an unseen force. Then, with a violent rebound, she was mercilessly flung back down from the sky.

Ellie Roth Charlotte plummeted from the heavens.

Bai Yu swiftly dove, catching Ellie Roth Charlotte in her arms.

Bai Yu held Ellie Roth Charlotte in a classic princess carry.

“How… how can this be?” Ellie Roth Charlotte murmured, her gaze first fixed on the sky in stunned disbelief, before she finally registered the fact that she was being cradled in Bai Yu’s arms.

Upon realizing her predicament, Ellie Roth Charlotte’s face immediately burned crimson, and she began to struggle, attempting to wriggle free from Bai Yu’s hold.

“Let go of me, quickly…” Ellie Roth Charlotte stammered, covering her face. She had never imagined a day would come when she’d be held like this.

“Alright, alright,” Bai Yu conceded, gently setting Ellie Roth Charlotte down on an air wall she had quickly conjured.

“So what exactly is happening? Why can’t we leave?” Ellie Roth Charlotte demanded, her voice tinged with frustration. She attempted to breach the barrier several more times, yet each effort proved futile; she simply could not cross the invisible boundary of the ice wall.

“How should I know?” Bai Yu sighed, a sound heavy with resignation. “It appears this method of escape is a dead end.” All their efforts, she realized with a pang of frustration, had amounted to nothing; they remained trapped.

“What if we try to melt or break through the ice wall?” Bai Yu suddenly suggested, a flash of inspiration striking her. ‘After all, if it’s an ice wall, melting it should be an option, right?’

Regardless of its thickness, if it could be melted, then their problem was solved.

“It’s certainly worth a try,” Ellie Roth Charlotte agreed, immediately drawing her Curse Seal Blade. With a swift swing, a vast sheet of flame erupted, clinging to the surface of the ice wall.

The flames licked at the ice wall, burning fiercely, yet not the slightest trace of melting appeared. The ice wall remained perfectly smooth, utterly undisturbed.

Refusing to accept this, Ellie Roth Charlotte relentlessly conjured more flames, sending streak after streak to assault the wall.

Yet, despite her most strenuous efforts, she couldn’t leave even the slightest blemish upon the ice wall’s surface.

Ellie Roth Charlotte shook her head. It was clear that ordinary flames stood no chance of melting this ice wall.

This was no realm where mundane laws of physics held sway; this was the true, the ‘real,’ world of Arcanists.

Bai Yu stepped forward, her Heaven’s Fire finally poised to prove its worth.

Surely, flames capable of incinerating spiritual essence would be sufficient to melt this stubborn ice, wouldn’t they?

Bai Yu unleashed her crimson flames, igniting them with full power from the outset, causing her spiritual core to drain at an alarming rate.

Given Bai Yu’s inherently vast spiritual reserves, the flames, unleashed at this output, achieved a terrifying intensity.

Like a raging fire dragon, the inferno slammed relentlessly against the ice wall, desperately attempting to melt the frigid expanse.

The overwhelming inferno blazed for a full minute, persisting until Bai Yu sensed she had exerted sufficient power, at which point she ceased her assault.

Yet, the scene before her froze Bai Yu in her tracks.

Bai Yu’s Sacred Flame, unleashed with every fiber of her being, had managed to carve only a minuscule indentation into the ice wall, an indentation that was now visibly repairing itself at an astonishing pace. In less than a second, the ice wall had completely regenerated, appearing as pristine as before.