[BL] Accidentally Becoming the Healer of the Deranged Archduke-Chapter 259: Grey Icy Monster

Xion’s fist curled up, a bead of sweat dripped down his temple. His eyes were locked onto a Nine-foot-tall monster.

Its wrinkled grey skin was frozen into thick blades of ice, and with the way it was moving so nimbly, it was obvious that the freezing cold had little to no effect on its mobility.

Unlike Xion, the monster’s feet moved freely, while his own seemed frozen stiff.

Standing in the frozen lands without shoes was never a good decision but so was wearing the wet shoes!

All he wanted to do was wear a new pair of shoes, yet the time didn’t spare him that mercy.

Now on his bare feet, he lunged forward, the cold bit deep into his red soles. It was as if a thousand needles were prickling at once. His breath came out in heavy gasps, visible in the icy air as clouds of mist.

He could barely feel his toes anymore, but the monster wasn’t going to wait for him to adjust.

It snarled, ice blades cracking along its limbs as it moved.

Xion forced his legs to obey, stumbling to the left just in time to dodge a sweeping claw that would have taken his head clean off. The beast’s hand crashed into the boulder behind him, splintering the surface into jagged shards.

One of those splinters flew down and pierced into his bare foot, but with the numbness spreading to his ankles the blood flowing down only made him feel slightly warm.

"Think, Xion. Think," he muttered to himself, teeth chattering as he backed away, trying to hide himself under the cover of his big coat and the rocky edges.

Fighting it head-on wasn’t an option — not with his feet numb and his fists trembling from the cold. Maybe I should have brought a grenade with me!

But the system was still nowhere to be called.

The monster’s grey skin was diamond-hard, and no matter how sharp his mana threads were, they proved useless against the brute.

Repeatedly using his mana had only drained him further, and worse, it seemed to fuel the rage simmering in the monster’s red eyes.

His eyes flicked around the desolate tundra. Snow stretched endlessly, but the boulder broken by the monster protruded like broken teeth now, glimmering with sharpness.

His gaze locked onto that tip which was like a huge knife.

The monster let out a loud growl, perhaps irritated by the constant buzzing fly it couldn’t smack to death and lunged again.

Xion forced his heart to hold still as he threw himself sideways, sliding on the slick surface as claws raked past him, inches from his back.

However, this time, he wasn’t as lucky. With numb feet, he slipped directly onto the snow-covered ground, falling against the broken knife-like rock.

When he hastily raised his head, the monster’s jagged teeth were in his view, ready to bite his head off.

Just then a ding sounded in his mind.

’System! Give me a weapon!’

As his voice fell, the monster pounced at him with urgency, and at the same time, a special spear materialized in his hand.

He grabbed the hilt with both hands, its sharp end elongating as mana surged through it.

He lay there with his breath trapped in his throat, watching as the sharp blade pierced through the icy beast’s chest.

That was when he created a rope of mana and entangled it around the huge feet, forcing the beast to stagger forward.

That was enough.

That little movement over the slippery snow pushed the beast to lose control of his mobility. The glaring sharp tip of the huge, jagged rock pierced into its gooey brain while the spear tore into its heart.

An animalistic howl echoed in the mountains, a cry filled with the pain of death, but there was no one to listen to it, not even the king of the land.

Soon, the entire tundra went utterly silent. Xion’s ragged breaths were also covered by the howling wind.

In the end, it was the beast’s own fierce momentum that led to its destruction.

The heavy body collapsed half onto the rock and half onto Xion with a sickening thud. The impact forced the protective shield around him to shatter like fragile glass.

He felt his ribs groan under the weight. The slick, slimy green blood coldly slithered over his chest like some vile reptile, reeking of rot and decay.

The snow beneath him cushioned his fall a bit, yet it did nothing to soothe the throbbing pain in his limbs.

His hands were pinned beneath the beast’s weight, his breath coming out in ragged bursts that fogged the air and blurred his vision.

The sudden gust of wind caused him to shiver. I hate cold...

His mind subconsciously thought of the warm morning when he woke up in the arms of Darius, hidden away from any chill.

It was as if the Archduke had been injected with chicken blood, he was too energetic.

A smile, brighter than dawn, had stretched across Darius’s face as he kissed Xion’s lips.

With one yank Darius had pulled him closer under the thick blankets, nuzzling against his neck.

And when Xion felt too shy to look at him, the Archduke had laughed. That magical sound had been deep, rumbling against Xion’s cheek and turning them red.

From the kisses that had peppered his face to the hot breakfast served to him in bed, everything felt too perfect.

Xion had even joked with the Archduke, ’You look so different that even I am having a hard time recognizing you.’

Darius only smiled wider at his words, crinkling his gorgeous eyes in that rare, boyish way that made him seem less like an Archduke and more like a lovesick fool.

It had felt perfect, almost too perfect.

Xion squeezed his eyes shut, forcing back the swell of longing that threatened to choke him. How he longed to just bury himself into Darius’ arms.

What would Darius think if he saw me now?

His gaze drifted upward, watching the mist of his breath spiral into the cold, uncaring evening sky.

When they were getting ready for the task, he had wanted to tell the Archduke about the location of Mycosera Glyacialis.

However, he had also been torn between how to tell without looking too suspicious and just following along and wasting their time.

Though none of them had the privilege of squandering the hours on leisure strolls.

In the end, when they were about to check yet another location, he proposed to look in separate directions.

It took a long time for him to convince Darius. And now, as the chilliness was bleeding into his lungs, as his breath grew shallower, regret gnawed at him like a festering wound.

Oh, he regretted it so much.