The Hero Becomes the Duke’s Eldest Son

Chapter 107

Banshee Queen, Winter Queen

The rank she possessed far surpassed Niketa’s position.

Because of that, she was an existence immune to Niketa’s power of domination.

“—Kyaaaahhhhhhhhh!”

The Winter Queen screamed in fury as she sensed that her limbs had been taken from her.

Rumble.

The air across the entire domain of the Winter Queen trembled, and the ground shook as if in fear.

An overwhelming presence.

The murderous intent that wished to kill Aden and Niketa at any moment was palpable.

However, the Winter Queen could only scream and never left her ice castle.

‘That’s because she’s a boss monster.’

No matter how absurdly large and wide it was, this place was a dungeon created by the Winter Queen’s magic.

As the dungeon guardian and boss monster, the Winter Queen couldn’t leave her boss room.

She would remain trapped until enough forces were gathered, beyond what her domain could handle.

‘But now the Winter Queen’s forces are gone.’

The Winter Queen was completely trapped within that ice.

So…

‘I have to go there myself.’

Passing through the snowy field covered in the ashes of the annihilated undead, he headed toward the ice castle.

“From here, I’ll go alone. You can rest now.”

Subjugating and then turning thousands of undead and spirits was a burden even for her.

Niketa needed to rest to digest the absorbed dark magic.

‘Honestly, even if she went with me, there would be nothing more she could do to help.’

The second reason the previous life’s Winter Queen subjugation team failed.

It was due to the ‘entry limit feature’ attached to the Winter Queen’s boss room.

In legendary dungeons, each dungeon had such unique settings.

Niketa expressed her regret.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be more helpful.”

“What are you talking about….”

She had dealt with the most troublesome forces of the Winter Queen and said that.

She was a frightening woman in many ways.

After sending Niketa back, he entered the giant ice castle, half-opened.

*You have entered the castle of the boss monster, the Winter Queen.*

Upon entering the ice castle…

Swoosh!

A chilling cold, of a completely different level from before, swept over him.

Even those who reached the level of a superhuman would momentarily shrink from the cold.

“If I hadn’t gone to Hetos, it would’ve been a disaster.”

However, Aden’s expression didn’t show any signs of feeling cold.

He was currently wearing armor made by Hetos, the dwarven blacksmith.

No, it was more accurate to call it clothing than armor.

“That guy really has a sense for making clothes too.”

He wore a jacket and pants made by weaving together the greenish fairy silk and stellar thread extracted through spirit metallurgy.

The night sky-colored outfit, tinged with a faint green hue, looked extremely luxurious.

Though it appeared as nothing more than an elegant noble’s attire, it was actually tougher and more durable than steel.

It absorbed shocks, was breathable, and regulated temperature.

Yet it looked like regular clothes and was light enough to be worn every day.

If those who knew the difficulty of its manufacturing process saw it, they would foam at the mouth.

Only a dwarf craftsman capable of using advanced spirit metallurgy could make such clothes.

Thanks to the phoenix feathers incorporated into the outfit, Aden didn’t feel the cold from the Winter Queen.

As Aden walked through the icy corridor filled with cold air, climbed the ice stairs, and opened the door to the second floor…

A vast hall was revealed.

“Kyaaaaahhhhh!”

In the center, a creature screamed so loudly it made the entire ice castle tremble.

‘Banshee Queen, Winter Queen.’

She was a beautiful woman in a torn and ragged white dress.

However, both her body and clothes were semi-transparent and slightly floating. Her eyes were like dark caves, hollow and oozing blood.

“How dare you… my followers… I won’t forgive you…! Human!”

Indeed, as a disaster-level monster, she had some self-awareness and could speak human language.

“The master loved you! But you, the world abandoned him! Abandoned! Why, why did it have to be like this?”

But being a spirit meant having a soul that was inherently corrupted and broken.

The Winter Queen’s words were incoherent.

“He was the sun and the light. So, a world without him should freeze! I will freeze the world! But you, you ruined everything! Everything! Ahhhhh!”

She was completely mad.

Following the Winter Queen’s wailing, clusters of snow gathered to summon fearsome ice knights.

The ice knight golems, Ice Knights, pointed their swords at Aden and charged.

Eight Ice Knights thrust their ice swords at Aden from all sides.

But Aden dodged their ice swords and cut them down with his Aura Blade.

Slash, slash! Slice!

Following Aden’s sword moves, the Ice Knights’ limbs and heads were severed.

But the shattered Ice Knights rapidly reformed as snow gathered and reshaped their bodies.

‘I have to destroy the core.’

They were dolls made of concentrated extreme mana, so destroying the core would suffice.

*Activating Holy Eyes.*

The Holy Eyes of the Lord of the Sacred Fire were eyes that could see through all creation.

‘I see it.’

Indeed, the concentrated energy inside the Ice Knights, the core, was visible.

Not only that.

‘I see the line.’

It was as if a line connecting to the core of the Ice Knights was clearly visible.

As if telling him to swing his sword along that line.

So.

Whoosh!

When he followed the line and swung his sword, the core was pierced with a ‘crack!’.

“Goooh….”

The Ice Knights with broken cores crumbled like clay.

Seeing this, the Winter Queen became even more enraged.

“Human… I hate you, those who killed him, I hate you! I hate, hate you!”

‘Could “he” be the Winter Queen’s deceased contractor?’

A banshee is a spirit that, unable to overcome sorrow and regret, remains in this world and becomes corrupted.

And the main reason for a spirit to fall is the unjust death of a deeply loved contractor.

Though it was barely understandable screaming, the emotion of hatred was evident.

Crack, crack, crack!

The cold air emanating from the Winter Queen’s body rushed to freeze Aden.

‘This is the Winter Queen’s chill.’

Frost formed from Aden’s feet and quickly climbed up his body.

Even though he protected his body with Aura, he couldn’t withstand the encroaching cold.

The cold surged from his feet, up his legs, through his chest, and toward his head.

‘I will freeze everything!’

At this rate, Aden would become an ice statue.

Just as the frost was about to cover Aden’s entire body.

Just as the Winter Queen thought the detestable human before her was about to disappear.

“That’s troublesome, you crazy spirit.”

With Aden’s calm voice.

Whoosh!

Intense white flames erupted.

Crash!

The ice that had bound Aden shattered into pieces, freeing him.

A massive phoenix, enveloping Aden in protective flames, spread its wings wide.

*A mythical summoned beast, the King of Undying Birds, Pyrones, has manifested.*

It was Pyrones, the King of Phoenixes, contracted by Aden.

“Thank you.”

“…My contractor, Aden. You are quite reckless.”

She gave Aden a wry smile.

Seeing the Winter Queen, Pyrones’ expression turned somber.

“What a pitiful child…”

Not all spirits or summoned beasts became so corrupted upon losing their contractors.

A banshee was born from a spirit who truly cherished and loved their contractor.

For a spirit that had risen to the rank of a queen to fall so far…

As a fellow entity of the spirit world, she couldn’t help but feel sympathy.

“What on earth led you to fight such an unfortunate child, contractor?”

“Well, one thing led to another.”

The reason Aden decided to send Niketa back and enter the Winter Queen’s castle alone.

It was all thanks to this guy, the King of all Phoenixes.

‘Indeed, the mana consumption is tremendous.’

As a mythical summoned beast, the mana was being drained in large chunks in real-time.

At this rate, he could only maintain her for a maximum of five minutes.

“How about it? Can you win?”

“I am the master of all flames.”

The Phoenix King clearly felt pity for the Winter Queen.

But the only help she could offer was to burn her with her flames.

Intense flames arose around Pyrones’ body.

The nearly white-hot flames formed a ring and floated.

“A little snowflake-playing kid is no problem at all.”

#### * * *

“Haa.”

Elise, in the main temple of the Sacred Fire Order in Syres, let out a deep sigh.

Several priests gathered around Elise, who looked disheartened.

“Lady Elise, cheer up. Here, I brought some freshly baked cookies.”

“Here’s a sweet drink, too, my lady! Yes?”

“I don’t have an appetite.”

The atmosphere in the main temple was very gloomy.

The reason was that since Aden had left for the Winter Queen’s territory, Elise had been looking depressed and spiritless.

For the priests of the main temple, who were already 120% Elise’s fans, it was more distressing than anything else.

Elise’s sad face felt as though a star had vanished from this world, and each sigh she let out felt like divine punishment falling from the heavens.

“Whine…”

Seeing Elise looking so down, Choco, beside her, whined worriedly.

“Lady Elise, how are you?”

“Uncle Bali.”

While the priests were at a loss and fidgeting, Priest Bali approached Elise.

He sat next to the gloomy Elise and asked.

“Are you worried about Lord Aden?”

Elise slowly nodded.

“That, that bad queen called the Winter Queen is really

strong, right? And my brother went to fight her.”

“That is…”

“I’m worried my brother might get hurt or be in danger.”

‘I wish I could stay by his side.’ she thought.

Then she could heal him as much as he needed.

No, she would defeat the bad ones before they could even hurt him.

“Brother Aden! Take me with you!”

That’s why she wanted to go with him.

But Aden patted Elise’s head and said, “Stay quietly at the temple.”

“…It’s too much!”

Elise pouted her cheeks, sulking, and then let out a feeble breath.

Seeing this, Priest Bali gave a wry smile.

“I’m sure Lord Aden has his reasons for doing that. Besides, Lord Aden is now the Apostle of the Sacred Fire, isn’t he? There won’t be any problems.”

“But, still…!”

“Then how about praying for blessings?”

“Pray for blessings?”

Elise tilted her head, blinking her round eyes.

Priest Bali, as if coaxing the still-immature saintess Elise, said.

“Being by someone’s side isn’t the only way to help, nor does being apart mean you can’t help.”

He looked at the Sacred Fire burning fervently.

“The Lord of the Sacred Fire watches over everything in this world. If you pray for Lord Aden’s safe return, it will surely be granted.”

“Prayer…”

“What do you think?”

After thinking for a moment, Elise nodded vigorously.

“Okay! I’ll do it!”

“Haha! I’m glad to see you regain your energy. You are the saintess of the Order. Your prayer will surely be answered.”

“Hehe. Yes! Thank you!”

Elise then clasped her tiny hands together and began to pray.

“Dear God, please don’t let Brother Aden get hurt. Let him defeat all the bad guys and come back so we can eat delicious snacks together! Um, and also…”

A childish, clumsy prayer.

But neither Elise nor Priest Bali knew.

That this would cause a tremendous butterfly effect for Aden and the world.

#### * * *

Summoned Pyrones and the Winter Queen engaged in fierce combat.

However, the situation gradually turned unfavorable for Aden.

Fwoosh!

The Phoenix King shot a massive fireball.

The Winter Queen blocked it by creating an ice wall…

Crack, crack, crack!

Then she formed vicious ice spikes everywhere, attacking Pyrones.

Pyrones dodged them narrowly with her wings, repeating the evasive maneuvers, but the victory was still undecided.

Slash!

Aden, cutting through the ice spikes aiming at him with his Aura Blade, grew increasingly anxious.

“Hurry up!”

Pyrones, who had boasted confidently, felt embarrassed.

“Sorry, Aden. The environment is not favorable.”

Spirits are beings of nature, and their efficiency and abilities are heightened in environments rich in familiar elements.

The Frozen Land was filled with snow, ice, and cold air, making it an environment lacking in elements for the Phoenix King to utilize fire.

The conditions were too unfavorable.

Moreover, although Pyrones was a mythical summoned beast, Aden’s summoning ability was relatively low, preventing her from fully exerting her power.

Currently, Pyrones was not even at 1% of her full potential in the spirit world.

“Damn it…”

*Mana is being rapidly consumed.

*Immediate cessation of mana usage is recommended.

The time left to maintain Pyrones’ summoning was now very short.

“Kyaaaahhhhh!”

Following the Winter Queen’s scream, a snowstorm swept through the ice castle.

She appeared overflowing with power.

‘I was too complacent.’

Aden admitted he had underestimated the Winter Queen too much.

‘I didn’t expect her to be in a weakened state when she escaped during the dungeon break.’

The Winter Queen’s castle was both her prison and her domain.

Of course, he had considered that the Winter Queen would be stronger to some extent.

But her abilities were more troublesome and powerful than expected.

Her versatility was exceptional.

It was impossible to predict where ice would surge from.

The ice that poured from all directions took various forms—spikes, blades, swords, spears, daggers, saw blades—making it difficult to grasp.

Now, even his mana was running low.

At the moment when Aden was racking his brain on what to do.

Fwoosh!

A bright golden light radiated intensely from Aden’s body.

“Aaaargh!”

The Winter Queen screamed in pain as the light struck her.

*The blessing of the Lord of the Sacred Fire is bestowed.

As the light gradually faded, Aden looked at his body in surprise.

‘Is this holy power?’

His body was surrounded by golden holy power, despite not being a priest.

At that moment, the system notification provided information.

[The Blessing of the Lord of the Sacred Fire]

A blessing granted by the divine Lord of the Sacred Fire in response to a devotee’s prayer.

All abilities increase by 300%-400% for 15 minutes.

Mana recovery speeds up rapidly.

If the body is injured, the blessing’s effect disappears.

“If you get even a scratch, I will bring down divine punishment.”

“…”

There was something strange written at the end of the description.