The ice elemental attacked first and the chamber shook as the creature advanced, each step cracking the frozen stone beneath its colossal weight. Frost spread outward from its limbs climbing across the ground and walls alike, then the monster raised one massive arm.
Ice gathered around its fist and the elemental slammed it downward.
The impact detonated through the chamber like a siege engine strike, stone exploded upward.
A wave of razor-sharp ice ripped across the floor straight toward Sebastian.
He reacted instantly with Quen sign.
A golden glow flashed around him just as the frozen shockwave collided with his position. The protective sign shattered almost immediately under the force, but it bought him the fraction of a second he needed.
Sebastian's body burst into flame, the ice wave carved directly through him, or rather through the fire-shaped silhouette he left behind.
He reformed several feet away in a burst of embers, boots skidding across frozen stone while the elemental turned its faceless head toward him with terrifying precision.
Sebastian exhaled sharply.
"My fire is useless against this type of monster."
And that annoyed him more than he expected, against drowners, specters, cursed beasts, even heavily armored men, his flames were overwhelming and terrifying.
But this thing did not burn.
Its body was permafrost layered over magically reinforced stone, animated by raw elemental magical force. No organs, it feels no pain, no fear and no exhaustion.
The elemental roared, a sound like glaciers breaking apart and attacked fast, far faster than something that size had any right to be. Sebastian twisted sideways as a massive fist crashed past his head. The sheer force of it displaced air hard enough to crack the wall behind him. Frost erupted from the impact point like an explosion.
Sebastian countered immediately, silver flashed upward in a brutal diagonal arc aimed at the creature's torso.
CLANG, the impact jarred his entire arm.
Sparks erupted alongside shards of ice, but the blade barely cut deeper than a shallow fracture across the monster's frozen shell.
"Hard bastard…"
The elemental answered by backhanding him across the chamber.
Sebastian crossed his swords instinctively, taking the impact against steel rather than his body, but the force still launched him backward hard enough to smash through a frozen pillar.
Stone collapsed around him.
The elemental stomped once and the ground beneath Sebastian suddenly glowed blue.
His witcher instincts said danger, and he exploded into flame a moment before jagged spikes of ice erupted upward from beneath him, impaling the space where he'd stood.
Sebastian reformed mid-air and landed lightly atop a collapsed archway, breathing harder now.
"…Right," he muttered. "No room for mistakes... I sense magic in these attacks, I can't let them touch me..."
The elemental raised both arms and magic gathered again, too much of it.
Sebastian's eyes narrowed instantly.
Yrden.
Purple runes exploded across the floor beneath the creature, chains of magical energy crawling upward around its legs. The elemental slowed immediately, its movements becoming heavier, more sluggish.
Sebastian launched himself forward in a burst of fire and steel.
One slash across the knee joint.
Another at the neck, then a third strike driven directly into a crack he'd made earlier.
This time the silver bit deeper.
The elemental staggered half a step.
Sebastian's eyes sharpened.
"There!"
The creature retaliated instantly.
Sebastian's medallion screamed.
He bent backward unnaturally, his body partially dispersing into flame as an enormous blade of condensed ice swept through where his torso had been a moment earlier.
The elemental had reformed behind him mid-swing.
Sebastian twisted low, one hand touching the ground while the other one casting Aard.
The telekinetic blast detonated upward point-blank into the elemental's chest. The force cracked layers of ice away from its core and shoved the massive creature backward several meters.
It was not enough damage, but it gave Seb enough space.
The elemental roared again and thrust both arms outward and the chamber exploded into a storm of frozen projectiles.
Hundreds of jagged spears of ice tore through the air from every direction.
Sebastian became fire again, partially, enough for the deadly magic-infused shards to pass harmlessly through sections of his body while he weaved between the rest.
One grazed his cheek, another tore through the edge of his coat.
A third nearly caught his leg before he twisted sideways and answered with a spinning slash that shattered it mid-flight.
The chamber became chaos, of ice, fire and silver.
The elemental charged again through the fading Yrden field, fist raised high enough to crush him completely.
Sebastian inhaled sharply, then smiled. "…Alright."
He reached into his belt pouch, "I do have one dimeritium bomb."
The metallic sphere landed in his palm.
"…Better make it worthwhile."
The elemental swung and Sebastian rolled beneath the attack, slid directly between its legs across frozen stone, and jammed the bomb deep into the massive fracture in its knee joint before kicking off the ground hard enough to propel himself backward in a burst of fire.
The elemental turned, but it was too late as the bomb detonated.
A violent pulse of dimeritium erupted outward in a shrieking wave of disrupted magic.
The chamber itself flickered, and the elemental stopped.
For the first time since the fight began, the creature froze completely.
Cracks spread rapidly across its entire body, its magic was collapsing and unraveling.
Sebastian's eyes widened slightly.
"There you are."
He planted one foot forward.
Both hands tightened around the silver sword.
Flames exploded along the blade then Sebastian vanished forward like a comet.
Even though it was weakened, the ice elemental came at him again, its massive arm swept through, frost exploding outward behind the strike in waves. Sebastian ducked beneath it at the last possible second, boots skidding across frozen ground while shards of ice screamed past his head hard enough to embed themselves into the far wall like ballista bolts.
The creature followed immediately with another strike. A fist the size of a boulder crashed downward toward him.
Sebastian twisted sideways and his body partially dissolved into flame just as the impact shattered the floor where he had stood. The chamber trembled violently. Cracks spread through the frozen stone beneath them.
The elemental roared again, lantern-blue light pulsing violently through the cracks in its body.
Sebastian exhaled slowly through his nose.
"Persistent bastard!"
The creature slammed both fists into the ground.
This time Sebastian saw the magic before the attack itself.
Blue veins of frost surged across the floor straight toward him.
He reacted instantly and flame erupted around his legs and propelled him upward just as enormous ice spikes burst from beneath the stone. They tore through the air beneath him.
Sebastian flipped once in midair and landed against a ruined pillar.
The elemental charged through the cloud of frost, far too fast for something that large.
Its frozen blade carved downward toward him with murderous force.
Sebastian parried, silver collided against enchanted ice in an eruption of sparks and magic. The impact numbed his entire arm despite his enhanced strength. His boots ground against the stone as the elemental forced him backward inch by inch.
The thing was absurdly strong, it didn't hesitate or feel pain, just relentless violence animated by magic.
Sebastian's eyes narrowed, his flames did nothing and that left him with only one thing, sheer skill.
The elemental swung again, Sebastian disengaged at the last second, twisting around the strike with fluid precision while the blade buried itself into the wall behind him. He saw the opening immediately.
Sebastian sprinted directly toward it.
The elemental raised both arms to crush him.
At the final second Sebastian dropped low into a slide beneath the creature's legs while its fists obliterated the floor behind him in an explosion of ice and shattered stone.
And as he passed beneath it, the magical glow inside the elemental's body flickered, the dimeritium effect was still there.
The creature staggered.
Cracks spread rapidly through its frozen body as shards of dimeritium embedded themselves deep within the enchanted ice and took full effect, its movements suddenly jerking and unstable.
Sebastian saw it instantly.
"Took a damn while!"
The elemental roared in distorted fury and swung wildly.
Sebastian stepped inside its reach with Aard.
The Sign exploded outward from his hand like a battering ram.
The shockwave struck the destabilized elemental head-on.
CRACK.
The creature's torso folded backward under the force. Massive fractures spread across its chest and shoulders while chunks of frozen armor shattered away completely.
Sebastian circled behind the stumbling construct in a blur of firelight and silver steel.
One clean slash.
His sword carved deep across the back of the elemental's legs, severing weakened joints already destabilized by the dimeritium.
The creature collapsed to one knee.
Sebastian inhaled sharply, then drove forward with everything he had.
The silver sword pierced through the elemental's back with brutal force, sinking directly into the glowing magical core exposed beneath the shattered layers of ice.
Then the elemental came apart.
The magic holding it together died instantly.
Its body cracked from the inside outward before collapsing into lifeless chunks of frost-covered stone that thundered across the chamber floor.
Sebastian remained there for a moment, sword still embedded in the remains, breathing heavier now, steam rose faintly from his shoulders where heat met the unnatural cold surrounding him.
Then he pulled the blade free and wiped frost from his face.
"Damn…"
He rolled one shoulder with a tired look on his face.
"It does feel like I've been fighting nonstop."
/-\
If you Like this story! Check out my other stories! Shadow Monarch: In One Piece / Shadow Monarch in DC
&
If you wish to read more or simply support me than check out my pat-reon / FrenzyAren"
You can Get Access to More Chapters Ahead of Release on All of My Stories!