Arknights: I'm Pretty Strong With Minecraft — Chapter 55

Chapter 55: Running Away with Frostnova on His Back

The smoke and ice crystals from the explosion hung thick in the air, refusing to dissipate. The massive, towering ice wall shielding Frostnova was webbed with deep, jagged cracks—a brutal scar left behind by an unimaginable impact. She panted softly, her breath misting in the freezing air. Glancing back at the shaken members of her Yeti Squad, a flash of absolute, unyielding determination settled into her dark eyes.

An ethereal, mournful melody began to drift across the shattered battlefield. It was a quiet sound at first, yet it effortlessly drowned out the howling wind and the groaning collapse of the surrounding ruins.

Meteor stared at the white-haired girl, her bow lowering slightly in sheer confusion. “She’s… singing? At a time like this?”

Only Ivan understood the immediate, catastrophic danger. His expression darkened instantly. “Stop! Frostnova!” he roared, abandoning all pretense of defense. He raised his Warlord’s Blade high and charged straight toward her.

Frostnova ignored him. She simply closed her eyes and continued to weave that haunting lullaby, a song that seemed to echo from a distant, lost homeland. The lyrics grew clearer, laced with a heartbreaking tenderness that masked an irresistible, lethal power:

“Sleep, sleep~”

“Say goodnight~”

“My lovely child~”

“Let me once more~”

“Gaze upon you~”

“Your happy sleeping face~”

With every note, the ambient Originium in the air reacted violently to the extreme cold of her Arts. The moisture in the atmosphere condensed, transforming into a sky filled with jagged, shimmering ice crystals. They hung suspended for a fraction of a second before pouring down in a deadly, glittering cascade aimed right at the charging Ivan!

“If in your dreams~”

“You meet with nightmares~”

“How will you grow~”

“Who will be by your side~”

Ivan didn’t slow down. Facing the dense, overwhelming barrage, he tightened his grip. In his left hand, the pitch-black Blade of Slaughter blurred into motion, weaving an impenetrable, shadowy barrier of steel. He precisely deflected the incoming hailstorm of ice, the rapid clink-clink-clink ringing out like a frenzied metronome. His right hand, wielding the Warlord’s Blade, cleaved through the massive, boulder-sized ice cones that threatened to crush him outright.

“The moon guides your way~”

“Whispering in your ear~”

“Follow that path~”

“You can never escape~”

The barrage intensified. The ice crystals multiplied, filling the air with a suffocating density. Frost rapidly accumulated over Ivan’s clothes and hair, turning him stark white until he resembled a walking snowman. By all the logical laws of Terra, such extreme, absolute cold should have eroded his stamina, stiffened his joints, and frozen the very blood in his veins.

Instead, Ivan’s speed spiked. The freezing debuff simply didn’t register in his system. To him, the biting cold was nothing more than a cosmetic particle effect.

“Fate is already sealed~”

“Like a fairy tale~”

“In the depths of the night, there is a pair~”

“Of eyes shining with sharp light~”

More ice spears detonated the moment they struck his blades, bursting into a blinding, hyper-dense mist of absolute zero.

“Mr. Ivan!” Amiya’s voice pierced the chaos.

She, the Doctor, Ch’en, and the combined vanguard of Rhodes Island and the Lungmen Guard Department finally broke through to the edge of the battlefield. The very first thing they witnessed was Ivan being completely swallowed by the apocalyptic explosion of Frostnova’s ultimate attack.

Frostnova’s lullaby reached its mournful, definitive climax:

“This lullaby~”

“Is sung only for you~”

“Just fall asleep peacefully like this~”

“This land~”

“Like a cradle~”

“Gently close your eyes~”

“Listen to this~”

“Your exclusive song~”

“Go to the land of dreams~”

“Until the moment you wake~”

“Yeah, the vocals are great and all, but I really don’t want to listen to this right now.”

An impatient, thoroughly annoyed voice grumbled from the center of the freezing vortex.

The next second, Ivan tore through the dense ice mist, completely unharmed! The thick layer of frost coating his body shattered into harmless pixels. Before anyone—even Frostnova herself—could process his survival, he closed the distance, stopping mere inches from her face.

Then, Ivan did something that shattered the minds of every single person present.

With a flick of his wrist, he pulled a completely unremarkable… Leather Tunic out of thin air. And with the speed of a seasoned gamer right-clicking an armor stand, he forcefully equipped it straight onto Frostnova!

The mournful singing stopped dead. Frostnova blinked, looking down at the cheap, brown leather armor now snugly fitted over her winter coat. Her pale face twisted into an expression of deep, utter bewilderment.

The Yeti Squad, who had been gripping their weapons tight, ready to fight to the bitter end—frozen.

Amiya, the Doctor, and Ch’en, who had just rushed in fearing the worst—petrified.

Even Meteor and the snipers were dumbfounded.

What the hell are you doing?! The collective thought screamed through the minds of friend and foe alike. We’re in the middle of a life-or-death battle! The atmosphere was at its absolute peak, and you just ran through a blizzard of death to… put a cheap shirt on the enemy commander?!

Ivan wasn’t done. He whipped out a length of rope. While Frostnova was still trapped in a blue-screen state of ‘Why did he just dress me?’, Ivan’s hands blurred. He looped the rope around her with terrifying efficiency, instantly binding her arms to her sides so tightly she couldn’t channel her Arts or even twitch.

With a grunt of effort, he hoisted the struggling, tied-up Frostnova over his shoulder like a freshly looted sack of potatoes.

Adjusting his grip on his prize, Ivan casually glanced back at the jaw-dropped Yeti Squad. He flashed them a bright, utterly shameless grin.

“Bye-bye, everyone! I’m just gonna borrow your Big Sister for a bit!”

Without giving a single soul the chance to object, he spun on his heel and bolted. He dashed madly toward the outskirts of the ruins, his boots kicking up snow and debris, right under the blank, staring eyes of the Lungmen Guard Department, Rhodes Island, and the entire Reunion force!

For a long moment, the entire battlefield was trapped in a bizarre stasis, as if their brains had been frozen by the Originium Arts instead of their bodies. On the Rhodes Island side, the Doctor’s hood slipped back, revealing a slack-jawed expression of pure shock. The only sound left in the ruined sector was the rapid thump-thump-thump of Ivan’s sprinting footsteps and the muffled, indignant struggling of the girl slung over his shoulder.

After making it about ten meters, Ivan realized it was awfully quiet behind him. He skidded to a halt, turned around, and yelled at his petrified allies.

“What are you all just standing there for?! Hurry up and run! Are you waiting for them to invite you to dinner?!”

His shout struck like a thunderclap, shattering the collective trance.

“Ah? Oh! Oh! Run! Run fast!” The Doctor was the first to snap back to reality. He had absolutely no idea what tactical maneuver this was, but following Ivan’s lead had kept them alive so far.

“All units! Retreat! Follow Ivan!” Amiya ordered, though her voice still carried a heavy trace of disbelief.

Ch’en and Hoshiguma exchanged a deeply exhausted look, both silently communicating the exact same thought: What is actually wrong with this guy? But they didn’t dare waste time, immediately barking orders at the L.G.D. officers to fall back.

Thus, the most absurd scene in the history of Terra unfolded on the battlefield.

A single man sprinted furiously across the wasteland carrying a bound Reunion commander on his shoulder, closely followed by a massive, fleeing stampede of elite Rhodes Island and Lungmen operators.

It was only then that the abandoned Yeti Squad finally rebooted. They stared at the empty space where their revered leader had stood seconds ago. They watched the enemy forces literally running away with her.

An overwhelming, suffocating wave of sheer grievance and rage exploded in their chests.

“No—!!!” A Yeti Squad member dropped to his knees, letting out a heart-wrenching, blood-curdling roar.

“Where are you taking our Big Sister?! You bastard! Come back here!!!”

“Put Big Sister down!”

“Chase them! Quickly, chase them!”

Like a spark hitting a powder keg, the Yeti Squad erupted. Completely forgetting the sheer terror of Ivan’s earlier attacks, they raised their weapons, howling in absolute fury as they charged blindly into the wasteland, desperate to get their Big Sister back.