Chapter 124: Edge Of Winter [II]
"Keep your eyes out," Drew said with a deep breath, his voice carrying easily through the frozen silence.
The mist from his words curled faintly in the air before dissolving into the white around them.
His expression was steady, though his grip tightened on the massive bone sword strapped across his back.
"In this area, you can run into Rank 3 monsters. It’s not guaranteed, and while we don’t expect you to deal with such a monster, just keep your guard up."
The weight of his warning sank in immediately.
Drew wasn’t the type to exaggerate; if he spoke of Rank 3s, then such threats had been seen here before.
Azel nodded, his eyes narrowing slightly.
His silver hair shifted as a chill gust swept through the barren trees, but he showed no fear.
Everyone thought he looked thoughtful but in reality he was smiling on the inside.
’Finally! I can get to test Star Strike on monsters.’ He thought.
After using it on Dante yesterday, he learned that apart from the strain... It wasn’t that hard to use, if he did it a few more times he could master it.
Veyra on the other hand agreed with Drew silently — Rank 3 monsters were in a different league.
She was strong enough to stand against a Rank 3 although she couldn’t defeat it with one strike but the same couldn’t be said for Azel, Anya and the woman that had followed Azel.
Especially Azel since the only technique that could one shot it would wreck his arms.
Anya pressed her lips together, hand brushing unconsciously at the edge of her coat.
It was a bit cold.
They started moving again, boots crunching against the hardened crust of snow.
The silence of the frozen woods pressed in around them, broken only by the distant groan of shifting ice and the soft whistle of the wind through skeletal branches.
Then Azel felt it — warmth at his side.
Veyra’s hand slid into his, fingers curling firmly around his own.
"After searching around for a while," she began, her voice carrying the tone of someone telling a story she’d memorized long ago, "we found out that our ancestors made it this far."
She pointed toward a jagged opening cut into the cliff wall to their right.
The dark mouth yawned, eerie and mysterious against the white frost clinging to its edges.
"We found writings there, carved into the stone in an old language. In so many places, too. We could read some, but the others... they were written in something even older. A tongue our people could no longer recognize."
Her words painted a picture that clung in the air.
Azel frowned.
If their ancestors had already made it here, then what did that mean?
He thoughtfully analyzed it with his gamer instincts.
Either the Ancestors hadn’t made it that far in exploring this place, or... This was all some kind of trial, although he doubted the second option because this was Fall of Ares, everyone dies even immortals.
The jagged cliffs eventually gave way to a flat stretch of icy plain, where the trees thinned and the horizon stretched vast and open.
And then they saw it.
A gigantic line carved into the earth itself.
It wasn’t a natural crack, but a wound — so wide Azel’s eyes struggled to measure it, so long it vanished into the distance on both sides.
The trench expanded far as the eye could see, its depth a black void that swallowed the light.
The sheer scale of it froze Azel in place.
"That is the Divide," Veyra explained softly.
Her hand lingered in his for just a moment longer before slipping away, her expression shifting into something closer to reverence.
"It’s what separates us from this place and the next unknown. The Patriarch was the one who carved it. If we make it past that line, we would officially be in the next unknown area."
Her words echoed in Azel’s head.
’The old man... carved this? With his own hands?’
Azel swallowed hard.
The sheer immensity of that power overwhelmed him.
A single man had split the land in two.
’Well, he is the Patriarch of the region, one of the strongest so it should be expected.’ Azel thought, though the idea still rattled him.
[ Meh, you could probably do that with a fully powered Star Strike.]
Kyone was the last person he expected to hear that from, after all they were her people.
’True, no pain no gain, Let’s find some monsters to test it out on.’
"Although I’m wondering," he asked aloud as they slowly approached the ground of the Divide, "how do you conquer a trial?"
Veyra glanced back at him, eyes glinting faintly, and answered simply,
"Well, you kill the Boss. And the Boss would be a Rank 2 monster. There haven’t been any above Rank 1’s yet."
The words had just left her lips when the ground trembled.
Movement stirred at the edge of the Divide.
Shapes emerged, crawling, leaping, tearing themselves up from the darkness below.
Beings poured out in a surge, rushing across the line and charging straight toward them.
Drew’s pupils shrank, his entire frame tensing.
"Charge! Don’t let them get into the forest!" he bellowed, voice booming with command.
His hand seized the hilt of his massive bone sword and he drew it in one smooth, powerful motion.
Golden aura burst around him like firelight in the snow, humming with lethal force.
He swung.
The ground split beneath the sheer force of his strike.
A golden wave ripped through the air, carving a path and shattering the frozen earth.
The shockwave obliterated the first ranks of wolves instantly, bodies shredded before they could take another step.
"Move! I’ve given an opening!" Drew roared.
In a blur, Azel felt Veyra’s palm detach from his.
The warmth of her hand vanished, replaced by the biting cold of the battlefield.
She had already sprinted forward, her body a streak of motion, her playful smile gone and her bone sickle gleaming like a crescent moon in her grip.
"Destruction..." she muttered, voice barely above a whisper.
She wasn’t channeling aura, yet the snow itself responded.
The flakes stirred unnaturally, as though alive, swirling and twisting around her frame.
Then, with her command, they shot forward.
The air itself screamed.
Snowflakes turned into countless blades, shards sharp enough to slice through hide and bone.
They rushed into the horde, cutting through beasts mercilessly.
Blood splattered the snow, staining the battlefield red as shrieks echoed across the plain.
Azel could barely believe his eyes.
There, in the middle of the charging wave, towered an Arctic bear, its massive form dwarfing the wolves around it.
Frost clung to its fur, muscles bulging as it roared and lunged toward her.
Veyra didn’t falter.
She spun with lethal grace, her sickle drawing a perfect arc of silver.
The bear’s body was split in two mid-charge, its halves collapsing into the snow with a ground-shaking thud.
Azel’s heart pounded as he saw it.
’These people are strong,’ He thought and smiled as the Goddess’s blade appeared in his hand, ’I like it.’
WHOOSH!
[Author’s Note]
Phew it’s the end of the month, I want to thank you guys for supporting this book, it really means a lot to me 😅I really didn’t expect us to get this far.
I’ll be working on a mass release for the beginning of the month so I hope to see you later!