Several Wingdrakes remained frozen mid-air within blocks of ice, their dark eyes still staring forward.
They had all been flying in the same direction, their bodies and wings frozen at angles that suggested a desperate attempt to swerve away from something. Encased along with them were vast swathes of branches and long leaves.
"It's safe to say this is the work of an Elder Dragon, wouldn't you agree?" The Admiral stood up and spoke. "Only those creatures would use their power with such sheer arrogance."
"Hmm, I'm afraid we're looking at yet another unknown species of Elder Dragon." The Huntsman had already drawn his Long Sword and was tapping it against the ice to test its hardness. "An Elder Dragon that can control wind and snow to create ice? This is going to be a troublesome opponent."
"Roar!"
"Little Boss says something's coming, meow!!"
The sudden warning from Mirrorblade sent the hunters scrambling for their weapons. Before long, the group saw a dragon crest the mountain peak—but the dragon itself wasn't the main focus. As it appeared, the summit erupted in a burst of white mist, like a blooming flower, scattering snowflakes in every direction.
"Run!!" Recognizing the phenomenon instantly, the Admiral turned and shouted without hesitation.
An avalanche!
When the mountain's snow accumulates to a certain thickness, it collapses under the force of gravity. This was especially true for the loose, thick piles currently blanketing the Ancient Forest; even a loud voice could trigger a massive collapse.
Like a mudslide, the snow rushing down from the summit could reach speeds of a hundred meters per second. Fragile trees were snapped instantly. Even a robust Fanged Beast caught in the path of millions of tons of rushing snow would be swept away and buried; being struck by such force was practically a death sentence.
Acting with lightning speed, the hunters utilized the wide wooden planks strapped to their feet. Aside from facilitating movement in the snow, they were a contingency for exactly this kind of emergency. An experienced hunter never fails to account for an avalanche.
The Admiral and the others kicked off one plank and lay flat on the remaining one, pushing off with all their might—whoosh!
Like arrows loosed from a bow, the hunters slid down the slope at maximum speed. Kankan, who had been standing on Mirrorblade's back, leaped off and landed squarely on the Admiral's shoulders, hitching a ride as they sped away.
"Good luck, Little Boss, meow!!!"
Kankan's voice was torn into fragments by the speed and the wind. Mirrorblade had no intention of turning to flee; to him, a mere avalanche was something to be shattered with a single leap!
Mirrorblade planted his feet firmly, bent his knees, and lunged forward—not away from the danger, but directly toward the source of the avalanche—BOOM!!
Crash! Rumble!
Mirrorblade's weight, totaling over a hundred tons, caused a massive secondary tremor upon impact. The snow that hadn't yet collapsed began to slide in a chain reaction triggered by the vibration of his landing. In that moment, nearly the entire summit's snowpack began to surge downward.
Fractured layers of snow—white, stacked sheets and slabs—shattered in the rush, turning into rising clouds of white dust and a hazy mist. It looked as though a monster was riding the clouds, mercilessly obliterating everything in its path.
The hunters' figures had long since vanished into the boundless white haze. Mirrorblade did not look back. At this moment, his eyes were fixed solely on the ice-blue dragon!
It was the one!
Its overall structure was similar to his "Old Man," Asterion—a quadrupedal body with two wings. However, its wings were conventional, unlike his father's strange biology. It had deep blue skin and ice-blue scales, with wings that looked as if they were carved from ice itself; deep blue at the base, fading into a brilliant, translucent azure at the tips.
Its tail was particularly striking. In Mirrorblade's eyes, it resembled the spears used by Gajalaka or Grimalkyne warriors, tipped with an exceptionally sharp ice spike.
If Asterion were here, he would have recognized this monster instantly—the flagship monster, Velkhana!
"Roar! Roar!!" (You're the one behind this blizzard! You're the one driving the other monsters out of their territories!!)
Mirrorblade bellowed a righteous condemnation!
The sudden drop in temperature, the blizzards, and the influx of wounded monsters fleeing into his own territory—the culprit had to be this ice-blue dragon! The Wingdrakes brutally frozen in ice and left uneaten were the ultimate proof!
Velkhana: "?"
What is this creature babbling about?
Without a word, Velkhana couldn't be bothered to entertain this seemingly ordinary "little" dragon. It spread its wings, and as they closed, countless water droplets in the air were instantly flash-frozen into blue-white shards of ice and snow. This was followed by a fierce, freezing wind blasting toward Mirrorblade!
Undoubtedly, Velkhana intended to entomb Mirrorblade in ice. However, in Mirrorblade's eyes, this attack only served as further confirmation of the dragon's guilt!
Right before his eyes, this dragon had whipped up a blizzard just by flapping its wings!
Case closed. This was the disaster-maker!
The silver-gray radiator shells on Mirrorblade's back suddenly released intense heat. Every muscle in his body surged to life, adjusting to his optimal combat state.
If I can take this guy down, it means I finally have the power to defeat my Old Man, right?
No, wait... this guy over here caused an unprecedented blizzard in the forest and forced countless monsters to flee. Even my Old Man isn't that impressive—doesn't that mean if I win, I'll be able to kick the Old Man around for fun?
Mirrorblade felt a surge of excitement like never before.
This was the primary reason he had ventured out! The clever hunters could help him find the root of the disaster, but the hunters were only clever; they weren't strong enough to kill the truly powerful monsters.
So, he had to do it himself.
"ROAR!!" (I'm going to kill you!!)
The battle began.
In truth, Velkhana didn't need Mirrorblade's death warrant to initiate the attack.
Seeing that the freezing wind from its wings had only left a thick layer of frost on Mirrorblade's hide—which shattered into shards as he moved—Velkhana spread its wings and banked. Over a dozen sharp ice spears coalesced in the sky, raining down toward Mirrorblade.
Clang! Clang-clang! Clang!
They were merely ice spears. Mirrorblade twisted his body with agility, swinging his blade-like tail to either shatter the projectiles or deflect them. When he steadied his stance, a faint white glow already coated his tail blade.
Spirit Blade! Cleftail Swordplay!
Unlike Asterion, Mirrorblade had been meticulously refining his Cleftail Swordplay. By now, every move and form had become second nature.
Simultaneously, Velkhana showed no signs of stopping. It tucked its wings close to its body and dove straight for the ground like a falling star, though not quite as fast.
BOOM!!
The moment Velkhana's heavy body slammed into the earth, countless ice crystals erupted from the ground like a blooming flower, spreading in layers and concentric circles. The bone-chilling cold froze everything in the vicinity—even the sliding layers of the avalanche were locked in ice!
With Velkhana as the epicenter, an area of nearly a hundred meters was instantly encased in frost. Mirrorblade had sensed danger the moment Velkhana dove and instinctively tried to leap away, but he was a fraction of a second too late.
Countless ice crystals froze everything within a hundred-meter radius in less than two seconds. Though it centered on Velkhana, to an observer, it looked as if the entire area had been frozen in a single heartbeat.
The biting chill even reached the foot of the mountain. As Velkhana stood up among the ice crystals, flapping its broad wings, it saw Mirrorblade frozen nearly four meters off the ground, mid-leap.
Velkhana exhaled a puff of frigid air, quite satisfied with the power of its strike. This same move performed here in the forest was far more effective than it had been back in its homeland.
Without a doubt, Velkhana's power was greatly amplified in the Ancient Forest because of the incredibly high humidity.
A forest, as anyone knows, functions to retain moisture and stabilize the climate. The Ancient Forest was naturally hot and humid. Once Velkhana arrived, it required very little effort to condense the moisture in the air into snow, easily terraforming the environment to suit its needs.
A single Velkhana didn't have the power to turn the entire Ancient Forest into a frozen wasteland, but it had reshaped this specific region to its liking. However, air naturally circulates. Since Velkhana chose to reside at a high altitude, a portion of the cold air flowed toward the Glavenus Tribe's territory, while another part followed Velkhana's movements over the mountains toward the Wildspire Waste.
This was the truth behind the disaster that had struck the Glavenus Tribe. Only a small portion of the vast Ancient Forest was affected by Velkhana's activity; the areas beyond remained as hot and humid as ever, resulting in a constant flow of moisture toward Velkhana's location.
Velkhana possessed a specialized organ for cooling and storing liquid. The frost breath it exhaled was produced by this organ, either freezing targets directly or lowering the ambient temperature. However, Velkhana itself did not produce water vapor.
This meant the attacks Mirrorblade faced were the result of Velkhana condensing the moisture in the air into ice. The endless supply of humidity flowing in from other parts of the forest served as Velkhana's "infinite ammo," turning it into a living machine gun.
Since arriving in this forest, Velkhana had discovered that life could be much more pleasant than in the frozen tundra. It was easier to play and far more liberating.
Here, I am content; I think not of the tundra.
Looking at the frozen Mirrorblade, Velkhana's mind raced with a dozen different ways to execute this intruder. Contrary to its elegant, "cool" ice-blue appearance, Velkhana was actually a fiercely aggressive, carnivorous Elder Dragon.
Counter-intuitive, isn't it? Generally, ice-elemental beings are expected to have a cold, aloof personality, but Velkhana was the opposite. It was extremely territorial and highly aggressive.
Most Elder Dragons ignore small creatures living in their vicinity, possessing a sort of "Elder Dragon pride" where only other Elder Dragons are deemed worthy of their attention.
Velkhana was different. It routinely fed on small monsters, and the moment it spotted a large monster, it would kill it without hesitation. Even Brute Wyverns the size of an Anjanath could be frozen solid and left for dead.
In battle, Velkhana would go all-out to eliminate any life form that entered the fray, not even sparing small animals passing by. Its combat style was "hot-blooded," a stark contrast to its "cold" elemental attacks.
Extreme low temperatures, hardened ice, and razor-sharp spikes—these were Velkhana's tools for victory.
Crack!!
The sudden crack of a shot rang out from far away. In the world of white snow, a bright crimson line appeared. In the blink of an eye, the tip of this red line struck the ice encasing Mirrorblade—FLASH!
A ball of fire erupted, and the hardened ice it struck shattered instantly. There was no mistaking it—this was support fire from the Heavy Bowgun hunter!!
Knowing the current disaster was snow-related, it was highly likely the culprit used ice-elemental energy. Therefore, every member of the hunter squad had equipped fire-elemental weapons and carried a large supply of Flaming Ammo and Dragon Ammo.
The damage from this single shot was limited—the bit of ice destroyed by the bullet was negligible compared to the massive block surrounding Mirrorblade—but it was enough to help him break free.
As is well known, no matter how much physical strength one possesses, it cannot be utilized without room to exert force.
For Mirrorblade, being completely encased in thick ice meant he had no leverage. Even though his tail blade could easily cut through ice, it was useless if he couldn't swing it. The hot steam venting from his radiator shells was melting the ice at his back, but melting the back alone wasn't enough, especially since Velkhana was consciously thickening the shell.
Crack! Crack-crack!
Two more shots.
The shattered points in the ice finally gave Mirrorblade the leverage he needed. With a massive twist of his body and the sound of endless crunching, the ice covering his frame shattered, and large chunks of frozen debris fell around him.
There was no oxygen inside the ice. Mirrorblade took deep, rapid breaths, ensuring his high-output, massive body didn't become sluggish due to oxygen deprivation.
That was dirty!
This was the first time Mirrorblade had encountered a monster that could directly control ice. It was entirely different from those guys who only knew how to breathe fire. At the very least, fire couldn't trap him and leave him to die a slow death.
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