The three of them descended the stone steps of the Entombed City - Ancient Palace.
The closer they got to the Snowboar King's territory, the heavier the chill in the air became.
The snow underfoot gradually hardened from soft powder, crunching with each step as if they were walking on ice.
Klee, who had just been excitedly chattering about the ocean she'd seen, was now nestled in Lydia's arms.
Lydia tightened her coat, silently cursing the Snowboar King with every breath. If Albedo hadn't given her this cold-resistant coat earlier, she'd probably be frozen solid by now.
When they reached the central clearing of the territory, the scene before them left all three stunned.
The massive Great Snowboar King, which they had expected to find lounging in the snow, was nowhere to be seen.
The clearing held only a few dark brown, packed-down snow prints and several frozen boar droppings scattered about. Even the small boars that usually patrolled the territory's perimeter were gone.
Albedo's brow furrowed slightly. He knelt and brushed his fingertips over a snow print. "Strange. The Snowboar King is highly territorial and rarely leaves this area. Even when foraging, it would leave two or three young boars to guard the territory. It would never abandon it completely."
Lydia gazed at the rocks encased in thick ice and suddenly recalled the method for awakening the Snowboar King from the game in her past life.
All you have to do is melt the surrounding frozen boars and kill them to lure out the Snowboar King hidden in its cave.
An idea sparked in her mind. She quickly tugged on Albedo's sleeve and pointed to three boar-shaped blocks of ice not far away.
"Teacher Albedo! Look at those frozen boars!"
"Those must be the Snowboar King's minions left to guard the area. If we kill them, we should be able to summon the Snowboar King!"
Albedo followed her finger and saw three half-human-sized blocks of ice. Frozen within were three boars, noticeably larger than ordinary ones, their tusks gleaming coldly even through the ice.
He looked at Lydia with curiosity, a flicker of doubt in his eyes.
This girl has supposedly never been here before. How could she know the method to awaken the Snowboar King?
But before he could voice his question, Lydia had already removed the Scarlet Quartz Amulet from her wrist.
She pressed the amulet against the ice, her voice firm with conviction. "Scarlet Quartz can melt ice. We'll know if we try!"
A red glow slowly seeped through the ice. The once iron-hard surface began to crackle with fine fissures.
Meltwater dripped down the cracks, creating a steady drip, drip, drip sound.
"Let's take care of these boars first, then we'll find the Snowboar King."
Albedo immediately set aside his doubts, instantly summoning a sharp sword into his hand—the Cinnabar Spindle.
As soon as the ice had melted halfway, he struck, plunging his blade into the first boar.
The boar had just awakened from its frozen state, its eyes barely open, when it collapsed onto the snow. Fresh blood instantly stained the surrounding drifts crimson.
Lydia, meanwhile, continued using the amulet to melt the ice around the other boars.
Just as the third boar fell to the ground with a final squeal, a deafening BOOM echoed through the area.
The nearby rock wall suddenly shattered, and a massive boulder was sent flying.
Amidst the shower of rock fragments, an enormous Great Snowboar King charged out of the cave!
Its body was covered in thick, bristly fur hung with icicles. Two curved tusks gleamed coldly, and its eyes burned with rage. Its massive hooves slammed into the snow, leaving deep prints and causing the ground to tremble slightly.
"Hehe, I told you so!" Lydia puffed out her chest proudly.
Albedo didn't reply, but his mind grew even more puzzled.
This girl seems to know far more than she should.
But there was no time to question her now. The enraged Snowboar King was already charging toward him, its tusks aimed straight for his chest.
To make matters worse, five or six more boars charged out of the cave.
Seeing the Snowboar King rush at Albedo, they turned their attention to Lydia and Klee, baring their teeth as they closed in step by step.
"Be careful! Don't get gored by their tusks!" Albedo shouted as he sidestepped the Snowboar King's charge.
He gathered Geo Elemental Power in his Cinnabar Spindle but hesitated to attack.
He still hadn't found the Snowboar King's toughest bristle—the key to repairing the Holy Lyre der Himmel.
If he accidentally damaged it, all their efforts would be wasted.
Because of this, his attacks were mostly defensive, limited to dodging and countering with Geo Elemental Power only during the brief openings between the Snowboar King's assaults.
Albedo's caution gave the Snowboar King breathing room. It launched relentless attacks with its tusks and hooves, forcing Albedo to retreat continuously.
Seeing the boars trying to encircle them, Lydia turned and ran, still carrying Klee.
Though Klee wasn't heavy, dodging the boars' attacks while carrying someone was still exhausting.
More importantly, she couldn't free her hands to fight back!
A small brown boar lunged at her back. Lydia quickly ducked.
The boar missed, crashing headfirst into a rock in front of them. It staggered back, dazed.
"Lydia! Put me down! I can blow them up!" Klee squirmed in her arms, her small hand tightly clutching a Jumpy Dumpty, her eyes filled with determination.
Lydia's eyes lit up. She immediately stopped, crouched down, and let Klee climb onto her shoulders, holding her legs securely. "Hold onto my hair! We'll run in circles!"
With that, she began sprinting around the battlefield, carrying Klee.
Klee lay on Lydia's shoulders, her head swiveling back and forth. Spotting the boars chasing them, she hurled a Jumpy Dumpty with all her might.
Boom! Boom!
After a few deafening explosions, the pursuing boars were sent flying. Some were even cooked instantly, landing in the snow with steam rising from their bodies, filling the air with the aroma of roasted meat.
"Yay! I got them! Lydia, run faster! There's one more!" Klee clapped excitedly and pulled another bomb from her backpack.
She aimed at the last boar attempting a sneak attack and threw it forcefully.
The boar was blown to smithereens, leaving not even a corpse behind like its companions.
Just then, the Snowboar King let out a deafening roar.
Seeing its kin dead or cooked, its eyes instantly turned blood-red!
The bristles on its body stood on end, and its once-lumbering form suddenly became agile, its speed and attacks increasing significantly.
Faint traces of Cryo Elemental Power even began to coalesce around it, and the air grew heavy with a sudden, biting chill.
"It's gathering Cryo Elemental Power!" Albedo shouted, instantly recognizing the danger.
The words had barely left his lips when countless hailstones of varying sizes rained down from the sky.
The hailstones slammed into the snow with loud thuds, kicking up icy particles that stung their faces.
Lydia, still carrying Klee, dodged left and right. Several times, hailstones grazed her arm before crashing into the ground, leaving small craters.
Watching their perilous dance, Albedo's worry deepened.
If this dragged on, not only would they fail to get the Snowboar King's bristles, but Lydia and Klee could be seriously injured by the hail.
He took a deep breath, his gaze hardening with resolve.
His Vision erupted with intense Geo Elemental Power, its pale gold light shining with extraordinary brilliance.
"Abiogenesis: Solar Isotoma!"
The Geo Elemental Power instantly coalesced around the Snowboar King, forming a massive Geo Elemental Flower.
Its petals closed tightly around the beast, immobilizing it.
The Snowboar King struggled desperately, its hooves kicking relentlessly against the Geo petals, trying to break free.
But the harder it fought, the tighter the flower constricted.
Countless petal-like marks bloomed across its body, each one exploding upon formation, leaving a fresh wound.
Blood dripped down the petals, staining the surrounding clearing red.
When the Snowboar King's struggles weakened and its breathing grew ragged, Albedo teleported to its side. The Cinnabar Spindle in his hand plunged precisely into its throat—a single, fatal strike!
The Snowboar King's massive body crashed heavily onto the snow. Its limbs twitched a few times before it fell still, its breath gone.
Its body was covered in wounds from the Solar Isotoma's explosions, and its once-white bristles were stained a dark, reddish-brown with blood.
Albedo immediately knelt, carefully examining every bristle on the Snowboar King.
Finally, at the back of its neck, he found it: a bristle three times thicker than the others, shimmering with a faint silver-gray hue!
He gently plucked it out. The moment his fingertips touched the bristle, he let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. The Solar Isotoma didn't damage it. This bristle's resilience is perfect for a lyre string."
"You found it! You found the bristle!" Lydia exclaimed, running over with Klee in her arms.
Their eyes lit up at the sight of the silver-gray bristle in Albedo's hand, all their previous tension and exhaustion melting away.
Klee, especially excited, jumped down from Lydia's arms and began circling Albedo.
"Big Brother Albedo is amazing! You beat the big boar just like that!"
Albedo was about to say something to Lydia when, out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly glimpsed a pitch-black shadow darting out from behind the snowdrift.
The shadow moved with incredible speed, trailing a faint black mist as it shot straight toward Lydia and Klee!
"Watch out!" Albedo's pupils constricted. With no time to think, he reached out and yanked Lydia and Klee behind him.
Almost simultaneously, a beam of dark energy whizzed past, grazing the tips of Lydia's hair!
The energy beam struck the snow where they had just been standing, instantly blasting a small, blackish-purple crater that emitted a pungent odor.
Lydia stumbled back a few steps, her heart pounding violently.
The light that had just been shining in her eyes was instantly replaced by terror. She whipped her head around to look in the direction the attack had come from.
The snowdrift was empty. Only the black mist slowly dissipated in the air; not even a glimpse of the attacker's shadow remained.
Klee's excited smile froze on her face, her small hands clutching tightly to Lydia's clothes.
"The same feeling... So they finally couldn't resist?" Albedo pulled the two closer, the Cinnabar Spindle reappearing in his hand.
He scanned their surroundings vigilantly, his tone grave. "They didn't strike to kill. It feels more like a test... or a warning."
As soon as he finished speaking, another beam of dark energy shot toward them from the opposite side.
This time, the beam didn't target them. Instead, it slammed into the Snowboar King's corpse.
BOOM!
The snow around the body was blasted away, and black mist instantly enveloped the carcass.
When the smoke cleared, the Snowboar King's corpse had vanished!
Only a blackish-purple crater emitting a strange aura remained.
"They're stealing the corpse?" Lydia's eyes widened in disbelief.
Albedo quickly pulled her and Klee behind a nearby rock.
Leaning against the cold rock wall, he finally let out a slight sigh of relief. "This isn't the time to dwell on that. We need to get out of here, fast."
Albedo stood protectively in front of them, completely unaware of what was behind him...
A pitch-black sword lunged forward... aimed straight at Lydia