Chapter 778: Act 131 – White Gorge II
In the snow-covered woodland, it seemed as if a fierce battle had taken place, with the corpses of winter wolves lying scattered in the snow and underbrush. The bodies were dissolving into black particles, drifting away like smoke. Clearly, the victors of the battle belonged to the other side that did not lie on the battlefield: the human knights from Cruz.
Julian watched this scene with an expressionless face as he slowly moved along the clearing in the woods. “Damn it,” he muttered as his boot sank into the snow with a crunch. Frowning, he lifted his foot, took off his boot, and tapped it to shake out the snow inside before putting it back on.
A grayish-white winter wolf emerged from the thicket and let out a few low whines towards him. Julian raised his head and stroked his chin, “About a quarter of an hour? Have they already fled north?”
“Who are they? The Cruzian people?”
“Probably. There’s no one else in this forest besides them.”
“Don’t worry, it’s just a last-ditch struggle; they won’t have gone far.”
The winter wolf whined softly, and Julian seemed to understand what the beast was trying to express, gently patting its forehead.
Although he no longer considered himself as self-important as he did during his time at Ampere Seale, he had indeed died once in that war, slain by the sword of a chaotic soldier during a retreat. The wounds he sustained at that time had left indelible scars on his body. Now his skin was as white as paper, lacking luster and moisture, his exposed arms and hands skeletal and terrifying. One eye was permanently blind, covered with an eye patch featuring an intricate skull pattern.
He bore a fatal wound on his chest, a stab from a heavy sword that had yet to heal. The wound pierced through to his ribs and nearly reached his heart, a heart that had long since decayed and no longer beat, replaced by a blazing white flame.
All of this was due to the pact he made with those nameless entities in life; they promised him eternal, immortal power. In death, he indeed enjoyed that power, albeit in a different form.
He had become undead.
Only after becoming undead could one truly understand how painful immortality could be. The fire of the soul ceaselessly burned with memories from the past—pain, regret, anger, and sadness intertwined in his mind, subjecting him to torment day and night. Day by day, human emotions gradually dwindled, leaving only a cold hatred for all that had been.
Yet, even though he had turned into an undead, he had not gained nothing; those nameless entities had indeed fulfilled their promise of power. Summoning the pack of winter wolves in the forest was just one of the many abilities he possessed.
This was a force far beyond the mundane, completely different from the shallow power built on authority among humans—true, commandable power.
More and more winter wolves were materializing in the forest, the packs dividing into smaller teams, sprinting off in all directions.
Julian listened closely, and before long, a distant howl echoed through the air. He couldn’t help but smirk; his pets had discovered the traces of their prey.
…
In a clearing among the woods, several winter wolves circled the corpse of one of their comrades, lifting their heads as if sniffing the smell of blood in the air. Then, the lead wolf let out a long howl, and they all turned to chase in one direction.
Such scenes were playing out everywhere.
The wolf pack quickly uncovered more tracks, with bodies buried beneath snowdrifts, some hidden in thorny bushes, and others even concealed in tree trunks. The further north they went, the more traces of battle were left behind. It painted a scene where the Cruzian knights fought and retreated, but could never shake off the pursuit of the wolves.
Marquis Julian followed behind his wolf pack, inspecting each corpse one by one. The sword wounds on the bodies confirmed his suspicions; initially, the Cruzian people had time to deal with the bodies or bury them beneath the snow, but as time went on, they had to hastily flee the battlefield, tossing the winter wolf bodies carelessly into the woods.
As they advanced further, the corpses of the young workers simply confirmed their escape from the battlefield; most of the winter wolves’ bodies remained where they had been slain:
This indicated that the Cruzian knights no longer had time to handle the bodies; they were in a frantic retreat.
On the other hand, this also meant that the distance between the wolves and them had grown increasingly close.
Julian followed at a leisurely pace. Occasionally, he looked up at the bright glacier in the north: if his adversaries knew the true name of that glacier, they would surely regret their choices.
That was not a natural glacier, but rather the outer wall of the Temple of the Hibernators buried beneath the glacier.
To bypass that wall, one would have to circumvent the entirety of the central region of Milos’ Breath.
About a quarter of an hour later, the wolf pack in front stopped, as if they had discovered something.
Julian parted the animals and walked to where they had halted. Upon seeing what his pets had found, he couldn’t help but smile like a victor.
There were footprints—an obvious trail left by the Cruzian people, leading hurriedly into the dark pines ahead.
“They didn’t even have time to clear their tracks; it seems they’ve noticed me,” Julian thought for a moment before snapping his fingers. He instructed the wolf pack to disperse, filtering through the entire forest like a massive net.
…
Freya and her group were struggling to traverse the dark pines, the steep ice wall now in sight. A beautifully blue stag was leading the way, nimbly moving along the icy edges, jumping from one tilted ice surface to another, never slipping or losing balance, steady as if walking on flat ground.
But for the young members of the Broken Sword Knights, this route proved quite challenging. Though nearly all of them were skilled at the peak of the Golden Realm, and even included someone with Brendel’s Golden-level strength, there were still instances of slipping.
Due to Freya’s relatively weak prowess, Nemeses and Xiao Peiluo took special care of her. Yet despite this, she still fell several times. She bruised her arm on the first fall, then hit her forehead on the second, leaving it red and looking like she would burst into tears at any moment, which made her feel quite embarrassed.
Because of this, the group’s pace slowed, and everyone fell into silence. It wasn’t just the seemingly endless steep ice wall but also because the forest had grown increasingly quiet, indicating that those white demons had begun to cross through the dark pines behind them.
Snap—Brendel casually tossed a piece of frozen food, as hard as stone, onto the snow, splashing up a flurry of snowflakes. He watched it roll down the steep terrain, ultimately disappearing into an ice crevice. If anyone were to slip here, they would face the same peril; beneath those crevices lay the unfathomably deep millennia-old glacier, and a misstep would mean no hope of climbing back up alone.
Not to mention that in a place like Milos’ Breath, every year there were countless adventurers who went missing beneath the glacier.
He felt both cold and hungry, his eyelids heavy as if filled with lead, but regrettably, they had no time to stop for a break, let alone make a fire.
“How long is this stag going to lead us along this glacier? At this rate, we’ll be caught by the winter wolves behind us,” Arleigh couldn’t help but complain. “We spent a lot of effort driving them off.”
“Shut up; no one thinks you’re mute,” Brendel replied harshly, unsure where this guy found so many complaints. “The wolf pack will slow down when crossing the glacier, only that creature can stroll leisurely in this terrain.”
As he said this, he kept his gaze fixed on the blue shadow in front.
But at that moment, someone in the group suddenly exclaimed, “Look over there!”
Arleigh had been about to retort but turned around at the sudden exclamation. Including him, everyone saw a few white shadows appearing at the edge of the dark forest in the distance.
They were clearly wolves; they had evidently caught sight of the Cruzian figures climbing along the cliff, looking this way for a moment before turning around and diving back into the forest.
“Oh, what a sight; what do you have to say now?” Arleigh gloated, looking back at Brendel.
“What’s there to be happy about?” Although he responded with sarcasm, Brendel couldn’t help but mutter to himself, “How did they find out so quickly?”
“Haha,” Arleigh laughed loudly, seemingly unafraid: “Seeing you in a tough spot is enough for me to die without regrets.”
“If you want to die, you can jump off here, Arleigh,” Xiao Peiluo finally spoke up coldly as this guy’s remarks grew increasingly absurd. “No one will stop you.”
Strangely, when this short Cruzian spoke, Arleigh immediately fell silent. He awkwardly laughed it off, “I was just joking; besides, I really can’t move anymore. If the commander ordered me to stop and hold the rear, I wouldn’t refuse; I’d love to have a good fight with those beasts.”
“No need,” Freya was somewhat amused and impressed by Xiao Peiluo’s ability to keep a guy like Arleigh in check. During her time as a militia captain, she had encountered some sly individuals, but compared to Arleigh, they were nothing.
This Cruzian knight completely overturned her impression of the Cruzian people.
“It has stopped.” While everyone else was arguing, only Rolo was still fixated on what lay ahead. At this moment, he suddenly saw that beautiful blue being halt near the ice wall, looking back at the humans as if to tell them: We have arrived.
Then everyone noticed this scene. “Let’s go check it out,” Xiao Peiluo was the first to speak up.
Thus, Arleigh and Brendel ceased their dispute. The group continued forward, and after about a quarter of an hour, they reached that location.
But the next moment, everyone was stunned. When they approached, they discovered that the glacier here had concaved inward, forming a narrow gorge.
The mist-covered gorge appeared like a crack split by lightning, unfolding before the eyes of the Broken Sword Knights…
…
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