Chapter 780: Act 132 – White Gorge III
The misty valley appeared before the members of the Broken Sword Knight Order, like a fissure struck by lightning. This crack split the entire glacier, making mortals seem incredibly small beneath this natural masterpiece. As Freya looked up at the jagged face of the shattered glacier, she felt as insignificant as dust beneath the feet of giants.
The narrow crack extended for miles, forming a winding path between intersecting slanted ice surfaces. The towering cliffs on either side, layered with ice sheets, icicles, and ice cones, made the entire gorge seem like a labyrinth.
“This is truly spectacular!” Brendel murmured, while the young knights from Cruz behind him gazed at the scene with awe.
“What about that stag…?” In the face of such scenery, Arleigh had to admit that their continuous following of the stag likely had some merit. However, even so, it couldn’t change his stubbornness.
“It went in,” the mountain knight Rolo affirmed.
“But I don’t see a trace of it now. Is it asking us to go in? That doesn’t sound good; there are traps aplenty beneath these ice walls. It reminds me of the treacherous wild valleys in the Sukalas Basin during our training. As the host, it ought to leave us a path at least. Besides, who knows how long this gorge is? What if it’s a dead end inside?” Arleigh retorted.
Rolo glanced at him, uninterested in arguing with the fellow.
In the end, it was Xiao Peiluo who stepped in to calm the situation. “Alright, Arleigh has a point. Although it was the holy spirit that led us here, we still don’t know what lies ahead. I suggest we send out a scout team, just as we did during our training in the winding valleys of Sukalas.”
Brendel frowned. “But that was survival training. Now we have a pack of winter wolves following us. If we split off a scout team to feel our way forward, won’t that be a bit slow?”
“We have no choice in this matter. The terrain in the gorge is as complex as a maze, and those winter wolves won’t find it easier to track us inside than outside,” Xiao Peiluo shook his head slowly beneath his bear-skin coat. “Let’s see what the commander thinks.”
Everyone turned to look at Freya, only to find the Erluin girl staring blankly at the ancient glacier, her gaze seemingly lost somewhere far away. She stood there, both listening and gazing, as if something within the ice was conversing with her. It wasn’t until Xiao Peiluo called her name two or three times that she snapped back to reality.
“Ah, what’s wrong?” Freya said, slightly startled, looking at the others. “Did something happen? Did the wolves catch up?”
“No, nothing,” Brendel shook his head. “But you, Commander, what happened? Did you notice something?”
Freya looked at the deep blue glacier, appearing as solid as steel, her expression a bit puzzled. She had indeed sensed something, but that wasn’t the main reason for her distraction. She felt as if something had just happened, but when she returned to her senses, she couldn’t quite remember.
She pondered for a moment and slowly shook her head. “Regarding everyone’s opinions, I have an idea. But I’m not sure what Mr. Xiao Peiluo and Senior Nemeses think about it.”
Nemeses glanced at her, while Xiao Peiluo responded directly, “Feel free to speak, milady.”
“I want to ambush Marquis Julian.”
“What!?” Before Xiao Peiluo could say anything, Brendel exclaimed in surprise. He viewed the commander’s behavior as typically conventional; although she possessed some convincing traits, he thought her mental acuity was slightly inferior even to his own, let alone the recognized tactician of the knight order, Xiao Peiluo.
Her previous performance only solidified that point. Her command during several battles had been textbook standard—neither revealing any bright spots nor flaws.
He couldn’t fathom why she would suddenly propose such a risky and radical notion. It hardly seemed like something a single person would suggest.
Xiao Peiluo fell silent for a moment. This time, it was Nemeses who spoke after a brief consideration, her tone consistently cold as she asked, “Why do you think that?”
“…Actually, I’ve always had this thought, Senior Nemeses,” Freya replied, her voice a bit softer when facing the stern senior. It felt like the authority she had just built up melted away, reverting to that of a young girl from the countryside of Buche. She said timidly, “I just hadn’t found a good opportunity until now, and the terrain here suits my idea well. The Erluin infantry tactics manual states…”
“Forget the manual, just tell me your thoughts,” Nemeses interrupted with a sigh, exuding exasperation.
Watching their exchange, the young knights from Cruz struggled to contain their amusement. They found it hard to imagine such a ‘soft’ commander leading them this far. Even in the Cruz Empire, this group would normally be considered unruly. Except for when under Veronika’s command, most past supervisors who had governed them would likely place them on their list of troublesome individuals, something they wore with a sense of pride and joy.
Yet, one could not deny that sometimes, a person’s circumstances are truly strange.
Feeling the Cruz knights’ shoulders shaking with laughter, Freya turned red but answered earnestly, “Indeed, Senior. Winter wolves are monsters. If we can figure out a way to kill the one commanding them, they would no longer pose a threat to us. We cannot just keep fleeing in this icy wasteland.”
“How can you say fleeing? We’re executing a set tactic,” Arleigh quickly corrected, only to wince in pain as he moved too quickly, gritting his teeth, “The Broken Sword Knight Order will never run from the enemy, Commander; you must remember that.”
“Shut up. The Broken Sword Knight Order doesn’t defeat enemies with hot air,” Brendel shot him a glare before turning back to ask, “But the question is, can we kill him, Commander? This is risky. That fellow certainly won’t appear at the front of the wolf pack. If we fail to strike decisively, we could find ourselves surrounded by the wolves.”
“What’s more…” he hesitated, “What if that silver beast is with him?”
“I say you’re worrying too much,” upon hearing Brendel’s reservation, Arleigh instantly took the opposing view. “On the battlefield, it’s all about luck. If you could predict the enemy perfectly, why even fight? Just send emissaries to demand their surrender!”
“Haha, perhaps that fellow would indeed send a wolf to surrender to you. Brendel, can you understand wolf language?” Arleigh maliciously asked.
“Whether or not I can understand wolf language isn’t important; what matters is that you were opposing before and now you’re supporting it. Arleigh, can you guys from Iniel not be so two-faced?” Brendel finally let his irritation bubble over, sneering at Arleigh.
“Your earlier support was just a pretense; now that you oppose, I naturally must support. What’s the problem? Are you dissatisfied?” Arleigh replied nonchalantly.
“I don’t have time to be dissatisfied with someone like you—” Brendel was so annoyed that he wanted to say more, but Xiao Peiluo interrupted him. This small Cruz knight wrapped his hands within the sleeves of his bear-skin coat, pretending not to hear the dispute between Brendel and Arleigh until this moment when he spoke, “Everything else is fine, but have you thought about how to handle that silver beast?”
This concern was also troubling the entire Broken Sword Knight Order. If it were just the winter wolves and Marquis Julian, they probably would have already turned around to cut a bloody path.
But the issue was that elusive silver beast, which had left a profound impression on everyone from the previous night’s battle.
Even Freya, who suggested the ambush, fell silent at that question.
Was that silver beast still around, and if so, how should they deal with it?
…
“Lucky fellows.”
As Julian stood at the crack in the glacier, he tilted his head to admire the imposing natural beauty, unable to suppress such exclamations. Unconsciously, he rotated the emerald gem on the Ring of Serpents, similar to the subconscious gestures he made while deep in thought back in his castle.
However, this chilling wind made it impossible to relate to his temperate territory near the Gray Mountains. The current owner of the ring no longer needed such small gestures to keep calm; the undead’s thoughts were as cold as ice, and this was merely a habitual action.
Before the wolf pack discovered the crack, he couldn’t believe that this group of Cruzers had coincidentally found such an exit. Who would have thought that these Cruz knights could stumble upon the only exit to the Lair of the Winterer?
The White Gorge, that should be the name of this place. Before the Cruzers arrived, he and Anlek had spent days searching for it but ultimately found nothing, having to retreat back to the main entrance guarded by that Frost Dragon.
It was unexpected that in the chase and escape, he found this place.
Although the Cruzers’ escape annoyed him, discovering this shortcut brought him some surprise, even making him feel it was an unexpected gain.
At that moment, several wolves emerged from beneath the glacier, howling toward Marquis Julian. He quickly understood what his pets were signaling.
The Cruzers had indeed entered the gorge.
“Quite bold,” Julian scoffed, “But it doesn’t matter; they can escape for a moment, but not forever. They’ll soon realize that only we are the true masters of the glacier. I want to see how far those luck-filled fellows can run.”
Two winter wolves approached him, and Julian stroked their silver manes with his cold, dry palm, sneering, “Let’s go, the hunt is far from over.”
The winter wolves seemed to understand his words, lowering their heads and whining softly.
Hearing their whimpers, Julian frowned, “Don’t mind that fellow; he’s just a madman, a lunatic. They’re simply the servitors of the Duskgazer Dragon, acting all high and mighty. Don’t think others aren’t aware that they were once defeated in the ancient era. If their kind was truly as powerful as they proclaim, how could they have been defeated by the Knight of Azure? In the end, they had to rely on our strength.”
“All things return to one. How can those filled only with thoughts of slaughter and brute strength possibly understand? They are merely combat creations shaped by chaos.”
He patted his pet’s forehead, saying, “Of course, I understand. That girl might indeed be somewhat odd; I’ve heard rumors about her. I suspect she is the daughter of that Earth Knight, Everton. Ha, the royal faction claims that the traitor is dead, thinking we’re unaware of their clumsy lies. But it doesn’t matter; our primary goal is still to kill those Cruz knights. Leaving them beside Veronika is a hidden risk that even that old coot Anlek wouldn’t want to see; as for that young girl, she can’t escape anyway.”
“Go, my pets, chase them until there’s nowhere left to run.”
Julian declared loudly, raising his head, yet he remained oblivious to the fact that above his head, behind those layered ice walls and within the crevices of the glacier, sharp arrows were nocked on drawn bows, tracking his direction.
At this moment, even the ever-chattering Arleigh held his breath. All the knights of the Broken Sword hiding behind the ice walls watched nervously as the winter wolf pack, like a raging torrent, surged past Marquis Julian and entered the gorge.
“Good thing we stayed behind,” Brendel, a traditional knight, although trained in archery yet not skilled in it, now stood behind everyone holding his longsword. Seeing this scene, he couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat. “If we kept running, we would eventually be surrounded…”
It was only at this moment that he really looked at Freya with admiration.
However, at this moment, the girl from Buche was more furrowed in brow than anyone else.
She hadn’t expected the number of winter wolves to be so vast.
…
(1) Sukalas Basin, located north of Cruz, is the natural habitat of petrified lizards. It has long served as a military restricted zone for the Cruz Empire, but contrary to popular belief as a training ground, it is actually a high-quality crystal mining area. Since the arrival of the Thundering Era, the Empire has been unable to defeat the petrified lizards and hence could not stably mine high-quality magical crystals from the place.
