Snow Mountains Area, Ice Region:
As far as eye can see, the world was white. Not a deathly white, but a beautiful but pale white.
The sky was filled with a special white fog—the dense water mana and maintained the temperature of the region.
Small, crystalline snowflakes rained down from the white sky.
They fell on the frozen lakes, the snow capped hills and the sheets of ice that covered the land.
A snow flake fell into a cold hand.
“This place is full of water mana.” Sarah sensed the mana in the snowflake and said.
“Indeed.” Philia calmly nodded.
Sarah squashed the snowflake and looked around with a sigh.
They were currently on a hill. To be precise, two away from the hilltop.
Even from down here, the magnificent Snow Palace was visible. In fact, one could see the palace even from the bottom of the mountain, almost sixteen miles away.
After entering the Ice Region, Sarah’s team found the location of Snow Palace in no time.
The beasts on the way weren’t much of a problem. The highest was only a low level 6.
They thought this mission was easier.
But soon, they realized they were being naive.
This mountain, and every mountain in this snow mountains range was filled with beasts!
Most of the beasts were only level 4, but there were plenty of level 5 and even ample of level 6.
There were quite a few peak level 6s as well.
Initially, it didn’t matter much.
Despite their overall numbers, beasts on any mountain were manageable to the trio.
The plan was to climb the mountain, reach the palace and kill off all the beasts in the palace before retrieving the flag.
There was one problem.
Just like Snow palace, other mountains also had a building on their peaks. All these buildings were filled with beasts.
It didn’t matter matter much initially, but when the trio reached the mountain and started fighting the beasts, alarm bells went off in Sarah’s mind.
With her Water sense, she could feel ripples of water mana from afar.
The trio stopped their attack immediately and withdrew.
Then they found the reason!
Once a commotion occurs in the palace, it would also disturb the beasts on top of other mountains.
All the buildings on the peaks were connected in a weird way that Sarah didn’t understand.
But she did conclude that any commotion on any of the peaks would end in only one result.
A beast tide.
Given their strength, they could escape, but injuries would be inevitable.
In fact, if they faced Beast tide, the injuries would cause their strength to plummet.
If they were serious about winning, they must avoid it at all costs.
So, they devised another plan.
Sarah and Philia waited two miles down the mountain, far away from the palace.
And…
“Yo! White Tiger, are you a pussy? Come bit me!” William’s mocking voice echoed down the mountain.
Shortly, the ice creaked and William appeared in the distance. Behind him was a white tiger the size of a bus.
It was covered by a blue hue and pounced on William.
William hurriedly pulled himself away with his mental strength and escaped the pounce.
Bam!
The White Tiger’s paw created a small pit on the ground and decreased the snow further.
Sarah gripped her sword and covered herself with water mana. Her chi boiled at the same time and she kicked the ground, appearing in front of the White Tiger in an instant.
The beast was long aware and created an ice curtain, blocking off Sarah’s sword.
Ka!
Ka!
Small cracks formed on the ice curtain, but the white tiger had no time to care as it created an ice phoenix and countered the ice dragon from Philia.
Sarah didn’t give up and continued to strike. Philia’s attacks were slowly going in sync with Sarah’s, bringing additional burden to the beast.
But the beast’s woes didn’t end there.
It also had to counter the choking feeling around its neck with its water mana. Not just its neck, there was an invisible and unrelenting force trying to break its bones.
“Grarrh” The White Tiger had to expend its mana and form a defensive layer over itself to resist the crushing force.
The beast was in defensive the whole time and its instincts tried to find a way out.
Only a few seconds passed since the fight began and it decided to flee.
But—
Ka!
Ka!
Philia’s Ice dragon twisted and changed the target to the ice curtain Sarah was facing.
So far, the curtain was slightly cracked by Sarah’s attacks before it was repaired by the White Tiger.
But now—
“Roar!”
The Ice dragon crashed into the cracked Ice curtain, completely destroying it.
The white tiger snarled and sent its ice phoenix to kill Philia.
At the same time, blue wings appeared on its back and it was about to escape.
“Stay!” William yelled and a huge force descending on the white tiger, trying to hold it in place.
“Gruuh” The White Tiger broke the force in an instant and kicked the ground. Flapping its wings, its feet left the ground.
As it was about to escape, a white streak reached it in an instant.
Shuaa!
Sarah swung her ice sword augmenting it with her physical strength.
Thud!
“Grr….ugh” The White Tiger created a defensive ice layer around its neck in the last moment.
But it only lasted for a split second before its head was cut down by Sarah.
“…”
As the blue blood spilled like a fountain, and dyed the white ground, Sarah sheathed her sword and looked at the two.
Her brows knit together and she said in annoyance. “William, we have a lot of work to do. She’s fine.”
William finished inspecting Philia for injuries and sighed in relief. “She’s fine, but I’m still worried.”
Philia still had the cold expression on her face, but her lips were slightly curled up.
“Philia, when you used your ice dragon to attack, you put yourself in danger.” He looked at her with a stern expression.
“…” Philia didn’t say anything and simply lowered her head.
After using the ice dragon to attack the curtain, she conjured wings and flew into the sky.
But the White Tiger’s ice phoenix almost caught up to her. She could’ve dealt with it, but she’d be injured.
Thankfully, William helped out in the last moment.
Thinking of this, her cheeks turned red and she turned away from him.
William laughed out loud and waved to them. “We still got some peak level 6s in the palace. Let’s end this quickly.”
His figure shot up the mountain and he began provoking another beast to chase after him.