“You sure this is the right path?” Roz questioned, breath fogging his vision. They were already walking for an hour, and there was no sign of the frozen lake that Leonel talked about. It was just dead trees, snow, and more snow.
They did encounter some ice monsters and beasts along the way but decided not to engage to keep their HP and MP at full until they faced the Boss.
“Yeah. It should be here, before the mountains,” answered Leonel.
“Do you know the Boss we will face?” Isolde questioned.
“Nope.” Leonel gave a boyish grin. “It’s going to be a surprise.”
“Or will be the one surprised if it turned out to be stronger than us,” muttered Roz in a low voice.
“By the way,” Leonel paused and looked at the shotgun over Isolde’s shoulder. “Where’d you get that?”
Isolde flexed her gun and grinned. “Oh, you mean Isolde Shotgun 1.0?”
Leonel raised a brow. “Is that its name?”
“I named it that way. I bought it in Erendia town, and it’s pretty solid. It even has AoE normal damage, but only if the enemies are beside each other.” Isolde’s STR already reached +30 after their encounter with the Maiden of Agony so entering towns wasn’t a problem to her..
“Cool.” Leonel faced forward and resumed cutting the dead bushes and branches their way while whistling.
After a few more minutes, Roz pointed his finger at a spot hidden by foliage. “Look. Is that it?”
When Leonel cut the blockade, what stumbled upon them was a lake trap in glistering ice. It reflected the blood moon high above the sky while no stars were present that night. And beyond that was a mountain covered in perpetual snow.
“I think that’s the lake?” Leonel was having cold feet, especially traversing the frozen lake. He felt like when they were in the center, the ice would break just like in the movies.
While Isolde didn’t even care and just took a step forward without any hint of fear on her face. “Let’s go.”
“H-hey . . .” Leonel stretched his hand, intending to grab her, but the latter was already a meter in front, walking like the lake was a red carpet.
And at the corner of his eyes, Roz, too, went after Isolde. His face was stoic, like he didn’t care what would happen.
Leonel looked at his companions before looking at the crystal lake. His fear came from the knowledge that he couldn’t swim.
“What are you doing?”
Leonel’s eyes gaze upward from the Crystal Lake and find Isolde looking at him in confusion.
“Are you scared? Don’t worry. I’ll rescue you if you drown.” Isolde then turned and walked ahead. “Just follow the path where I’m walking.”
Looking at Isolde’s back, Leonel somehow felt comforted. There was something about her strong and confident stride that gave of a feeling that everything was going to be alright.
Just like with Ren.
Leonel took a deep breath and tiptoed his way to Isolde, making sure that he went wherever she went. Step wherever she steps.
“Good thing that you’re here, Isolde. I don’t know what I’ll do if you aren’t. I don’t know how to swim, and this ice is giving me goosebumps,” Leonel said. His voice was piercing the silence, but the cold winds sometimes made it inaudible.
“You’re very dependable. I couldn’t even step my shaking legs forward if you’re not in the front leading.”
Isolde just chuckled while her head rose a little. And then her smile dropped when Leonel continued.
“You’re like Ren. Very dependable and brave.”
Isolde’s happy mood plummeted a little, and she sighed to herself. Ren was a guy? Why was she compared to a guy again?
Isolde face-palmed herself when she did it again. She was supposed to act like a girl. She should get scared and whined and asked for help like Leonel did.
Isolde sighed to the heavens. It was not her fault if there were just a few things she was scared of, and she couldn’t act scared even if she wanted to. That was why her ex broke up with her in the first place. She was manlier than him and she wondered if it was going to be an issue with Ren and Leonel?
Isolde grumbled and muttered incoherent words in her mouth at the memory while Leonel was spouting on and on until they crossed the lake and finally arrived at Snowy Mountain.
“Are we going to climb that?” Roz asked, staring at the steep mountain covered in snow.
“No. I think we have to circle around here to find that deer.” Leonel looked around. There were still foliage and trees surrounding the mountain’s base before he looked up at the red moon.
“It should be here since it is already a red moon and we have numerous Foe Grass with us.”
Leonel and Roz were walking here and there while the former was whistling, calling the deer. In comparison, Isolde was looking over the lake.
“Guys,” Isolde called, pointing at a shadow shrouded in fog at a distance. “Is that it?”
Leonel and Roz flickered their attention at the frozen lake and found what Isolde was pointing.
When the wind blew, the fog swept away, revealing a hazy form of the beast in the form of a deer. But its size was twice that of a deer, almost like a horse, and it had four horns sprouting over its head, and its body glistened like ice.
The beast was mesmerizing. Especially it’s set of bluish eyes like glass. It stared at them with its innocent face, looking at what they were doing.
Leonel and Roz were stunned in place while Isolde took the initiative to approach it with her hand stretched with the foe grass clutched in her palm.
The deer’s snout wiggled at Isolde’s palm. It was kinda cute and very adorable as it sniffed the girl’s hand.
A girl with black hair brushing a mesmerizing ice deer proved to be quite a contrasting sight, and whoever saw the picturesque scenery would surely feel light and at peace. It was a picture coming out straight from a fantasy painting.
Until Isolde aimed her shotgun at the deer’s head before pressing [Engage].
The resounding BaAanNg startled Leonel and Roz awake from a wonderful dream.
Leonel covered his eyes and cried, “Isolde! What are you doing?!” he couldn’t stomach himself watching as Isolde butchered the innocent deer. It was so beautiful and innocent to hurt. How could Isolde even blow its skull to smithereens?
The Four Horned Ice Deer were easy to kill, and their ATP wasn’t that high. However, without a [Foe Grass], they wouldn’t appear, and they were only so few of them in the area while their respawn time were slow.
Isolde’s ATP was already high after the Gargantuan Cave, and with two critical hits, the Four Horned Ice Deer burst into particles.
“H-how could you . . . ,” Roz muttered, and he covered his lips when he thought about the deer. He was reminded of his pet cat, who died a few years ago. Until now, the memory still put a tear in his eyes. The eyes of that deer were the same as his dead cat. Big round, innocent blue eyes that melted any heart.
“How can you be so cruel?” Leonel said, “Didn’t you even feel pity for the deer?”
Isolde went back to the men with her face beaming with pride at her kill. “Pity? It’s a beast,” she said simply. She went hunting with her family every season. The deer was simply another target to her.
“It’s so cute. How could you even think of hurting it?” Roz asked with a low voice.
“Cute?” Isolde tilted her head while her eyes went up, thinking before she smiled. “Nothing is cuter than my guns.”
” . . .”
Leonel and Roz were like dead statues at the side before they realized they were acting more like a girl than Isolde. And that was when it sunk into their head that Isolde was indeed manlier than them.
There was no way that a girl’s soft heart wouldn’t bleed at killing that innocent deer.