Swoosh!
Que, having once again transformed into a black arrow, flew down and pierced through the whirling blizzard with the force of a typhoon.
Most ordinary archers, if they had witnessed the shot, would have criticized it as a waste of mana. Suho was, after all, shooting blindly into the storm. But Suho was a different type of archer—his arrows had eyes.
“Que! Hit the first one you see and come back!”
“Yes, Master!” Que’s voice faded into the blizzard.
Meanwhile, Suho switched his attention back to the immediate concern before him. He and the Scavenger hunters were still plunging through the gate, descending further and further down.
“Everyone, use your mana to brace for impact!”
“Yes, Guild Master...!”
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Suho could barely hear the distant voices of the guild hunters as they responded to Thomas’ powerful command.
The relentless blizzard obscured the entire field of vision. Suho couldn’t even make out Esil or Rio, who should be falling right next to him, but he was confident they could handle this situation on their own.
Suho protected his entire body with mana as Thomas had suggested and maximized his senses. Finally, the landscape below began to gradually come into view, unfolding through the pure white blizzard.
Whoosh!
Facing the harsh headwind, Suho’s eyes widened at the sight below.
He was falling toward a white, frozen forest. He could see rivers of ice and the tops of trees blanketed in snow. The streams, sparkling with ice crystals, cut through the dense mountainous area. There was a small lake where a brook had once flowed through a valley, though it too was frozen solid, seamlessly blending with the surrounding forest.
“Young Monarch! You must recall Que! If we keep falling like this...”
As Beru said, it would indeed be dangerous if they continued to fall. But had he not shot the shadow arrow, they never would have been able to penetrate such a fierce blizzard. It was not a mere meteorological phenomenon, but a storm of space and time itself, filled with enough mana to break through even the dimensional breach.
Despite the urgency of Beru’s cry, Suho couldn’t help but be captivated by the wondrous landscape that emerged through the swirling blizzard. It was incomparable to any dungeon he had experienced before.
The only downside was the angle of the view, directly from above as they plummeted from the sky. Are ice elves living in that forest? he wondered.
Now that he had grasped the situation, it was time to react. “Gray, it’s time for Divine Possession!”
Woof!
[“Pet: Gray” has been bound to the shaman.]
Whoooosh!
Within the harsh blizzard, a sacred wind blew, swirling around Suho’s body.
[Skill: “Meadow Wind” has activated.]
[“Meadow Wind” frees the shaman’s body.]
[Movement speed is temporarily increased by 30%.]
[Attack speed is temporarily increased by 30%.]
Swish!
Suho’s hair instantly turned silver as he whipped open his inventory and swapped items. Holding a Vulcan’s Horn in each hand, a faint smile appeared on his lips. If the opponent was the wind... Then I shall slice through it.
Whoosh!
[Skill: “Storm Slash” has activated.]
The fierce blizzard wrapped around Suho’s twin swords. He twisted the wind in reverse to forcibly slow down his falling speed.
Swish!
Suho began to glide gently toward the center of the forest. He then aimed one of the Vulcan’s Horns downward, zeroing in on the top of a large tree. With a splintering crack, the sword split the giant tree in two, further reducing his speed. He finally landed on the ground with a soft thump.
“Well, I’m alive for now.” Standing safely on a thick snow bank, Suho thanked the tree for its noble sacrifice, then scanned his surroundings calmly. All he could see was a vast expanse of trees and white snow. The other hunters were nowhere in sight, probably having fallen in different locations. “Looks like I landed in a dire situation.”
“Now I understand why so few manage to extricate themselves from this dungeon,” Beru said.
“Exactly. They would have fallen straight to their deaths, and— Wait.” As Suho nodded along to Beru’s words, a sudden question sprang to his mind. He looked up at the dimensional breach in the sky with a puzzled expression. “How did the survivors get back? Did they fly out?”
“Eh?” The shadow ant also narrowed his eyes and stared up at the gate. Certainly, hunters with flying skills might have been able to do so, but there seemed to be more to it than that.
“Hmm... Come to think of it, I don’t think those Ice Golems would normally shatter the ground like they just did,” Suho muttered. If every hunter who had come to conquer the Glacier Dungeon had passed through the gate in the same way, the entire surface of Facade would be nothing but holes. It wouldn’t make sense for the Golems to open up the ground every time just to cover it back up again.
“Perhaps there is more than one entrance, Young Monarch.”
“You mean multiple gates?”
“Yes. Just look at the sky. Humans may refer to it as simply a gate, but in reality, a dimensional breach tends to expand over time.”
Just as Beru said, the gate they had passed through was not just an ordinary hole, but rather a tattered rip in space. The island of Facade was already uncontrollably contaminated with mana, so it wasn’t surprising that there would be numerous gateways to the dungeon scattered around.
“So the previous hunters must have come through different openings...” As Suho spoke, he suddenly sensed something. He abruptly stopped mid-sentence, swiftly twisted at his waist, and swung his sword around with a swoosh.
Gurk!
[Ice Kobold has been defeated.]
With a single direct strike, he decapitated a magic beast that had stealthily approached through the blizzard.
Suho looked around with a faint smile. “It seems my fall made too much noise.”
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“We are already surrounded, Young Monarch.”
The forest, swirling with the blizzard, was filled with hostile gazes.
[Ice Kobold]
[Ice Kobold]
.......
The visual and auditory confusion caused by the mana-infused blizzard appeared to pose no problem for these magic beasts, which were seemingly native to this area.
“Interesting...” Suho just smiled.
This was a situation where he had to rely on his sense stat alone. At present, there were only Ice Kobolds in the forest, but he knew there had to be more powerful enemies lurking beyond. To make matters worse, he was now separated from his fellow hunters.
“It’s rather to your benefit, actually,” Beru said, smiling along with Suho. As the young hunter was essentially isolated—alone and invisible to others due to the snow—this was the perfect opportunity for him to level up at his leisure. “The time for leveling up has come, Young Monarch.”
“Mino, Tau. Come out.”
At Suho’s command, two massive beasts rose from his shadow.
[Shadow Minotaur - Level 1 - Knight Grade]
[Shadow Minotaur - Level 1 - Knight Grade]
The Mad Blood Minotaurs that Suho had slain and stored in the demon realm were now his steadfast soldiers.
“Mooooooo!”
The Shadow Minotaurs, shrouded in black steam, flexed their muscular arms and roared ferociously. Their intimidating presences made the approaching Ice Kobolds instinctively tremble.
Pointing at them, Suho issued a command. “Trample them.”
“Moooo!”
With a rumble, the shadow beasts dashed forward.
[Ice Kobold has been defeated!]
[Ice Kobold has been defeated!]
[Ice Kobold has been defeated!]
.......
The ensuing battle was an overwhelming victory. The legions of Ice Kobolds emerging from the forest were in the hundreds, but they met their deaths under the merciless hooves and brutal violence of the Shadow Minotaurs.
It was then that the real threat hiding behind them finally revealed itself.
[Ice Troll]
Roar!
A magic beast, similar in stature to the Ice Golems that Suho had seen on the surface, leaped forth and swung a log at Tau’s head.
Crack!
With incredible force, the log shattered and the Minotaur’s neck was snapped.
“Moo?”
Even this was a futile effort. Tau’s neck, engulfed in a cloud of black steam, corrected itself. His savage eyes glinted menacingly. The Ice Troll felt a chilling sensation in the Minotaur’s presence.
Tau wore a sinister smile, as if to say, “Was that it?” His arm muscles, raised to strike, swelled as if they were about to burst.
“Moooo...!” 𝗳r𝚎e𝘄𝐞b𝚗𝗼ve𝚕.co𝗺
Just as the shadow beast attacked, unleashing overwhelming violence on the Ice Troll, a black spear burst through the troll’s back and out its chest. As the spear was yanked out by its owner, the Ice Troll collapsed and lost its life.
[Ice Troll has been defeated.]
The owner of the spear was none other than Que, returning to Suho after changing out of arrow form. He stepped on the Ice Troll’s corpse, shooting Tau a meaningful smile. “I beat you to it,” he said triumphantly.
“Moooo!”
“Blame yourself! You’re a slow-witted brute who can’t even talk.” Ignoring the fuming Tau, he kneeled before Suho. “Lancer Que, reporting back.”
But he hadn’t returned empty-handed. Suho’s eyes sparkled with interest at the unconscious creature Que was holding by the ankle. “What did you catch?”
“An ice elf I hit while flying.”
Que had surprisingly captured a young ice elf, who appeared to be about ten years old. Of course, Suho recognized right away what the creature was. Beyond that, he could see the elf’s name floating in a tag above her head.
[Guardian of the Baruka Tribe, Sirka]
Guardian of the Baruka Tribe? The magic beast’s title was meaningful. Not only did she seem important, but this was evidence supporting Rio’s information that ice elves live in tribal units. Most astonishing was the fact that this ice elf was still breathing.
“Still alive, huh?”
“Yes. Regrettably, I could not bring myself to kill it,” the lancer responded.
“What?” Suho was genuinely surprised to hear these words coming from Que. It was unlikely that he suddenly realized the sanctity of life.
But Que would go on to shock him further. “This ice elf recognized me and asked if I knew the Monarch of Shadows. I thought maybe it could be a clue.”
Suho’s eyes widened in disbelief. Que had caught a big one.
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