#56 Frost Valley (3)
#56 Frost Valley (3)
The instant the ground shifted, Wolf and Baekrok leaped onto the ledge—neither waiting for the other.
"——!"
A beat behind them, the whale that had been swimming beneath the snow lunged, jaws gaping wide—but Wolf and Baekrok were already airborne. No chance of swallowing them now. As the creature slid back into the snow, Baek So-yul clapped a hand over her mouth in shock. This time a sasquatch scrambling up the cliff face hurled itself at them. Wolf shot out a tentacle and wrapped the creature up. It had to weigh a solid ton, but by now Wolf's strength and his tentacles had more than enough power to restrain it.
The captured sasquatch thrashed, trying to tear the tentacle apart—impossible against a hardened surface. Channeling mana, Wolf hoisted it high and hurled it downward. The creature slammed into the whale that had surfaced moments earlier, and the snowfield erupted like a bomb blast.
"Ah."
Baek So-yul had been preparing a spell even through her alarm. She stopped mid-incantation. From the air, Wolf's gaze swept across everything below, including the dragon's skeletal frame. He was using Clairvoyance to track Frost Bone's movements inside the cliff. They would need to clear the area before it emerged.
"———!"
The voiceless roar of a dragon with no vocal cords echoed through Frost Valley, and every monster cowered. Even creatures still deep in hibernation opened their eyes at their sovereign's call. Baek So-yul shuddered. Baekrok's eyes narrowed.
"Kyu-uuu?"
Unlike Perry, who tilted her head with open curiosity at the dragon's cry, Wolf watched the monsters stampede away in blind panic and nodded. Frost Bone still needed a little more time to emerge.
"Baekrok."
"Understood."
Hong Yuri might be one thing, but Baek So-yul needed to be evacuated. No matter how hard she fought right now, she would pose no threat at all to Frost Bone. Hong Yuri was different. Wolf turned to the red-haired girl riding Baekrok.
"Will you fight?"
Their crimson eyes met. Unlike the wavering she felt in herself, Alpha faced her squarely—no fear, no hesitation, only quiet directness. The mana she sensed from him was terrifyingly vast. Even at full strength, her odds were slim. But if Alpha truly was the section-boss-level monster she'd heard about, then bringing down Frost Bone wouldn't be hard for him.
And that Alpha was asking her if she would fight—meaning, fall back quietly and he would handle it himself. To Hong Yuri, no greater insult existed. Her bright-red eyes deepened toward something darker. Wolf nodded.
'That's done, then.'
He'd expected exactly this from her. The provocation had landed perfectly. Separate from her readiness to fight, she would still need to be careful. For one simple reason: he wasn't revealing his true form yet.
"...Be careful."
A low rumble sounded as Frost Bone began to emerge from the cave opening in the cliff face. Baekrok drew away, carrying Baek So-yul with him.
"Kyu-uuu."
"Help Hong Yuri."
At his quiet instruction, Perry flew over and wrapped her small body around Hong Yuri's neck. She coiled there like a scarf. Hong Yuri looked startled for a moment but, surprisingly, didn't pull away. Wolf had half-expected her to be so worked up that she'd be grinding her teeth over her pride. Maybe she still felt guilty toward Perry. Or maybe she wasn't quite as stupid as that.
He swallowed down a fleeing monster to keep his satiety up while he waited. At last, Frost Bone revealed itself from the cliff. Hong Yuri, as if there was nothing more to look at, began forming hand seals.
"Grand magic..."
"You know why, don't you?"
If she used grand magic and wiped out every remaining monster along with it, the dungeon would collapse on them. Blazing red chains shot forward. Frost Bone beat its wings. The gust whipped up the snow, fouling the chains' path. Wolf fired spines.
"———!"
Snow could block the chains—it couldn't block the spines. But even mana-infused spines couldn't punch through Frost Bone's mana armor. They fell away uselessly. The terrain was against them. He was sending shadows creeping toward Frost Bone, but if the ground broke apart, the shadows scattered. The snow-covered floor was the worst possible surface for that.
'Trickier than I thought.'
Hong Yuri began chanting her second spell. The frost dragon flapped its wings and took to the air, and the weather rapidly worsened. What had been blowing powder snow was now a full blizzard. Even through it, Hong Yuri chanted with immaculate enunciation.
Wolf chased after Frost Bone, springing up the cliff. Every foothold brought him closer, but the blizzard kept interfering. Too far and he couldn't attack. Too close and it grew dangerous. If he could just reveal his true form, none of this pointless worrying would be necessary.
'Right now, coordination comes first.'
If things became truly impossible, he would have no choice, but... Wolf leaped from foothold to foothold and glanced down at Hong Yuri below the cliff.
***
She had finished her incantation. The problem was aiming. The raging blizzard had swallowed her vision. She had to clear the snow somehow. Hong Yuri ignited crimson mana, lifted herself with it, and rose into the empty air.
'Where?'
If she couldn't see, she had to feel. She spread her mana wide and opened her eyes fully. Right in front of her—the frost dragon, jaws stretched to their limit. The corner of Hong Yuri's mouth curled upward.
"Alb pur Stelele sunt sa explodeze—!"
If it was going to come to her on its own, all the better. The final phrase spoken, magic erupted from Hong Yuri, and a brilliant white light blasted out. Even the furious blizzard melted and vaporized in that instant. Steam billowed. Hong Yuri shoved herself backward with mana and stared at the empty eye socket where blue flames still burned. She looked incredulous.
'No impact?'
No. It was the mana armor. Her spell had collided with it and been neutralized. The mana Wolf had observed in Frost Bone was lower than Hong Yuri's, but the dragon had Great Magic Power. That was what allowed it to block a third-verse incantation. In truth, she'd estimated Frost Bone's mana as higher than her own.
"Shit—"
The curse cut off before it could go further. She'd landed back on the snowfield. Belatedly remembering Perry's presence, Hong Yuri let out a relieved breath.
"...Thank you."
"Kyu-uu!"
Perry nodded firmly, as if to say that of course she should. On the other side, Frost Bone, cheated of its prey, wheeled through the open sky and roared its fury.
"———!"
The howl rang out and echoed. The reverberation sent snow rumbling, and an avalanche began to roll. Hong Yuri rose again on mana. As her crimson mana blazed, the frost dragon sensed it and banked into a turn.
Flying at high speed, Frost Bone closed the distance in a heartbeat. Hong Yuri bit her lip. Extending chains through hand seals was useless here. The only thing she could rely on was Blink. Just as she thought so, the dragon screamed in agony and veered away.
'...Why?'
She didn't know. Still—she could have sworn she glimpsed a shimmer cutting through the blizzard. Dismissing it as a trick of the eye, Hong Yuri prepared her next spell. If a third verse wasn't enough, a fourth. Her crimson eyes began reading the mana flow, and Mana Concentration accelerated the speed of her incantation.
"Vopsiți totul în roșu."
***
Baek So-yul, now distant near the dungeon's boundary, couldn't hide her unease. When that white light had flashed moments ago, she'd made out the massive skeletal frame of a dragon. She could still feel the horrifying surge of mana rising. Shivering more from dread than from cold, she bit her lip until Baekrok spoke.
"No need to worry. Wolf is far stronger than you imagine."
"...? Wait."
"Does it feel strange? It has been quite a long time since I spoke the human tongue..."
The uncertain voice was unmistakably the same Baekrok who'd been conversing with Alpha earlier. Meeting the white deer's eyes, Baek So-yul couldn't mask her astonishment.
"You... you could speak this whole time?"
"I had simply gone so long without doing so that I forgot. I've certainly changed, haven't I."
"......"
Forgot. Something dissonant prickled at her. Baek So-yul stared blankly at Baekrok.
"In any case... there's no need to worry."
"But—"
How could she not worry against a monster like that, in cold so bitter that merely standing still felt like freezing solid?
"...Is there any way I can help?"
"There is not. The only thing you can do is absorb mana."
Baekrok's reproach was firm. He continued.
"I told you there's no need to worry. The reason being..."
Wolf still had reserves to spare.
***
'It keeps running.'
The more I chased, the farther it got. As long as Frost Bone was using high-speed flight, catching it from behind was out of the question. If I couldn't catch it from behind, I had to get ahead. Its target was practically guaranteed to be Hong Yuri. I wheeled around and began sprinting the other direction. But the dragon was still faster. I'd turned barely a beat late, and it streaked past me anyway. Regret crept in. When I'd had a clean chance earlier, I should have committed harder.
"Sunt stăpânul flăcării. O lume arzătoare de proeminență."
I chased after Frost Bone, bursting gusts behind me. The gap slammed shut in an instant—and still the thing was faster. Hong Yuri was still mid-incantation. In the critical moment, Perry's Blink flared. The instant they'd evaded, I shot out a tentacle and pulled Hong Yuri toward me. The blue flames burning in the dragon's eye sockets flashed.
'Evil Eye of Freezing.'
Crack. My body started freezing over—then Ghost Flame (C) blazed, and it all turned to steam. Hong Yuri, pulled clear, hadn't passed out this time. Watching her chant without pause, I felt a small spike of admiration.
'She'd keep talking even if she were drowning.'
Frost Bone opened its jaws at last. Monstrous mana began gathering. Instead of drawing breath, it drew in the blizzard itself—mana visibly streaming into its maw. I scowled.
'Even so, that's too much.'
Even Void or Black Mist would be overwhelmed by the sheer output. A dragon-species breath—further amplified by Great Magic Power and well over 600 mana—was not something to take lightly. Hong Yuri was faster. She chanted her final phrase.
"Flăcări nesfârșite se vor ridica și o vor acoperi—!"
Amid the blizzard, a great black flame roared to life and flew straight for Frost Bone.