[Vol. 9] Chapter 20: The Shadow that Tears Through Ice and Snow
Doing business by crossing the Extreme Cold Zone was of course extremely risky, but the profits were also enough to fill one’s pockets to the brim. Nowadays, many trading companies were trying to find ways to travel north for trade. Naturally, there were also bad people who used this wave of activity to commit crimes, like banditry.
If this group of beasts had been deliberately lured here by someone, the goal might be to force the caravan to take another route. In that case, ambushes and traps would surely be waiting there. They had no choice but to be on guard against such a possibility.
Although it was Sasha’s first time stepping into the Extreme Cold Zone, she was already a skilled and experienced leader. Last time, during a trading trip in the Holy Empire, her caravan had run into a disaster and lost nearly half its members. The company chairman did not blame her, but Sasha herself could never forget it. That was why she put the greatest importance on reducing casualties as much as possible, no matter what.
Whether this situation was a coincidence or secretly planned by someone, leaving the trade route was absolutely forbidden. Outsiders had only explored maybe a tenth of the Extreme Cold Zone at best. In this endless land of snow, there were no landmarks at all. Taking a random detour could very well lead them into completely unknown regions, where no one knew what dangers they might face.
“Detouring is impossible. Here’s what we’ll do, you scouts keep a close watch on those two groups of beasts. They can’t fight forever, sooner or later, one side will win. While we wait, the caravan will stay here and watch quietly. Once it’s safe, we’ll continue moving forward.”
Hearing this, the scouts’ faces changed.
They understood the meaning behind her words. Their hesitation came from two things: first, closely watching those powerful beasts would be risky. Second, the Extreme Cold Zone was different from other places. In this freezing world of snow and ice, creatures without a natural resistance to cold could not survive for long. Besides warm clothing, they also had to rely on the Empire’s special magic heat furnaces to fight against the cold.
But this new Empire invention was extremely expensive, and the fire-element magic crystals needed to power them cost a terrifying amount. For every extra day they stayed in the Extreme Cold Zone, the caravan would burn through mountains of gold. If their limited supply ran out, the entire group might literally freeze to death here.
“But Miss Sasha, if we waste too much time here, the fire crystals we brought might not…”
“If we stay too long and don’t have enough to continue forward, we’ll retreat back to the Ten Thousand Demon Mountains. The loss will be borne by me and the company. Remember this, money can always be earned again. But if you lose your life, no one can give you another one!”
“This…”
The scouts looked at each other, but in the end had to admit Sasha’s decision was indeed the safest choice right now. They nodded helplessly one by one.
“Alright then, we’ll rest a bit and set out later. Just hope those beasts don’t—”
“My god! Look at that!”
Before the scout captain could finish his sentence, sudden cries of shock came from within the caravan!
Those who had been discussing strategy froze for a moment. Then, following the trembling fingers of the terrified people who had jumped to their feet, they turned their eyes, and their pupils shrank sharply!
The sky above the Extreme Cold Zone was almost always covered by raging snowstorms and thick clouds. It was like a giant barrier that loomed over the land, making visibility across the icefields terribly low, and also turning the skies into a forbidden zone no one could enter.
Tests had already been done here long ago. The higher you went into the sky, the stronger the blizzards became, their power growing many times over. Even creatures with the ability to fly could not endure the endless bombardment, which was equal to high-level ice magic of the fourth or fifth tier. Because of this, it was common knowledge that no living being could survive flying in the skies of the Extreme Cold Zone.
That should have been true.
Yet what they saw before their eyes now told everyone a clear truth, what people called “impossible” was only something they had not yet seen or experienced. Just because they could not do it, did not mean nothing in this world could.
“ROAR!!!!!”
Sasha both saw it and heard it.
Far away, beyond the endless blizzard, a massive frost-blue figure tore through the storm and clouds. It spread its wings wide, and its ancient, commanding roar shook the heavens and earth, making the whole icy world tremble!
It bathed in the snow and storms that mortals considered a forbidden death zone. Soaring high in the sky, even storms as strong as a full attack from a legendary or higher-tier warrior could not scratch even a single scale on its body.
Overbearing, wild, looking down on the world. At this moment, that frost-blue, majestic being became the absolute center of the snowbound land. Everyone could only stare blankly as it flew across the sky, its shadow covering them, their hearts feeling as if an invisible giant hand had squeezed them tight, leaving them barely able to breathe.
Because this was a legend, the peak of all life. Even if they had never seen it before, and even if such beings seemed to exist only in paintings and stories, everyone there instantly understood what it was.
“A… dragon? That’s a dragon?”
Sasha’s beautiful eyes went slightly out of focus. Even though just a few months ago the news of a thousand dragons soaring over the capital of Austere had spread like a storm, and the return of mythic beings had shaken the world, for mortals such creatures were still distant and unreal, something one might never see in an entire lifetime.
She had never expected that, on this trading journey across the Extreme Cold Zone, she would encounter a true dragon, an Ice Frost Blue Dragon.
Yet, the dragon did not target them. In fact, it seemed to completely ignore the tiny mortal caravan. Its shadow swept across the sky, and its deep-blue breath surged forth, triggering earth-shaking thunderous sounds in the heart of the icefield!
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!!!!!!
The ground split apart, snow exploded into the air. And yet, even though the dragon had only flown past overhead, all of the second-tier Frost Armored Beasts pulling the wagons, creatures carefully chosen for their strong resistance to cold and endurance, collapsed in terror, crying out, lying flat on the ground, trembling and soiling themselves.
This was the absolute suppression of a higher lifeform over a weaker one. Not just them, even some of the more timid caravan members had wet themselves out of fear. After all, everyone understood: if the dragon had released its breath just a moment earlier, they all would already be dead.
Resistance? Impossible. Even escape was nothing but an empty dream in front of such a being. No matter if their numbers were ten times or a hundred times greater, it would have made no difference at all.
After several long breaths, the rumbling of the snowfield slowly faded. The dragon’s shadow disappeared into the distant sky. The wind and snow, once scattered by its wings, once again covered the icefield, leaving behind only a deathly silence.