[Vol. 9] Chapter 22: An Unexpected Encounter
Even so, this kind of power was not absolute. For dragons, who were already close to godhood, it could only act as a limited obstacle. Even if the rules twisted their flying direction to some degree, the result was only that it would take more time to cross the Extreme Cold Zone.
Because of this, Violet didn’t bother to take any extra actions. After all, her deal with the God of Paradox didn’t come with a time limit. It didn’t matter if things went slower. On the contrary, she might as well use this chance to carefully observe the situation inside the Extreme Cold Zone.
“Hm? Master, it looks like another group of creatures has appeared below.”
Not long after they left the Xavier Merchant Guild convoy, Xiao Guang’s nose twitched again. The Frost Blue Dragon, Alexia, also seemed to notice something and spoke up.
“There are quite a lot of them, and they carry a strange smell. It’s only been three hundred years since I last came here, but when did this place become so lively?”
Hey, hey… how can you put ‘only’ and ‘three hundred years’ in the same sentence…
Although Violet silently complained in her heart, she couldn’t help but feel curious.
To be honest, when she saw that group of ice apes fighting those lizard-like beasts earlier, she had already found it strange. On their way here, they had encountered native creatures of the Extreme Cold Zone before.
These monsters were much stronger than those outside, and they usually had very strong territorial instincts. Unless under very special circumstances, they would never leave their own territory.
But that earlier battle between the two groups clearly broke out over territory. Since Xavier’s merchant guild chose this route as a trade road, that meant the land should have been unclaimed. So why did two fairly large foreign groups suddenly appear here at the same time?
There was only one explanation. Something had forced them out of their original territories, leaving them no choice but to move here. And since they happened to run into each other, it suggested that the force that drove them away was likely the same.
With that thought, Violet had already made up her mind.
“Alexia, lower our altitude. Let’s get closer and take a look. Be careful to stay hidden, don’t make a big scene like earlier.”
“Got it, Lady Violet.”
Answering softly, the blue dragon folded her wings slightly. A surge of frost magic broke through the roaring blizzard as she slowly descended.
At their original altitude, at least three thousand meters up in the sky, plus the blizzards and thick clouds of the Extreme Cold Zone, no creatures on the ground could possibly notice their presence. Only earlier, when they had released dragon’s might to attack, had it been impossible to conceal themselves.
Now that Alexia was being careful, even as she dropped lower and edged closer to the tiny ant-like figures below, the raging snowstorm covered nearly all signs of them. Judging from how the figures below were behaving, they hadn’t noticed at all.
Soon, the three of them reached an altitude of about a thousand meters above the ground. With the adult blue dragon’s massive body, nearly a hundred meters long, even with low visibility, going any lower would risk exposing themselves. So Violet ordered Alexia to stop at this height and begin observing the movements of those below.
“Master, who are those people? Are they another caravan?”
“…No. They should be from the [Eternal Winter Temple], at least from what it looks like now.”
“The [Eternal Winter Temple]?”
“Mm, yes. It’s the group that Nolan Sinong belonged to before.”
The priestess nodded slightly, and there was a faint flash in her eyes.
The [Eternal Winter Temple] was the strongest religious force in the northern part of the Origin Realms. In the northern kingdoms, its status could be compared to the Goddess Church in the south. Even though, because of population and land size, its real influence was only about half of the Goddess Church, half of that was still already a frighteningly large number.
If the Goddess Church was the largest religion in the world, then the [Eternal Winter Temple] was firmly in second place. But unlike the Goddess Church, this religion did not build its own nation. Instead, it chose to rely on the northern kingdoms, especially the Snow Empire, one of the five strongest nations, where it was recognized as the state religion.
Violet had never been to the northern lands. The reason she could recognize their identity at a glance was naturally because of what she had read in books and records.
Actually, it was simple. It wasn’t because of clothing, or special races, or marks. The [Eternal Winter Temple] worshiped the God of Snow and Ice, Sinong. Unlike the Goddess Church, which didn’t even have a real god, this group was truly blessed and protected by Sinong. Not only were its leaders the descendants of the god’s bloodline, its members also enjoyed many “special rights” in different places.
The Extreme Cold Zone was created by Sinong, the God of Snow and Ice. Most of the magical beasts living there had migrated according to the god’s command. That’s why the [Eternal Winter Temple], as the god’s messengers, were probably the only group in the world who could freely move in the Extreme Cold Zone without being attacked by the beasts.
Violet could see it clearly, the figures in pale blue robes were indeed surrounded by more than twenty snow-element beasts of different races. Those who lived long in the Extreme Cold Zone carried a special aura that was easy to notice. Since the two sides could live peacefully together, these people could only be from the [Eternal Winter Temple].
Two women and a dragon were secretly spying from above, hidden in the snowstorm a thousand meters up. But after watching for a short while, Xiao Guang began shaking her head impatiently.
“Master, what are they doing? Walking and stopping, walking and stopping… At this speed, they’ll need months to get out!”
She was right. The suspected Eternal Winter group wasn’t big, even smaller than the number of beasts guarding them. Altogether there seemed to be just a little more than ten people. Normally, such a small and lightly equipped group should move quickly, but these people were the opposite.
They not only walked slowly with small steps, but also kept stopping. From time to time, they bent down and fiddled with something in the snow. After a whole fifteen minutes, they had only moved forward a few hundred meters.
Violet shook her head. If they always kept this speed, there could only be one explanation.
“Maybe… their goal isn’t to cross the Extreme Cold Zone, but to do something else, like setting things up here, or looking for something.”
While thinking aloud, she patted the scales on the neck of the dragon she was riding.
“Alexia, have you ever dealt with people from the [Eternal Winter Temple] before?”