[Vol. 9] Chapter 65: The Dance of Frost
Mercenaries and adventurers are similar kinds of jobs. The difference is that mercenaries take a wider range of work, and their moral bottom line is usually much lower.
As the saying goes, “take people’s money, do people’s jobs.” As long as they’re paid enough, most mercenary groups can handle both legal and illegal work. Even killing someone doesn’t bother them much. In fact, at certain times, even the authorities secretly hire mercenaries to do dirty work.
Thinking of this, the black-haired girl smiled teasingly.
“Being able to move a group of over a hundred people through the frozen lands, with such strength and discipline… You must be a legendary mercenary group, right? Want to tell me who’s paying you?”
“Huh? Tell you your—!”
For mercenaries, asking about their employer during a mission is taboo. The young female leader immediately got angry and was about to curse her out when her companion behind her frowned and lightly patted her shoulder.
“Calm down. Don’t you see she’s just trying to trick you?”
The leader froze, then suddenly realized the situation, and how she had unknowingly admitted to several of the other side’s guesses. Embarrassment and anger filled her face, and her gaze turned sharp.
“Everyone, attack! Wounds don’t matter, just leave them alive enough to talk!”
As soon as she gave the order, the already restless group could no longer hold back. With fierce eyes, they surged forward like a dark tide.
“Kill!!!”
“Hmph!”
Veranica charged straight ahead, taking the lead as she dashed into the crowd with unstoppable force. Her heavy boots slammed into the chest of the first man in front of her, with a dull crack of breaking bones, the man flew backward without a sound, knocking down two others behind him.
She didn’t even draw her weapon. Her fists were clenched tight, knuckles cracking as she stood proudly before the masses, cold fury burning in her beautiful eyes.
“Come on then! Let’s see who’s not afraid to die!”
The leader of the [Black Dogs], Silas, as usual, hid behind the others. He didn’t dare to join the fight, but when he saw Veranica holding her ground and shaking the whole crowd by herself, his face twitched. He cursed silently ‘crazy woman!’ but still shouted loudly to stir up his men.
“Don’t be afraid! No matter how strong they are, there are only three of them! Just wear them down, they’ll fall eventually! Whoever takes one down gets three fine blades and five hundred pounds of food!”
“Woooo!!!”
The effect was immediate. On Icefang Island, money was useless, only weapons and food mattered for survival.
Hearing the rich reward, the [Black Dogs] and [Blood Claws] members went wild with excitement. Greed overcame their fear of Veranica’s fists. With crazed shouts, they rushed forward swinging their rough but deadly weapons toward the proud figure standing before them.
Icefang Island was a gathering place for criminals. People here were even more brutal than the underworld gangs. Killing and robbery were daily life, and they had no guilt doing anything dirty or cruel.
Blades and axes flashed in the air, whistling straight for Veranica’s vital points, while several others flanked from the sides, trying to block any escape routes.
The ice demon girl’s face was cold as frost. She said nothing, moving smoothly between the blades. Her fists carried tremendous force, every strike made a heavy impact. One punch shattered an attacker’s shoulder bone, and with a quick elbow strike to another’s jaw, the man spat blood and teeth before collapsing with a cry.
The people around her fell one after another, but there were simply too many enemies. They came forward endlessly, almost unafraid of death.
Even though Veranica’s punches sent people flying wherever they landed, attacks from all directions still poured in like a raging tide. While blocking and dodging, her movements inevitably slowed for just a moment, several sharp blades took the chance to slash through her ice bear-skin coat, leaving shallow cuts on her body.
Even injured, Veranica’s expression remained as calm and unshakable as an iceberg. She kept fighting, punching and pushing through the crowd, knocking down more enemies. Yet she was slowly surrounded on all sides.
As Silas had said, no matter how strong the leader of the [Scavenger Gang] was, she was still alone now. There was no way she could fight hundreds of trained fighters at once. The outcome seemed almost certain.
Many of the attackers thought that as long as they fought bravely, they could earn a rich reward, maybe even get noticed by some powerful person behind the scenes. Even if they were unlucky and got hit, they’d only get injured at worst. There was no way they would—
That thought had just flashed through the mind of a [Blood Claws] member who was charging forward with a curved blade, planning to attack Veranica from behind, when suddenly, an icy chill wrapped around his entire body!
A faint, clean fragrance reached his nose, and then, a figure in elegant blue and white passed him like a ghost. Six glowing ribbons floated around her gracefully, and one of them brushed lightly against his arm as she passed.
At that very instant, his thoughts, and his body, completely froze.
“Crack-crack-crack-crack-crack!”
The freezing cold spread madly from the point of contact, covering his whole body in an instant. The ice was hard and shining with a deep blue light. Moraya stepped lightly into the air, flying forward without even glancing back. But...
The frozen figure behind her shattered silently. The ice, and the life sealed inside it, broke apart, falling to the ground as glittering shards.
“She’s a Snow Girl!”
Someone screamed in terror. The crowd’s eyes filled with panic as they looked at the snow tribe girl.
Most of them didn’t understand the full meaning of the six ribbons floating behind her, but they all knew one thing, among the northern races, the Snow tribe people stood at the very top. Their control over ice magic was unmatched, and killing one of them would bring consequences far worse than death. No one in the entire snowy region would dare shelter the murderer, and not even the powerful figures backing them would risk offending the Snow tribe.
Because she belonged to the royal family of the Ice and Snow Empire, rulers of the North.
Her movements were graceful like the wind, a deadly, beautiful dance. The six ribbons turned into living serpents of ice, whipping, twisting, and weaving through the crowd. Every gentle touch froze a life into silence.
Those ribbons were pure weapons formed from her snow magic. As a Candidate Holy Maiden, Moraya’s frost magic was cold enough to freeze even the soul. Anyone who came into contact with it was either crippled, frozen, or shattered into ice dust.
With both her terrifying power and royal status, the skilled fighters who had just been so fierce now found themselves completely helpless, forced to watch as she moved freely, turning the battlefield into her stage of frost and death.