Chapter 123

The Night Before

Habun Castle Headquarters.

Milland, Terian, and the strategic officers were gathered around a round table.

"The second scouting party found a group of ice trolls near the fourth cave. Their number is thirteen. We should attack first, before more of them gather."

Vice-Commander Terian pointed to a forest under Stallin Mountain on the map.

"The fourth cave isn't that far away from the fifth cave."

"Yes. We should check to see if other ocean monsters came up around Stallin Forest while we eliminate the trolls."

"Hmm, trolls are one thing, but we also need to investigate shark moles."

Milland's gaze was directed at the map, then turned to look at the shark moles' fins that Radin had brought back.

"This is an unusual matter, so the vice-commander should act personally."

"Affirmative."

Terian nodded immediately, as if he knew that would happen.

"Bring the Snow Strikers and the Wolf Mercenary Corps. Eliminate the trolls and investigate up to the area around the northern sea before returning. As for the scouting parties…"

"I'll bring the second and the third."

"The third?"

"Yes!"

Milland expressed his doubt slightly, but Terian firmly shut his mouth—he clearly had no intention of changing his mind.

"Fine. You will depart in two days, at daybreak. Keep that in mind and prepare yourselves."

"Yes!"

The strategic officers left to develop the plan in more detail, leaving the father and the son as the only people in the commander's room.

"The second party has to go because they were the ones that found the trolls. Why did you pick the third party when they've only recently returned? The fourth and the fifth party haven't done anything in a while."

"I felt something after witnessing Raon's matches."

"You felt something?"

"Yes. Raon's prowess is certainly astonishing, but I'm sure there are similar people among the young geniuses of the Six Kings and Five Demons."

Milland nodded in agreement.

"However, the boy's spirit surpasses his might. The fierce will to defeat his opponent was powerful enough to overwhelm even me. The rough Wolf Mercenary Corps accepted their defeat as well, even giving him a thumbs up."

"So, you want to see if that spirit of his is the real deal or not."

"Yes, that is the case."

"Fine. He also wanted to fight, so there shouldn't be any problem."

Milland tapped the map and nodded.

"You can go."

"Yes!"

"However…"

His eyes grew serious as he folded the map and stood up.

"Be careful. The most dangerous moment is when change occurs."

"Understood."

Terian smiled, telling him to not worry.

* * *

Raon returned to the lodging, following Radin's instruction to pack his luggage.

"Y-young master. Isn't this a bit too early?"

Dorian was sitting at the bed with trembling legs.

"It's pretty weird that we have to go back out despite having returned only recently…"

"That's true."

Raon nodded in agreement.

'This certainly is fast.'

It wasn't normal to send a scouting party back out when they'd only just returned from their mission.

'It's probably because of me.'

It must have been so that he could show his true power, since he'd killed the shark moles on his own and defeated the Wolf Mercenaries, and for him to experience battle.

"It's over. This is really dangerous…"

Hugging a human sized pillow that he took out of his belly pocket, Dorian rolled on the mattress. Raon thought that it was a seriously strange thing to be carrying around.

"This should be enough."

Raon packed his backpack and put it under the bed.

"Young master, I heard blades can hardly pierce the skin of ice trolls. Is that true?"

"It is."

As expected of monsters living in a cold region, ice trolls had tough and thick skin. It was necessary to use a lot of aura on a sharp sword in order to cut them.

"They aren't lacking in regeneration, either."

"That's why they are difficult to deal with."

Because they possessed the troll's characteristic regeneration—on top of their high strength, agility, and even intelligence—dealing with ice trolls was difficult even for experienced swordsmen and knights.

"However, you should still be able to deal with them."

"What? Me?"

Dorian threw away the body pillow he was hugging and stood up.

"You can create an opening using your strength, which is your fast feet. Just do it the way you learned."

"Hearing that from the young master is filling me with courage… Not really."

He murmured that he was scared and tried digging under the mattress like a mole.

"Then there is another way."

"Another way?"

"Yes, a way that will make you fearless in front of an ice troll."

"Please, tell me! I'll do anything!"

Dorian swallowed hard and looked at Raon.

"If you spar with me using the Fangs of Insanity, the ice troll will become a mere monster for you. Let's go."

With a frightening smile, Raon picked up his sword.

"Ah…"

Dorian's eyes lost focus, as if his soul left his body. A cold sweat flew down his forehead.

"Dorian?"

"Aww, I just imagined it for a moment, and I'm now perfectly fine! The trolls are just pieces of shit."

He laughed awkwardly, saying that it was such a mysterious phenomenon, before collapsing on the bed.

What a crazy guy.

Wrath clicked his tongue, saying that such a guy didn't even exist in Devildom.

Raon snickered and sat on the bed. Since the noisy guy had fallen silent, it was time for him to start training.

He closed his eyes and gathered the Coldness of Frost that had harmonized with the outside.

'He said it was about the image.'

Wrath had said Glacier could be used in any way as long as he had the image of it.

'Now that I think about it, they are all similar to each other.'

When Rimmer helped him with the acquisition of the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation, and when Glenn showed him the Supreme Harmony Steps, they always put an emphasis on the image. It seemed polishing the mind was important the higher the level he reached.

"Haaa…"

He cleared his mind, breathing slowly—to the point where his lungs felt like they were suffocating. He imagined clothes, clothes of Frost that could block all the ice from both inside and outside.

A heavy metal armor that could perfectly defend against anything, a light and reliable leather armor, and a robe that allowed him to survive against the cold wind. He tried imagining different types of clothes, but he couldn't find any image that could stop all the ice.

'A perfect, and absolute…'

Upon reaching that thought, he remembered that person.

Glenn Zieghart.

That dark red coat, surrounded by his dignity, felt like it wouldn't even be scratched by any kind of blade or ice. It was exactly the invincible armor he'd been trying to imagine.

Whir!

Raon rotated the Ring of Fire to increase his concentration. Imagining the sewing process that would be used to create the clothes using the frost created by Glacier, he became fully absorbed in his thoughts.

* * *

The next day at daybreak, Raon was in front of the castle gates with Dorian. The Snow Strikers and the Wolf Mercenary Corps that were going out with them were taking care of their weapons with serious expressions on their faces.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes. No matter what happens, I figured it would be better than sparring against the young master. Haha!"

After Raon mentioned the spar, Dorian kept murmuring that something like ice trolls were cakes compared to the crazy sword demon.

"That's a relief."

"Hello."

Raon snickered as he looked at Dorian, who had gained confidence with a weird method. Then, a young man wearing silver arctic clothes came up to them.

He had black hair, black eyes, and white skin. With an average height and gentle impression, he didn't have any distinct characteristics.

"I'm Beto, the Wolf Mercenary Corps captain. I heard about the rude things my boys did yesterday. I have no excuse."

He bowed slightly with a smile. Unlike the vice-captain, Cliff, he didn't seem to have any intention of starting a fight. His atmosphere was completely different from the other Wolf Mercenaries that he'd seen before.

"It's alright. I enjoyed it as well."

"That makes me slightly relieved. Do you belong to the scouting party?"

"Yes."

"You must be the strongest scout. I'm looking forward to your cooperation today."

"Yes, the same goes for me."

After finishing the greeting, Beto returned to the Wolf Mercenaries, saying that he will check their preparations.

I don't like that guy. Pluck his eyes out.

'What's up with you this time?'

He has the eyes of a snake. You shouldn't trust someone like him.

'Were you a physiognomist?'

It comes from my experience. Back in Devildom, the King of Essence encountered countless people with those eyes and faces. He will most likely betray you.

'You are always so negative.'

However, Raon didn't trust the guy either, since he was hiding a lot.

'His eyes, especially.'

He couldn't feel anything snakish like Wrath mentioned, but a strange power could be felt from his black eyes, which seemed to contain darkness.

"Uncles!"

Everyone turned around at the cheerful sound coming from the interior. Yua, who should've been at the Branch of Frost, was running towards them with multiple pouches in her hand.

Oh, that's the pineapple girl!

"Sorry I'm late. I brought everything."

Yua distributed the pouches she brought to the swordsmen and the mercenaries. It seemed they were the snacks they'd ordered in advance.

"Wow! How is Yua getting cuter every day?"

"Her cooking also gets better and better."

"She is the pride of Habun Castle!"

The scouts cherished her as if she were their own child. It looked like she was like the mascot of Habun Castle.

"I have one left."

After distributing the pouches, she came up to Raon, holding the last pouch.

"This contains the handmade beef jerky I made with my grandfather. It was dried deliciously during a sunny day, so please take it."

"Why are you giving this…?"

"It's your first mission. Please return safely and buy it next time."

Yua handed over the pouch with a smile.

"Thank you."

"If you are grateful, then you have to return and buy from us!"

Yua told them to return safely and went back to the pub.

"What about me?"

Dorian pouted, looking at his empty hand.

"She gave it to us to share. You should hold onto it."

"Ah, yes!"

Dorian put the beef jerky pouch in his belly pocket with a smile.

"Everyone, line up! We are doing the final inspection before departing."

Around thirty minutes before it was time for departure, Vice-Commander Terian came up to the main gate. He personally checked the supplies and people before finally nodding his head.

He is completely different from that shitty-ears.

'I know, right?'

His personality was completely different from Rimmer, who usually arrived right before the appointed time and half-assed when checking on their preparations.

Terian looked down on the soldiers, standing on the platform in front of the main gate. His fierce presence made everyone's gazes fixate on him.

"There are two objectives for this mission. Elimination of the gathering ice trolls and scouting from the entrance of Stallin Mountain up to the northern sea. I hope we can stay together until the end, without a single straggler."

"Yes!"

Since they were already aware of the mission's objective, the swordsmen, soldiers, and mercenaries answered loud and clear.

"We will depart in twenty minutes. Everyone should check their preparations one last time and brace yourselves!"

After saying that, he went off somewhere.

"Just like the vice-commander said, check to see if you forgot anything."

"Yes!"

"Hey."

As Radin was about to check one last time, the Snow Strikers swordsmen came up to them.

"Carry this for me."

"Make sure to keep it clean. I'm sure you know what will happen otherwise."

"Handle it carefully."

"I'll punish you if anything disappears."

"Treat it as your lover, although I'm sure you don't have one."

They threw heavy things like tents and food, before giggling as they left.

"What's going on?"

"Guess. They are asking us to carry their baggage."

"Why would the scouts carry their baggage?"

Raon tilted his head, unable to understand it.

"Since a fight could break out at any time, they apparently need to save their strength. They've been like this every single time since they were assigned here."

Radin sighed. The scouts started picking up the baggage of the swordsmen as if they were used to it.

"It can't be helped, since we don't have the position nor the power to do anything. We just have to do what they ask."

"Hmm…"

Raon looked at the Snow Striker's swordsmen. They weren't paying attention to them anymore, as if they did something obvious.

The mustached middle-aged man that was supposed to be their leader wasn't saying anything either, despite having witnessed what just happened.

'What the fuck?'

If they needed to be ready to fight, the scouts needed to be ready to scout. The ridiculousness of offloading the baggage to the companions that had an even more difficult job was something he couldn't understand.

Humans can't live without abusing their powers.

Wrath smiled coldly, saying that humans are always like that.

"Wow, this is so shitty! Leave them on the ground!"

It was a rare sight to behold, as Dorian stepped up with a frown. In the middle of the dumbfounded scouts, he put all the belongings of the swordsmen in his belly pocket.

"Seniors! I'll carry them all! Don't worry about it, just believe in me!"

"Wow!"

"Seriously?"

"Isn't that heavy?"

"It's not heavy at all!"

Dorian flexed his arm muscles and steam came out of his nose.

"R-Recruit! I apologize for calling you a weirdo!"

"Wow! Eat this, it's for you!"

"Yes!"

The scouts gave a round of applause to Dorian, who took all the baggage, and gave him their snacks. Raon already had the thought, but with the nice personality he had, Dorian was the type of person that'd be loved by his seniors and companions.

After twenty minutes, Terian returned wearing arctic clothes. All of the forces lined up in front of him.

"We are leaving. The second and third scouting parties, step forward!"

"Step forward!"

Raon and Dorian went to the head of the line, following their leader, Radin.

"Open the gate!"

"Open the gate!"

The main gate at the center of the castle opened instead of the small gate they used when they went out to scout, and the pure white scenery of the snow field came into view.

"Advance!"

"We will sleep here tonight, then leave at daybreak tomorrow. Everyone, set up the tents and prepare to camp."

"Yes!"

The soldiers started moving busily at Terian's orders.

The mercenaries personally set up their tents and prepared their meals, but the Snow Striker swordsmen were different.

"You know the ingredients I gave you earlier, make some stew with them. You'd better make it delicious since our leader and vice-leader are also going to eat them."

"Hey, four of you over there. Come this way and help us set up the tent."

The Snow Striker swordsmen came to the scouts' area to order them to make food and take some of them for chores.

"Hah."

Dorian exclaimed at their ridiculous behavior.

"Is it okay for them to do this?"

"What if it's not okay? We are powerless."

Radin sighed, taking out his pot.

"What did the vice-commander or the commander say about this?"

"They don't know. You see how they came here when the vice-commander isn't around."

He said they only came to visit them when Terian wasn't around.

"It's pretty rare for the commander or vice-commander to come out from the castle. We are the one confronting them, so going against them will only be disadvantageous for us."

Radin ignited the fire, saying that it couldn't be helped.

"Ah, I'm so angry!"

Taking out the ingredients from his belly pocket, Dorian punched in the air.

"Hmm…"

Raon narrowed his eyes, placing the pot on the fire.

"I thought a place like this, where lots of battles take place, would be strongly united. That doesn't seem to be the case."

"That's usually the case, but the Snow Strikers are an exception. Their leader is a jerk to start with, and he is extremely good at recognizing the weak and using them."

"I see."

Looking at the Snow Strikers, who were chatting around without working at all, his red eyes grew serious.

'Then I just need to seize them by the neck.'

* * *

The troop advanced quickly.

Probably because everyone was used to walking on the snow, it didn't take much time before they reached the fourth cave despite having many people walking together.

However, they couldn't find the group of trolls that the second scouting party had found. There wasn't even a hint of them.

"How did this happen?"

"I'm sorry."

Terian asked the second scouting party's leader, but he could only droop his shoulder in response.

"Are you sure you saw them correctly?"

"I-I'm sure. There were thirteen trolls gathered at the forest's outskirts!"

"This is why I said the scouts shouldn't move on their own. We should include at least a swordsman in each scouting party."

The Snow Strikers leader was sticking right next to Terian to say that the scouting parties were deficient in many ways. It looked like he was trying to increase his influence by stepping onto the others.

"Let's talk about that later. What's important right now is to find their traces to locate them."

Terian lowered his head and looked around the ground covered in snow.

"Even though the ice trolls move like wild animals on snow, it's impossible for them to leave no trace at all. Find the ice trolls' remnants, everyone! If we don't eliminate them right here, they will return to us as a huge casualty!"

"Yes!"

"Understood!"

The scouts, swordsmen, and mercenaries visibly nodded and split the searching area.

"Trolls seriously never get caught easily."

Radin frowned, kicking the piled snow.

"The traces of the ice trolls have disappeared. We need to start searching, so get ready!"

"Yes!"

The scouts started looking for the trolls' tracks, sticking on the ground like a dog with short legs. The mercenaries and the Snow Strikers swordsmen also spread their aura perception in order to find out about the trolls' direction or presences.

'I'll leave it to them.'

Raon didn't look for the tracks, standing guard instead. Since the scouts had spent their entire lives there, they should've been able to find the tracks soon enough, and his role wasn't the search but the protection. Therefore, he just focused on guard duty.

However, contrary to his expectation, the trolls never appeared. They only managed to find a single trace of them after two hours of searching.

'Did something happen again?'

Even though an ice troll wasn't the type of monster that left lots of traces, there was no way they struggled so much at finding their traces.

It must've been an anomaly, so it looked like he needed to personally take action.

"Damn it!"

Terian frowned and stomped the ground.

"A-at least, I'm sure that they went towards Stallin Mountain."

The second scouting party leader swallowed, looking at the only troll's footprint.

"There are countless monsters in that mountain on top of the ice trolls. We can't move the entire troop from that single trace."

"Ugh…"

"The day is short in the northern region. The night will fall soon enough. For now…"

"May I take a look?"

Raon came forth and looked at the last trace under Terian's feet.

"You?"

"Yes, let me take a look."

"Didn't you just join the scouting party? And your new position should be the scouts' guard."

The Snow Strikers leader Edquill wrinkled his nose, standing right next to Terian.

"Don't try to disgrace yourself for no reason. Leave. We don't have much time since the sun is setting already."

"Stop."

Terian stopped the Snow Striker leader's blabbering mouth.

"The direction is Stallin Mountain."

Raon nodded, looking at the only track on the ground.

"Everyone knows that, the problem is that we can't find out the exact location!"

The Snow Striker leader shouted, annoyed by the fact that Raon was stepping up despite being part of the scouting party.

"I'll figure that out."

"Hah! Are you some young master from somewhere? You are really childish, contrary to your rumored abilities. Do you realize you're wasting everyone's time right now?"

I want to deep fry that insect and his mustache in a volcano, after freezing him from head to toe. I really hate how he keeps blabbering in his mouth.

'That's a bit cruel, but I agree.'

Raon ignored the Snow Strikers leader, who kept talking endlessly, and closed his eyes. Since it was also his opportunity to get stronger, he focused his mind.

Whir!

He used Glacier and opened the ocean of perception made with his mental image.

It had become wider and was now at a size that could be called a spring.

He spread the ocean out thinly, but he couldn't find any trace of the trolls' presence.

He would've normally stopped there, but because of the Snow Striker leader and swordsmen that were annoying in multiple ways, he definitely wanted to locate their positions.

'But how?'

It was also about 'image'.

Opening the confined ocean would allow him to reach further with Glacier's perception.

Raon opened the dam blocking the ocean like a lake.

Splash!

The sound of flowing water that shouldn't exist resounded throughout his head, and the black water surged from the ocean.

'This way.'

He directed the stream up towards the destination of the troll's footprint. Just like a salmon going up a river, the ocean of perception mixed with the icy frost of the land dashed towards Stallin Mountain.

He searched through the predictable locations by controlling the stream of perception bending like a whip, but he could only feel the presence of multiple monsters, not finding any gathering of trolls.

'Then, perhaps…'

He changed direction. Instead of the snowy forest that ice trolls preferred, he let the stream of perception flow towards the bottom of the mountain and valleys.

He even used the Perception of the Snow Flower and focused, finally finding a wild presence around a ravine.

Their numbers were higher than he'd heard, but they were the ice trolls surrounded by frost for sure.

"Haa…"

He exhaled a murky breath and stood up. The scouts were looking at him full of expectation, while the Snow Strikers leader and swordsmen were sneering at him.

"Your expression makes it obvious. We've just wasted our time. Vice-Commander, let's prepare to camp…"

"I found them, though."

"What?"

"I said I found them."

Raon's mouth curved into a smile, looking at the Snow Striker leader, who used to sneer at him.