Hurtling down the snowy slopes at a blistering pace, spirit energy pushing their muscles and abilities far beyond those of an average human, thirteen people quickly descended the mountain.

"Brother Chron, what in the twelve hells was that?" shouted a young man, his white robes billowing in the passing air as he effortlessly lept across a small ravine.

"If you have enough breath to make idle talk, you can run faster," bellowed a tall, well-built man, one of only two adults in the group.

The man, Chron, wore thick, brown leather armour and carried a variety of knives and small projectiles strapped to his chest and legs yet, even though he was moving at an outstanding speed, they did not make any noise. "Snow, how's it looking back there?"

The other adult, a middle-aged woman with a pale complexion and dark, almost black, hair responded as she brought up the rear of the group, ensuring none of the disciples fell behind. "Still clear."

Her short response came as she examined the disciples in front of her, looking for signs of fatigue while occasionally scanning the mountainside behind them, especially in the direction where the terrifying roar had emanated.

While the first rule of engagement for the beast and monster encounters was never to fight an unknown, to escape and gather intel, that was only if they could avoid the confrontation. The disciples were low level, ranging from three to five and if they exhausted their spiritual energy, they would collapse and would have to be carried.

It that happened, a battle was almost inevitable, and while she had full confidence in her abilities, casualties would be unavoidable.

Pushing her fists out, her thick robe seemingly unaffected by her pace, two spikes of ice rapidly formed in the air before shooting into the snow, leaving only their tips exposed to the mountain air.

As the spikes were created with her spirit energy, as long as she was in range, she would be able to use the projectiles to sense the area surrounding them, providing an early warning if anything was giving chase.

The mountainside behind her was littered with such spears, and the further they got, the more comfortable Snow felt.

They hadn't seen the creature that made the noise, but it was clear from the fluctuations in the world energy, that it was powerful. It was definitely a high tier beast, maybe even a low-level monster.

Snow clicked her tongue in annoyance; her plain yet pretty features contorting in a grimacing.

This was the last training expedition she had to undertake, a punishment from her clan, and she would be able to return to the city yet if one of those under her protection were injured, the bastards who wished to keep her out here in the wilderness would make sure it was years before she could return home.

The Icy peak, the mountain and its surrounding forest, was a remote farm that the clan had set up to nurture and grow rare herbs and ice spirits, as well as give their soldiers a varied environment to train in. To protect their investment, all high-level beasts and any monsters that had wandered in were culled on sight so the situation the group found themselves in shouldn't be happening.

This area was well known, with many of the younger generations, alongside a few protectors, coming here to train, cultivate and gather the abundant ingredients in relative safety. In fact, it was known as one of the safest areas in the entire clan.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

That sound had even caused her, a veteran of many campaigns to recoil in fear and immediately retreat.

Suddenly, her pupils expanded.

'Fast.'

Snow's head started to turn, but due to the speed of the approaching object, felt by the sensors she had left, it felt as if she were moving in slow motion.

'Too damn fast.'

Her pale, pink lips started to open, her training kicking in and the need to warn the group overriding all else as she finally managed to move her head to look behind.

Snow's pupils shrunk, her blood felt like it had frozen in her veins. "INCOMING!"

The warning shout caused a blast of snow to fly away from Snow as her body followed the movement of her head and turned to face the black mass streaking towards them.

Having served the clan's Huntsmen for dozens of years, as well as in the expeditionary forces, Chron immediately sent out a wave of condensed spirit energy, knocking the ten disciples to the floor as he flipped around, daggers already drawn and faced back up the mountain.

When he saw Snow, still sliding backwards due to her previous momentum, her hands on the snowy surface as a massive wall of ice sprouted from the ground, Chron had to whistle in amazement.

While as a tracker and hunter he was pretty powerful, he was still a low ranking member of the clan and, like most people, didn't have enough spirit energy to manipulate external factors.

The best Chron could do, at a push, was create a weak elemental ball or change the environment slightly, but that was it. The difficulty was so great that most focused on body enhancement and not in projecting their spirit energy outside of their bodies, which was often referred to as magic.

The seven-foot high, five-foot thick wall of ice in front of him was something only the elite of the elite could do and, at that moment, he realised that the woman who had gained the title of Ice Witch, was a far more terrifying existence than he had previously imagined.

He nervously swallowed as he remembered his crude advances during this trip and thanked the heavens that the woman wasn't as fiery-tempered as those in the capital.

While his mind was slightly distracted by these thoughts, his training enabled him to calmly analyse the situation, which provided little to no information. The wall was blocking out what he could gain from his enhanced senses, and if he were to jump, while he could see over the ice wall, Chron would be helpless until he returned to the earth.

Just as he was about to open his mouth and ask what it was, Chron felt as if he had been dropped into a frozen river.

All cultivators, no matter their level, had learnt to sense the energy that was directed at them. Often it was as simple as gaze or curiosity, but higher levels could even pick up killing intent. This wasn't any of those sensations, at least it didn't feel the same. It was as if a mountain had gained sentience and was taking notice of an ant.

Before Chron could contemplate the sensation further, his grip tightening on his daggers as a bead of sweat ran down his forehead, Snow had turned her head to face him, her pale face almost as white as snow. "Idiot. Take them and-"

Her words were drowned out by the massive explosion, ice flying in all directions as a black silhouette smashed through the wall as if it was nothing more than a sheet of paper.

With a flip that wasn't any less graceful than Chron's, the creature somersaulted in the air, a single wing beat almost halting its remaining momentum, and agility landed in front of them, blocking the group's decent.

The snow and ice that had been kicked up from the explosion had masked the creature's form somewhat, giving Chron enough courage to take a quick glance behind him.

He almost wished he hadn't.

Snow was lying face down and unmoving, a pool of blood forming under her head, while the debris from the exploding wall had severely injured most of the disciples, one, dressed in light, plate armour, seemingly crushed by a massive block of ice.

Only two of the ten could stand, a young girl, around the age of sixteen and a wiry boy, terror etched on their faces as the tried to see through the fog of snow and ice.

While their senses were enhanced, they were not much better than an average human, their cultivation and dantians too immature.

Movement drew Chron's attention back to the creature, and he let out a curse at what he saw through the settling snow and ice.

While he didn't know what the creature was, one thing was clear. This creature was built to kill, and he couldn't help but take a step back.