They journeyed quietly, having been three weeks in. Nothing had happened so far. Jessica on one hand found it nice. Traveling without running into trouble was always a blessing. Granted that it was currently winter. It wasn’t like there were many animals that were like the snow wolf.

Not all snow wolves had the ability to travel on top of snow. Most only had abilities that were related to snow. In terms of snow walking, that was bottom tier ability. If this snow wolf was not a generational mutated beast, it would be extremely lack luster. In terms of snow walking, it wasn’t a very powerful ability.

Instead, snow wolves that were spell capable were strongest. However, in this unique situation. This snow wolf was absolutely amazing. It wasn’t here for combat, only traveling.

What caused Jessica to be confused all this was Everblood. Saleh said they would be traveling with Everblood. Only to date, she had yet to see him once. It wasn’t that he just didn’t appear. Even Saleh said he was probably busy.

After three consecutive weeks, something finally happened. It wasn’t time to stop, thus once the carriage slowed. Jessica became aware there was a problem.

With no knock, Jessica gestured for Cassie to be quiet.

“Remove the noise isolation.” Listening to her, Cassie reached against the carriage wall to press something. However, there wasn’t any noise.

Without another option, Jessica opened the door and stepped out. Using the step stool, she didn’t enter the snow but moved along the side of the carriage to see what Saleh was doing.

Sensing her appearance, he just pointed at the snow wolf. Currently, it was crouched on top of the snow. Its body was laying as flat as possible, if not for the white fur, it would be a comical sight.

The white fur allowed it to blend in extremely well. In fact, even while in the driver's seat, if the sun was reflecting off the snow. It became incredibly easier to lose the snow wolf running at the front of the carriage.

Shifting ever so slightly, the two could make out that the snow wolf was sniffing at the air. Its defensive posture allowed them to know that something was here. Only, with such a sensitive noise it wasn’t possible to know where, or how far it was.

Looking around, the two saw that the area was filled with trees. This was the worst location to stop. Since they had the carriage, the trees only worked to obscure their vision. While the carriage made it very easy to spot them.

“Something is here now, the wolf is making itself small. Take off its harness and prepare to fight.” At some point, Cassie had come out. Once she said this, she returned to the carriage.

Sharing a gaze, “You agree?”

Jessica couldn’t help but reply, “No, but what can we do. In this condition, the wolf is useless. Unless you can take its place, the carriage isn’t going anywhere.”

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Sighing slight, Saleh nodded. As he took off the harness, “At least it's not cowering. I have no idea how strong it is, or if it can fight. However, it doesn’t appear scared. Whatever is out there shouldn’t be too difficult.”

Once released, the wolf moved behind a tree. Watching the two were about to turn green. With that size, hiding behind a tree wouldn’t hide it. Even with the pile of snow, its body was still larger than the pile by a small margin.

That was until the wolf stepped into the snow, its body seemed to merge with it as the snow didn’t even shift. The top of that snow pile had melted slightly, creating a small, glistening surface. That surface didn’t break and continued to hold true, even after the wolf seemed to merge with the snow beneath it.

“Not bad.” Saleh couldn’t help but comment.

Jessica had to agree, it appeared the snow wolf wasn’t completely useless. Cassie had never mentioned anything specific about the wolf. Only telling them it was a multiple generation mutation, and it had the ability to alert them of outsiders.

Since it was their job, they didn’t pry into anything else. That was also why they didn’t try to argue when she told them to release it.

With it in the dark, they stood on both sides of the carriage as they tried to determine what was coming. And where it was coming from.

Soon that answer became clear, the first sound heard was the crunching of snow. This was a common sound of something heavy stepping on the snow, packing it down.

From the sound of the snow, it was an extremely heavy creature. Following the snow, Saleh was able to see it first. Letting out a soft whistle, Jessica kept her eyes peeled as she moved into a position to see around the carriage while not giving up her position.

Jessica had to take multiple looks. The creature was alone, moving between the trees. Its body was so large, it was only possible to make out a few vertical lines of its body that wasn’t blocked by trees.

With white fur similar to the snow wolf, its fur was less velvet and more stringy. There was some dirt on the under belly, and a bit of it was still wet. Indicating this creature had been dipping in water some time ago.

With that little information it was clear what the creature it was before it appeared. At least in Jessica’s head, she already had a good idea.

Therefore, when its head became visible as it finally couldn’t keep its hunger at bay, its curiosity won over. From a far, the creature stood an unknown height. Moving on four legs, it moved slowly as it sized them and the carriage up.

In terms of size, it was likely a bit smaller than the carriage, absolutely massive. Easily weighting multiple tons. As it faced them, three dark objects could be seen on its face. Two eyes watched them aggressively, the last dark object was slightly wet, at the end of its snout stood its nose.

It was a polar bear. Finally deciding to attack, the bear didn’t immediately attack. Standing on its back legs, standing easy over ten feet high, it looked down. Jessica swear she saw a look of disdain in its eyes.

Letting out a growl, it stomped down, sending trembles under their feet. Starting to move towards them, it picked up speed.

“Fuck.” Saleh couldn’t help but curse, they had failed to account for such a large creature. He was unsure if the carriage and its enchantment could take a full blow from that thing. Rushing forward, he filled mana in his hands as he brought it down.

Having not expected to be counter-attacked, the creature tried to ram through him to not lose speed.

Saleh was sent flying to the side. Having created a cut on its snout, the bear cried out painfully as its charge died. Without correcting its course, the bear didn’t seem to dare rush at Jessica and the large contraption.

Realizing the prey might be small, but not easy. The bear didn’t dare act recklessly. Not willing to rush forward again. Saleh was able to get back up with a bit of trouble. Both sides seemed to size each other up as they slowly moved closer to each other.