The Jaws of Barong. The mountain range that served as the northern border of the Earhart empire, the very extreme of the Barong territory. The continent continued on beyond them, but it was untamed and wild, with no human settlements for the next 1800 kilometres. Naturally, such a stretch of land wasn’t entirely lifeless. No, it was just devoid of humans. The extreme north belonged to the beasts and demons, and it wasn’t rare for them to make their way south.

The Jaws of Barong would always be the first place they stopped, be it to get some shelter from the elements, to get some rest, or to make it their new territory. Thus, over the years, while the mountain range was technically the land of the Barong duchy, it had slowly become part of the beasts’ lands.

"Leave the incense."

Arioch’s voice was low, heavier than ever before. They were still at least two or three hours ride away from the first mountain in the range but the air around the knights had already grown heavy and tense. The front line put out the incense and buried the burners in the snow, using a different patch of snow to scrub their armour.

The Jaws of Barong. They had to enter the mountain range, they couldn’t allow the beasts to settle in it as they pleased, otherwise they would just keep encroaching on the rest of the north. But they couldn’t handle the mountain range the same way they treated the path here, using the incense within or around the mountains was tantamount to suicide. Even without it, the mountains was where most of the past casualties appeared.

"Knights, steel yourself! Protect the one to your left and trust the one to your right to protect you. I still have hopes that we can all return home together."

Arioch addressed his knights to prepare them for what lay ahead, but Gabriel found his gaze drifting sideways, a pair of somewhat murky and uncertain eyes landing on two people. Alice was riding a bit away from him, chatting and occasionally with the old knight Almanar. Three days had passed since they celebrated his first fight with a demon, and in those three days he found his eyes wandering more often than he liked.

Alice also spent a bit more time with Almanar whenever they rode out, he could occasionally hear them chuckle almost knowingly as they spoke. He recognized their expressions, the subtle tone of their laughs. Almanar was amused by something and Alice was grateful so she entertained him. As for exactly what they were amused by and grateful for… He couldn’t quite tell.

He could understand it if she wanted to use Almanar to spy on Arioch and the Barong duchy and was grateful for what he could be used for, but she wasn’t gathering things to blackmail him, she didn’t study his family and their habits, didn’t find what else he treasured so that she could use it against him. No, she simply chatted with him, there were even times where their expressions looked as if she was asking him for advice.

"Prepare your weapons! From here on out, anyone who relaxes risks the life of the man to their left!"

Arioch’s voice cut through the silent snowfall and tugged at Gabriel’s mind. He hadn’t even noticed the passage of time because he was looking at Alice and Almanar, but they had actually reached the edge of the mountain range. Hours had flown by just like that, it was as if someone had messed with his perception of time.

Pheeew

He closed his eyes and let out a long breath, emptying his lungs before he filled them again with the icy northern wind. When he opened his eyes again they had become perfectly clear, as placid as a windless lake. Getting distracted during idle time and letting his thoughts wander was one thing, doing so during a ‘mission’ was something else entirely.

The mountain range was dangerous, deadly even. To go in there and come out alive with Alice and Teresa was his mission so he wouldn’t let his thoughts drift because of other matters. Thus, he focused. Thus, his mind grew sharp.

"I’ll come back for you later, boy, so stay silent until then."

He hopped off his steed and gave its thick neck a few pats, the rest of the knights also dismounting. There was more than enough space for the horses within the mountain range, but bursting into action while riding them would take at least one or two seconds longer than they could afford so they would be left behind.

The knights-in-training were left behind outside the mountains to take care of the steeds, only the sired knights would be entering the mountains. Well, now Caine and his entourage were added, as was Alice and her two attendants.

It didn’t seem like Alice spoke with Arioch about it as the steeds were led away. No, she simply brought along Gabriel and Teresa and followed after Arioch’s group, who naturally formed a circle around them. A deal, he could tell. Somewhere earlier, probably prior to the expedition, back when he was still forced to rest, she struck another deal with Arioch without his knowledge.

There was a slight pang on his ribs, like the soft knocking of someone trying to have their sibling open the door at night without alerting their parents. His mind drift for a moment thanks to it, but he quickly crushed it to retain his cold mind.

The mountains around them were tall. Some looked like bent and jagged cliffs, others like tall and almost perfectly straight pillars, while others still looked more normal. But still, everything here was white, a barely discernible tinge of blue hidden beneath.

Snow fell from the grey sky without pause and settled on the land, slid down the slopes and piled up beneath the mountains. Occasionally too much snow would gather on a mountain and the next bit of snow that slid down its side would cause an avalanche large enough to block up valleys and swallow the smaller mountains. As a result, the only maps you could use within the mountain range were the kind that relied on the major landmarks.

"We have a base camp by Sawtooth Cliff, the smaller mountains around it are rather hollow so they’re a good target for new beasts looking to settle or get some rest. Our goal today is to reach that camp and clear out at least one or two of the mountains."

Arioch brought out exactly one such map as he spoke, one hand pointing towards a not-so-distant mountain that looked like a jagged and bent tooth that had several sections gouged out. Camps were basically a necessity here within the mountains, defensible locations they could retreat to where they would have a modicum of safety. Without them they would get attacked at night, their perimeter guards murdered before they got the chance to utter a final grunt.

For a while, the sound of their feet trudging through snow was the only thing that could be heard, a soft crunch that somehow managed to feel far too loud. Gabriel felt the back of his neck prick with each step. He couldn’t see them, but his instincts were telling him that there were living beings in the area. He could feel their gazes brush past him from time to time, predators observing what they thought of as prey. Looking at the occasionally jumping shoulders of the knights around him he could guess that they were also feeling it.

"Gabriel. I’ll be taking care of Teresa while we’re in here, I’ll also be looking and preparing for something. You can just do what you want or feel that you need."

Alice whispered to him as they got closer to the looming mountain, a certain warmth tinging her breath. Excitement, desire. She craved the thing she was looking for in these frozen mountains. But she hadn’t told him, so what was it?

Another knock on his ribs, another errant train of thought quickly crushed before it could take hold. The base camp Arioch spoke of, they could see it now.

It was part of the mountain, sticking out like a wart. About 100 or 200 metres above ground, it was safe from most of the natural disasters that would change the landscape. It was painted white to blend in with the rest of the landscape, a few small windows just barely visible from below.

"Follow me."

Arioch brought them closer to the camp, guiding them towards a rocky spot at the base of the mountain. Some of the knights pushed aside a large boulder, revealing a tunnel that had been dug into the mountain, a steep set of stairs leading them up to the camp. The inside of the camp was… cramped to say the least. It was made to hold 30 knights, giving the usual expeditions of 20 a bit of extra breathing room. But there were currently 48 people there so it was inevitably a bit fuller than most of them would like.

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"Emergency exits can be found over there, over there, over there, and there’s two more entrances you can also use, one there and one here."

But no one complained about how cramped it was as Arioch showed them the other entrances and the emergency exits. Being cramped in here was better than being scattered out there. The knights pulled out their gear and dropped what they didn’t need, lugging along their bedrolls and the like from here on out would be needless encumbrance.

"We may be more knights than usual, with some extraordinary outliers, but I will not split us up just for the sake of efficiency. We travel as one group, and anyone who needs to split for a moment must bring with them at least three others. We will take it slow, we will take it safe, and we will all go back home. Are we clear?"

Arioch spoke with a solemn voice as the knights finished gearing up, now bringing along only their weapons and some utility items that could prove handy. With this, he’d repeated himself a multitude of times over the last few days, but it just showed how highly he valued the lives of his knights.

"Yes, My Lord."

The knights responded in the same manner they always did, only this time they didn’t shout or bang their hands against their armour. Then, following Arioch’s lead, they swarmed out of the base camp and down to the ground, maintaining a neat formation as they headed for the closest other mountain.

Said mountain was a lot smaller than Sawtooth mountain, barely even reaching above 100 metres. But it was wide, it almost looked like an overturned barrel as it lay there. It also looked like honeycomb, a multitude of holes dotting its surface. The holes weren’t uniform, be it in shape or size, so Gabriel guessed that they were formed by different beasts over the years that the mountain had stood.

Here in the north, especially the furthest reaches of it, he was a fair bit blinder than usual. It couldn’t be helped, he had gotten by with just relying on the knowledge of the show, but the north rarely ever came up in the show so he was limited in what he knew.

"…I’ll have to do more studying when we return."

It was a flaw. If something went wrong because of his lack of information then it would all be on him. He couldn’t allow something like that to get in the way of his new ‘ambition’ his desire. So he needed to rectify it. Find a mistake, crush it before it becomes a problem. Nice and simple.

"The inside of the mountain will be just as you’d expect, a mess of tunnels, like an anthill. We could go in there to fight, but we don’t know what has taken up residence so it’ll be dangerous to trap ourselves like that. We also won’t be able to use our numbers properly so we’ll bait the monsters out here instead."

Arioch explained the plan as they arrived at the mountain. The knights naturally knew the plan by heart at this point so he was really only explaining it to Caine and Alice. It was a safe plan, a sensible one. Sure, delving into the tunnels could give you the element of surprise, depending on what you were facing.

But you could get lost, you could get surrounded, the tunnels could get collapsed, depending on the width you could lost a lot of range for both attacking and moving. Delving into the tunnels would be foolish.

"Charles, throw the bait."

One of the knights moved forward when Arioch gave the signal, pulling a vial of blood from his pouch and throwing it into one of the entrances. The glass shattered, and a scent of blood far thicker than it had any right to be spread out.

"Arais Vara."

The knight, Charles, muttered a spell as the scent of blood spread, a bit of wind changing direction to blow the scent of blood deeper into the tunnels. Before long, faintly echoing sounds came from within the mountain.

"Get ready."

A pointless remark by Arioch, everyone was already standing at the ready with their weapons drawn, Gabriel had even cast his strengthening magic already. And then the denizens of the mountain showed themselves.

"Blue-Tint Lizards. They live in groups and can control ice. You can consider them the same as an armoured knight. The tail is sharp, but doesn’t contain any poison."

Arioch spat out an explanation as the first creature showed itself. It looked like a tall lizard-man with a scorpion’s tail, a layer of lightly blue scales covering its entire body. Thick limbs, large hands and feet that ended in sharp claws, a maw that went ear to ear and was filled with dirty yellow teeth.

The thing crouched like a monkey around the blood, eventually spotting Arioch’s group. It opened its maw and let out a dull and deep rumbling sound, cutting itself short several times. Communicating, it was transmitting information to something else.

And indeed, before long, more sounds came from within the mountain. More of the lizard-men appeared in the various openings, some of them already holding weapons made of ice. Gabriel couldn’t see any ranged weapons among them, were their claws perhaps preventing them from properly utilising them? Or was it because they could control ice so they didn’t think it necessary?

The answer turned out to be the latter, the lizards launching ice at them that fell down like hail. Meanwhile, the seemingly melee-focused lizards rushed ahead. The knights were ready so they immediately assumed their formation, a wall of fire flashing across the sky to block the falling ice.

As for the charging lizards, they were met with a coordinated chain of attacks that cycled through the various elements in a harmonious tune. Those that managed to survive the almost relentless barrage and actually reach the knights… Well they were already mostly dead so finishing them was easy.

With the first charge of the lizard’s taken care of, some of the knights turned their attention to the ranged ones that had yet to move, altering their spells. From the look of things, all the knights Arioch had brought along were capable of using magic. But still, it didn’t seem as if Gabriel and Caine would get to just sit back and do nothing.

"Beneath us. More than a few too. They probably used their control over ice to expand the tunnels, must have been looking to build a territory here."

Caine’s gaze was slightly lowered, his eyes seemingly piercing through the snow and ice beneath them. His hand moved and a thin gash appeared in front of him, a dull and pained growl coming from below.

Gabriel felt the ground tremble for a moment before new holes opened in it, the lizard-men popping up like moles. Their expressions, if they could even be called that, looked a bit twisted and vicious, they probably weren’t expecting to get attacked while still below their target.

Well, they still looked as if they felt good about their odds. Alice and Caine’s groups were at the centre of the formation, so popping out here was the same as arriving at the back of their enemies. Well, at first glance at least. Some would say that they hopped out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Swish

Caine swung his hand again and three of the lizard-men lost their heads, a small cut forming on the barrel-shaped mountain beyond them. The ‘sword’ part of his Unique magic, which always came as both a ‘sword’ and a ‘shield’. In essence, it was the ability to cut what he wanted. In this world, he was the sharpest blade.

"Hmm, humanoids…"

Gabriel didn’t launch an immediate attack despite the two lizard-men that were aiming at him. He was studying their bodies, their scales, their muscles. Study, observe, examine. Find the weakness to strike and then abuse it as much as you could.

"Let’s start with a knight."

He spoke to himself, or perhaps the enemy, as the first lizard-man struck at him. His sword rose and blocked the chunk of ice that fell towards him, a tilt of his wrist deflecting it to the side. He allowed his tilt to morph into a diagonal downwards slash until it struck the lizard’s arm, where he tilted it again.

He allowed his weapon to slide along the scales, which felt a bit harder than steel at first glance, until he reached its elbow. He pulled back his blade slightly and then stabbed it to the side, piercing through the elbow with a quick move.

As expected, just like with a knight, the scales on the elbow were a bit softer to allow for smooth movements. The lizard let out a growled pain, Gabriel drawing his sword back so that it cut open the forearm of the lizard. He spun slightly as he cut, the blade that eventually left the lizard’s arm meeting an ice-covered fist that tried to strike him from behind.

The sword cut through both ice, scales, and knuckles in a smooth movement and cut open another forearm. Their scales were thick and strong, but it couldn’t resist Gabriel’s blade after he cast strengthening magic.

No, he didn’t need to aim for weak spots, he only did it so that he could know more about this race for the future. And he kept doing just that. He finished his spin and grabbed the arm he just cut, pulling the beast forward while angling his blade.

The tip found its way to the back of its knee, and as expected, the scales there were weaker than the rest so it easily pierced through. Well, it would have gone through easily anyway, he was just basing his observation on the slight sensation that came back to his hand through his tool.

The lizard fell to its knee after its leg was taken out, its pained growl cut short by Gabriel’s hand grabbing its mouth. Its teeth shattered when they met his armour, a pair of placid violet eyes becoming its final sight in life.

He put strength in his arm and gave it a tug, twisting the head of the lizard-man until he heard a nice and familiar crack. The beast spasmed and then fell to the ground lifeless, a bit of light pink foam bubbling out of its open mouth.

Necks were still a weakness, and cracking it would result in a fate similar to that of a human. Good to know.

He turned his gaze slightly, the lizard-man that had gotten its forearm cut open was already turned and fleeing for its hole. Intelligent enough to know when to flee, also good to know.

"Katush, Veras Motak Hui Vara." (Water, Harden Heat and Move)

The formation was formed and a bit of water formed in front of him, hardening into a ball that was launched forward. It smashed into the lizard-man’s spine at full speed, a crack sounding before the beast fell forward. It twitched on the ground, but it seemed incapable of moving its body as it pleased. Spine still very much integral to movement, good.

He strode over and finished the job with a quick stab. Despite the strange appearance, they were very much like armoured knights when it came to how to handle them.

He peered into the hole that they came from and saw quite a few more rushing about down below, the tunnels quickly expanding. Fleeing? Or setting up new traps from which they could burst? Alice also came over to take a look while Gabriel was musing to himself, but her gaze grew sharp for a moment, a brilliant light surfacing in her pupils as she looked down. A sweet smile formed on her lips as she maintained her lowered gaze. She made a simple request, and was swiftly met by an equally simple answer.

"Gabriel, can you bury them?"

"As you wish, my Lady."