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Chapter 1, Part One: The Scouts

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Central region, Kharlussian Empire.

On a mountainous snow region, howling wind echoed within.

Abundant snow filled the surroundings, covering most of the coniferous trees. As the wind became violent, avalanche fell here and there.

When the wind moved the snow, even sunlight could not penetrate the thick veil. Whatever little managed to get across, made the surroundings bluish dark.

The temperature was chilling, the weather was extreme.

It was a land devoid of life.

Yet right on this land, the whole area became lively.

Movements could be observed from afar, following a group.

“Don’t stop! Keep moving!”

A worried voice resounded.

A party of twelve, well-armored soldiers, with thick white clothes was running. They had spears, swords, gauntlet, bows and magic staff on.

While moving, those with bows continued to fire to their back, to whatever movement they caught. Four with melee weapon kept their eyes on their surrounding, keeping the rear and sides in check.

Two at the back, each with a staff, recited the incantation.

Fireballs and lightning flew towards the direction they came in. As it hit, snow became dust, covering their sight, as well as the pursuers’.

Yet they knew, it would not buy them much time.

They continued moving, braving the snow.

As they moved, lines of colourful mana propelled them forward, barely touching the snow’s surface.

Every second, they moved for over twenty metres.

All of them were breathing heavily.

Several young ladies among them, did not seem all too well. Their face pale, their eyes almost closed. Their chest was burning, their muscle hurting.

Dizziness filled their head, coldness embraced their body.

How long had they ran, actually?

Even they themselves could not tell.

What they could tell, was that if they stop, they would die. Dying, maybe being crunched, eaten while they were alive.

Thus, they pressed on, denying their own body’s revolt.

Yet the lady at the rear, with a staff on her hand, had to stop.

The surroundings made her thick clothes bluish, her eyes could barely tell what was in front. Her mana was depleted, she tried to squeeze whatever was left.

To no avail.

Too dizzy, she fell onto the snow.

“Keep going! Reinforcement must be near!”

A man, a veteran looking soldier, pulled her back on.

He was covering the rear, but the lady mage was too exhausted, he already caught up.

With him here, the enemy was no doubt, closer.

“Yvonne, wake up!”

“Brann?”

With extreme exhaustion, came confusion.

Her mind did not function well, desiring rest more than anything.

Even when her logic told her, she would die had she rested.

She really did her best, no doubt.

However, she could not keep up with the others, slowing down the rear’s retreat. Three men caught up to them, two with spears and one with a sword. They themselves were exhausted, so they did not blame the lady.

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She had good stamina among her peers, but in this situation, it was not enough.

“Listen, Yvonne! Throw whatever you don’t need, now!”

“I already did! Only this staff—”

“Throw it!”

“Damnit!”

They did not have a spatial ring, so they had thrown any weight they could.

Actually, in their group, the leader held one.

However, their leader was no more.

And the ring, was probably in one of the pursuers’ stomach now.

They had to get away, their pursuers were fast, relentless.

Due to this, every little weight matters. They had to save some stamina.

Yet Yvonne could not throw her staff away.

She knew it was pointless.

Her mana had depleted, how far can she go with her physique alone?

“Brann, just, leave. I’ll, buy, us, time.”

“Buy time, you? Enough nonsense!”

“Wha?!”

The veteran soldier took her onto his shoulder, throwing her staff away.

She would no doubt slow him down, thus the risk of him dying would increase exponentially.

Yet he could not leave her be.

Their other comrades did not protest.

With him doing so, the danger on them would increase as well. A normal person would leave her be, since one’s own safety was of utmost importance.

Yes, a normal person, in a life and death situation, would likely do that.

However, who were they?

They were Kharlussian’s best soldiers, the one covering the frontline. As Kharlussian scouts, they had their own pride.

They could not leave behind a comrade.

Never.

Plus, she was barely twenty, and had just joined their scouting team. As her seniors, and her comrades, they had to take such risk.

They were originally returning from their mission. Since there was an irregularity, this time they covered an area farther away than what they were supposed to.

Their leader had deemed it important enough.

From this, they managed to gain new intel, crucial information.

Yet on their way back, the enemies noticed their presence. The worse kind of enemy in the area, pursued them.

UWOOO—

They started the hunt, howling, calling in more of their kind.

At first, they could repel them back.

As time went on, more and more came. When the party fell into an ambush, their leader had to distract them to make an opening.

That was some time ago.

Now, there ought to be more than a thirty pursuing, moving in for encirclement. Their movement seemed more organized.

A clear sign that an Alpha had joined in.

One of the spearmen, turned to his left. The other two noticed as well.

The fact, that the pursuers had caught up.

“Brann, go! We’ll catch up later!”

“Sorry!”

They moved to their left, leaving only Brann moving forward.

He was worried about them, but he could not do anything about it now.

Frustrated, he shouted;

“Damn! Yvonne, once you can move, tell me!”

“Y-yes!”

‘Their numbers were higher than we thought. Is there more than one rift?’

As he continued running, his speed slowed down.

Soon, his feet burrowed into the snow. No longer could he slid across the snow, his mana had depleted.

He was breathing heavily, falling down, bringing Yvonne down with him.

She rolled several times, a few metres away from him.

Yvonne, with her exhaustion eased a bit, was able to think better.

She crawled to his side, soon turned him over, brushing off the snow across his face. He was half-conscious, so she slapped his cheek several times.

With force.

As she did, she cried.

“Wake up, damn it! Brann!”

Desperation filled her voice.

Calling him out.

After slapping him over ten times, he opened his eyes.

Finally, his tired eyes noticed her.

“Go.”

“But!”

“You’ll, slow, us.”

“Ughh…!”

She hated to admit it, but he was right.

She had confidence with her stamina, since she was able to take in a lot of beast’s core related to stamina and speed.

Due to this affinity, her stats in these increased exponentially.

As a young magician, her stamina was tip-top.

She was proud of it, but that was before joining the scouting team. Among them, her stamina and speed were average, at best.

“Go…”

“No, we can, just wait. Reinforcement, the others, should already…”

Watching Brann losing consciousness again, she placed her hope on having reinforcement.

Their two members, holding the communication rings, were further to their front, moving light. Communication ring could not function well in this windy weather, so they had to move closer to their nearest outpost.

They went ahead of the group, hoping to make contact.

If they were lucky, the nearby patrol should pick up their distress call.

If luck on their side.

UWOOOH!

A howl.

Loud, fierce howl.

It reached her ears, coming from where they came from. Face pale, she had to think.

Yet, no matter how fast she could think, she only had one way on her mind.

She dug in as much snow as she could, soon put Brann into it and covered all trace.

She knew hiding inside the snow was stupid, since these beasts could even see through body heat.

Luckily, Brann was already too cold.

As long as they were not close enough, they would miss him.

However, she had to increase his chance of survival, so she could not join him.

She moved away from his location, and as she did, a shriek came.

As if a signal to others, a prey was in sight.

‘God, can’t believe I’m actually glad being pursued!’

A line of yellow light followed her movement, she had recovered some mana. She slid, barely touching the snow.

As she moved, her head shook, she abruptly changed her direction.

As she did, a silhouette of white-blue passed her sight.

A boom.

Snow burst, engulfing her.

She recognized the silhouette; it was the beast’s arm.

It had slammed its fist onto her, missing only because she detected its energy, thus making evasive action.

A close call.

She turned, yet she noticed one of them in the direction she was going.

Again, she turned to another direction.

She halted her steps.

“Ah…”

A blue-white silhouette filled her view. To her left, her right, her front, and her back, they had her surrounded.

All six of them, focused on her, their precious prey.

Being surrounded like this, she was as good as dead.

‘So fast?’

With thick fur, large fangs and thick arm, each of them had height of seven, eight metres.

Despite their large size, their movement was not clumsy, nor slow. With their fierce temperament, plus relentless attitude, they were given a proper name.

‘Vicious Yeti… What a fitting name.’

Their fierce eyes locked onto her.

Slowly moving in, they were patient. Steps by steps, they closed the gaps between them.

Stopping a mere ten metre before her, their giant bodies left almost no gap.

Seeing no more hope of survival, she was actually glad.

Her legs retired, she tumbled down like a doll. Her legs were on her left and right, she was sitting on her thigh and butt.

‘No more, I’m too tired…’

Cold started to embrace her.

Yet these vicious giants did not rush to finish her, looking at each other.

Apparently, seniority was important among them, thus they had to be sure who was the most senior of the six. They started to roar at each other, as if asking, you think you’re better?

Finally, an eight-metre yeti growled.

Deep, beastly voice. A voice commanding authority.

Its growl put the others in silence. Clearly, they acknowledged him, letting him had the first go.

Seeing no protest, it raised its thick arm. The arm covered the whole of Yvonne’s sight, notifying her of her end.

‘At the very least, let this be painless, please…’

At the last moment, the images of her comrades flashed through her eyes. Their smile, their teasing, their joke.

They treated her well, as if she was their youngest sister. Tears came out, the young mage had a smile.

A bitter-sweet smile.

“Guys, survive…”

Her voice stopped as the arm plummeted down.

The howling wind reverberated, as if lamenting her demise.

…

==== Chapter 1 (Part One) End ====