“So, what’s your expert opinion?” Donny asked Yen, the whole of Chariot gathered around the portal.
“I mean… Raids are typically buffed up dungeons. Bigger, more monsters, probably allows more than one party to enter. Don’t know how much that applies here, but epic tier isn’t much of a threat to us.” Yen equipped a ring and her leather vest seemed to loose power. “Everyone still got frost resistance from the second stage?”
“Yeah~”
“Same~”
“No.”
“None.”
“What are you talking about?”
“...”
Aside from Karla and Ashley, none of the newer members did. Yen looked around. Jean, she expected. Dante less so but she tended to discard preconceptions about the enigmatic trickster. Mujin and Basem she knew for sure didn’t, being the loner types before Shin recruited them.
“Did you kill the twin head?” Yen asked Ashley.
“Nope~”
“Okay…” She put the implication out of her mind. “Six to go around-”
“Seven.” Dante drew a gold band.
“You said you didn’t have one.”
“It’s not from the second stage.”
“Seven, to go around.” Yen corrected the assessment, slightly annoyed. “The top three in vitality go without.”
Shin threw a ring to Basem, pointing at his long sleeve silk shirt at Yen’s inquiring look. “Protects against cold.”
“...” Yen collected herself as Donny handed over an amulet to Jean. “Alright, let’s see what this is.”
The party walked through the portal and into the middle of a blizzard. Their feet sunk into the thick blanket of snow beneath their feet. The storm of snow so heavy and fierce it was difficult to see more than ten yards ahead, at least for those without Third Eye.
“The door’s gone!” Basem alerted with some urgency.
“Can’t back out like with dungeons, I guess.” Conversely, Yen showed little concern, other than for the biting chill that slipped through her frost resistance. “Fuck, it’s cold…”
“Yeah, best we finish this quick.” Donny glanced at the slight frostbite trying to creep through his regeneration before turning to Mujin. “You holding up?”
“I am fine.” Mujin bore through the affliction of frost he faced with a brooding toughness, though Kamala healed away his hard nosed attitude without a word.
“Either there’s a way out or there’s a boss here we need to beat. Let’s find it quick and move on to the next zone.” Yen said.
“Next zone?” Donny asked.
“Yeah, it’s probably got multiple floors. Kinda like greed mountain but more connected.”
“How do you know this?” Mujin asked, with seriousness.
“I’m a mage, I can see the truth of this world.” Yen returned casual nonsense, nonsense which Mujin seemed to take seriously.
A large white furred ape with frost blue leathery hide lept at them from the cover of snow and Basem put an arrow straight through its thick long skull before it even drew near enough to attack. “Stop talking.”
Shin headed off, glancing around with prismatic eyes, and the party followed after. He led them somewhat erratically through the constant blizzard as monsters attacked in spurts from all directions. Yetis like before, frost ifrits, and winter wolves, epic tier monsters at greater monarch, and none of them managed to pose the slightest threat. Blade, fist, arrow, and axe dealt with them all swiftly.
Shin cleaved at the ground as a serpent of ice and snow started to form but unlike the others it didn’t leave a soul for him to harvest. More and more of these frost creatures rose from the frozen tundra they found themselves in along with the true monsters that roamed.
With over half a mile radius of his sphere of extrasensory vision and the ability to see the souls of all within, Shin cut a deliberate path scouring over the region for anything of note. That something caught his eye in short time, swerving over in that direction. Strange creatures ambled around in a loose group. Top heavy bipedal polar bear the size of ogres with large fanged jaws and massive clawed paws at the ends of arms that hung nearly to the ground.
The creatures sensed the party through the snow before they drew close and charged over in a roar, faster than their build suggested. One lunged with a clawed paw raised high and a flash severed him in two. Ashley smiled and vanished again, her speed not even registering as a blur to Shin’s base vision.
[Nanuk (epic) - Greater Monarch]
Strength - 2743
Agility - 1550
Constitution - 1921
Vitality - 1937
Dexterity - 1254
Perception - 1589
Force - 812
Spirit - 1030
Control - 1068
Willpower - 1126
Skills:
Maul, Chomp, Charge,
Traits:
Frozen Claws (epic), Snow Sense (epic), Frost Resistance (epic), Lesser Poison Resistance (rare), Lesser Disease Resistance (rare),
Donny, Karla, and Mujin joined in the slaughter at the vanguard, leaving a trail of blood nanuks over the pristine snow, not a single strike of their powerful arms finding their mark. Shin took over the lead, guiding them to where the nunaks were the most abundant. Finally after delving deep into the snowstorm, a tremendous roar shook the land and a massive variant of the humanoid bears crashed down near them from a leap.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
[Nanuk Frostmauler (epic) - Greater Monarch]
Twice the size of a regular nanuk, blue markings covered its fur along with shards of frost. Its long claws white blue like sculpted ice and its expression even more feral and viscous than its lesser kin. The frostmauler tensed into a thunderous roar like the king of the tundra, and a surging knee shattered its head. The giant monster swayed for a moment, then crashed to the ground, completely still.
[Nanuk Frostmauler (epic) - Greater Monarch]
Strength - 4114
Agility - 2325
Constitution - 2881
Vitality - 2905
Dexterity - 1881
Perception - 2383
Force - 1218
Spirit - 1545
Control - 1603
Willpower - 1689
Skills:
Greater Maul, Chomp, Charge, Overpower,
Traits:
Greater Frozen Claws (epic), Frost Aura (epic), Snow Sense (epic), Thick Hide (epic), Frost Resistance (epic), Lesser Poison Resistance (rare), Lesser Disease Resistance (rare),
The ground nearby opened up into a icy stairwell heading down, and a chorus of roars and snarls of the monsters within the stage sprang up all around, drawing in closer. Shin stopped only briefly to harvest the floor boss’ soul but to no success. Without a word, the party headed into the opening, Jean leading the way into a brand new environment.
A massive arctic sea laid before them, stretching on to the horizon. Large fractured sheets of floating ice and huge icebergs filled the contained ocean, just enough to create a path over the water.
“Mountains.” Basem pointed to out in front to the left.
Yen clicked her teeth.
“What’s up?” Donny asked.
“It’s a frozen temple, what the hell is all this water…”
“Well, you see, salt-”
“Shut up.” Yen scanned the region. “No boats or anything. Just have to jump over the ice to get to the other side. Try not to get eaten by sharks or whatever.” The orange haired mage floated up as she spoke.
Shin started hopping over the floating sheets and the other ground locked players quickly joined him as Yen and Kamala flew above. Miles and miles and miles the sea stretched on, Basem only able to spot the icy mountain range that stood out by virtue of his high perception and use of Vantage Point, and even then, it was just barely.
Jean stepped on an ice sheet and glanced to the right. A monstrous walrus burst out of the water, its weight enough to tipped the thick frozen sheet. Frost swirled inbetween its tusked mouth and a kick slammed into its neck. Ripples shot throughout its blubbery body and blood splurt from its mouth and eyes, but the creature did not die. Without hesitation Karla punched its head, ravaging its brain to mush.
[Tuskar (epic) - Greater Monarch]
Strength - 2041
Agility - 720
Constitution - 3353
Vitality - 2139
Dexterity - 654
Perception - 1387
Force - 1613
Spirit - 1049
Control - 968
Willpower - 1006
Skills:
Frost Breath, Bull Rush, Dive,
Traits:
Thick Blubber (legendary), Frost Resistance (epic), Lesser Poison Resistance (rare), Lesser Disease Resistance (rare),
More and more tuskars surfaced from the sea around them, lumbering over with breathes of frost. The party slaughtered them all as they went. Basem put arrows through their skulls and Mujin his spear. Donny timed a short powerful charge, shifting around as hacked away as its neck, letting his axe’s mangle save him the aura.
With no plants to manipulate, Kamala simple hovered above as did Yen after burning one with firestream just to test the skill. Karla had taken to just running alongside the others finding no challenge in the creatures.
A single dense green orb circled around Shin, boring through the heads of the tuskars in his path with ease, inbetween absorbing the mana from their frost breath. The darting gyro reaped the lives of two more, and three large sleet birds shot out from the sea. Like monstrous penguins, their long razor sharp beaks barreled towards him at high speed. A white form draped him for just a moment and the monsters crashed into the ice and sea in parts.
[Kairuku (epic) - Greater Monarch]
All around as the party drew closer to the icy mountain range now in sight, the kairuku ambushed them from the sea without pause along side the surfacing tuskar. But they were of no consequence either. Most of the party sensed them coming even through the stealth before the birds even attacked and all had means to dodge or counter.
Suddenly, the party burst away from a platform of ice as a massive whale burst through, shattering the durable ice with ease. Sleek black hide with a white underbelly and white patches where its eyes ought to be, and the size of a galleon sailing vessel.
[Orca Shipwrecker (epic) - Greater Monarch]
Three arrows shot through the white patches in its eyes and an orb bored through its skull, but its wounds started to heal just before it submerged, quickly disappearing back into the depths. A lull settled, then Jean and Dante leapt away from their icy platform as a large jet of water bore right through.
Water stream after water stream assaulted them despite the giant sea monster out of range of even Basem’s sphere of vision. Somehow the creature detected them with perfect accuracy as they darted over the floating ice, still beset by the ambushes of the tuskar and kairuku.
The attacks ceased just as suddenly as they stopped, and the giant orca shot out of the water in the distance, destroying the ice the party relied on to travel in several surges back and forth. It submerged again, leaving the party stranded, and the water jets resumed.
“Go to the iceberg!” Yen yelled.
Some paused slightly but the party rushed over together avoiding the attacks of the floor boss as they reached the tall mound of ice. A calm took over the landscape as the creature showed no sign of itself.
“Harpoon.” Yen told Shin and he drew one.
“What are we doing?”
“Shut up. Rope, lots of it.” Yen brushed off the knight’s question and turned to Kamala.
Kamala looked back for a moment then scattered a few glassy seeds on the iceberg, exploding their growth in an instant, fashioning the frost colored stringy roots into yards and yards of thick rope. She handed it over to Shin without a word who tied the end through the gap in the harpoon weapons handle.
“Give that to Dante. You two hold the end of the rope. Jean, you lure it up.” Yen tossed out orders with excitement.
The puppetmaster quietly sent out simple spares over the empty ocean as bait. They scattered as a water spout shot after them and returned together. Several more times this repeated until the waters fell still again.
“It’s coming.” Basem alerted.
The giant orca barreled out of water, destroying two of the puppets as they failed to move in time. A harpoon rocketed through the air and plunged deep into the monsters side and hooked tight. In an instant, the rope shot out and snapped tight in the grips of the two anchors.
At the end of the rope, Donny and Karla enhanced their might fivefold and pulled it back in at great speed. The orca thrashed and flailed but it was no match for them both. Sensing its peril, the orca shot out of the water, slamming into the ward Mara conjured as she appeared.
White blue roots shot out from the iceberg lifting the massive whale out of its water and Yen channeled a dense firebolt as far as it could go and fired, the bolt exploding on the creature in an instant. The shockwave rattled against the ward and chunks of charred gore splattered the sea. In the aftermath, only a small slab of the orca’s head remained, floating in the water.
[Orca Shipwrecker (epic) - Greater Monarch]
Strength - 4063
Agility - 2076
Constitution - 3027
Vitality - 2508
Dexterity - 984
Perception - 2081
Force - 3119
Spirit - 1573
Control - 1472
Willpower - 1495
Skills:
Greater Bull Rush, Greater Waterstream, Stealth, Jet Stream, Dive,
Traits:
Greater Sonar (legendary), Thick Blubber (legendary), Frost Resistance (epic), Lesser Poison Resistance (rare), Lesser Disease Resistance (rare),
“I could have gone down.” Shin pointed out.
“This is more fun.”
Eight bird shaped puppets appeared from thin air and all but the two already airborne casters boarded, allowing Jean to slowly ferry them over to a landmass of solid ice leading towards a beautifully carved door within the ice mountain. A towering door with the carving of a regal ancient face, eyes through which reflected the unwitting party in an orb of ice somewhere far away, the blue skinned observer sneering maliciously at the new batch of prey.