The heavy snow lasted for two whole days before it finally ceased, but the cold did not accompany its departure. Instead, it continued to seep into the lands of the Northern Territory.
A tall Bearman trudged laboriously through the waist-deep snow.
He stretched out his furry giant claw, grasped a dead tree branch, and with a slight exertion, there ca a crisp snapping sound.
He tossed the branch into the basket on his back, these would serve as tonight’s fuel to keep the family warm.
Suddenly, his grayish-brown eyes lit up. He bent down, clearing away the snow beneath him, and lifted a frozen stiff ice field ghost fox at his feet, which seed unable to withstand the sudden fierce cold.
The Bearman produced a low growl from his throat, revealing a trace of joy, as the cubs at ho could have an extra mouthful of at tonight.
However, this fleeting joy did not last long. Just as he was about to move forward, his eyes were stung by a familiar fur pattern on the snow slope not far away.
Using his claws to scrape away the snow, it was indeed one of the Bearn from the tribe who had gone out to forage the day before yesterday and had not returned, now lying there as a cold corpse, even retaining a curled position as if warding off the cold.
He did not know how much longer this eerie cold would last, but he was fully aware that if this continued, within half a month, half of the tribe mbers would perish.
With the current height of the snow and the low temperatures, even contemplating migration seed impossible.
As he worried about the future, a glimpse of movent caught his eye.
A round, roly-poly walking mushroom had appeared beside him unnoticed, standing on the snow leaving only two lines of round footprints.
The walking mushroom seed unafraid of him, standing motionless right before him.
The Bearman instinctively lifted his claw, ready to place this delivered food into his basket.
"If I were you, I wouldn’t touch that Puki."
The Bearman turned sharply to see a mber of the Demon Race stood so distance away.
Even more worriso was the fact that behind this Demon Race mber, there was an entire team, all their gazes falling upon him.
The Bearman retracted his claw, stepping back, and cautiously asked, "Demon Race... what are your intentions here?"
Unlike the Half-demons, Demon Race mbers, and Lizardn, Long-haired Bearn were not part of the Demon Race. Their presence in the Northern Territory was solely because they had lived there long before the arrival of the Demon Race.
The arrival of the Demon Race, on the contrary, had constricted much of their living space, leading to nurous conflicts in the early years. Only in recent decades had things stabilized, or rather, the Bearn had relinquished the reclaiming of those occupied territories.
Therefore, upon suddenly encountering an unfamiliar Demon Race team, the Bearman’s first reaction was caution.
He rapidly assessed the opposing side’s strength, pondering if, should a fight break out, he could successfully alert the tribe.
Xing Huo, however, paid no mind to his vigilance, instead scanning around: "I’m here searching for a nearby Bearman tribe, and it seems I’m on the right path."
Upon hearing that they were searching for his tribe, the Bearman’s pupils contracted, and he suddenly turned to flee.
Xing Huo rolled his eyes, made no move to pursue, but led his team along the trail left by the Bearman.
When they arrived at the Bearman tribe, the entire tribe was prepared for defense.
Xing Huo didn’t approach, instead calling out loudly from afar: "We co representing Fungus Castle, representing the Northern Territory alliance. My master knows you may be facing difficulties due to the sudden drop in temperature, and has specially sent to provide assistance!"
Saying this, he signaled two Fat Otaku Pukis from the team to step forward, and they extracted a large quantity of mushrooms and firewood from their bellies.
The sight of urgently needed supplies caused so unrest among the Bearman group.
A Bearman who seed to be the leader stepped forward: "What do you want in return?"
"Nothing is needed; consider these supplies as free assistance from allied compatriots of the Northern Territory." Xing Huo casually referred to the Bearn as compatriots, speaking warmly, "Of course, if you wish to join the Northern Territory alliance to build a better Northern Territory together, feel free to seek us out! Not to ntion, within the Northern Territory alliance, none shall die of hunger or cold!"
After leaving an address, Xing Huo continued to have his subordinates unload a third of the food and firewood, then altered course for the next tribe.
Not until they had moved far away did the Bearn co out to gather all the mushrooms and firewood.
All the Bearn wore an expression of disbelief, unable to fathom how, in tis like these, so organization like the Northern Territory alliance would offer such aid unconditionally.
Could it be that their food and firewood were unlimited?
Regardless, receiving a batch of supplies at no cost was a boon, offering the tribe extended survival possibilities.
After so contemplation through the afternoon, the Bearman leader dispatched a small Bearman party, under the guise of gratitude, to travel to Xing Huo’s provided location.
No one knew how long the abnormal cold would last, yet sending a team to gather intelligence is never a mistake.
There were many teams like Xing Huo’s, with Lin Jun fully committed to the rescue effort.
However, due to distance constraints, aid was only reaching half of the Northern Territory. As for tribes further away, Lin Jun could only wish them luck.
The drop in temperature in the Northern Territory similarly affected Demon Race cities nearby, but the impact had yet to beco evident. Aside from the gutter-ridden lower-level Demon Race feeling it acutely, these changes hadn’t alerted any "big figures" among the Demons for now.
Currently, the upper echelon of the Demon Race were still fixated on the war with humans.
"Xenophon, that bungler who can only ruin things! He actually allowed such a large-scale summoning ritual to be successfully initiated right under his nose? Two failures in a row, His Majesty should have him sent off to the slaughterhouse!" Sigmund, whose physique increasingly resembled a Pigman, sneered at the information in his hand, harshly deriding his pig-headed colleague.
A storm Elental Lord was abruptly summoned in front of the army; although Xenophon himself was unscathed, the army was mostly crushed, with only thirty percent of its remnants retrieved to date.
After vanquishing the Pigman legion and Red Stone City, the storm Elental continued northward, bypassing the ruins of Earth Peak Castle to reach the besieged Three Mountains City.
Then, between the shell-like fortifications of Three Mountains City and the besieging Demon Race forces, it opted to prioritize causing trouble for the latter.
In the end, it required Prince Visarus and another Blood Race Duke to cooperate with the army to defeat the Elental Lord.
And before being defeated, the storm Elental released all its energy, with the unleashed gales and lightning inflicting additional damage to the forces.
Luckily, the Sword Saint had been severely injured by the Prince before, forcing the humans to cower within the city, else they might have mounted a surprise attack, possibly pushing the western line into retreat back to the harbor!
In any case, from any standpoint, Xenophon bore full responsibility.
Even though the intelligence report did not detail it, a ritual array capable of summoning a lord-level Elental Spirit must have generated substantial movent during both setup and activation!
Judging by the Abyss Beast, including sacrifices, it must have involved eight to five hundred individuals, with the startup alone consuming over half a day.
Sigmund could scarcely imagine the degree of negligence Xenophon displayed, failing to detect even this?
At any rate, after the war, Xenophon would certainly fare poorly!
"Accomplishnts are still reliant on our side!" Sigmund shredded the intelligence in his hand, looking up.
Before him was the burning High Castle Fortress.
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