Damon purposefully took a roundabout route quickly finishing off a few beasts here and there. His stats were once again unlocked so he was busily grinding out his different attributes every chance he got.
By the ti he arrived at the rendezvous point, the rest of the party was already gathering one by one, slipping in from different directions. Kate and Mark were the first to appear. Mira ca next, looking bored but alert, a new fla rune slowly spinning above her shoulder and keeping the cold at bay.
Then Aurora, gently waving at everyone before keeping her gaze fixed on Damon a little too long. Nevin and the other guy arrived last, slightly out of breath, adjusting their gear. The Ice Queen appeared a minute later, her cloak catching the wind and whipping about.
Not the ideal team he would have preferred working with. Damon still had half a mind to say fuck it and do the whole thing with just Mark and Kate but he did owe Sylvara and Artimius one for the teleportation tattoos. So he decided to cooperate and see how the whole thing goes down. Worst case scenario, he could always say fuck it later on.
"Let’s just get this over with." Damon clicked his tongue and started walking forward.
The path ahead was not simple. The biting cold was steadily increasing and to make matters worse the terrain was extrely uneven. Snow crunched underfoot as they continued the long trek, the long-forgotten having long since been overtaken by jagged ice formations and frost-coated roots.
A thick fog had rolled in with the wind, blanketing everything in a ghostly white haze that blurred the horizon and muffled sound. Visibility was barely twenty ters at best, which only heightened everyone’s nerves. The cold was insidious, seeping into armor and bones alike.
Except for Damon everyone else was struggling, trying their best just to keep going. Even Mark was forced to rely on his bloodline. Kate, Sylvara and Nevin were barely hanging on and the middle-aged man completely stopped after a while.
"Miss Sylvara, I am sorry. I think this old man is useless."
"Uncle, its okay. Please don’t push yourself anymore. You have already tried your best."
The man gave her a grateful look, his face pale and covered in frost, and slowly sat down against a boulder half-buried in snow. His hands trembled as he took out a flask and sipped sothing that instantly stead in the air. "I’ll wait here," he said quietly, his voice hoarse. "After so ti maybe I can muster so more energy in these old bones."
Sylvara hesitated, visibly torn, but eventually nodded. "Rest well, Uncle. Please go back soon. I have Nevin, Blood God, Aurora and ira with . I will be fine. Don’t worry." She turned back to the others with her usual icy composure. "We continue without him."
Everyone silently continued walking forward, , deeper into the storm-ravaged wilderness. Damon took the lead, carving a path with little effort.
"How much longer?" Damon asked after a while. Until now Sylvara had only provided vague directions and it was starting to get a bit too much. He then suddenly thought of sothing. "Do you even know the location?"
"Ahem." Sylvara awkwardly cleared her throat.
Damon imdiately stopped walking.
"Oh, for fuck’s sake," he muttered, turning to stare at her. "Are we lost? You dragged us into this frozen hell without knowing where the damn entrance is?"
"It’s not like that," Sylvara shot back quickly, visibly flustered. "I know it’s sowhere around here. I will know it when I see it. It’s based on a shifting leyline pattern. I have a tracking talisman that updates the position in real ti. It’s just... not very accurate."
"Great," Damon deadpanned. "You are relying on so talisman shit to track this thing. Nope this is not going to work. You should have told sooner."
"Umm... do you want to take a look at the talisman?" Sylvara offered.
Damon grunted and accepted it.
"Damon, be nicer to the girls. Co on, why are you such a brute all the ti!" Bloodreign couldn’t handle it any longer and chid in.
Damon rolled his eyes ntally. ’So do you know where the entrance of this damn thing is? Can you sense it or sothing?’
Bloodreign beca silent. ’That’s what I thought.’ Damon ignored the drama queen weapon spirit and sat down on a rock nearby. All around him blizzard winds howled like wild spirits, battering the ridgeline and clawing at their cloaks.
The others stood in an awkward circle, watching Damon curiously as he studied the talisman. It was a strange-looking thing, half-crystal, half-tal, etched with archaic runes that shimred faintly.
Damon sent a big pulse of his mana into the talisman and then closed his eyes. He tried to focus despite the hellish cold all around them. It was difficult even for him but then all of a sudden so sort of a barrier surrounded him, blocking out all of the nasty cold for him.
The barrier was made of pure divine energy so he could obviously guess who had helped him. This damn priestess! Doesn’t she know that a divine barrier like this would only harm a vampire?! Was this her first secret attempt to kill him?
Jokes on you, priestess! The divine barrier only helped him as divine energy did nothing to affect his corrupted blood.
Damon snapped out of this thoughts as his heightened senses suddenly picked on sothing. He then imdiately stood up. "I know where it is now. Follow ."
The others quickly fell into line behind him, more alert now that they had a clear path. Ten minutes later, they reached a steep cliffside where the wind suddenly died.
"What the hell? Do you all want us to jump from this cliff now?" ira snorted coldly.
Damon smiled. "Co to the front and take a look fire bitch."
"You!" ira wanted to roast the damned guy right then and there. Aurora held her back as she placed a finger on her lips and signalled ira to take a look.
Before them, hidden between jagged slabs of ice, a faintly glowing archway shimred into existence, just barely wide enough for two people to pass at once.
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