The journey to the Frost Sanctum was a descent into madness.
The map Varis had carried led them deep into the Northern Peaks, a region of Silverwood that was considered a death zone even before the SnowMages arrived. Now, it was a frozen hellscape where reality seed thin.
The wind didn’t just blow; it scread. Shards of ice as big as daggers flew through the air, forcing the squad to move slowly behind Valeria’s shield and Elara’s barriers.
Alvian walked point, five ters ahead of the group. His [Heart of Frost] attunent made him part of the environnt. The deadly wind flowed around him like water.
[Ding! Passive Resistance Activated.]
[Cold Immunity negating environntal damage.]
"Hostiles," Alvian said, his voice low but carried by the wind to Valeria’s ears.
Ahead, the path narrowed between two sheer cliffs of black ice. Standing guard were not humans, but constructs.
[Monster Identified: Winter-Bound Golem]
[Level: 28]
[Status: Elite / Armored]
Four of them. massive hulks of ice and dark iron, blocking the only way forward. Their eyes burned with the violet light of the corruption.
"They have high physical defense," Valeria whispered, coming up beside him. "My claymore will chip, but it won’t break them quickly. Arin’s fire is useless here."
"Then we don’t break them," Alvian said. "We shatter them."
"How?"
Alvian activated [Runic Aegis 2].
Seven glowing, ancient runes materialized around him, orbiting his body in a lazy, protective circle. They humd with a deep, resonant power.
"Draw their aggro," Alvian ordered. "Get them to group up."
Valeria didn’t question him. She stepped out from cover, slamming her claymore against her shield.
"HEY! OVER HERE, YOU UGLY ICE CUBES!"
The golems turned, their gears grinding. They let out a chanical roar and charged. Their speed was deceptive; for things made of stone and ice, they moved like avalanches.
"Shield Wall!" Valeria shouted, planting her feet. A golden barrier expanded from her shield.
The four golems slamd into her.
"BOOM!"
Valeria slid back three ters, her boots carving deep grooves in the frozen earth. Her health bar dipped by 10%.
"Hold them!" Alvian yelled.
He sprinted forward. He didn’t aim for their heads or their limbs. He aid for the center of their formation.
As he leaped into the air, the golems sensed him. Two of them turned, swinging massive fists of ice at him.
Alvian didn’t dodge.
"Block."
He willed the runes to intercept. Two of the orbiting symbols shot forward, eting the massive fists.
"CRACK!"
The runes shattered.
[Ding! [Runic Aegis] Reactive Force Triggered!]
[Reflecting 50% of damage as True Damage!]
"BOOM! BOOM!"
The golems’ arms exploded. The force of their own attack, amplified and returned as pure, defense-ignoring damage, blew their limbs to smithereens.
[-1,200!]
[-1,200!]
The constructs staggered back, unbalanced.
Alvian landed in the middle of them.
"[Frost Descent 2]."
He slamd his hand onto the ground.
The blizzard erupted. But this ti, Alvian controlled the shape. He condensed the storm into a tight cylinder directly around the golems.
The temperature dropped to absolute zero. The super-cooled tal of the golems’ bodies groaned.
"Arin! Now! Hit them with a shockwave! Anything kinetic!" Alvian roared.
Arin, seeing the opportunity, cast [Force Push]. It was a low-level spell, usually harmless.
But against tal that had been frozen to the point of brittleness?
The wave of force hit the golems.
"SHATTER!"
It sounded like a glass factory exploding. The four Elite golems didn’t just die; they disintegrated. Thousands of shards of frozen tal rained down on the path.
[You have slain Winter-Bound Golem x4!]
[Experience Gained!]
Alvian stood up, recalling the remaining five runes to his side.
Valeria lowered her shield, staring at the pile of scrap. "You used their own strength against them... and then flash-froze them to make them brittle."
"Physics is the deadliest weapon," Alvian said, stepping over a severed golem head. "Let’s move. That noise will attract more."
They pushed onward. The path began to slope upward, leading to a massive, natural archway carved into the mountain.
The Frost Sanctum.
It wasn’t a building; it was a hollowed-out peak. Violet light pulsed from within, rhythmic and sickening.
"Guards at the entrance," Elara whispered, pointing.
There were two dozen Acolytes and three Lieutenants guarding the massive ice gates.
"Too many to fight head-on without raising the alarm," Valeria assessed. "If they seal those gates, we’re stuck out here."
"They won’t see us," Alvian said. He looked at his cooldowns. [Klaus’s Upgrade] was ready.
"I’m going to open the door," Alvian said. "When I do, you charge. Do not stop for anything."
"Alvian, you can’t fight twenty-seven elites alone!" Arin hissed.
"Who said I was going to fight them?"
Alvian activated [Klaus’s Upgrade].
[Ding! [Blessing] Active.]
"[Shadow Weave 2]."
[Duration Doubled: 4 Minutes.]
He vanished.
To the squad, he simply ceased to exist. Even the snow didn’t seem to disturb where he walked.
Alvian moved up the causeway. He walked right past a Lieutenant who was scanning for magic signatures. He weaved between two Acolytes who were complaining about the cold.
He reached the massive gate chanism. It was a giant wheel locked by a magical seal.
Alvian looked at the seal. It required a key. Or a massive amount of mana.
He didn’t have the key.
He equipped his [Behemoth’s Earthshaker Greataxe].
While invisible, attacking usually broke the stealth. But [Shadow Weave 2] was legendary. It allowed him to maintain the state as long as the duration held, though violent actions rippled the air.
He raised the axe.
"System, divert all Energy to Strength."
[Warning! Mana instability...]
"Do it."
His muscles bulged.
"SMASH!"
He brought the axe down on the locking chanism.
The sound was deafening. The ice shattered. The lock broke.
The gates groaned and began to swing open.
The Cultists spun around in confusion. The lock had just exploded, but there was no one there.
"CHARGE!" Valeria’s voice rang out from down the slope.
She led the charge, catching the confused enemy in a pincer.
Alvian, still invisible, moved through the panicked ranks of the enemy. He didn’t fight. He tripped them. He shoved them into each other. He was a poltergeist of the battlefield, sowing chaos.
A Lieutenant began to cast a spell.
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