The flaming katana connected with its victim's chest, and the creature burned brightly, screaming in high-pitched agony as the flames seeped through its skin.
Male sorcerer emerged from the woods, rushing toward the creature's location.
But he was covered in small bite marks, and behind him was the female sorcerer who also shared the same kind of injuries.
"Get the candidate! I'll deal with that intruder!" yelled the male sorcerer as he dashed forward, delivering a blow to the creature's abdomen while simultaneously pulling the flaming katana from its chest, following it up with multiple slashes, leaving no beat of aggression wasted.
The female sorcerer looked worried behind her mask as she grabbed Sieg, planning to flee — but it wouldn't be easy. Behind them were multiple wolves with long jaws and serrated teeth, grinning and laughing similar to the lunacy of hyenas. These wolves were Arctic in nature, their white fur covering bodies that were dotted with twitching, blinking eyes.
"I don't understand. How did these monsters even get into this trial?!" the female sorcerer asked, puzzled. But before she could process more, a wolf lunged at her, and ice spikes erupted from the ground in response, mercilessly impaling the creature.
The spikes continued spreading across the field, striking every wolf. The female sorcerer couldn't risk getting separated from Sieg, so she also retrieved Cryostalgia with her.
"LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!" yelled the male sorcerer. The dark, tall creature was agilely dispatched but not dead. Then, the male and female sorcerers, carrying an unconscious Sieg, ran back to the camp, only to witness the brutal, gory corpses of the Intellectual Man, Scrawny Man, and Broad-Shouldered Man.
The cave had become their graveyard.
They didn't have time to process it. They rushed to gather a sack full of supplies at the caravan.
The male sorcerer carried one sack and ignoring the rest.
"Is he alive?" he asked. The female sorcerer checked for a pulse — Sieg was indeed still alive. With one glance at each other, they knew there was nothing else to do but flee.
From afar, ghouls howled, their cries echoing through the tundra as they ran toward the sorcerers' location. With a silent agreement, the male and female sorcerers ran as fast as they could, moving at speeds far beyond a normal human and even superior to the best athletes.
Ten minutes later, they were already a few kilometers away from the original campsite, following the direction of the temple, their main destination.
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Their progress halted as they heard the galloping of two horses.
"You're still alive?" asked the female sorcerer to the rider, who looked traumatized from the ordeal. He was riding one horse while the other followed him — he clearly had a way with horses.
"I can't go by myself, those ghouls are everywhere. I'm dead if I'm not with you," the rider said shakily, fear mingling with the cold.
"Let's not talk for long, We need to get out of here. I can ride the other horse," said the male sorcerer, he was unwilling to risk prolonging here as enemies may catch up to them.
The male and female sorcerers mounted one horse with one sack of supplies, while the rider took Sieg on his back. Thankfully, they were all light enough not to strain the unusually calm horses. Without lingering further, they rode into the night, sleepless and weary.
Back at the campsite near the cave, the towering, and unsettling creature wailed in distress. It writhed in the maddening sensation of having failed to devour its target, Sieg, all while seared by severe burn marks.
It relentlessly banged its head against the cave walls, but it wasn't safe. Ghouls had surrounded it, and some were even fighting the grotesque Arctic wolves. It became clear the ghouls were after the tall, dark figure, and to make matters worse, some Arctic apes had arrived from the air to join the fray.
The dark, tall figure was an intruder and was not part of the trial.
? [Eliminate it. It is not welcome here.]
With that command, ghouls and Arctic apes alike rushed the tall, dark creature. A ferocious battle erupted: ghouls were slashed and thrown by the figure's appendages, while five white apes tried to overpower it with brute strength.
Despite being completely outnumbered, the tall, dark creature laughed maniacally, eating some of the ghouls that attacked it, and impaling some of the apes with its sharp appendages.
The blood bath went on all night.
By sunrise, the bodies of the Intellectual Man, Scrawny Man, and Broad-Shouldered Man were already covered in snow, along with dead apes and ghouls.
The fire had long lost its light, and beyond the cave, a feast of carnage continued.
More laughter echoed — not from the dark, tall creature this time, but from multiple apes, banging their chests and laughing like maniacs themselves.
The tall, dark creature still lived, despite fatal injuries that should have killed it: bite marks, missing chunks of flesh, and bleeding that stained the snow red.
Beyond the woods, footsteps approached. A man moved through corpses and wolf carcasses, stopping before the tall, dark figure, which looked at him in repulsion.
The man wore a far too intricate mask; it was demonic, designed with white and black lines. He was like the devil of the tundra, and he did not appear insane, nor did he laugh.
---
—[ Trial Seer ]—
Elite Level: 10
Aspect: Hybrid [Domination / Sorcery]
Ascended Arts: Lord of Revenants
? [Stats: Physicality Type C (VII/X), Sanity (VII/VII), Spell Power (IX/IX), Lethality (VI/VI), Accuracy (III/III)]
---
"Are you a pathetic creature?" he asked, gripping his magnificent frosted sword as the cold around him began to freeze.
The tall, dark figure looked at him, angered.
"A servant of another god?" said the man.
"You are not welcome here."
---
Thoughts: I go where I please.
---
The man sighed under his heavy, decorated knight armor. "You're a pest," he said, before raising his sword.
In an instant, the tundra and cave were imprisoned by a frozen stillness.
Dead trees cracked as ice encased every branch, snow turned to glassy crystal, and the blood of the fallen froze mid-splatter.
Ghouls, wolves, even the dark tall creature were locked in place.
"Ultimate Skill, 『Absolute Zero.』" the trial seer muttered.
Chapter End.
