From Blood Mage to Styx Ancestor

Chapter 45 Windrunner Squad

Outside the Throat of Winter, a four-person adventure team looked up at the ice wall in front of them.

"It seems that, just as the intelligence indicated, the ice dragon has blocked the road up the mountain. This ice wall is even higher than the city wall outside Frostfire Territory."

The squad leader, a burly man with a thick beard and wearing a distinctive northern horned helmet, had a solemn expression.

He carried a warhammer, had two battle axes hanging at his waist, a shield strapped to his arm, and wore a suit of steel armor.

He looks like a seasoned veteran, giving off an exceptionally reliable vibe.

A halfling, less than a meter tall and carrying a specially made dragon-hunting crossbow, tapped the ice wall and frowned, saying, "This isn't ordinary ice; it's dragon ice created by the breath of an ice dragon."

Of the four, the young mage, who should have been the most knowledgeable, asked, "What is Dragon Ice?"

The other three glanced back at him and, seeing his innocent and foolish appearance, all sighed.

"Riveh, aren't you a student at the Frost Tower Mage Academy? How come you don't even know this?"

The last female priest in the squad spoke. Although she looked very young, her face was full of vicissitudes, and she inadvertently revealed a mature charm.

Her pointed ears further revealed her identity; clearly, she was an ancient elf woman who had lived for an unknown amount of time.

Under the scrutiny of everyone, the young mage Rivi blushed instantly.

"I...I don't know that. My advisor never told me."

"...Orfgang, are you sure we want to take a nerd along to fight a dragon that's incredibly dangerous?" The halfling sighed and looked at his captain.

His words clearly showed his distrust of the monk Rivi.

The burly man named Orfgang glanced at Reeves and, noticing that the latter had lowered his head under his gaze, said helplessly:

"This kid paid, a lot of money, and we have no reason to refuse."

Besides, with our strength, even if the dragon hunt fails, we can still get him away, as long as he doesn't cause us any trouble.

The other two did not refute his words, but instead nodded.

They were fully confident in their abilities. After all, an adventure team composed of three extraordinary individuals was extremely rare, even in the entire Northern Territory and the entire continent.

Unlike other extraordinary individuals, the three of them came together because of their shared interests and formed a team to embark on adventures across the continent.

Despite their own considerable abilities, they were not wealthy; the money they earned was either used for daily expenses or distributed to those in need.

This is why they accepted Frost Tower mage Rivi's commission and risked their lives to bring him to hunt dragons.

Besides the fact that they themselves had the idea of ​​hunting dragons, it was because he was giving them so much.

"Um, can someone explain to me what exactly is Dragon Ice?" Levi asked awkwardly.

"Colin, Celia, just have anyone explain this to him," Orfgang said casually.

He was steaming hot as he raised his warhammer high and smashed it against the hard ice wall.

As expected, the ice wall remained completely still.

Colin, the halfling, said without any surprise, "Look, this is Dragon Ice. It's indestructible. Even if Orfgang is a transcendent with the [Ember] aspect, he is powerless against this ice."

Whatever it is, as long as it is associated with the word "dragon", it will possess extraordinary qualities.

For example, Dragon Ice is not only difficult to destroy, but also extremely heat-resistant.

"After mining, with special techniques, it can even be processed into Dragon Ice Armor with extremely high defensive capabilities."

The elven priestess, Celia, recalling the scriptures she had read in church, added:

"However, the wearer must have a strong resistance to cold, otherwise they will be frozen into an ice sculpture."

Levi nodded frantically, pulling out his notebook and scribbling furiously on it.

This is his research topic: the study of ice dragons.

He was obsessed with these dangerous creatures, so when he learned of the dragons' resurgence, he began spending lavishly to find an adventurer team that could lead him to hunt dragons.

After spending three thousand gold coins, he finally found someone willing to take him under his wing—yes, it was the "Windwalker" squad.

"Orfgang, don't waste your energy. Your hammer won't break this ice. You'll have to use my alchemical explosives."

Colin grabbed the Northern Barbarian who was about to swing his hammer a second time, even though he could only reach the Barbarian's legs because of his height.

The halfling took out a bundle of explosives tied with a rope, shooed away the others, and poured a bottle of alchemical catalyst onto the bundle of explosives.

He threw the explosive charge next to the ice wall and ran away without looking back.

In less than two seconds, the explosive charge exploded under the action of the alchemical catalyst.

Before Colin had completely escaped the blast radius, he felt a wave of heat touch his back, and the impact sent him plunging headfirst into a snowdrift, landing face-first in the mud.

"Colin, you've added too much catalyst again."

Orfgang grabbed the halfling's foot and pulled him out of the snowdrift like a radish.

"Pah, pah, you don't understand. Explosions are art; that's the effect we're going for."

Colin spat twice, expelled the snow from his mouth, dusted himself off, and stood up unharmed.

Looking at the ice wall that had been blasted open, he chuckled:

"This thing is really useful. The alchemist who created it was a genius. It's a pity we couldn't find him in White River Town, otherwise I would definitely want to exchange experiences with him."

"Alright, let's hurry up the mountain now. Hopefully, the commotion we made just now didn't attract the dragon's attention."

Orfgang shouldered his warhammer and took the lead as he headed up the mountain.

On the way up the mountain, they encountered another ice wall similar to the one before, but this one was even higher and thicker. In order to blast a path through it, they used two more explosive charges.

The commotion caused by the explosion unsurprisingly attracted the ice dragon from the mountain.

"Aww—"

A strange, unprecedented roar echoed through the sky, and Captain Orfgang raised his hand warily, signaling everyone to stop.

The soldier's intuition told him that a terrible, huge creature was coming.

The other two experienced adventurers looked serious, and even the mage apprentice, Levi, sensed that something was wrong.

The atmosphere grew heavy; they dared not even breathe, simply gazing up at the overcast sky.

It's started snowing.

Orfgang's pupils constricted, and he shouted, "Revi, find somewhere to hide!"

"Huh? Oh, okay, okay." Levi responded subconsciously, and before he could react, he found that the sky had suddenly darkened.

A shadow fell from the sky, enveloping the earth.

A massive head emerged from the dark clouds, and with a resounding dragon's roar, a blizzard arose out of nowhere, sweeping across the entire Throat of Winter.

The Windrunner squad steadied themselves in the blizzard and, through the snow, could barely make out a colossal creature landing on the ground.

"Damn it, one of this guy's claws is bigger than Orfgang's." Colin swallowed hard, took the dragon-hunting crossbow from his back, and loaded it with a specially made dragon-hunting arrow.

"I think it could swallow all three of us whole," Celia said gravely, opening the book in her hand.

A burst of emerald light leaped from the pages of the book and shone upon the three members of the Windrunner squad.

The northern barbarians stood at the very front, their bodies radiating heat.

He gripped his warhammer tightly, let out a battle roar, and charged toward the dark figure in the blizzard.

......

"The Windrunner squad? What are they doing here?"

Standing at the entrance to the secret passage leading from Frostmourne to Winter's Throat, Mordi gazed down at the slope shrouded in blizzard.

The Eye of the Soul pierced through the wind and snow, landing on the enormous black shadow, and naturally discovered the three people dancing with it.

"Three people, not four? Oh, so the monk was hiding there."

Modi's gaze fell on the mage hiding behind a large rock. He was a little confused. In his memory, the Windrunner quartet was not a coward.

Among them, the mage Revi is the backbone of the team, with strong firepower, and can be called the model of a turret mage.

But why did he appear so timid?

"Could he have just joined the Windrunners? Yes, he's not even a superhuman yet, a far cry from his future self."

Modi was quite impressed with these four guys who could be considered good people.

If the player does nothing, when the Forgotten Realm invades in the future, the four Windrunners will sacrifice themselves one after another to close the gates of the Forgotten Realm.

Even if Levi eventually condenses the seventh mark and joins the ranks of the immortals, it will only be by perishing together with a forgotten monarch, in exchange for the closure of the last gate of oblivion.

"Although I don't know why they're here, since we've run into them, I might as well lend a hand."

Anyway, they have the same goal.

After applying the Dragon's Blood Oil to the weapon, Mordi glanced at Elena, who had followed him out, and instructed her:

"You may only stop here; you may not go any further."

These words, after being translated by Elena's brain, were automatically converted into a form she understood:

"It's too dangerous down there. Stay here and don't wander off."

"I understand. You... please be careful."

Elena forced a smile, knowing full well that she couldn't interfere in a battle of this level and could only pray for him in her heart.

I pray he's not one of those older brother characters who's doomed during the tutorial.

The White Walker forces blended into the blizzard, like true phantoms, silently approaching the battling ice dragon.

Modi walked at the front, holding an axe in one hand and a greatsword on his shoulder, mentally selecting the pages and entries he would use later.

Still choose Devia's page, and select the attributes [Burning Killing Intent] and [Bloodthirst], which, combined with the original [Madness] attribute on Devia's page, will be enough to maximize the power of the Seed of the Mind.

He had come to understand that the Seed of the Mind only worked well when used by a madman; the more madman and the more extreme the emotions, the stronger it became.

But he didn't think he was crazy, so he could only temporarily transform himself into a madman by borrowing pages from books.

The roars around them grew louder and louder, and the sound of the blizzard was no longer enough to drown out the roar of the ice dragon.

Modi stopped in his tracks, raised the Sacrifice Axe, and a burst of spiritual fire erupted, igniting the entire axe blade.

The curse's magic radiated outwards from him and the White Walker army.

Not far away, the Windranger trio, who were locked in a fierce battle, suddenly sensed something was amiss.

Colin rolled to dodge the ice dragon's claw strike and then loaded his crossbow bolt.

He was adjusting his firing angle according to the wind speed when he felt the cold wind hitting his face pause for a moment, and asked in confusion:

"Has the blizzard stopped?"

"No, the wind direction has reversed."

Celia gasped for breath, staring intently in the direction from which the blizzard was coming.

Amidst the raging blizzard, an oppressive aura comparable to that of an ice dragon surged forth, accompanied by a massive wave of dark shadows.