Round 42: Chaos in the North (Part 2)

“Fiona, keep an eye on Milia! She hasn’t fully recovered yet!”
Jen leaned over the parapet and looked down before leaping forward. She traced a lightning-fast path along the rough, frost-covered stone walls; the heat generated from friction melted the frost, and the bitterly cold wind, laden with ice crystals, struck her, creating a large area of mist that burned like flames behind the holy warrior.
Mid-air, Jen drew her giant sword. She still appeared cold and emotionless, but her silver-gray eyes now emitted a blazing light like the sun—leaving afterimages wherever she passed. Upon landing on the battlefield, before she could steady herself, a ring of white light exploded around her.
Her appearance now resembled that of the entire icy battlefield—everything beneath the surface of cold seemed to be boiling.
An ice demon bat flapped its wings and rushed at Milia from above. Its usually calm and indifferent demeanor had been replaced by hysterical madness. It opened its beak, lined with razor-sharp ice-like teeth, to the fullest extent and spat out a blast of icy cold air. Milia dodged to the side, raised her sword, and severed one of the bat’s wings, causing it to tumble several times before crashing onto the rocks. Nearby, Fiona ignited holy flames to drive away more ice demon bats circling around. Not far away, Jen pulled her sword out from the relatively soft jaw of a heavily fallen six-clawed frost lizard.
“Kill these scum!”
The timely arrival of the Crystal Tower and the prowess of the three holy warriors greatly boosted the morale of the struggling soldiers. A barbarian with a shaved head, leaving only a tiny tuft at the top tied into a ridiculous braid, tore off his bear pelt coat, revealing his muscled chest. Wielding his war hammer like a whirlwind, he led the charge up the castle walls. The terrifying brute force he unleashed caused the monsters in his path to fall like weeds cut by a scythe.
A howling, bone-chilling ice wind blew from deep within the glaciers—unpredictable and cruel, slicing the skin like a thousand knives. The howling wind seemed endless and appeared to be more than just wind. Milia wasn’t a mage, so she didn’t know what lay hidden in this wind that caused such chaos. But now they had no choice—if the tide of monsters attacking the Ice Wind Fortress truly seized this place and continued to invade the southern part of the World Spine Mountains, the terrible fate awaiting the civilized races living there was self-evident.

Moryll’s red robe flapped wildly in the cold wind, making the female mage on the stone tower appear frail, yet the magic gathering around her was enough to make her stronger than anyone else. The tremors from the spells brought pains akin to childbirth, but they were not enough to shake Moryll’s resolve. White-hot ashes rolled out in the form of clouds, controlled by Moryll, passing over the human and dwarf warriors who were fighting desperately. Apart from obscuring vision and causing a slight burning sensation, they caused no real harm. But when the clouds touched the monsters attacking frantically, the immense heat within them was released, melting the frost on their bodies, cooking their skin and muscles, and boiling the ice and snow to produce huge plumes of steam…

“Kani, take the mages to help the defenders drive the enemies off the walls!” Moryll turned to the female dwarf after unleashing the fire clouds. “Stop being stingy with your enchanted items!”

Nancy rushed out first through an unassuming side door in the corner of the second wall, where three female paladins who had jumped straight from the wall had already cleared a relatively safe area. The reinforcements inside the crystal tower had driven back the monsters that had breached the first wall. Priests behind them prayed loudly, casting various supportive spells on the warriors and trying their best to save the wounded.

Lightning crackled from Moryll’s fingertips, soaring through the sky, and she used her mastery over elements to transform it into scorching flame energy. It passed over the flying arrows and struck a tower occupied by frost lizards below. The lightning bounced and refracted, exploding and burning among the monsters, knocking them down like burning leaves.

A supernatural whirlwind formed around the female mage, shaping Ximb’s figure amidst the swirling snow and mist.

Even the Storm Queen, despite her strength, had used up most of her prepared spells in such intense combat. Yet the monsters seemed to have endless attacks. In the howling snowstorm in the distance, several mountain-sized figures were approaching—descendants of ancient giants who lived in glacial regions, the Frost Giants.

“Where’s Chloé?” Moryll scanned the battlefield, ready at any moment to unleash deadly spells in support.

“She’s probably by the city gates. Don’t worry too much; she can handle this situation.” Ximb turned to look at the crystal tower standing on the stone city. Although it should have been night by now, the sky was still quite bright. Though neither of the twin suns was visible, grayish light still shone down from somewhere, illuminating the tower brilliantly.

“Can you feel it? This damned cold wind is weakening us continuously!” Perhaps because of their cooperation in battle, she now had a slightly better attitude toward the red-robed mage.

“That’s right. I wonder if Archmage Dailro has any good solutions,” Moryll said. “If the attacks from the monster horde continue without pause, even if the reinforcements double, they won’t last long.”

“As long as we can hold on, that’s enough,” a boulder the size of a millstone whizzed past, hitting the force field shield cast by Xinbu just in time before changing direction and crashing down, scattering ice shards and dust across the city walls. “I have to stop those frost giants from throwing stones…”
The Crystal Tower behind them burst into intense light. The faint rays that had surrounded the tower grew stronger, until each one turned into a dazzling sun.
The light spread like a tide, rushing toward the ice fields against the cold wind.
Magic illuminated the skies above the fortress, bringing warmth to the warriors’ skin, which had long been numb from the icy wind, and dispelling the stiffness that had penetrated their bones. The invaders’ attacks finally weakened, and the fortress warriors, charging under the bright light, forced them to retreat, like giant waves shattered against rocks.
Once the light from the Crystal Tower faded, the sky darkened significantly. The last frost lizard was driven off the city walls, the ice demon bats scattered, and even the frost giants retreated with growls in the cold mist—the long howls of the winter wolves echoed across the ice fields outside the fortress, lingering in the painful nightmares of the exhausted defenders.
“Here, here, and here! There are cracks everywhere, for no reason!”
Next to a huge basalt table, a dwarf warrior with curly brown beard braided into three thick strands that hung down to his abdomen was trying to stand on tiptoes, pointing at the map on the table and shouting, his face covered in dried blood. “Those damned frost insects are coming out of these cracks and messing everything up!”
A temporary meeting was underway in the conference hall of the Crystal Tower, with the mages who had just finished resting also attending. Speaking in a thunderous voice was the chief of the dwarf clan living in Icewind Fortress: “I don’t care what you tall races think, but if this continues, we’ll have to evacuate Icewind Fortress and destroy all the underground tunnels! We must not let the dwarf cities in the World Spine Mountains be affected!”
“Wait, Chief Jimli…” Captain Tiger, with a bandage wrapped around his left arm, had his broken shoulder healed by a priest who had come with the Crystal Tower using healing magic. But since they had to take care of other wounded in the fortress, his minor injuries could only be bandaged for now. “You can’t make such a decision! What about the fortress’s supplies? The mountain tunnels, untouched by blizzards, are almost our only connection to the outside world!”
“If monsters slip into those tunnels through the cracks, it won’t just be Icewind Fortress that’s doomed!” Jimli growled, his beard flaring. “By then, both the surface and underground will be occupied by them! By Moradin, the World Spine will become a playground for those six-clawed lizards!”
“Miss Moriel, how many Stone Shaping Scrolls did the red-robed mages bring?” Dalero raised his hand to stop the argument between the barbarian and the dwarf. “Anyway, the top priority is to strengthen our defenses.”
“Kani?… Kani!”
The female dwarf frowned in displeasure. “About thirty or so. Don’t think it’s little—after all, construction business in Deepflow City has been sluggish lately!”

“That will suffice for now. Send a few mages to work with the dwarves to repair the troublesome tunnels…” The archmage stared at the map. “At least for a month, maybe longer, the Crystal Tower won’t be able to use teleportation again… We must hold out here until reinforcements from other cities arrive.”
“Well, then we’ve got a long time to hold out.” Chloé held her glass, looking relaxed as if on a picnic, with no sign of having just endured a day of fierce battles. “Even if all the mages who can teleport from the North help, only a small squad can be sent at a time.”
“Red-robed girl, try again.” Xinbu suddenly stood up. “Even if we kill more monsters here, it’s only a temporary solution. If we can’t find the culprit behind all this…”
“That’s probably not possible,” Laila dismissed her sister’s idea. “We don’t know when the next attack will start. If we exhaust too much energy and still achieve nothing…”
As if to prove Laila’s point, a shrill, wind-like howl pierced the walls of the Crystal Tower, casting a heavy, suffocating shadow over everyone in the meeting hall.
“Dragons!” Everyone in the room paled in terror.
Dragons.
Swarms of dragons, covering the sky.
Their grayish-white scales gleamed in the cold wind, and their beak-like mouths emitted high-pitched, shrill screams. Their dragonic power, along with icy frost, poured down—dense cones of cold mist hit the city walls, and the extreme cold caused even the thick stone floors to crack and shrink. A few sentries who tried to withstand the dragon breaths were shattered in just a few seconds by the brutal ice wind, with red ice shards flying everywhere, seemingly signaling the impending destruction of the entire fortress.
An elf mage stared in fear, slipping on the icy steps caused by the frosty mist, as he watched a white dragon fly toward him, its sharp teeth and fangs surrounded by a chilling current.
The dragon breath left a pale trail in the air before hitting the ice-blue fire ring and spreading outward. The white dragon dove down, aiming to tear apart the poor two-legged creatures below with its frost-covered claws—
A massive magical fist appeared between it and its prey, delivering a powerful uppercut to the diving dragon with force enough to shatter rocks. The white dragon’s long neck snapped upward, and the impact sent frost flying off its body like a light hailstorm.
Morrill, surrounded by a fire shield and wearing a leather glove with iron joints, used his powerful fist to protect himself and attack his enemies. He shouted at the elf mage who seemed familiar to him, “Go to the holy warriors right away!”
Ah, he was the deputy leader of the “Punisher” adventuring party.
Even Xinbu had never seen such a large group of white dragons. Three fireballs were fired from her palms in quick succession, exploding in midair almost at the same time. The interconnected flames turned half the sky red, and the flying tongues of fire collided with each other, devouring all the white dragons within their range, turning their scales into smoking black debris.

The sequentially launched fireballs caused severe damage, but not enough to completely destroy these strongest and most cruel beasts. More fireballs flew from the fortress—some the work of mages and sorcerers, others masterpieces of fireball wands. Though their magic was far less powerful than that of the Storm Queen, it was still effective as a supplementary attack.

At least five dragons fell in this devastating display of flames. But more white dragons continued to attack, and aside from a few like Himb and Laila, almost no one could stand against them—worse still, the long howls of wolves from the ice fields grew louder, as if the monsters were launching a multi-pronged attack!

Dairo stood atop the crystal tower, alone, blocking the fiercely returning cold winds.

Laila stood beside him, protecting her husband, and threw a silver spear forged from light, piercing a white dragon that had come too close. The dragon howled in pain and crashed into the mountain wall.

“It’s growing stronger,” the archmage said to his wife, his gray-white hair flying in the wind. “It’s as obvious as the tide rising! We need stronger allies!”

“You want to…” Laila said worriedly. “But that will come at a high cost, and besides, they might not even…”

“We can’t afford to think too much!” Dairo turned to look down at the city, now once again occupied by the swarming monsters. “…What’s that—Damn! We need to hurry! Help me, Laila!”

“It’s the Shadow of the Void! Stay back! Everyone, get out of the way!” Chloe showed a rare serious expression as she dropped her finely crafted sword. In her hand appeared a silver-gray handle about a foot long, with a flawless gemstone at one end—a beam of purple light shot from the gemstone, flickered a few times, and then stabilized to a length similar to that of an ordinary sword.

Jen stood not far from Chloe, her white wings unfurling behind her again, and her greatsword also turned into a beam of burning holy fire.

The opponent that made them go all out tossed the burning victims in its hands like trash. The corpse of the barbarian warrior was engulfed in cold flames that burned with no heat, its armor, weapons, and flesh rapidly disintegrating in the black flames, leaving only frozen fragments behind.

“Be careful—getting hit by that thing is very dangerous,” Chloe warned the paladin beside her. Jen, however, remained cold and indifferent, not even giving a nod to show she understood.

Since no one else came to die, it turned its attention to the two who were ready to fight. It was a phantom human figure made entirely of black, withering fire, embodying the most evil kind of cold—endless frost and snow infused with a dark soul. Its dozen-foot-tall body floated silently, with the only distinct feature being its pale blue eyes that seemed capable of piercing through anything.

Without any sound or warning, it lunged at them.

“Be careful!” Fiona, who was hiding aside waiting for an opportunity to attack the Empty Shadow fighting against Chloe and Jane, was pushed aside by Milia. A giant claw covered in sharp ice shards swept past Milia’s hair—several strands immediately curled up before turning into ice embers that vanished into the wind. The ice fragments killed by the shadow’s claws had risen again. The skeleton, with its flesh burned away, now had hard ice and snow as skin; jagged ice blocks protruded from its body and limbs, forming its terrifyingly massive form without hindering its movement. Only its dull skull was free of ice, but a ring of flames darker than darkness surrounded it like a crown. The second Empty Shadow also climbed onto the city wall, surrounded by cold energy that froze flesh, recklessly setting everything around it ablaze with withering fire, turning those killed by the flames into frost zombies under its control. Dragons roared above, while frost giants approached while throwing stones. The mage-sorcerers led by Himb and Moriel began unleashing spells without restraint—such intensity might leave them powerless in just a few minutes, but if they didn’t do so, they might not survive those few minutes at all. Dailro’s shouts shook the entire fortress, echoing through the mountains and fading away. The archmage’s voice was no longer human but fierce and roaring like a dragon—it was a call that transcended space, and its powerful magical waves made the white dragons attacking the fortress stay far away from the crystal tower. “Dragon Oath!” Himb recognized the spell. She waved her hand and fired a blazing spell ball, knocking down a already battered white dragon. “Hold on a little longer!” The defenders struggled to hold their crumbling defenses while being forced to retreat. After two frost giants were killed by concentrated spells, the third finally began swinging a mace with a whole tree as the handle and a giant ice block as the hammer, striking the walls of the Ice Wind Fortress. At that critical moment, a loud dragon roar finally came from afar.