Chapter 5 Chapter 4 The Emergence of the Crisis

Aballister walked through a large room full of cages, admiring his private collection of exotic monsters. "Dorigen has found the little priest and his companions." The magician said quietly, and stopped in front of the two largest cages, which contained several strange-looking beasts, which seemed to be a mixture of more than two kinds of animals. become. "Are you hungry?" Aballister asked one of the winged, lionlike monsters, its tail covered with spikes as hard as steel.The monster growled in response, striking the bars of the cage with its huge, powerful chest. "Fly then," coaxed the magician, and opened the cage door, allowing the monster to amble through, stroking its thick mane with his bony hands. "Dorigen will lead you to my bad son. Teach him well."

The old wizard laughed shrillly from the bottom of his heart.He had been privately in this different dimension for a long time.In fact, when he was still researching in the Mengzhi Library, he had already created this space.At that time, Aballister's main concern was the priests who peered behind his back, trying to make sure that his actions conformed to their strict laws.Little did they know that Aballister had deftly evaded those surveillances and created this actual space body that allowed him to continue these most precious—though most dangerous—experiments. That was more than twenty years ago, when Cadderly was but a baby, and - the wizard thought with wonder - so was the lion-like monster, and the three beasts behind it. .

Aballister laughed aloud at the thought: he had sent two of his children to kill the third. Two mighty monsters followed Aballister out of the room, followed by an extradimensional space leading to a door on the stony ridge above Walled Trinity, where Dorigen was waiting with a crystal ball. ※※※ "We went too high," Vander protested.Along a narrow mountain path, this group of companions has already climbed more than halfway to a 12,000-foot peak.A few scattered saplings with more or less leafless trees dotted the path, but the whole place was mostly wind-eroded rock, some corrugated and others scraped smooth.In this part of the world, winter has completely fallen.The snow was deep, and the wind, too strong for Cadderly's protective spell, forced the group to rub their hands together to keep from freezing.But at least, most of the narrow mountain trails are bare rocks, because they are constantly blown by the wind, so that the snow rarely adheres to them.

"We must stay off the lower trails," Cadderly replied, shouting at the top of his voice to be heard amid the howling wind. "There are many goblins and giants around here. They escaped from Simista and returned to the cave in the mountain." "It's better to face them than what you might encounter here," Vander objected.The twelve-foot giant—Fubuki crusted over the surface of his bushy red beard—had no trouble cutting through the din of the wind with his rumbling voice. "You don't understand creatures that live in perpetually frozen lands, young priest." This seemed to be the brutish giant's experience, and the dwarves, Sharin, and Danica looked at Cadderly, expecting Van Virtue's warning can have some effect.

"Yeah, just like that giant bird I saw flying with the wind just a mile away," Ivan interjected. "That's an eagle," Cadderly insisted, though only Ivan actually saw the flying creature. "There are some very large eagles on the Snowflake Mountains, and I suspect..." "One mile?" Ivan interjected deliberately. "I suspect it's as far as a mile," Cadderly finished.Ivan just shook his yellow-haired head at this, adjusted his helmet with its pair of antlers, and cast a decidedly unfriendly glance in Cadderly's direction.By this time, Cadderly had found a new object of contention, as Danica came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder.He looked at her unsmiling face and knew immediately that she agreed with the others.

"I'm not afraid of monsters," she explained defensively, because only she understood how much the young priest had suffered to make this expedition possible. "But the terrain here is dangerous, and the wind is too strong. If we accidentally slip on the ice, some of us may fall off the cliff." Danica continued pessimistically, looking at the steep slope on their right, "still There's thick snow and ice hanging over us." Cadderly didn't have to look up to follow her gaze to know she was referring to a real avalanche crisis.They had passed several remnants of such disasters, though most were old, perhaps caused by last spring's snowmelt.

Cadderly took a deep breath, reminded himself of his secret purpose for climbing so high, and stood firm. "Snow is seasonal around here," he replied, calling forward to Vander. "Except for the very top of the mountain, but we won't go there." Vander began to protest—Cadly expected the Fubo giant to say that the snow was so deep now that the ghastly yetis could run down the mountain fairly easily.Before he could utter the first word of rebuttal, however, Cadderly interrupted him with a telepathic message, begging the Volbol giant with a spell to continue leading the way and stop arguing, as stopping to talk would only This delays their return to more temperate climates.

With a gruff growl, Vander turned away, pulling his white bearskin cloak back over one shoulder, so the others could see his huge hand resting restlessly on the carved hilt of his greatsword behind him. "As for the wind and the snow," he told Danica, "we have to walk carefully and walk with confidence." "Unless we get picked off by a passing bird," Ivan added sourly. "That's just an eagle," insisted Cadderly again, turning to face the dwarf, his anger rising.Ivan shrugged and walked away.Pikel, for his part, seemed oblivious to these arguments, happy to follow the others wherever they went, happily jumping up and down beside his brother.

"Have you ever seen an eagle with four legs?" Ivan snorted displeasedly over his shoulder as he and Pikel walked away.Pikel thought about this question for a long time, then stopped, the smile on his face disappeared, and he let out a deep "oooh." Then the green-bearded dwarf quickly followed the stomping Ivan.They walked together directly behind Volbol, and when the road was wide enough they walked either side of Vander.The Volbo giant and the dwarves have become friends over the past few days, telling each other stories about their homeland.Their homelands are quite similar, both in places with harsh climates and with many evil beasts.

Cadderly walked behind them, lost in thought alone.He still wanted to find a balance in using spells to attack Thobicus, and at the same time, he was thinking hard about the test he would face—in and after Trinity Walled City.Danica asked Cadderly to walk a certain distance before following the team, and because of Cadderly's criticism of her just now, there was a mixture of contempt and pain in her eyes. "He's scared," Xuelin said to Danica, coming to her side. "And stubborn," Danica added. The elf maiden's genuine smile was so contagious that Danica couldn't help but be morose all the time.Danica was delighted that Shaylin was with her again, feeling a sisterly bond with the spirited elf.With Cadderly's latest mood and recent mysterious behavior, Danica felt that she desperately needed a sister.

For Xuelin, this journey is not only to repay the kindness, but also to show sincere friendship.Cadderly, Danica, and the dwarf brothers had fought to help the elves of Simista, and Shaileen had taken a liking to all of them during their time together.More than one proud elf of Simista took Xuelin's contribution as a joke, let alone thought that an elf could be friends with a dwarf, but Xuelin endured it without complaint. Less than half an hour later, they came to a fairly open place on the mountain trail. The mountain on the right was a gentle upward slope, although the left was still a steep cliff.Vander stopped quickly and raised a pair of big hands to block the dwarves on both sides.The snow began to fall again, and the wind carried icy flakes, causing the companions to pull their coats tightly over their faces.In such low visibility, Vander was not sure what the unusual object he had noticed on a wider stretch of trail ahead. The giant took a tentative step forward, drawing the gigantic sword halfway from its sheath.Ivan and Pikel leaned back, looking at each other behind the giant Volbo.They nodded at the same time, gripping their weapons tightly, although they had no idea what it was that alerted Vander. Then Vander visibly relaxed, and the two dwarves shrugged simultaneously again, stuffing their hands back into their thick coats. After two steps, what Vander had just identified as a snowdrift coiled up like a serpent and slammed at the giant, brushing his outstretched fingers. Vander yelped and jumped back, clutching his hand, which was bleeding suddenly. "That bloody snow bit him!" Ivan yelled, and rushed forward, slashing down with his double-bladed battle axe.The ax blade went straight through the strange monster, slashing to the rock below with a clang, cutting off almost a quarter of the monster's body. But that part of the body was still alive, and just as vicious as the main body, so now there were two monsters to deal with. Vander rushed forward, slashing with his sword raised in his uninjured hand. The monster thus became three. Ivan felt a burning pain in one arm, but he was blinded by the gust of wind and the rage of battle, so the dwarf did not understand the consequences of his actions.He swings the ax again and again, unwisely increasing the number of monsters. Cadderly didn't notice the intensity of the battle until Xuelin's cry from behind made Cadderly turn away.The young priest's eyes widened because he saw the "eagle" that Ivan called it for what it was: a monster that looked like a lion, taller than Cadderly, with a pair that spread out to a full twenty feet. wide wings.Instead of approaching Xuelin and Danica, the swooping monster suddenly stopped its charge, stood upright in the air, and swung its tail violently over one of its tangled shoulders. A volley of iron nails flew towards the two women.Danica pushed Xuelin aside, then twisted her body as best she could, miraculously dodging the fatal blow, although a bloodstain - very scarlet against the white background - immediately spurted from the side of one arm . Xuelin drew her bow quickly, but the lion-like monster flew away so quickly that her arrow lost its aim and disappeared into the high wind and strong blowing snow. Ahead, Vander was struck again, screaming a sound that Cadderly had never imagined could come from the mouth of the stern and proud giant.The young priest staggered forward, trying to see what had started the fight, and then he squinted and shook his head, because he couldn't believe that his friends were surrounded by some kind of moving snowdrift! Their constant attacks had no effect - only created more monsters. Cadderly was immersed in the song of Denir, the logic that guided the universe toward harmony.He saw many spheres, not just celestial bodies in the sky, but magical spheres made of elements and energy-based forces.The simple and obvious truth led Cadderly to a quick conclusion: the best way to fight snow was with fire.Then, almost without thinking, the young priest raised his fist toward the largest mass between himself and his companion, uttering the Elvish word for fire, "Fett!" A flame shot out from Cadderly's gold ring inlaid with onyx, enveloping several snow monsters in the high-heat flame.The moving snow became disembodied steam and gas, blown away by the wind. Then something slammed into Cadderly's back, sending him throwing himself to the ground.Fear made him think that the lion-like monster must have returned, and he turned quickly, fists clenched in front of him. He saw Danica standing protectively behind him and knew it was Danica who had bumped into him.Now she faced the latest monster to enter the fray, its clear target being the distracted young priest. "?" Cadderly was both asking and stating the truth.The winged three-headed monster charged at Danica.Its central head and body are lion-like like the other monster's, but it also has a neck covered in orange scales, with a small dragon's head flanking it and a black sheep's head behind it. The monster backed away in mid-air; a stream of flame spewed from its dragon-shaped head. Danica hopped sideways away from Cadderly, hopped up, grabbed a snug spot on the rock above, and curled her feet upward, managing to avoid the scorching flames.When the flames were done, she swung back to the ledge, but found that there was no place for her to stand, because the flames had melted away the snow and weakened part of the ledge's structure.In the freezing temperatures, the ice began to refrozen almost immediately, and the young monk slipped and fell hard.Dazed, Danica slid out of the rock. Cadderly's world seemed to come to a standstill. ※※※ Farther along the mountain path, Xuelin maximized the attack power of her bow and arrow, and shot arrow after arrow at the lion-shaped monster.Even in the strong wind, many arrows still hit the target, but the monster was full of energy, and when it threw out its spike-shooting tail again, Xuelin had nowhere to run. She frowned at the muffled thump as several spikes slammed into her, sending her half-sat and half-lying on the hillside.She felt the sudden warmth of her own blood streaming from several wounds.Stubbornly, the elf girl put another arrow on the bowstring, and then fired it, hitting the monster's muscular chest firmly. ※※※ Cadderly threw himself on the rock, reaching out desperately to grab Danica.Danica found a barely manageable grip a few feet below the rock.She couldn't have climbed the ice wall in a blowing snowstorm, and even with his training, Cadderly couldn't catch her. The priest sang to Denier's song, again finding a sphere of elements, and this time he sought answers in the realm of air. Danica heard him singing and looked up sadly, because she knew her hand wouldn't last long. After a moment, Cadderly let the song end, looked back at Danica, and ordered her to jump up toward him in an enchanted tone.She did it because she trusted her lover.Their hands touched, just for a moment, but at that moment Danica heard Cadderly say a mysterious ancient word, a word that cast a spell, and she felt something pass between them, bringing a wave of tingling. Then Danica fell straight down. Cadderly had no time to watch her fall, he had to trust his god to reveal the truth to him.He looked around and was relieved to see the strong wind starting to work on them, forcing the two winged monsters to take a long detour to approach the ledge. In front of the mountain path, Van der took advantage of the short gap created by Cadderly's fire, and escaped from the monsters.Taking Ivan with him, he held the dwarf up in the air with one barely skinned hand. Pikel ran onto a rock, but was surrounded again, and he frantically fought back at the numerous vicious monsters with a tree-trunk-like club. Cadderly lifted the onyx ring, but couldn't find an exact angle to fire it from.He then turned to immerse himself in song, entering the realm of fire. "My brother!" Ivan wailed, breaking free from Vander's grip. The yellow-bearded dwarf had expected Vander to rush with him, but when he glanced at the Volbol giant, he learned the terrible truth.The snow monsters hit Vander several times, hitting him in both hands, on the forehead, and once—probably when the giant bent down to lift Ivan up—in the side of his face.And in these attacked parts, Vander's skin melted, leaving only the scarlet and terrible wounds underneath. Now the Fubao giant was delirious, shaking from side to side, and could hardly stand upright. "Oh, woo!" came a scream from ahead. Pikel needs help. Ivan took a long stride toward his brother, then fell back in utter amazement as he saw a ring of flames erupt from around Pikel and roll off the rocks. "My brother!" Ivan called again, over the sudden explosion.He wanted to go, willing (at least mentally) to leap across this unexplainable screen of flames and die beside his dear brother.But the heat was too high, and the flames continued to burn, and the curtain of flames was twenty feet high.The ice, snow, and those monsters were completely vaporized, and the steam was mixed with the flames. In desperation, Ivan heard a cry of hope, and heard Cadderly yelling at Pikel, "Stand still!" A ram's head bumped into Ivan's shoulder, and a lion's paw slammed into the dwarf's head, sending him falling backwards.He slammed into Vander's knee, and the antler helmet ripped off the Volbol's skin, and his momentum sent the immobilized giant's feet sliding sideways.Vander fell down with a bang, pressing on Yiwen. ※※※ Blood overflowed one of Xuelin's clear violet eyes.But she still saw Cadderly sprawled over the edge of the ledge, and she saw Gamera attack the dwarf, then get caught in the strong wind and have to fly away. Cadderly produced a small object, fidgeted with the heavy straps that slung across his chest, and began to sing.Judging by the despair in the young priest's eyes, Xuelin guessed that the lion-shaped monster had returned. It was about thirty feet away from the ledge, and it was hard to see it.Xuelin could tell that its target this time was Cadderly, and it might also include the dwarves and giants who fell not far from Cadderly.The monster suddenly lunged forward and stood upright, slamming its deadly tail forward. "No!" cried the elf girl, drawing her bow.She looked back down the trail worriedly, noticing a faint light in the sky in front of the priest.Xuelin dismissed it, thinking it was an optical illusion caused by the snow following the wind—until the spikes fired by the mutated sphinx entered the area, then changed direction somehow, and shot back at the sphinx. Surprised monster! Gobs of blood spurted from the lion's chest, sending the monster backwards through the air.Xuelin looked back to see Cadderly standing, the little crossbow resting firmly on his free wrist.She fired a swift arrow into the monster's flank, thinking that Cadderly's little crossbow wouldn't do much. The crossbow shot out towards the monster.The leonine roared—and roared louder as the point of the arrow went into its nose.At that moment, the crossbow seemed insignificant compared to the monster's size and strength, but the body of the arrow collapsed, crushing the vial of impact oil.The ensuing explosion shattered the monster's face and teeth into pieces in the air, and caused the front half of the arrow point to penetrate the monster's thick skull. The dying monster flapped its four soles frantically, then fell down and disappeared. Cadderly looked back at his fire ring, quite sure it had killed the yeti monsters.All that was left was the gamerah, somewhere behind the blinding snow, blown by the wind. "Behind!" Xuelin suddenly yelled, turned around and shot two arrows quickly.The flying Gamera screamed; its dragon-like head aimed at Cadderly, ready to spit out another jet of flame. Cadderly responded with a quick and simple spell, drawn from the Water Realm.As the dragon spewed flames, a jet of water shot from his hand, dissipating the jet of flame into a cloud of harmless steam. Gamera dashed through the gray cloud directly above the young priest, slamming Cadderly with her forepaws, knocking him to the ground. "You're a mess!" Ivan yelled, finally pulling himself free from under the fallen giant.The enraged dwarf took two long strides to keep pace with the soaring monster, leaped, grabbed a horn from the black sheep's head, and rolled onto the beast. Xuelin followed their flight path and was about to shoot another arrow, but she stopped suddenly and was stunned. Danica was back at their level.She is walking in mid-air! The three heads of the gamera looked either at the man still on the ledge behind, or at the angry dwarf crawling across its back, completely missing the monk.Danica cracked its lion-like jaw with a spinning kick, nearly sending the five-hundred-pound beast onto its head, and the nimble Danica was next to Ivan before Gamera had time to react. She drew a silver-hilted short sword from one of her boots, grasped its delicately carved dragon head with her free hand, and then began to strike fiercely at the lion-shaped head in the center.Ivan Stoneshoulders, fiercer than she was, clasped the horns of the ram tightly with both hands, and pulled the head back and forth with all his strength. Gamela turned sharply at a large angle and approached the rock protrusion. After Xuelin took the opportunity to shoot two arrows, the monster and her friends were engulfed by the snowstorm. Gamera reappeared a moment later, and the elf prepared to shoot an arrow.But Ivan popped up, looking at her incredulously, as one of Xuelin's arrows shattered and dangled from his antler helmet. "Hey!" the dwarf roared, and she lowered her bow. Ivan's distraction just now took its toll, though, as the ram's head broke free from his grip momentarily and slammed into his face and forehead.Ivan spat out a tooth, grabbed the horn with both hands, and slammed it back hard.From Xuelin's point of view, the dwarf's attack was relatively effective so far.Then they disappeared again behind a blizzard that obscured all vision.A sudden silence fell, save for the whirring of the wind. Vander moved, propping his upper body on his elbows; Cadderly's wall of enchanted flames lowered to reveal Pikel sitting comfortably on the rock, nibbling with relish on a leg of lamb he'd just slipped into Take it out of your backpack and grill it to perfection with the magic flames readily available. "Oh," said the green-bearded dwarf, noticing the incredulous expression on Cadderly's face, and hiding the meat behind his back. "Did you spot them?" Xuelin asked, as she limped up to Cadderly's side, causing him to turn his gaze back to the empty sky. Cadderly watched Feng Xue intently, then shook his head. However, when he looked back at Xuelin, his concern for the two friends riding on the monster was immediately replaced by the urgent need to heal the injured elf girl in front of him.Several spikes hit Xuelin, one grazed the side of her head and caused a severe laceration, another penetrated deep into one thigh, a third penetrated her wrist and prevented her from closing her palms, and the third Four protrude from the ribs.Cadderly could hardly imagine that the elf could stand, let alone shoot a bow. He immediately listened intently to Denier's song, looking for the magic that would start Xuelin's wounds to heal.Xuelin said nothing, only frowned slightly as Cadderly slowly removed the spikes.All the while, the elven girl clutches her bow and arrow, eyes on the wind, searching for her missing friends. A few minutes passed, and Cade made the most serious injuries close, and Xuelin gestured that this was enough for the moment.Cadderly made no objection, turning his attention back to searching for Danica and Ivan. "If the monster leaves them..." Xuelin began to say pessimistically. "Danica won't fall," Cadderly assured her. "I cast a spell on her, so it won't. And she won't let Ivan fall." There was genuine confidence in the priest's voice, but when Gamera finally reappeared in sight, he breathed a little relieved.Speeding up, the monster will pass directly over the rock overhang.Xuelin raised the bow, but her injured wrist could no longer draw the bow as quickly as usual.Cadderly fired an arrow from his crossbow, but Gamera swerved and flew away, missing the point of the exploding arrow. The monster snarled angrily and flew past without attacking, and the group of friends atop the ledge could see its dragon-like and ram-like head swinging lifelessly in the wind.Ivan, clutching the mane of the lion's head tightly, laughed happily as he tried to manipulate the flying direction of the monster by pulling the fur to one side. "Jump down!" Danica called to the dwarves, as the tall mountain loomed ahead of them.The young woman dismounts from the monster as it passes the rock, briskly walking across the empty sky (Pikel yells "Ooooh!" in surprise, Vander stares in disbelief), Then came to Cadderly and Xuelin. "Jump down!" Danica yelled again, and this time Shailene and Cadderly joined in the shout. The yellow-bearded dwarf didn't seem to hear, and the thoughtful Danica dashed back into the air over the ledge, in case the monster turned back and flew into the open sky again.Gamera did ignore Ivan's stubborn tugging, and turned and flew back, but this time, both Cadderly and Xuelin sent extremely accurate attacks.Shaylin's arrow sank deep into Gamera's torso, while Cadderly's tip hit a wing. The blast not only shattered bones, but made the monster roll like a barrel. Ivan tugged and tugged frantically, trying to find a safe place to land, because the monster turned wildly and turned back towards the mountain. "Jump!" the companions below implored the dwarf in unison. "Wall of snow!" Ivan Hope exclaimed, turning the monster's head away and pointing it at the white accumulation jutting out of the gentle hillside, just a dozen feet above the rocky overhang. "Snow Wall!" Not too much—the inch of snow covering the rocks can't be called a snow wall no matter how you look at it. "Bang," Pikel made the comment with a grimace of pain as Gamera and Ivan slammed into the snowdrift.The dwarf bounced backwards and skidded down until he stopped, amazingly on a ledge of rock. After the impact, Gamera jumped and twisted around the rock until Xuelin shot an arrow into the lion's head, ending its pain. Ivan turned to look at Cadderly and the others, his pupils spinning in different directions in their eye sockets.For some reason, Ivan still had the antler helmet on his head, and Xuelin's broken arrow was still stuck in it. "Who knew it would happen?" Ivan asked innocently, tried shrugging weakly, and fell face down on the mountain path.

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