Ravon stood completely still in the freezing shadow of the colossal, mangled beast. The sheer scale of Azhurak, the God of Duneveil, was incomprehensible.
"God..." Ravon breathed, the word hanging in the frigid air. His mind flashed back to the day in the cathedral when he had stared directly at the grand statue of the Goddess of Peace during his magic aptitude test. "Do you know that looking directly at a God usually does something abnormal to a person?"
"I know," Lyra said, her blue eyes still analyzing the frozen runes.
"Then how can we just look directly at him?" Ravon asked, rubbing his arms.
"I don't know," Lyra admitted. "I suppose the only person who can answer that question is currently frozen in front of us."
Ravon stared at the glowing ancient marks etched into the Sandworm's segmented hide. "Do you think he is actually dead?"
"I don't have a certain answer," Lyra said thoughtfully. "A normal being would have died after being frozen in supreme-tier ice for two centuries. But he is not normal."
"I think he is dead," Ravon concluded softly. "Because he was a worthy opponent for Cryovax."
Lyra looked at him, her brow furrowing slightly. She didn't understand the strange, emotional logic behind his words. She shook her head, dismissing the thought. "Regardless, staring at a frozen piece of history isn't going to secure our Soulfrost. We need to keep moving."
Turning away from the fallen god, they resumed their trek toward the towering peaks of Mount Cryostone.
"So, how exactly are we going to scavenge two dragon scales?" Ravon asked, his boots crunching in the deep snow.
"Previously, I planned to use my rock golems to scout while you provided cover," Lyra said, pulling a folded piece of parchment from her dimensional pouch. "But now, we have the Orb of Invisibility. We will use that to slip past the heavy monster territories."
Ravon looked at the parchment. "When did you get a map of the safe route?"
"While you were buying that ridiculous hay bale," Lyra said smoothly. She unrolled the map, tracing a line with her gloved finger. "We are perfectly on track. We will navigate through the valley between these two smaller peaks, and then we will climb the slope of the secondary mountain next to the main peak."
"Why not the main mountain?"
"Because Cryovax roosts on the main peak, idiot."
Ravon looked up at the highest, jagged spire of ice piercing the clouds. A shiver ran down his spine. "Then I am absolutely not going there. But wait... where are the mining caves?"
Lyra consulted the map. "At the direct base of the main mountain."
"What?!" Ravon stopped walking. "But I need at least one piece of Mithril ore! I promised Darius I would treasure his sword. The blacksmith said I had to get the ore."
Lyra sighed, rubbing her temples. "Fine. We can use the Orb to slip inside one of the outer mining caves. But you must swear to me that you will only mine a single piece of ore. I refuse to die because a rookie got greedy next to a mythical dragon."
"I promise," Ravon said instantly, his face dead serious. "One ore, and we retreat immediately."
They continued their grueling march through the snow. The silence of the frozen wasteland was unnerving.
"Why are we walking through knee-deep snow?" Ravon complained, lifting his legs high with every step. "Why don't we just use your floating barriers like we did in the desert? We could avoid the ground monsters entirely."
"Your idea is technically valid, but practically suicidal in this environment," Lyra answered.
"Why? As far as I know, there are no flying monsters in the Cryostone range."
"Do you know why there are no flying monsters here?" Lyra challenged.
"No."
"Because Cryovax is an apex aerial predator," Lyra explained. "He does not tolerate a single other flying creature inside his territory. The sky belongs exclusively to him. He would spot us instantly."
"But we would be invisible using the Orb," Ravon argued.
Lyra stopped and glared at him. "You truly do not understand magical logistics. If we use the barriers, we have to elevate them high above the snow to avoid the terrain. To support our weight continuously, the barriers have to be thick. Thick magic refracts light. Even if we are invisible, Cryovax would see glowing, green squares of concentrated mana floating through his empty sky."
"Then what is the problem with keeping the barriers low to the ground, like we did previously?"
"Because if we stay low, the ground monsters will see the glowing green squares!" Lyra snapped, her patience completely snapping. "I swear, if you ask one more question, I will kill you before Cryovax even gets the chance."
Ravon threw his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay. No more questions for now."
"Good. It is time to use the Orb." Lyra pulled the smoky glass sphere from her pouch.
Ravon placed his hand over the glass. Lyra funneled her mana into the core, and the dark smoke enveloped them both, wiping their presence from the physical plane.
They resumed walking, their footsteps muffled by the magical field.
Half a mile later, two massive, white-furred figures crested a nearby snowbank. They stood over twenty-three feet tall, their thick arms dragging in the snow as they lumbered in opposite directions.
"If we had been walking on the barriers, those Yetis would have ripped us to shreds," Lyra whispered, keeping her voice low.
Ravon stared at the towering monsters. "They look like the 'Cool Yeti Brothers."
Lyra gave him a flat look. "What does that even mean?"
"Nothing," Ravon smiled faintly, an old, buried memory from a story Mira once read to him surfacing for a second. "They just look cool to me."
"Whatever," Lyra dismissed, completely unamused.
They passed the Yetis without incident. The terrain grew steeper, the snow deeper.
"I don't see any caves or overhangs to camp in tonight," Ravon noted. "We should keep an eye out for a hiding spot."
"If we don't find natural cover, I will summon a golem to dig a hole in the snow," Lyra decided.
"Your golems are incredibly handy."
"They are."
"Only two or three more miles," Ravon calculated, looking at the looming peaks. "Then we'll be standing at the base of the mountain."
A deep, bone-chilling howl suddenly erupted from the snow dunes directly behind them.
Both of them whipped around.
Standing on a high ridge, staring straight toward their invisible location, was a massive Dire Wolf. Its snow-white fur blended perfectly with the environment, but it was easily twice the size of a normal wolf.
"I have a question," Ravon whispered.
"No time for questions!" Lyra hissed.
"Does this Orb erase our scent?" Ravon asked urgently.
Lyra's blue eyes widened in sudden realization. "...No."
"Then run!" Ravon shouted.
He ripped his hand away from the Orb. The invisibility field instantly shattered. Lyra shoved the glass back into her pouch as they both broke into a desperate sprint through the deep snow.
Four more Dire Wolves crested the ridge, joining the massive Alpha. They locked onto their prey and charged.
"We can't outrun them in this deep snow!" Ravon yelled over his shoulder.
"I know!" Lyra shouted back. She slammed her staff into the snowbank. "I only have slightly more than half my mana capacity!"
Two bulky rock golems erupted from the freezing earth.
The Dire Wolves didn't stop to fight the constructs. They agilely dodged the heavy stone fists and continued their relentless pursuit of the humans.
All five wolves stopped and tilted their heads back, unleashing a synchronized, piercing howl.
The sheer sonic force struck Ravon and Lyra like a physical blow. Ravon stumbled, clapping his hands over his ears as the high-pitched sound threatened to rupture his eardrums.
He glanced back. The Alpha Wolf's jaw unhinged. A blinding, crackling beam of condensed ice beam shot from its throat.
Ravon dove to the right. Lyra threw herself to the left.
The beam missed Ravon's chest but struck his left leg squarely. The sheer cold instantly flash-froze the limb, locking his boot to the snow. He fell hard onto his stomach.
The howling stopped.
"Burn!" Lyra commanded from the snowbank. Three blazing firebirds shot from her staff.
The wolves were incredibly agile. They scattered, dodging the magical flames entirely.
Ravon forced himself to his feet. He rapidly channeled the red aura of Strength into his right leg and the aura of Defense into his frozen left leg. With a brutal, physical kick, he shattered the ice encasing his left boot, freeing himself.
"Wind Lances!" Lyra shouted, firing four high-speed spears of compressed air.
As the wolves scattered to dodge, one of Lyra's trailing golems lunged, wrapping its thick stone arms around the closest wolf. The beast was pinned just as the wind lances struck. The wolf was pierced cleanly through the ribs, but the magical force also shattered the golem into pebbles.
One down, Lyra thought.
Ravon funneled the green aura of Speed into his legs and the red aura of Strength into his chipped sword. He blurred forward, charging directly at the massive Alpha.
The Alpha's jaw unhinged, preparing a second ice beam.
Before it could fire, Lyra's second golem closed the distance from behind, wrapping its massive stone arms in a bear hug around the Alpha's torso.
The Alpha didn't panic. It clamped its powerful jaws around the golem's stone arm and bit down with terrifying force, violently tearing the construct's limb clean off. The remaining three wolves swarmed the crippled golem, tearing it to pieces.
Seeing the Alpha distracted, Ravon swung his enchanted blade in a lethal arc toward its neck.
One of the subordinate wolves intercepted the strike. It lunged between Ravon and the Alpha, taking the heavy steel directly to the torso. The wolf was cleaved completely in half, its dark blood and organs spilling violently across the pristine snow.
"Ravon! Come here!" Lyra screamed from a few yards away.
Ravon didn't hesitate. He spun on his heel and sprinted toward her voice.
Lyra had just finished placing four glowing blue runestones in a wide square in the snow. The moment Ravon stepped inside the perimeter, she tapped her staff. A translucent, humming magical barrier snapped into place, encasing them in a perfect dome.
The three remaining wolves tore through the remains of the golem and charged the barrier.
Lyra immediately sat down in the snow, leaning her staff against her shoulder and dropping her guard completely.
Ravon stayed standing, his sword raised, his breathing ragged. "What are you doing?"
"Relax," Lyra sighed, rubbing her temples. "Only strong A-rank monsters can break an advance-tier runestone barrier. These B-rank mutts can't even put a scratch on it."
"Maybe you are right," Ravon said, his eyes tracking the pacing Alpha. "But it is good to stay on guard in dangerous situations."
The Alpha lunged, snapping its massive jaws directly against the magical glass. A shower of blue sparks erupted, but the barrier didn't budge.
"Told you," Lyra smirked.
Frustrated, the Alpha stepped back and unhinged its jaw. It fired a concentrated ice beam directly at the barrier.
The runestone magic perfectly deflected the attack. The beam ricocheted off the dome and struck one of the subordinate wolves squarely in the flank. The beast froze instantly into a solid block of ice.
"Look at those absolute fools," Lyra laughed dryly. "Killing their own pack members."
The Alpha growled. It stepped over to the frozen wolf and delivered a precise, heavy bite, shattering the ice and freeing its subordinate. The beast shook off the frost, limping slightly as it retreated behind the Alpha.
"It's free," Ravon noted.
"Anyway," Lyra yawned, clearly bored by the stalemate.
For several long minutes, no one moved. The Alpha sat in the snow, staring at them with cold, intelligent eyes. The two subordinate wolves paced the perimeter, occasionally lunging at the barrier and growling deep in their throats.
"I am completely sick of their howling," Lyra complained, crossing her arms.
"Their howling is being suppressed by the barrier," Ravon pointed out. "It's not even that loud."
"So what? It still annoys me." She stood up, grabbing her staff. "Listen to my plan. The Alpha is waiting for the runestones to run out of mana. The two grunts are mindlessly throwing themselves at the wall. The next time the two subordinates jump against the barrier, I will drop the magic. We both strike outward at the exact same time and finish them."
"Let's do this," Ravon agreed, tightening his grip on his hilt.
The Alpha watched them stand up. Its ears twitched, sensing the shift in momentum, but it didn't move from its seated position.
A few minutes later, the two subordinate wolves lost their patience. They lunged simultaneously at opposite sides of the dome.
"Now!" Lyra shouted.
She cut the mana flow to the runestones. The barrier vanished instantly.
Before the wolves could hit the ground, Lyra fired a blazing fire lance to the left, piercing the first wolf cleanly through the skull. To the right, Ravon stepped into the drop and delivered a flawless, upward diagonal slash, slicing the second wolf's throat wide open mid-air.
Both beasts hit the snow, dead.
The trap was perfectly executed.
But the Alpha had been waiting for exactly this moment.
The instant the barrier dropped, the massive white wolf exploded from its seated position. It completely ignored Lyra. It launched itself directly at Ravon, striking him squarely in the chest with its massive paws before his sword had even finished its upward arc.
The kinetic impact was devastating. Ravon was thrown backward through the air, skipping violently across the deep snow for several yards before grinding to a halt.
Having neutralized the swordsman, the Alpha pivoted with terrifying speed. It lunged at Lyra, its massive jaws snapping open to tear her throat out.
Lyra raised her staff to cast a point-blank wind blast, but her core sputtered. She was completely out of mana.
With no other option, she raised the wooden staff horizontally. The Alpha's jaws clamped down brutally on the enchanted wood, inches from her face, driving her down into the snow under its massive weight.
Ravon groaned, forcing his eyes open. He saw the Alpha pinning Lyra to the ground.
He forced himself up onto his knees, coughing a splatter of dark blood onto the pristine snow. "Not today," he snarled.
He flooded his core. The green aura of Speed erupted around his legs. The red aura of Strength flared violently over his chipped sword.
He launched himself across the snow, moving faster than the Alpha could react. He jumped high into the air, bringing the heavy steel down with everything he had directly onto the back of the wolf's neck.
The blade bit deep through the thick white fur, but the sword abruptly jammed. The chipped edge had caught firmly against the monster's incredibly dense spine.
Ravon roared. Pouring every ounce of raw, emotional strength into his arms, he physically forced the blade through the bone.
The spine gave way with a sickening snap. The Alpha was brutally beheaded.
Its massive body collapsed onto the snow, instantly scattering hot, red blood across the freezing white powder.
Ravon dropped to his knees, his chest heaving, his sword slipping from his trembling fingers. He was sweating profusely despite the freezing air.
Lyra shoved the decapitated head off her chest and stood up, brushing the snow from her black dress. She reached into her dimensional pouch, pulled out a small glass vial filled with a homemade healing potion, and walked over to Ravon.
She held it out to him.
Ravon took the vial, downing the bitter liquid. The deep, aching pain in his ribs from the Alpha's strike slowly began to melt away.
Lyra didn't look at him. She stared at the bloody snow for a long moment, her grip tightening slightly on her wooden staff. "Thanks," she breathed, her voice unusually quiet.
Ravon offered a tired, genuine smile. "Aren't we partners now?"
"I suppose we are," she allowed, turning away quickly to hide the faint smirk on her lips. "Let's go. The base of that slope isn't far."
They walked in comfortable silence until they reached the sheer, icy base of the secondary peak.
"Now," Lyra ordered, pointing at a large snowbank. "Dig a hole for us."
Ravon stared at her. "Huh? Aren't your golems supposed to do the manual labor?"
"They were," Lyra stated practically. "But I am completely out of mana. Now start digging before the sun sets."
"At least give me a shovel."
"I don't have one," she said, crossing her arms. "Use your sword."
Ravon looked down at his chipped, blood-stained, severely abused weapon. "I really hope I find that Mithril ore soon."
He dropped to his knees and began hacking at the compacted snow with the flat of his blade.
"I've been thinking about something for a few days," Ravon said, scooping a large chunk of snow out of the growing hole. "Why do you rely on crafted healing potions when you are an incredibly powerful mage? Why not just use healing magic directly?"
"Because I do not believe in any God," Lyra answered, watching him dig.
Ravon paused, leaning on his sword. "What does belief have to do with healing magic?"
"Keep digging," Lyra commanded.
Ravon sighed and resumed scooping.
"To wield true healing magic, you must possess a fanatical, unbreakable belief in a specific deity," Lyra explained, her tone slipping into her scholar's cadence. "That belief acts as a conduit, allowing the deity to bless your mana with restorative properties. Healing magic is not a formula. It is simply borrowing power from a higher being."
"Oh," Ravon grunted, tossing a block of ice over his shoulder. "Why don't you just pretend to believe in one? It seems incredibly convenient for someone in our line of work."
Lyra's expression darkened. "I refuse to bow to any deity because all seven orthodox churches officially declared my mother to be an Evil entity. I only believe in my mother. No one else."
Ravon stopped digging. He looked up at the little witch, seeing the fierce, defensive loyalty burning in her blue eyes. "I really want to meet your mother now."
"First, you have to prove to me that you are completely harmless to us," Lyra said coldly. "There are countless people in this world who want to kill us."
Ravon drove his sword into the snow and looked her dead in the eye. "I am sorry for whatever you both are going through. But I will definitely prove to you that I am a friend, not an enemy."
Lyra stared back at him for a long moment. The hard lines of her face softened just a fraction. "Good."
A few minutes later, Ravon hauled himself out of the deep trench. "The hole is ready."
Lyra climbed down into the snowy pit, inspecting the walls. "Not bad. You have some practical skills."
She pulled a small flint from her pouch and sparked a small, smokeless campfire in the center of the pit. The small space quickly filled with trapping warmth, offering a brief, fragile sanctuary in the shadow of the deadly mountain.