17 - Frozen Mountain

SteelArm took the lead, moving like a force of nature, using his large body to push through the deep snow with ease. Dante followed closely behind, his movements precise, calculated, and following where SteelArm had stepped previously.

Aria, to her own surprise, moved effortlessly. The cold didn't sap her energy, the wind didn't sting her face, and the biting chill in the air felt almost comforting. She wasn't just enduring the conditions—she was thriving in them. She had to stop herself from smiling too much. "This actually feels nice in a way." She thought to herself as she stepped where both SteelArm and Dante had stepped previously making it easier for her. 

Stiles, on the other hand, was struggling. Hard.

"This is the worst idea anyone has ever had," he muttered through clenched teeth, pulling his coat tighter around himself. Every step felt like a battle against the elements. His boots sank deep into the snow, and every gust of wind threatened to throw him off balance.

"Quit whining," Dante called back without looking. "You're wasting energy."

"You know what's a waste of energy? This!" Stiles snapped, waving his arms around before nearly slipping on an icy patch. He caught himself at the last second, groaning. "I am not built for this."

SteelArm chuckled, turning his head slightly. "You're just out of your element. It builds character."

"Yeah? Well, I'd like to return this 'character' and get a damn refund," Stiles shot back, glaring at the ground as he continued upward.

The higher they climbed, the thinner the air became. The wind was relentless, carrying with it fine shards of ice that stung against exposed skin.

Dante stopped for a moment, glancing up at the mountain ahead. "We'll hit our first checkpoint in a few hours," he said. "There should be a resting point before we push higher."

"Few hours?" Stiles groaned louder this time. "Dante, I swear to god—"

Before he could finish, SteelArm suddenly halted, raising a hand to signal the group. His expression turned serious as his eyes locked onto something ahead.

A series of jagged rocks jutted out from the side of the mountain, and between them—half-buried in the snow—were strange claw marks. Deep, unnatural.

"Something's been here," SteelArm murmured.

Dante narrowed his eyes. "And it's big."

Silence fell over the group, the wind howling between them.

Aria tightened her gloves, glancing at the marks. "Maybe this isn't as nice as I had thought.." 

The group moved in silence, all four of them sharpening their senses as they climbed. The eerie stillness of the mountain, combined with the claw marks they had seen earlier, left an unshakable tension hanging in the air. No one spoke. The only sounds were the wind whipping around them and the crunch of their boots against the snow.

Two hours passed.

Then, another set of claw marks.

Dante immediately knelt beside them, brushing some of the snow away to get a clearer look. His fingers traced the deep grooves in the ice, and he narrowed his eyes. Using a special method he had developed, he focused his mana, analyzing the faint traces of energy left behind.

"These are fresh," he muttered. "At most, an hour old. That means whatever left them could be anywhere nearby."

Aria tightened her grip on her katana's hilt. Stiles rolled his shoulders, forcing himself to stay focused. SteelArm simply exhaled through his nose, bracing himself for whatever was to come.

Then—before they could take another step forward—they felt it.

A wave of raw mana surged through the air ahead of them. It was heavy, thick, and suffocating. The temperature seemed to drop even lower, and a strange pressure settled in their chests.

Then, it appeared.

A massive white-furred bear emerged from the swirling snow, towering over them like a beast from a book. Its body was covered in countless scars, old and new, proof of the battles it had survived. Its eyes burned red with unrelenting rage, and as it locked onto the four intruders, its lips curled back in a vicious snarl.

Then, it roared.

The sheer force of its bellow shook the air, sending a violent surge of white and blue mana cascading toward them like a storm. The energy slammed forward, threatening to crush them under its weight.

But Dante and Stiles reacted instantly.

Their own mana erupted outward, colliding against the beast's surge. Dante's was sharp and controlled, a deep emerald green that cut through the storm like a blade. Stiles' was wild and untamed, flickering crimson as it clashed against the beast's energy. Their combined force overpowered the mana wave, breaking through it like a dam bursting.

Dante didn't hesitate. He activated [Phantom Materialization], and within seconds, a glowing green spear materialized in his grasp, humming with energy.

Stiles threw his bag onto the ground, wasting no time pulling out his twin blades. "Oh, you wanna go?! Let's go then, you overgrown snow bitch!" He twirled the weapons once before getting into his stance.

SteelArm took a deep breath and shifted into a martial artist's stance, his muscles coiling like a spring, ready to explode forward at a moment's notice.

Aria, standing slightly behind them, unsheathed her katana with a soft metallic whisper.

Her breathing was uneven. She tightened her grip on the hilt, her fingers trembling slightly. "This… this isn't like before", she thought before exhaling slowly trying to get her breathing under control first.

The bear huffed, lowering itself slightly as if preparing to charge. The battle was seconds away from beginning.

Aria forced herself to steady her breathing. No time to hesitate.

The bear roared, its breath visible in the frigid air as it lunged forward with terrifying speed. Snow exploded beneath its massive paws, sending white powder flying in every direction. Despite its sheer size, it moved like a blur, closing the distance in seconds.

Dante's eyes narrowed. Fast.

The beast reared up and swung a claw down at him with devastating force, aiming to cleave him in two.

Dante reacted instantly. He sidestepped, barely avoiding the deadly strike, the wind pressure alone cutting through the air like a blade. As he moved back, his mana surged, and he activated [Phantom Cleave]. A green scythe appears and flies forward striking the bear before it goes into the bear hitting its soul, lowering its resistances, before using it again onto the bear to double the effects. 

Before the beast could retaliate, Stiles was already moving.

"You're not the only one who can hit fast!" he shouted.

Mana surged through his blades as he activated [Silver's Last Pride]. A silvery crimson imbued light engulfed his weapons as he dashed in, slashing twice in quick succession across the bear's chest. The moment his blades connected, an aftershock of mana pulsed through the cuts, enhancing the impact. Using the beast's own body as leverage, Stiles pushed off, flipping backward through the air before landing smoothly on the snowy ground.

A second later, the silvery glow around the bear detonated. Boom! A shockwave burst outward, sending snow scattering.

SteelArm wasted no time. The moment the explosion rippled through the air, he charged forward.

Each step crushed the snow beneath him as if it didn't exist. His heavy frame moved with surprising speed, and the moment he closed in, he planted his foot deep into the ground, coiling his power into a single, devastating strike.

[Colossal Blow].

His fist connected with the bear's chest. A deafening crack echoed as a shockwave rippled through the air. The sheer force lifted the bear off its feet, sending it flying backward like a ragdoll.

The beast hurtled toward the mountain wall behind it.

But before it could crash, something changed.

Its massive claws dug into the ice at the last second, stopping its momentum just before impact. A deep, guttural growl rumbled from its throat. The air around it grew heavy—colder, and sharper.

Then, its mana surged violently.

A chilling blue aura exploded from its body, mixing with the white snowstorm around them. Its muscles tensed, and its eyes burned with a deeper, more primal rage.

The Ice Bear had activated its special skill—

[Icy Rage].

A brutal power coursed through the beast's veins, tripling its strength, speed, and defenses. The ground beneath it cracked from the sheer force of its raw energy.

Then it moved. Faster than before, the massive beast charged, its claws gleaming with frost as it tore through the snow like a living avalanche.

Dante's grip tightened on his spear. "Shit—it's even faster now!"

Stiles clenched his jaw. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me—"

As the beast flew into the group, Dante activated [Phantom Replacement on himself and the others on random pieces of snow. The bear charged forward destroying snow as the four of them stood where the bear had stood prior to charging. 

Aria exhaled slowly, steadying herself as the chaotic sounds of battle faded into the background. The world around her felt eerily silent, as if the world had vanished. She took in her surroundings—the endless white, the path covered in thick layers of snow, and the sheer emptiness stretching beyond the mountain ridge.

Something stirred deep within her. 

Her grip on the hilt of her katana tightened as she shifted her stance, exhaling slowly, and lowering her center of gravity with a sense of natural precision. The blade became sheathed, her fingers resting lightly on its hilt, waiting. The air around her changed, a strange, creeping shift that was almost imperceptible at first. The snowflakes that drifted near her darkened, losing their luster, turning black as if touched by shadowed frost.

The bear roared, its fury unrelenting, but when its crimson eyes locked onto Aria's, it hesitated for the first time.

In a blink, she moved.

Her feet barely touched the snow, yet it did not break beneath her. Two steps—each as weightless as a whisper—before her speed suddenly exploded. The three others barely caught the blur of her motion before she was upon the beast.

The moment she reached the Ice Bear, a faint shimmer pulsed around her sheath, freezing it over with an ethereal blue frost. A single motion—fluid, effortless—her katana unsheathed, a chilling gale swirling around its blade.

[Winds of Icy Blooms] activated.

The moment her blade cut through the bear, frost spread across the bear's stomach in an intricate pattern, delicate yet deadly. A single frozen bloom took shape on the wound—a flower of ice, pristine and hauntingly beautiful.

Then, it shattered.

A sharp, crystalline crack rang through the air as the ice erupted, expanding in a ruthless burst. In an instant, the bear let out a strangled, pained howl, its massive frame lurching backward. One of its feet and an arm had been consumed by the frost and broken away, vanishing into the storm of shattered ice.

Aria did not linger.

She took a single step back, her katana sliding smoothly into its sheath, and with the same gliding motion, retreated to where she once stood. The snow remained untouched beneath her—no footprints, no disturbance, as if she had never moved at all.

The battlefield fell into stunned silence for a brief moment.

Dante's grip on his spear tightened as he watched, his eyes gleaming with something unreadable. Stiles let out a slow whistle. Even SteelArm, usually unfazed by anything, gave the smallest nod of acknowledgment.

The Ice Bear, though grievously wounded, was not yet dead.

It roared once more, shaking the air with sheer force, but this time, there was something else behind its rage. Fear.

Aria merely exhaled again, her fingers resting lightly on her blade, ready to move once more.