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Mark took a deep breath and calmed his slightly rapid breathing. The cold in the far north was much more severe than he had imagined. Even with the protection of the energy shield, he could still feel the coldness that penetrated into his bones. He looked up at the depths of the temple, which was dark and deep, as if leading to another world.

"Let's go." Mark was the first to step into the temple. Albert followed closely behind. He subconsciously touched his chest, which was still aching. The restlessness of the tree man's energy made him feel uneasy. He could only keep operating energy to suppress it, hoping to hold on until he found the fragments of the holy stone.

When Mark and his friends were about to step into the temple, the two ice sculpture guards suddenly made a low roar, and the surface of the originally still ice sculptures glowed with blue light, and fine cracks spread like spider webs.

Albert's pupils shrank suddenly, and he exclaimed: "They... they are alive!" The cracks expanded rapidly, and the ice peeled off, revealing the metal body inside the guards flashing with cold light. The two guards slowly raised the ice swords in their hands, and the swords were surrounded by cold air and made a low buzzing sound.

"Protect the temple and stop the invaders!" One of the guards made a cold and mechanical voice, and his empty eyes were locked on Mark and Albert.

"Their responsibility is to protect the temple from being invaded by outsiders." Albert's tone was solemn, he clenched his fists, and prepared for a fight.

"It seems that we have to get rid of them before we can go in." Mark didn't speak. He pulled out the spear left by Elder Eric and pointed the spear at one of the guards. The runes on the spear flashed, as if responding to his fighting spirit.

"I'll deal with the one on the left, and the one on the right will be left to you." Mark whispered, his eyes fixed on the guard on the left. Although his tone was calm, it revealed an unquestionable firmness.

Albert nodded, "No problem." He took a deep breath, and a magic circle appeared under his feet. The magic circle emitted a faint green light, which formed a sharp contrast with the cold blue light emanating from the guards.

The two guards launched attacks at the same time, and the huge ice sword with a sharp cold air slashed towards Mark and Albert.

Mark dodged the attack of the ice sword sideways, and the long spear stretched out like a spirit snake, piercing the guard's chest armor. The tip of the spear collided with the ice armor, making a crisp sound, and splashing a little ice.

The guard seemed to have no sense of pain and was not affected at all. He continued to swing the ice sword to attack. Mark's footsteps were light and his body was flexible. He shuttled freely in the guards' attacks. The long spear in his hand was like a swimming dragon, sometimes stabbing, sometimes blocking, and sometimes sweeping. Every attack was accurate and powerful.

On the other side, Albert was fighting fiercely with another guard. Although he didn't have Mark's skills and weapons, he relied on his flexible body movements and rich combat experience to deal with the guards. He kept looking for the guards' flaws and waiting for an opportunity to attack. Unfortunately, his array energy had no effect on the guards, so Albert had to use the treeman energy in his body. The treeman energy turned into thick branches and hit the guards' ice armor, bursting out a whole piece of ice fragments, but it also had a good power.

Albert rolled to avoid the guards' sweep, and then quickly stood up, and the branches were thrown out like lightning, hitting the guards' leg joints. With a "click", the guards' leg joints were hit, making a crisp sound. The guards' movements slowed down significantly.

Albert seized the opportunity and launched another attack, and the branches kept swinging at the guards' weaknesses. The guards roared and waved their ice swords, trying to force Albert back.

Albert flexibly dodged the guards' attacks while looking for opportunities to attack. He knew that they had to fight quickly, otherwise once the guards recovered, they would be in a more dangerous situation.

Mark's battle with the guards also entered a white-hot stage. He seized the gap between the guards' attacks and thrust out his spear, hitting the guards' heads.

The guards wailed, their bodies trembled violently, and then they fell to the ground with a bang, breaking into a pile of broken ice.

Seeing this, Albert was refreshed. He seized the opportunity and used the branch to pull the guards in two from the waist. The guards uttered a final roar, and their bodies turned into ice chips and dissipated in the air.

The two stood at the entrance of the temple, looking at the ice chips scattered on the ground, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Finally solved." Albert wiped the sweat from his forehead and said.

Mark nodded, put away his spear, and said to Albert, "You used the energy of the tree man, is it okay?"

Albert patted the stone slab and said, "The life energy on the stone slab can still be suppressed."

Mark was relieved, and then looked vigilantly into the depths of the temple. "Let's go in."

The two entered the temple, which was dark inside and filled with a cold air. The walls of the temple were carved with various patterns, most of which were legends and stories about the goddess of ice and snow.