Chapter 43: Frostbite Cliffs, Making a Move
"You wish, Loke. I worked hardest today, so I’ll look out first and then have a long sweet sleep, motherfuckers."
"Fuck no, Jayson. We are doing rock paper scissors for this shit."
"First and last slot is best, heh. Alright, no getting sour over the results, fellas," Roderic said, grinning. "Let’s start."
…
Almond, Lily, and Natalia fell asleep by the time the clock hit 8:30 p.m., while most of the parties were also sleeping by 9.
There was no disturbance of any sort during the night, so when Almond’s eyes opened, it was already 4 o’clock in the morning.
Seven hours of sleep, and he would automatically wake up.
"Get up. I want to take a dump," Almond got up and lightly kicked their legs as they woke up.
"Be quick," Natalia said as she went out, followed by Lily.
By the time the clock hit 4:30, the group had packed up and began walking.
A few others were also packing up, one of which was the group of four little assholes who were courting death.
…
{-Frostbite Cliffs-}—Silver level 7 to 10 Area.
-The Frostbite Cliffs rise high on Fairy Mountain, where the air is thin, biting cold, and perpetually dusted with swirling snow. This frigid expanse is covered in sheets of ice and jagged cliffs, providing the most challenging area for the adventurers to tread. The cliffs have an ethereal glow from the frost crystals that shimmer under any available light, and the sky above is often obscured by thick, rolling clouds, occasionally broken by flashes of lightning that illuminate the mountain peaks.
-Key features: ice-covered terrains, frigid winds, perilous ledges and caverns, frequent avalanches.
-Monsters:
— Ice golems—Silver level 7 to 10.
— Snowspine Leopards—Silver level 7 to 10.
— Stormwing Butterflies—Silver level 7 to 10.
— Frostfeather Harpy—Silver level 10 hidden boss.
The party moved towards the northeast direction in the Frostbite Cliffs. Down the cliff, there was a wide yet slippery icy ledge with a cavern’s entrance inside where the hidden boss lay. It was extremely dangerous to reach there because a slight mistake would result in a fall amidst biting cold and strong winds, straight to death.
But it was at the very end of the northeast, so there was still a considerable distance to cross.
After an hour of roaming and hunting leisurely, Almond had devoured all three kinds of monsters of all levels, gaining more stat points.
With his current capabilities, he could literally one-shot any monster with a single sword move, and while Lily could also do that, she would need more energy overall to do that, while Almond could do that with relative ease.
All in all, Almond devoured many spirits and gained another surge in stats.
Ice Golems:
—> Level 7: 0.5 Health.
—> Level 8: +1 Stamina.
—> Level 9: +1 Strength, +1 Perception.
—> Level 10: +2 Focus, +1 Health.
Snowspine Leopard:
—> Level 7: +0.5 Mana
—> Level 8: +1 Health
—> Level 9: +1 Strength, +1 Stamina
—> Level 10: +2 Health, +1 Perception.
Stormwing Butterfly:
—> Level 7: +0.5 Mana
—> Level 8: +1 Focus
—> Level 9: +1.5 Health, +1 Perception
—> Level 10: +2 Mana, +1 Stamina
In total, he gained stat points equivalent to leveling up six times +1.5 stat points.
[Almond]
-Adventurer rank: Silver.
-Level: 10 [42%]
-Class: Spirit Dealer (SS)
-[Vitality: 100%]
-[Mana: 750/750]
-Stats: 10 unassigned points
—Physical:
↳[Strength: 43 | Health: 41| Stamina: 41]
—Mental:
↳[Mana: 30 (+45) | Focus: 35| Perception: 34 ]
He couldn’t wait to reach 50 in Focus and Perception since it was within his sight. The main advantage of reaching 50 in those two stats was a significantly deeper view into the skills, not to mention the ability to pinpoint Chakra points in one’s body that could open a new world of techniques.
One could even find out what stats affected their skill and gain insight into their skills, allowing one to fiddle with skill executions and modifications upon comprehending the skill.
While the party continued moving on the relatively flat snowy ground with a low amount of trees, seventy meters behind them was a group following them.
"Guys, those three are quite powerful, not to mention their summons. If Big Brother John wasn’t with us, we would have had to cancel our plan," Jayson said with a grin.
The Knight with the name John heard that and lightly chuckled, nobody noticing a glint passing through his eyes.
"Did you find out who is the master of those summons?" Izaak asked.
"Yeah, it’s that dude. We gotta take him out first, so his summons will probably vanish."
"How are we going to do this?"
"Brother John has more skills. We can make a plan based on that."
"Good idea. It’s better if we can ambush them, but they are moving fast. We have to go around them faster while skipping monster hunting to ambush them."
"That’s actually better, yeah. We should do that."
"Hehe, I can’t wait, brothers. Let’s go!"
"They are going in the same direction since the start, so that makes it easier for us, haha."
Jayson led the group in a detour after seeing the general direction in which Almond and others were going.
Twenty minutes later, they were just sixty meters away from Almond and others, to their left behind a boulder.
"Let’s start," John the Knight said as he narrowed his eyes. "Let me repeat the plan. Jayson will stand here, ready to use his class skill: Meteore Arrow after Izaak and Roderic make a dash towards them with my buff and use their attack-type skills, their aim will be that dude."
"Loke, since you have a mage class with offense and defense skills, I want you to act according to the situation after Izaak and Roderic’s attacks," John said with a serious expression. "Observe and make a decision."
"Got it, brother John."
"Alright," John was ready with his mace and shield, a cold glint passing through his eyes. He used his class skill: Warrior’s Blessing, to buff Izaak and Roderic’s Strength by 30%.
Izaak had two daggers in his hands while Roderic had a longsword. Both of them were ready and immediately made a dash.
"Let’s fucking do this."