“Dang it, what sort of accursed weather is that?? Why is it getting colder the further we go? The sky was still clear and sunny yesterday, so why did it begin to snow without any notice??” The self-acclaimed [Wind-Whisperer], Carpeau, spoke in a low muffled voice as he withdrew his head into his scuff.
“This is a mountainous region countless miles away from the Border Town. When you consider the fact that winter is almost here, it’s natural for places with higher altitude to be colder. Truly a creature that’s all brawn and no brain.” The dual-sword knight, Raybia, pouted in disdain.
“Huh? As someone who nearly offed himself while juggling, do you have the qualifications to criticize me? I wonder if a certain someone really has no clue as to who the person with low intelligence is??” The [Wind-Whisperer] Carpeau said in defiance.
“Hmph! I have nothing to say to a guy who couldn’t last a minute on stage.” Raybia tightened his collar and wiped away two little icicles hanging from his nostrils.
“As if you lasted longer than a minute??”
“Tssk… Two green birds who couldn’t last past the preliminaries sure have quite the talent in quibbling with each other. Really the biggest joke in the world, indeed.” A man with golden spiky hair shot a glance of disdain at the incessantly bickering duo at the side who showed no sign of stopping any time soon.
“Shut up! You’re just a weakling who managed to secure a lucky win through nothing but deceit and shooting your mouth off. What gives you the nerves to criticize us??”
“Ptooey!”
“Hey, hey— you’d better explain yourself, what do you mean by ‘deceit and shooting my mouth’? How could you equate my battle to mere lip-service? It’s called persuasion, convincing them with goodwill…” The face of the spiky-haired man was bright red, as he quickly followed up with difficult-to-understand lines like ‘words are a type of strength as well’, ‘shooting my mouth off is shooting in a sense’ and ‘psychological damage’, causing everyone to burst out in a series of laughter.
“Is this really okay?” Ji Bai, who was walking at the forefront, eventually asked after having to endure them time and time again.
“What do you mean?” Lin inattentively asked as she looked towards the map for reference.
“What do you think?” Ji Bai shot a glance at the rowdy trio behind him. “Even if it’s just doing a round in the ruins, we shouldn’t bring a circus along. Only then can we respect the solemn nature of this mission and be responsible for their lives.”
“Hey, hey— Thinker! Don’t think I can’t hear the bad things you’re whispering to Teacher! Don’t forget my posthumous titl— bleh, nickname, [Wind Whisperer]! I only gave you a small taste of my magnificent repertoire last time, so if you dare put on airs in front of me, we can go for another round. You get that??”
‘How great. Despite his low IQ, his ears are pretty sensitive.’
If it wasn’t for the fact he was wearing a helmet, Ji Bai would have already buried his face in his palms.
“What’s the matter? Thinker, you don’t even have the courage to look me, the [Wind-Whisperer], in the eyes??”
Ji Bai went silent for a moment before turning towards Lin beside him. “Can you quiet him down a little?”
“What, you’re afraid of losing to him?” Lin raised her eyebrows.
“No, this is a mountainous area and we’re in a snowy valley, if we shout haphazardly, it’s going to…”
“Roar…!!” Before he could finish his words, a massive shadow from above covered everything.
………………
At this moment, heavy snowfall was falling on the mountaintop.
A purplish-gown adorned with strange patterns was covered in white snow, along with the eyebrows and mustache of its wearer, a white-haired elder. Leaning on a snake-headed staff with his eyes shut tight, he remained motionlessly still in the white landscape.
“Hex, you’d better give this old man a good reason for letting him wait in this god-forsaken place for so long!” A hoarse voice resounded from behind him.
The white-haired elder opened his cloudy eyes and slowly turned around.
“What’s the matter? Is the Revered Priest getting impatient? Haha, this old man has yet to hold you accountable for divulging the profound doctrine of the [Lord of Sins] without approval…”Despite his kind and amiable appearance, the white-haired elder’s calm voice carried a hint of aggression.
“Hmph, to divulge the strength my Lord has bestowed upon me to the upper echelons of the Human Federation’s Chivalric Group in an attempt to weaken them, the trolls and even the ability of that ‘race’. It was truly a plan that only a genius could come up with.”
“What do you know?? That’s called a stratagem!” Humiliated, the black-gowned elder flew into a rage.
“So, did you succeed?”
“…That mortal called Lan Yu, his obsession was deep, but the thoughts in his heart were too jumbled up. While he could be controlled easily, it was also very easy for his emotions to suddenly fluctuate and lose control.” The black-gowned elder muttered and pondered to himself.
“So in the end, outside of stomping a bunch of lower-tiers creatures to death, the rebellion you started had no effect whatsoever, right? Instead, it had attracted the vigilance of those mortals… Do you know what that means?” The white-haired elder’s cloudy eyes turned incisive.
“You can ignore that group of first-tier species and even disregard their made up paper tiger called ‘Chivalric Group’, but you must never forget the being who created those barriers. There’s a chance that race is behind them…”
“Enough! I don’t need you to reiterate those things to me!” The black-gowned elder waved his hand in impatience.
“So, I hope you didn’t call this old man all the way to this icy hellhole just to ridicule him, right?”
“This old bag of bones doesn’t have time for that… Everything is for the supreme Lord of Sin!”
“Boom…!” Before his voice had faded away, a snowstorm rushed towards them in a devastating manner as a huge monster fell down from the sky.
“Sssst….!!”
“W-What…?” Shards of ice hit the black-gowned elder’s face, causing a wave of pain as he chanted a series of incantations and summoned a barrier to shield himself against the snowstorm. At the same time, the sight of the huge monster before his eyes shocked him.
The body of a lion, the head of an eagle and a pair of wings on its back; It was a monster equaling a clock tower in size. At this moment, it was using its massive golden eyes to incessantly size him up.
“Don’t worry, Mr. Priest. It’s on our side.” Seeing the tense expression on his face, the white-haired elder calmly smiled as he leaned on his snake-headed staff.
“What? Don’t tell me… it’s the remains of that primordial creature?”
“Of course, are you doubting the miracle of our Lord?”
“So… in this snowy landscape, what sort of item is able to force you to take such a drastic action?”
“This old man doesn’t know the specifics, but the prophecy has mentioned the need to destroy a dark and corrupted weapon.”
“A dark weapon?”
……………..
On the top of the black mountain.
Watching the silver-haired girl seemingly become one with the fleeting wind, Ji Bai leaned on his sword and fell into contemplation.
‘As I thought, they’re worried about this batch of freshmen that has seemingly escaped from a circus. Because of this, they’ve asked a seasoned teacher with strong combat ability to lead the squad, right?’
“Oh my lord… This is tiring me to death. Teacher, slow it down a little. My malnourished body is having some difficulties catching up.” Behind the cliff, three thickheads panted as they chased up to them on all 4s.
“Haa… Haaa! You’re good, Thinker! To effortlessly get up on the mountain on all 4s without even panting, huff huff huff… You- You’ve the qualification to become the lifelong nemesis of me, Carpeau the [Wind Whisperer]!”
“Brother! I beg you, please don’t speak in such a loud voice… Are you dissatisfied that the earlier avalanche hasn’t taken our lives?”
“What’s the matter, did you lose track of where we are?” Ignoring the three logheads behind him, Ji Bai walked towards Lin.
“Don’t always think I’m the same as you.” She didn’t even spare a glance at him, closely examining the map in her hands.
“I noticed you’ve already been looking at it for a long time.” Ji Bai raised his head to examine his surroundings.
What he saw was a stretch of open land covered in white snow.