Necromancer, summoning 055? What the heck?

Chapter 515 Rift Valley Airdrop to Snow Mountain Dragon Nest
[PS: My back has been bothering me lately, making it hard to sit still and affecting my writing. I'll go see a doctor this afternoon. I'm not sure if I'll be able to update the second chapter tonight, but don't wait.]

As we traveled north across the ice sheet, the temperature dropped faster and faster.

A report came through the communication channel from the equipment team that the drone's battery was being consumed much faster than expected.

The delegation from the Vast Ocean brought their own charging equipment, which was a 6.0 version of the psionic generator with an external enchanted battery.

In such extremely cold weather, psionic power generation is more efficient than various models of traditional generators from Blue Star Technology because it does not require heat conversion. However, it will still continuously consume the precious resource of psionic crystals.

A dozen seconds later, Xia Chenghui gave instructions.

"Retrieve two drones and keep one in the forward reconnaissance position."

"The deer carts on both sides, be on high alert! The personnel on duty will rotate every hour to strengthen vigilance!"

"Also, please note that we are about to enter a snowstorm area. Everyone be aware!"

Soon, only the beam of light from the drone's searchlight remained directly in front of it.

The blue in the sky grew lighter and the black grew darker. As the visibility around them gradually decreased, the Frostfoot Deer's pace also slowed down.

These elves of the ice plains possess an innate sense of water elements. Even if they can't see the road ahead, they know when they can gallop freely and when they must be careful.

The giant deer's thick hooves pounded the snow with a dull thud, and the white mist from their breath rose and dissipated in the lamplight, rising and dissipating again.

The group slowly entered the snow-covered plains.

The color of the snow is a bit strange.

In Dimo's mind, the base color of snow must be white, even the snowflakes at night are grayish-white, leaden white, or a bluish-white, but this place is different.

The snow on the ground had a pale, almost ethereal sapphire blue hue, while further away, in the darkness, the blue even tinged with a viscous purple. At first glance, it looked as if the cool moonlight had been shattered and mixed with some strange pigments, stirred into flowing powder, and spread across the world.

On the flat snow surface, wavy lines of hard snow appeared, marks left by the continuous wind.

The snowflakes in the air were not the white, fluffy things they remembered. The soldiers, whose observation skills far surpassed those of ordinary people, were astonished to find that these extremely small and beautiful hexagons seemed to have crystallized in the air and then hit the ground hard.

It was smashed into handfuls of fine silver foil, or into shattered prisms.

Within the illumination range of the deer cart's headlights, the area outside the lamppost was a deep darkness, while inside the lamppost, snowflakes danced wildly, like countless fireflies rushing towards the group.

Beautiful, wild, and chilling.

At one point, Dimo ​​tried to take off his gloves, wanting to catch a handful of snow.

The moment the skin is exposed to the surrounding air, the body reacts before the mind does.

The spiritual energy within his body surged wildly, and a faint mist began to appear on his exposed fingers. His heart began to pound wildly, pumping blood frantically to his extremities.

On the ice plains, the living are stronger than the undead because the living can transfer heat through their blood. Although the consumption is high, they can at least maintain their physical flexibility for a period of time.

However, if the consumption exceeds the limit, you will die.

While the undead cannot be frozen to death, because they cannot generate heat within their bodies to melt ice, most of their joints are easily frozen, causing them to lose their mobility and become paralyzed "vegetable undead".

In a way, this is also a kind of alternative energy balance.

Such self-exposure consumed far too much psionic energy; within just a dozen seconds, Dimo ​​felt a slight throbbing in his head. He promptly put on his gloves, tightened the zipper, and snuggled back into his winter coat.

After walking through the snow for most of the night, the team finally arrived at the first pass on the ice plain, the Howling Wind Rift.

At the other end of the rift valley lies the heart of an ice field where temperatures drop below minus sixty degrees Celsius. There, live the legendary three polar races, who are also three unfortunate brothers: the dragons, the frost giants, and the extremely mysterious snow elves, a race that has almost vanished from historical records.

The reason they are called brothers in misfortune is that none of the three are native to the ice plains; they were all driven here because they couldn't survive outside.

As for the true native races of the ice plains... well, I can only apologize.

In the Howling Rift, the group will disband. From here on, except for the two guides from the dwarf caravan, all other personnel from the Mistmoon Divine Court and those hired by the mercenary groups will retreat. Even the deer-drawn carts and their drivers will stop and return the way they came.

The road ahead was too dangerous, so they had to stop here.

Next, Han Hai's team will enter the Frostwind Rift Valley on their own.

The entrance to the rift valley resembles a wound cleaved open by a giant axe, with the ice layers on both sides exhibiting sharp, razor-sharp edges eroded by wind over thousands of years. The cold wind, blocked by the mountains, finally finds an opening and eagerly surges out from the depths of the rift, emitting a deep, low, and melodious howl.

Dimo stretched his body, ready for a snow hike and long trek.

But Xia Chenghui didn't give him that chance.

"Thank you all for your hard work. Follow the guide and we'll go to the Rinfeng Station to rest."

Dimo was a little confused. "Tired? Tired of what? I barely even stepped on the ground all day..."

The commander's orders were not to be questioned. Soon, the team wound its way through the valley and entered a depression on the south side of the rift valley entrance. In the mountain hollow there, there was a dark cave. The mountain ridge blocked most of the wind and snow from it, and the wooden stakes at the entrance and the frozen animal hides clearly indicated that this was the dwelling left by intelligent beings.

The entrance is about seven meters wide, gradually narrowing inwards to less than three meters at its narrowest point, before opening up into a large hall about ten meters square.

Near the entrance, there was a makeshift stove, with ashes left by the previous user still inside, frozen into a hard, gray lump.

Deep inside the cave were some odds and ends: a few broken wooden planks, a tin bucket with a hole in it, a roll of felt that had been frozen solid, and a few iron rods leaning against the wall, their tips worn rounded, leaving only half of the bent iron rods.

This is a supply depot on the ice field, left behind by passing caravans.

There were no roads in the extremely cold region, but caravans managed to create one.

That's right, even in places so harsh that humans can't survive, there are still trade routes.

The dragons, hiding in the icy wilderness, have very limited food sources, barely managing to maintain their clan in a state of limbo. But ultimately, they still need to reproduce and have offspring.

This kind of diet, where one meal is plentiful while many others are not, can be endured by adult dragons, but it is unbearable for young dragons, who suffer from severe malnutrition.

At the same time, if certain magical elements are not replenished completely, it will also affect the subsequent growth of the dragon cub.

Although the dragon race is intelligent, its animalistic nature far outweighs its human nature. Their growth mainly relies on bloodline genes and the body's own initiative, unlike humans who depend more on acquired cultivation.

To draw an analogy, this is like a giant whale on Earth. As long as it keeps eating, it can keep growing until it becomes an invincible behemoth.

If they are born with congenital deficiencies, the children of the dragon race are likely to become weaker and weaker.

Therefore, during each breeding season, a portion of the dragon race would risk great danger to travel south and enter the controlled territories of other races to collect special magical beasts and magical materials.

This is the origin of the occasional legends circulating on the mainland about "dragons roaming the continent" and "the battle to slay dragons."

If they don't go, the dragon child might become weak or even die; if they do go, it might be the dragon parents who die.

In this almost hopeless cycle, the arrival of the dwarf caravan alleviated the problem to some extent.

It must be said that the endless greed of the dwarf race gave them boundless motivation; as long as there was profit to be made, there was almost nothing they wouldn't do on the Star Continent.

They gathered some particularly cold-resistant races and chose to organize caravans to venture deep into the Sighing Icefield during the 'polar day' period, which is the hottest season on the ice field. They brought the dragons the necessary supplies and materials, and at the same time, they also took some things away from the ice field.

For example, the rare materials found on the bodies of those dead dragons.

The dragons didn't want to make a trade, but a dead dragon was still a living dragon, so they had to give one of them.

In the end, the dragons compromised, but were furious and demanded an astronomical price for these dragon bodies.

But it didn't matter. When the dwarf came, he quoted a price that was a thousand or eight hundred times higher. Both sides raised their prices like that, so in the end, it was rounded up to mean that the price hadn't increased at all.

Limited transactions achieved an interesting balance.

Of course, dwarfs would never hand over their supply stations to others. They would usually hide them well and sometimes even set up various traps, such as locking the door when getting on the vehicle and removing the ladder when going downstairs.

But if Chen Mo is willing to spend money, that's another matter. "We got the location of the safe house the gnomes left behind from them, and we also got the method to contact the creatures of the ice field. The lord spent a lot of money to get the gnomes to talk back."

"Why not take advantage of it!"

"Let's rest here for the night and continue our journey tomorrow."

The cave entrance was sealed by an ice wall, with a ventilation valve added to the top. The spirit crystal generator vibrated slightly, the pulsating light of the enchanted rune array flickered faintly, and the air began to slowly warm up.

Then, in the midst of this polar ice field, Dimo ​​enjoyed a hot meal and slept soundly for a while.

The reason it was only half a snowfall was because the next morning, the unmanned sentry stationed outside the cave sent back a message that the snowstorm had subsided.

A rare window of opportunity.

"Everyone, get ready to leave within fifteen minutes!"

When Dimo ​​and Jelly's group emerged from the cave, "Big Cat's" guards had already cleared the snow from the frozen ground outside the valley, creating a spacious area.

Leonid stood on the edge of a rock, shaking his head back and forth, exhaling thick white mist with each breath.

What gave Dimo ​​a chill was that the guy wasn't even wearing a hood, and his ears were sticking out, standing up high, turning in a certain direction every now and then, drawing the Tiger Clan Guard Chief's gaze in that direction as well.

They're truly fearless in the cold; in this kind of environment, they're practically born warriors.

"Commander Xia, I have a feeling that something is spying on us. It's very far away and it's moving very fast!"

Xia Chenghui followed Leonid's gaze but naturally couldn't see anything.

"Ignore it, stay alert, and speed up!"

The communications and logistics teams provided careful guidance, and the big cat guards were busy at work.

In the center of the cleared ground, a large, bright red cross was sprayed out with some unknown substance.

The three positioners are arranged in an equilateral triangle with a spacing of several tens of meters, and the indicator lights on the equipment flash rhythmically.

A dozen minutes later, following instructions from the headset, the logistics personnel began firing signal flares into the air.

A bright red orb of light shot into the sky, trailing a trail of flames, and exploded in the dark night sky, then transformed into a slowly falling flower of fire.

Then came the second and the third launches—yellow, red, and yellow—taking off in turn, leaving trails of smoke that lingered long over the polar night sky.

"The aircraft has entered the drop zone, and the weather conditions are basically met. We are ready to airdrop the aircraft."

"Turn on the spotlights! Confirm ground signal!"

The afterglow of the spotlight cast an orange halo on the snow, and the tall pillar of light stood out conspicuously amidst the still-falling snowflakes. Dimo ​​raised his head, strained his eyes, and looked up at the sky in the direction of the pillar of light.

It's invisible, even to professionals.

Dimo faintly heard a very low, very distant sound coming from the sky.

Next, a burst of light appeared, followed by a second, a third, and a fourth.

Air Force transport planes, which had traveled thousands of miles from the Bailu Plain, carried out a forced airdrop over the desolate wilderness of the far north.

The airdrop package came with a spotlight, and the beam of light tore through the clouds like a spear falling from the sky, piercing straight through the swirling snow and illuminating the entire airdrop area.

One after another, enormous packages, supported by a dual mechanism of parachutes and aerial swirling leaves, slowly drifted down from the sky to the ground.

With a muffled "boom," the snow on the ground was shaken, causing a layer of white mist to rise.

After unpacking and removing the cushioning pads, a whole small mechanized convoy appeared on this snow-covered plain in just half an hour.

Four two-seater snowmobiles for mobile reconnaissance use double-layer tracks with a width of 508 millimeters to prevent them from sinking, like wearing a pair of giant snowshoes, which support the vehicle body and make it "float" on the snow.
Six wheeled all-terrain snowmobiles, equipped with wide-base low-pressure composite tires that are half a person high and have anti-skid studs, were fully occupied with the front and rear seats, just enough to fit all the combat members of the team.

There is also an articulated tracked snowmobile that is twelve meters long when connected by a universal joint assembly.

This tracked vehicle is relatively slow, but because of its large contact area and low ground pressure, it is very stable. It can not only climb slopes, but also force its way through ice crevices or cracks by using the support of the front and rear sections.

It was a bit slow, only going less than 30 kilometers per hour, and other vehicles surrounded it like stars around the moon.

As the drone once again led the way, all the snowmobiles switched to autonomous driving mode, and Dimo's plan to trek across the snowfield was shattered once more.

With engines roaring and tracks rolling, the convoy slowly made its way through the Frosty Rift Valley.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The rift valley is beautiful.

The ice walls soar into the clouds, their surface covered with dense, jagged icicles and pillars, like a large lamp adorned with rows of crystal pendants.
Occasionally, pieces of ice fall from above, making a crisp sound, like porcelain shattering, that echoes for a long time in the rift valley.

After leaving the rift valley, the new ice field over the water is also beautiful.

It looks like whole pieces of crystal laid on the ground, with every crack and every bubble clearly visible.

The car headlights shone on the ice, refracting countless tiny spots of light, as if someone had crushed the entire Milky Way and scattered it neatly on the ground.

The surrounding mountains and rivers are beautiful, the haze in the sky is beautiful, and even the statues of various creatures that died, frozen stiff and upright, leaning, sitting or lying down, present a different kind of beauty.

But Leonid remained somewhat uneasy.

The Tiger Clan Chieftain kept patrolling back and forth in several directions. As the group ventured deeper into the territory, Dimo ​​also sensed something amiss.

It was a feeling that was hard to describe in words. I didn't hear anything or see anything; it was just that a kind of instinctive, genetically ingrained alertness suddenly tightened the scalp at the back of my head.

Like prey being targeted by a murderer, even though you haven't seen anything yet, the hairs on your body inexplicably stand on end.

Dimo's hand pressed down on the hilt of the sword without making a sound.

The sword has a switch for psionic heating; it needs to be preheated, otherwise it might break when you pull it out.

This environment is so frustrating!
Xia Chenghui's voice rang out again in the channel, "Keep moving forward."

"The escort team should spread out and expand the defensive line. Add two more drones. The team should not stop or speed up; maintain its speed and advance steadily!"

In the end, nothing happened.

As the convoy drove out of the icy zone behind the rift valley, the feeling of being spied on vanished suddenly, like a candle flame being extinguished.

Further ahead, there was a continuous mountain range that stretched across the sky and earth.

The mountain is entirely black, rugged and steep, resembling a crouching giant beast against the backdrop of the ice field.

The mountaintop is covered with snow that never melts, shimmering with a faint silvery-white light from some unknown source. Above and below the mountainside are bare black rock walls, riddled with huge, irregular cracks and caves.

Those caves were so large that even under the dim moonlight of the polar night, and even though they were several kilometers or even tens of kilometers away, Dimo ​​could still see the dark entrances.

He even suspected that some of the holes could fit a city inside.

"We're almost at the dragon's nest!"

Xia Chenghui's voice came through the communicator, tinged with a hint of excitement, "The vanguard should take the caravan's flag and go to contact the Dragon Clan outpost."

"Take a message with you."

"The Vast Ocean Delegation sends greetings to the Dragon Clan!"

(End of this chapter)