Pioneer Wizard's Notebook

Chapter 102 The Threat of the Ice Storm

"The weather outside is getting colder and colder, but thankfully the house is still as warm as usual."

Manor Knight Broad opened his eyes from his sleep.

It is now the early hours of the morning.

He could hear the howling wind and snow outside, pounding on the wooden door, as if there was a wild beast outside ready to devour him.

Fortunately, the gaps under the door and the windows had already been tightly sealed with fur.

The solar-powered airflow through the heating pipes keeps the room at a temperature above 20 degrees Celsius.

This was a warmth he had never dared to imagine before.

An ice storm struck a day earlier.

Broad clearly remembers the scene: a white curtain that blotted out the sky and enveloped the manor.

The temperature outside the wall dropped to -80°C in a short period of time, and the ice and snow were almost frozen into powder, and the temperature continued to drop.

If a human body is exposed to that environment, it will be frozen into an ice block instantly!

Broad dared not imagine what their situation would have been like if the former town of Spring Blossoms had faced such a disaster.

Fortunately, they now have the Sun Tower for protection.

Most of the cold was blocked, and the temperature inside the walls remained at -10°C.

The temperature is warmer than usual in the Northern Autumn, which residents find perfectly acceptable and even quite comfortable.

Not to mention the interior.

With the continuous input from the heating tower, it felt like sleeping on a warm, cozy fire pit.

Many children are even being scolded by their parents for not liking to cover themselves with blankets—it's like a dream!

Brod was filled with emotion.

He kissed the sleeping girl Lina beside him and carefully left the bed—after getting his own house, he was finally able to be with the girl he loved, with the blessings of Beth's mother and Lina's parents, and they agreed to hold their wedding the following spring.

The young people were restless and moved in together early, which was against church etiquette, but no one in the North would criticize them.

Those around him offered their blessings.

Broad loved holding Lina's soft body, especially when it was snowing heavily outside. Listening to the sounds brought him a sense of peace.

Unfortunately, that's not possible now; he knows he has to go out to work.

The stability of the manor is not only due to the lord's glory, but also to the workers who maintain it day and night.

As a manor knight, Broad knew he had to lead by example.

He changed into leather armor, then put on a thick robe with a sunflower emblem, picked up the longsword on the wall, and opened the door.

A cold wind blew in, and after Brode rushed out, he quickly shut the door to avoid disturbing Lina inside.

"You know what? You're already twenty minutes late, which is fifteen minutes later than yesterday. Maybe that's a kind of progress."

Knight Mark, who was waiting outside, expressed his dissatisfaction when he saw him come out.

"Sorry, Lina always likes to cling to me when she's asleep, it took me a while to break free."

Broad glanced at the dark sky and said apologetically, "Let's go, it's time to patrol the city walls."

The two came to the city wall and leaned against it, gazing into the distance.

Now that the army cannot go out, their job is to guard the outside of the wall to prevent sudden attacks by unknown threats. That being said, it is pitch black outside at night and the white fog obstructs their view during the day.

Most of the time, I just stand guard against the wall, idly killing time.

"Lord Brod, Lord Mark, this is sunflower tea arranged by the lord to warm you up."

A soldier approached and offered the two men hot drinks.

Thank you.

The two men accepted the gifts. Seeing the respectful attitude of the surrounding soldiers, Mark remained calm, while Broad proudly puffed out his chest.

"Without realizing it, we've become the big shots we once were."

Brod couldn't help but sigh.

He still remembered that at the beginning, he was just an ordinary boy in the small town, who could only look up at the knight's heroic figure from afar.

Everything changed after I secretly accepted the lord's summons without my mother's knowledge.

Three battles to defend the manor, one encounter in the forest, and a fight with the Ice Demon set him on the path of a knight.

The experiences of visiting Blackrock City and Riverlands allowed Broad to see the outside world and he felt incredibly satisfied with everything he had now. "Aren't you really going to consider Linda? Lina and I have recommended her several times, saying she's a rare and wonderful girl."

Broad brought it up with Mark again.

To be honest, he didn't really want to interfere in his companion's private life, but Lina kept urging him.

He had no choice but to pretend to be happy with his girlfriend in daily life while tentatively recommending it to Mark, hoping to pique his interest.

Unfortunately, Mark's answer was always the same.

"I'm busy, my schedule is already full of training. Besides, don't you think you haven't been to the training ground enough lately?"

"I didn't want to either, but I can't just leave Lina alone. Don't worry, I'll make it up to her later!"

"Browder said confidently."

Mark shook his head inwardly after hearing this, knowing that his companion was complacent and had lost the motivation to move forward.

Everyone has the right to choose, and Mark is not prepared to interfere.

However, the two of them have been finding it increasingly difficult to connect on conversation lately, and this gap has been gradually widening unintentionally.

"What is that?"

Mark focused his attention on the icy storm outside the wall, and suddenly his body tensed.

As dawn broke and the first rays of sunlight shone down, the storm revealed itself in a fleeting moment of clarity.

Mark captured countless moving figures.

He was quite certain that it was not a trace of ice and snow, nor was it his own hallucination.

Monsters are active in the Ice Storm!

"Alert! Something's up!"

Mark shouted urgently, immediately blowing the horn to notify all the soldiers on the wall.

The tense atmosphere spread rapidly.

One minute later, Lind received a notification and rushed to the city wall with the Frostfire Dragon Constance.

Before long, all the army knights had arrived.

William and Hedda arrived, followed by Wayne and Kayla.

Frostfang wolves waited below the city wall, while Bearmane Iron Guards, fully armed, joined longbowmen in defending the wall.

They gazed at the white curtain in the distance, and although they could not see anything, they dared not let their guard down.

Fortunately, so far everything is normal.

There were no signs of any monster attacks during the ice storm.

"Who sounded the horn?"

Linde asked, turning his gaze away from the wall.

The ice storm was filled with powerful magic, forming a natural barrier that made it difficult for him to detect anything from the outside, even with his all-seeing eyes.

"My lord, it was me. At dawn, I saw countless monstrous figures outside. Although it was only for a moment, I was absolutely certain."

Mark stepped forward, speaking with certainty.

"Besides you, did anyone else discover it?"

Linde's gaze swept over the other patrolling soldiers.

However, everyone shook their heads.

After hesitating for a moment, Broad shook his head helplessly. Although he wanted to help his comrade prove his innocence, military discipline made him abandon this foolish idea.

"If it was at dawn, I think he wasn't mistaken."

It was Huai En who spoke.

Linde understood. The knight Mark in front of him had recently entered the 1v9 stage and, with his permission, had been taught the Sun Crown Breathing Technique by Wayne.

Breaking through to the extraordinary level is still a long way off, but it's not impossible to discover something in an instant by using the power of breathing techniques.

"A monster in an ice storm, is it? Then let me see if it's a human or a ghost!"

Linde told everyone to step back.

Even Constance sensed the danger and stopped leaning on his shoulder.

Maintain a safe distance from the surrounding area.

Lind opened his arms, making a gesture of holding something high.

Between his palms lies the core of the solar lighthouse shining high in the sky.

Sun posture!

The sun's magic coalesced, instantly creating a crimson halo.

The raging fire of the sun condensed and compressed, transforming into five solar spears poised to fire behind Linde.

boom!

The spears tore through the ice and snow, striking the distant white curtain.

The spreading heatwave whipped up white vapor, which transformed into a rising white mushroom cloud.

In that instant, the small white curtain was torn open.

Although the ice storm quickly gathered and filled the gaps, it was enough for everyone on the wall to see the situation outside.

In the sky, jellyfish with an icy blue sheen and translucent, swirling bodies swayed gently.

That is the eternally frozen vortex spirit.

The ethereal beings, cursed with frost runes, are the culprits behind the ice storms.

The sky was filled with blue jellyfish, but they were blocked from entering the manor by the barrier of Eternal Spring.

Linde and the others looked down.

Many soldiers gasped in surprise.

What they saw: monsters, monsters everywhere!

It looks very much like a human, with a slender body, ferocious horns, and translucent gray-blue skin.

These monsters had translucent ice blades forming at their fingertips, and a long tail of broken ice resembling a scorpion stinger trailing behind them.

When the people on the city wall looked at them, they also raised their heads.

The crazed and chaotic gaze was chilling.

"Icefield Demons are a branch of the undead Icefield Demons, but unlike Icefield Demons formed from corpses, they are semi-spirit beings formed from ice and snow condensed from broken spirituality."

Constance quickly reminded him as she spoke of the dragon bloodline.

Linde looked closely and found that it was exactly as she had said.

These ice field demons are not material life forms, but rather were sculpted from solidified ice by several frozen vortex spirits gathered together.

The body is merely ice; the core power driving it is the biological spirit that was once swallowed by an ice storm.

Iceborne Goblins are not high-level creatures, averaging only 1v3, which is not as good as normal Iceborne Goblins.

Veterans wearing the gear can win.

Unfortunately, there were simply too many of them; at a glance, there were at least a thousand.

This is only the area Linde can see; who knows how much more is hidden beneath the white curtain in the distance.

"Don't worry too much. Your barrier is quite strong. Not only can the frozen vortex spirits not get in, but these ice field demons are also very afraid of it."

Seeing Lind withdraw from the sun pose, Constance flew back to lie on his shoulder.

She comforted us, saying, "If demons get close to the city wall, their bodies will melt away. As long as we don't go outside, we'll be safe."

Lind shook his head: "I'm afraid that won't work. These monsters are just construction workers."

He pointed to a place a kilometer away where the demons and monsters of the ice field had gathered.

There are more than thirty special demons protecting the area, each over three meters long and with a biological level of Iv8.

At the heart of the great demon, a demon priest held aloft a scepter of frost.

Under its command, the other Icefield Demons helped the Frozen Vortex Spirits build a large-scale rune array, which was beginning to take shape.

Even from a distance of a thousand meters, Linde could still sense the fluctuations of spatial magic.

Unsurprisingly, the rune array is a large-scale passage between the real world and the spirit world.

If we wait for the Icefield Demons to finish building, the ones surrounding the manor won't be these little guys, but real monsters from the Spirit Realm!

The power of the Sun Spear dissipated, and the distance was once again shrouded in a white curtain.

Linde calculated the distance, but unfortunately, the ice storm prevented his ranged attacks from reaching that area.

"Li Lian, have the Bearmane Iron Guards and longbowmen prepare. In one hour, follow me out of the city to defeat the enemy!"

Linde issued the order to open three.

Once he leaves the barrier's range, the ice storm will continue to drain his mana, and he will need the army's protection to get close to the rune array.

The clarion call for three battles has sounded.

The soldiers were fully armed and ready.

Sun Knights are not suited to enter the Ice Storm, as their true damage cannot be fully utilized, so Wayne stayed behind to guard the city walls.

Linde then brought along Frostfire Dragon Constance, Frostwolf Hunter Heda, Icefield Knight Lilian, and Frostfang Wolf Trio, making a total of five Extraordinary Threes.

In addition to them, five mammoths agreed to provide assistance, each carrying four longbowmen on its back.

All thirty Bearmane Iron Guards were mobilized, raising their shields to form a defensive shield wall outside the mammoth.

The three armies are ready to go.

"Everyone, listen to my command! Stay close to your comrades! No matter how the Icefield Demons charge, do not stray even a step from the formation!"

Linde shouted, emphasizing his instructions to the Bearmane Iron Guards.

These soldiers will be positioned on the outermost edge, and once they break away from the battle formation, they will be surrounded and attacked by the demons and monsters of the Ice Plains.

In a white curtain obscuring the view, this is tantamount to death.

"Yes, sir! For the glory of the sunflower!"

The Bearmane Iron Guards responded loudly, their heavy armor reverberating as they struck their breastplates.

Through continuous feeding with bear meat and Huang Ruanxiaoyi, their biological level has reached 1v5.

Although fighting alone is not as good as honing skills as a proper rider.

However, once they don heavy armor and form a battle formation, their actual strength will be even more terrifying than thirty ordinary cavalrymen.

"Very good, follow in my footsteps, let's go!"

The gates of the city wall golem slowly opened, and a cold wind howled in.

Linde, clad in the Bear King Rock Armor and wielding the heavy Bear King Hunting Spear, stood at the forefront.

The heavy plate armor transformed him into a steel plowman, tearing through the ice and snow and stepping into the white curtain.

Mammoths and the surrounding bear-maned iron guards followed closely behind.

Lilian and Heda guarded the left and right sides respectively, while Frostfang Wolf was responsible for the rear.

Roar!

Linde had only taken a few steps out of the city wall when he heard the howling of the Icefield Demons.

"Prepare to engage the enemy!"

The bear king swept his hunting spear forward.

To conserve mana, Lind did not unleash Fire or Wave Hunting Spear.

Even so, the three-meter-long lance roared, and no one could rival it. In an instant, it crushed the five demons within the fan-shaped area in front of it into porcelain shards.

The sound of the shield wall ramming came from behind.

A continuous stream of demons and monsters surged out from the white curtain, their sharp claws slicing through shields with icy blades, producing a piercing creak. The Bearmane Iron Guard remained motionless, thrusting its spear forward to pierce through the enemy.

Archers on the backs of mammoths unleashed a barrage of arrows, slaying any elusive demons they missed.

The first wave of enemies was easily repelled, and the Icefield Demons fled into the white curtain, disappearing without a trace.

Lind didn't relax; he knew there were many more monsters lurking in the distance, and this was just an appetizer.

Compared to demons and ghosts, the more troublesome thing is actually the threat of extreme cold.

It's less than fifty meters from the door, just ten minutes away.

A layer of solid ice formed on the surface of the soldiers' heavy armor, making it difficult to even breathe.

The longbowman's arms were stiff, and the bow and bowstring gradually became unresponsive, on the verge of breaking at any moment.

Linde, disregarding his conspicuousness, gave orders to the ten gray furnace rats who had come with him:

"Let the solar winds rise!"

A warm breeze blew up, and the Ash Stove Rats did their utmost to bring the temperature within their area to a comfortable level.

Linde raised the Bear King Hunting Spear and continued forward toward the direction of the bow-shaped formation he had previously memorized.