The snow piled upon the ground of the northern domains. Aria treaded through the cold weather in her thick fur coat and boots that she purchased from one of the city she stopped by on her journey to the north. The northern domains were located on higher elevation with many mountains fencing the plateau. Merchants and travelers had to scale the slope to enter the vast snow-covered surface of the plateau.
Aria, who endured the grueling climb to exit the Lutem Viscounty where she separated from her companions and entered the Ponterim County, was greeted with a vast white landscape and patches of greeneries dotting the canvas.
Over at a distance, a small walled-city was bustling with activities where people were seen moving in and out of the gate. Stone towers were erected along the 4 corners of the city with guards and fire pits dotting along the crown of the walls. The sturdy structure was clearly made to endure the harsh weather of the north.
As Aria approached the city, she saw a large wooden drawbridge connecting the road into the city's gate over a deep trench partially filled with snow. The city itself was built at a higher elevation compared to the surrounding with a trench dug around the city; akin to an island raised above the ocean of snow. Aria speculated that it may be used for protection against invaders and monsters that occasionally showed up in this region, but the hole, although deep, was not unscalable with relatively gentle slopes on each sides. Regardless, Aria proceeded to enter the city of Roantar through the southern gate after waiting in line.
Beyond the wall, the city was bustling with more activities than Aria had anticipated for being a small settlement that historically had been made for warfare. Several work animals were seen pulling carts and carrying sacks of items. All of the work animals had thick fur and stocky builds adapted for the cold climate; some were larger than the carts they were pulling and the majority of them looked oddly similar to an oversized fat horse with shorter legs. Several other animals had similar appearance to a bull that Aria vaguely remembered from her previous life, but they were all hornless.
Weaving through the crowd, Aria tried to locate the adventurer's guild while looking around for something to eat until she spotted a store that was boiling something in a large cauldron. The smell of the content lured Aria into the shop and she asked for a bowl of the stew.
There were a lot of customers, but the delicious bowl arrived in front of Aria who was sharing a table with 3 other customers who seemed to be locals and was devouring their meal heartily while chatting among themselves. They had a heavy accent common amongst those who grew up in the isolated northern region of the empire that it took Aria a while to register the meaning of their conversation. Aria just wanted to eavesdrop upon their conversation, but they started to talk about a new species of monster that they called nose-less mammoth and that made Aria turned towards them.
"Pardon me, I am new here and I overheard about this nose-less mammoth that appeared recently. Can I ask for the details?"
"Oh, alrighty then." A man sitting beside Aria started. "Think's about 2 mons ago that ya knights were patrolin round ta forest up north when they spot 'em large thangs movin in group, grazin round lazily at som' upen parts of tha trees. So course 'em report back ta ere' and som folks got up ta hunt 'em n brin meat n bones back ere'. Ya see, unlike comm' mammoth with ta big n long nosey, tis' one ain't got any of that n we start callin' em' nose-less mammoth."
"Umm... that is interesting. They took down the whole herd of that monster? I guess that may be the reason for the crowds in this city."
"Hahaha! Ya lit' missy gotta mouth kin' ta sword." Another man with fiery beard laughed in amusement, knowing that his home city was never this lively. "But ya'know missy, tha bowl 'o stew's made with tha thing meat. Tha folks took em' all down. Lord Ponterim's pleased with tha new mons n put on large ol gold fer em'."
"Words spread n merch with coins show up tha get em' parts." A large woman sitting opposite to Aria pitched in. "Course, we gotta rich off em' comin ere' n buyin stuff we hunted."
"I see... Thank you for the information. I will probably earn some more coins from hunting these new monsters. By the way, do you know where is the adventurer's guild?"
"Ya r adventurer miss? Hahaha, do ya best. Tha ol' place rite' there missy. Walk straight till ya see ta fur shop n turn left."
"Thank you." Aria quickly finished her bowl of stew that had the meat of the unknown monster. It was rich and warmed her up for the day. She proceeded to follow the given direction and when she arrived at the fur shop, she was stunned by the piles of thick fur being processed. She also saw the monster carcass currently being skinned and she knew that it was a monster foreign to this world: Popo.
"They are docile and will usually run away rather than being confrontational, but they can still pose a problem to regular civilians due to their large size." Aria thought to herself as she walked past the shop and headed to the guild. "However, if those Popos are here, so are their predators. Especially..."
Aria arrived at the guild which was considerably smaller than any other guild she saw during her travel. It was, however, cozy on the inside with a large fire pit dug out from the ground in the middle of the room and surrounded by rocks to prevent any accidental fire hazard to the wooden furniture. Aria approached the receptionist and inquired about the new monster where she was shocked to hear that, depending on the size, one could get between 5 to 20 silver coins for each creature.
"Even the smallest of the bunch can be worth that much. That may be why many adventurers and knights are pursuing that creature." Aria mumbled to herself. "Excuse me, do you have any writing materials for me? I want to make a report to the guild master here."
"Report? Bout' ta new monster? Ya can wait while I got ta master's permission." The staff went through the back door and after a brief moment of waiting, called for Aria to come and meet the guild master in his office located behind the receptionist counters.
"Ya seems ta young ta be knowledgeable bout 'em new creatures. But, I will entertain ya for a while." With an arrogant gout, the guild master beckoned Aria to sit and wrote down what she knew about the monster. Aria, although a little annoyed, was understanding and wrote down about Popo and some other potential predators commonly found around them.
"Popo? Funny names don'cha think." The guild master, a male in his forties, glanced through the report while smoking a cigar made up of dried and crushed up leaves of Tomac, a plant commonly found in the northern region of the empire. "N wat'cha wanna get in return fer these? Also, wat r these other creatures? Them gonna come up when these Popo's round ere'?"
"Potentially. It is better to be cautious and informed everybody to be wary when hunting down Popo and I seek nothing in return other than having precautionary measures being implemented."
"Hah! A cautious youn'in!" The guild master put down his cigar. "Righty. I'll put on tha notice to all huntas, but ya know, more than a month passed n nuthin com up. Bet nuthin gonna happen, but ol gold comin in. Hahaha."
"I hope that is the case as well." Aria left the office and headed north to the forest to hunt down Popo as well.
***
The large expanse of greeneries north of Roantar had been the source of livelihood for the locals. The forest, known as Green Needles, was mainly made up of large trees with needle-like leaves that remained green throughout the harsh winter, providing food and shelters to the animals that called the forest home. Many residents of the isolated Roantar city also made full use of the forest's produce to make a living, albeit barely.
The discovery of Popo nearby suddenly brought riches to the city's stagnant economy and captured the interest of the many local lords who, in particular, fancy the tongue. Aria decided to hunt a few Popo in order to fund her journey throughout the northern region and hopefully, to shake off her stalkers. She entered the forest after passing a wooden cabin covered in layers of moss which Aria deduced was the checkpoint for the local scouts and knights patrolling around the forest.
The trees were arranged sporadically, but they were evenly spaced among each other with several bushes thriving along the periphery of each trees. The vast spaces in between the trees allowed Aria to easily weaved through the vegetation; unlike the time when Aria had to navigate through the Cloudy Jungle where the nature itself was coiling the terrain, the Green Needles' upward slope was relatively even with occasional rocks protruding out from the ground.
Eventually, Aria arrived at a clearing within the forest where the platform was leveled with a large frozen lake basking in the middle. Several people were seen fishing via the holes they dug out of the ice. Walking along the edge, Aria moved further north beyond the clearing and entered into the vegetation where the terrain began to slope up again. The evergreen trees were bigger and taller compared to those found at the entrance, casting shadow upon the snowy undergrowth. Rocks began to appear more often with several being large enough to harbor caves for animals to hide.
Aria watched several people, possibly adventurers and knights, wandering about the forest trying to find any tracks of the Popo. Aria climbed the largest tree nearby to get a vantage point and spotted some swaying greens at a distance away. She proceeded to the marked location and chanced upon a flat plain where a small group of Popo were knocking down smaller trees to feast upon their leaves. Aria hid behind the trees and rocks as she slowly made her way closer to her prey, cautious of the chilly updrift wind from the south that pooled into the plateau that the herd of Popo was wandering about.
As soon as she was close enough, Aria unsheathed her blades and charged at the smallest of the herd who had strayed too far. This alerted the entire Popos and they began to ran away, knocking down several small trees and shrubs. Aria managed to reach her target and with a swift motion, slashes its hindlegs, causing it to flinch. Without missing a beat, Aria rolled towards the Popo's head and did a double downward slash upon its head. The impact send the juvenile Popo down and as it tried to recover, Aria sliced up its neck in 1 quick motion, sending it to the afterlife.
"That was easy." Aria mumbled to herself as she began to breakdown the carcass. Several adventurers and knights turned up afterwards, possibly after hearing the commotion, and began their pursuit of the fleeing herd, ignoring Aria who had taken down a beast 4 times her size. The wind slowly picked up as Aria struggled to process the carcass due to the biting cold numbing her hands. "Fire. Vibrate the air. Warming atmosphere... Phew, I underestimate the cold. Perhaps, a hot drink is warranted whenever I enter such a cold environment."
After about an hour, Aria managed to fully broke down the Popo. She piled up some of the frozen meat, including the prized tongue, onto the unraveled skin and wrapped them up within. Unfortunately, she was unable to carry the entire meat and had to leave behind a large portion; the leftovers might be picked up by those lucky enough to chance upon them or be consumed by nature.
Aria wanted to head back to the city as soon as possible, but the wind had almost turned the surrounding into a snow storm as the sky slowly darkened. Left with no choice, Aria decided to looked around for some caves to hide and rest for the night. It was at this moment when Aria heard the rumbling sound of the earth mixed with screams coming from the eastern side of the forest where the Popo herd had apparently escaped to. Feeling the unease, Aria readied her blades as the trees began to be seemingly hurled into the sky by an unknown force. The ground trembled as it got closer and a loud bellow reverberated as the creature emerged out of the vegetation with several people frantically running away from it.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me." Aria smiled with cold sweat dripping as she got the full view of the gigantic monster. The fleeing crowd spread out, trying to avoid the creature's charge. "Well, I supposed you thrive in this sort of environment as well. Unfortunately, I do not have the weapon effective against you."
The storm grew furiously as the brute hurled a gigantic tree that it carried with its massive pinkish horn towards the fleeing crowd; the unlucky people were easily crushed and died on the spot while the lucky few disappeared into the environment to hide. It has a thick whitish fur that covered the entirety of its body except for its face, tiny arms and massive legs that had to support a lot of weight. The parts that were exposed was dotted with dark-brownish scales that resembled the surrounding bark of the trees.
"Banbaro. Ferocious Bull Wyvern." The brute wyvern bellowed as the storm rose into its zenith, obscuring the surrounding into mere silhouette.
Aria decided to ran away towards the south, but the storm proved to be a match as she struggled to navigate through the blowing air. Banboro charged around, picking up heavy rocks and logs with its 2 horns before throwing them at random directions. Unluckily, some were heading towards Aria as she barely dodged the incoming projectiles; several people who were also running in the same direction however, were crushed. The terrified screams were muffled by the screeching storm.
With immense struggles, Aria reached a giant rock within the sea of trees and hid behind. Several people were also hiding with her while others opted for the tree trunks or had chosen to continue running south.
Taking a few long breaths to calm down, Aria began to assess the situation and saw some familiar faces hiding beside with her; she pretended not to recognize them, but she was sure that they were the knights sent by her step-mother to monitor her. The stalkers themselves were perplexed at the sudden turn of event, but decided to make their task easier by eliminating their target as they drew their daggers and lunged at Aria. With incredible reflexes, Aria dodged and parried the incoming attacks with her own daggers.
"Seriously!? In this sort of situation!?"
"Shut up! If you die here, then our job will be over and we all can go home! To hell with this frozen wasteland!" The stalker knight who had his dagger parried by Aria exclaimed with anger as he continued to put pressure upon his target. "Why do you have to go to this place!? Even when the winter at Sultier Earldom had passed, you brought us back into another frozen hell!"
As they continued the scuffle, they did not notice the shadow of a giant looming over them; Banbaro slammed its horn to the ground, causing a massive pile of snow to splatter out as the ground trembled at its power. Aria and the knights were caught in the middle as they lost their balance and fell onto their knees. Banbaro lifted its horns that it planted into the ground and rooted out the rocks that Aria and the knights used as a hiding spot; holding onto it on its horns before slamming it onto the humans in front. Fortunately, they all managed to escape death by rolling away from the impact zone.
"I am not dying here!" The 4 knights began to flee south, but a sudden gust of wind threw them into the air before a large figure ambushed them from the shadow. 3 of the knights survived the attacks including the fall due to the thick snow acting as cushion, but 1 of the knight fell victim to the claws of the creature. "What in god's name!?"
Aria saw the silhouette of the new monster and trembled as she readied her Kadachi's Claws while dropping down her harvested Popo meat and pelt to increase her mobility. "Having 2 tough monsters in 1 area is truly unfair."
The newly arrived monster swiped the corpse of the fallen knight and menacingly stepped forward amidst the violent storm. It camouflaged well with the snow, for its entire body was coloured white, saved for its blood-orange fangs that were protruding out of its upper jaw that its lower jaw was unable to contain. The quadrupedal creature was covered in hard shells with the rest of its exposed abdomen covered in scales. Its forelimbs were long with one of its digit curving back to form a long structure that housed its gigantic wing. The creature's tail was as long as its body with 2 horn-like fangs occupying the tip. Several spikes dotted around its body, including the wings' skeleton and the tail. Its blue eyes glistened with viciousness, staring at Aria, the knights who had recovered and Banbaro.
"Barioth. Ice tusk wyvern." Aria smiled bitterly as she muttered.
Barioth took a deep breath and unleashed a devastating whirlpool of icy wind heading towards Banbaro. Without any hesitation, the latter charged ahead to tackle the former, but Barioth leapt up into the tornado, spinning around within it before lunging towards Banbaro's back. The monsters were apparently fighting each other, thinking of eliminating the bigger menace before picking off the puny humans.
Aria and the remaining survivors took this chance to escape, but the stormy weather made it difficult. The fight between the monsters hurled snow, debris and icy wind across the entire area as trees were knocked down and rocks were smashed.
In the midst of escaping, Barioth launched a powerful wind current that smashed right in the middle of the group, lifting Aria into the air as she struggled to regain control and composure. The other 3 knights were lucky enough to have only been thrown off several meters away from the impact zone and they watched as Aria was flung up and carried off by the storm into the mountainous north, away from their line of sight. They continued to run south for their lives, ignoring their mission to keep an eye on Aria. "There is no way she is surviving that..."
***
Aria woke up with a jolt, remembering that she had just been hurled into the air and lost consciousness as she fell back down to the ground. She sat up and discovered that she was in a cave, shielded from the raging storm outside.
"Finally awake?"
Aria turned on her right side to the source of the voice and saw 2 individuals sitting around a campfire that was in between her and them. With the warmth from the fire revitalising her body, she began checking if she had sustained any injuries; she was relieved and surprised that there was not much. She looked back at the 2 individuals, but before she could say anything, the other party started first.
"Do not worry, your injuries had been healed up to the point where your life is no longer in danger. I will say, you are rather lucky." The blonde stranger approached Aria and gave her a piece of meat jerky. "Eat up, recover your strength, and once the storm faded, we can go back out."
Aria accepted and ate the meat. Upon closer look, the individual appeared to be a girl, but had a short spiky hair that was tied behind into a short pony tail. Her blue eyes glistened against the flickering light of the fire as she stared kindly at Aria. "You can relax and remove your helmet; your silver hair is too beautiful to be concealed."
"Please stop with your flirting." The other individual was also a girl who had a long crimson hair and a sharp look don upon her equally red eyes. "We should think of a way to get ourselves out of this situation in the case that this storm lasted for days. We do not have enough supply to sustain us for that much time."
"Hahaha, jealous are we?"
"Not one bit!"
"Hahaha, I am just joking. You are much too serious." The blonde girl faced Aria once again. "My name is Marion Els Savion and she is Scarlet Fragos."
"I don't remember giving you permission to reveal my name." Scarlet glared at Marion before sighing. "Whatever, what about you?"
"I am Aria. Thank you for saving me and if I may be permitted, how did you find me and what happen?"
"From the way you speak, you must have come from a noble family and based on your hair colour... I would stand to be corrected that you are related to Earl Sultier?" Marion got her confirmation when Aria widen her eyes. "I also hail from nobility. Marquis Savion is my father, and due to circumstance, I became an adventurer."
"You ran away from home."
"Ahaha, an eye for an eye eh, Scarlet." Marion gave out a wry smile. "So, going back to your question. We were looking for a shelter from the sudden onslaught of chilly wind and found this cave. The storm grew and as we reached the entrance of this cave, you fell from the sky and lodged yourself deep into the thick snow; that was lucky of you since you could have crashed into the rock and you would not have gotten away with just a few broken bones."
"I guess the armour and the thick coat cushioned my fall... Wait, broken bones? You use healing magic on me?"
"I use my healing potion on you. None of us can use healing magic you see."
"Potion...?...!"
"I made you drink it. Mouth to mouth" Marion grinned mischievously while Aria blushed a little. "So then, what about you? What kind of circumstance that made you fell from the sky? Are you a messenger of God?"
"In summary, a monster shot out a powerful blast of air that sent me hurling into the sky; coupled with the massive storm, I flew uncontrollably here."
"Monster that can shoot a blast of air? I think only dragons from the myth or legend can do that."
"It is a new monster. At least new to this area."
"Well, either way, you are lucky and I am happy for that. Losing a pretty girl like you would be a shame for the world." Marion patted Aria's head. "Anyway, this cave seems massive. I cannot see the end of it. Should we explore? Perhaps we can find some animals or water source."
"Let Aria rest for a while. It has not been long since she wakes up and now you want to drag her along your adventure."
"Ahaha, strict as always."
"I am total fine now. I just casted a healing magic on myself and that jerky recovered my strength." Aria stood up and stretched her body.
"You can use holy magic? Well, that is marvelous." Marion was impressed. "In that case, we will be relying on you in case of emergency."
"I will also be going no matter what, huh." Scarlet was grumbling to herself, but moved along Marion's whim. "Fire. Burn ablaze. Torch."
The steps of the 3 girls echoes throughout the hollow cave. The violent bellow of the storm outside had became distant and after a few minutes of walking, they stumbled upon a large opening with a body of water pooled against one side of the cave wall. Small stream of water slowly flowed out of the cave wall and dripped into the pool. Aria felt some wind blowing against her, indicating that there was another entrance to the cave.
"Shh. Get down. I sense something approaching from the other side of the cave. Let's hide behind that rock and snuffed out your flame, Scarlet." Marion led the others to hide and after a while, 2 men holding a torch each entered the gigantic room from the opposite end. They looked rugged and had poor quality equipment.
"Ta hell wi'thi storm. We ain't gonna hav'ta chance ta hunt down adventurers ta loot." A bearded man scooped out some water with a wooden bowl from the enormous pool of water while complaining before hydrating himself. "Puhah! Sum knights woul'va been good as well."
"I'm wit'ya man." His companion held the torches while staying close to the entrance from which they entered.
"Bandits..." Scarlet whispered with anger as she watched the men. Aria noticed her emotion, but was distracted with something else.
"Ere'. Ya turn. Hmm?" The bearded man stopped on his track as he felt something dropped on his face. His hand touched the substance and found it slimy. "Ta hell's this!"
"Wut? Sum poop drop ta ya face?"
"Nah. Slime." The bearded bandit looked up as he took the torch from his companion; waving the fire above in hopes to illuminate the source. He immediately went pale as a large white worm-like creature with no eyes loomed directly above him. "Aaaahh!!!!"
The pale creature open its concealed mouth through a slit, revealing its blood red gum and razor sharp teeth. The creature stretched its neck, opened its mouth and swallowed the bearded man's upper torso. With it gripping upon its squirming prey, the monster lifted the man up and began to swallow him alive; his blood dripped from the open wounds, squeezed out as he was slowly crushed by the powerful constricting force of the creature's gullet.
The other bandit fell on his back as he watched in horror, trembling with fear, unable to properly move as he constantly keep an eye on the monster. The muffled scream from the man had stopped as he had been completely swallowed and the creature dropped down from the ceiling, facing the other man. He watched as the creature emerged from the dark; its skin was entirely pale white with its forelimbs forming small wings. Its flabby hindlegs supported the entire weight of its equally flabby body and head. The tail was short and stubby, but its head was an elongated tube without any other sensory organ except for a mouth.
"What in God's name is that?" Marion watched the scene with terrified eyes.
"We need to leave." Aria grabbed on Marion's and Scarlet's shoulders. Pulling them back slowly, she urged them to retreat.
The terrified man finally got up and in a panic, ran back into the tunnel without his torch. The creature stuck its tail on the floor akin to a suction tube and a surge of electricity piled up from its body to its mouth as it discharged a ball of electric current. The glowing electric discharged travelled into the dark tunnel and hit its target who screamed in agony before it stopped with a sound of something dropping. The creature stepped forward and stretched its neck into the tunnel, grabbing the paralysed man who jolted uncontrollably with a terrified gaze, begging for mercy. However, the creature just swallowed the man whole, crushing his body as he entered its stomach. The deafening silence once again dominated the cave.
The 3 girls slowly stepped back as Aria conjured up a torch with her magic, much to the protest of the other 2.
"What are you doing!?" Scarlet admonished Aria with an intense whisper.
"It is blind, and it just have 2 heavy meals. We are far enough from it that it is not worth to chase after us." Aria reassured them as she walked back into the tunnel where, after a certain distance, the 3 girls began to run back to their camp.
Once they reached their destination, they slumped down and caught their breath, trying to calm themselves from the gory scene they witnessed. Aria was the one who recovered first as she re-ignited the fire with the spare dried twigs that Marion and Scarlet had collected prior.
"What is that thing!?" Marion recovered next as she tried to get an answer. "Did you see how that thing swallowed those bandits?! That was a gruesome way to go!"
"They are bandits and they deserved to be killed but, that is indeed disturbing." Scarlet leaned against the cave wall as she sat. "Aria, how did you know it is blind and that we were far enough that it will not give chase? It can shoot that lightning magic you know."
"It has no eyes and its modus operandi is to ambush its prey in the dark."
"Modus operandi?" Scarlet was confused with a term she had never heard.
"Ah, I mean, mode of operation. It lurks inside dark cavernous area where light can barely reach and thus, had no needs for eyes to hunt. Instead, it uses its other senses especially smell to locate and hunt its prey."
"Since you know so much about it, you must know what its is called as well." Marion followed suit and sat down.
"It is called Khezu." Aria was the last to sit down. "It is weak to fire and is prone to be poisoned."
"In that case, I should have unleashed my fire magic on that thing." Scarlet said with confident. "Afterall, I am a level 4 in fire magic."
"It is not that simple. It most likely will not die from a single attack. You will only make it angry and chase after us. It has an advantage in enclosed space and it can scale the wall where our attack can hardly reach. Fighting it in the dark where we can hardly see anything is suicide. Furthermore, we are not in our best condition after fighting against the storm."
The others remained silent and stared into the flickering fire that kept them warm. Marion finally broke the silence with a clap. "Alright then, we should count our blessing and conserve our energy. It is getting late and so, we will sleep in rotation where 1 will tend to the fire and keep an eye for that Khezu. I volunteer to be the first on look out, followed by Scarlet and finally Aria. Is that agreeable to all of you?"
The others nodded and proceeded to lay down in order to sleep. Aria went out in a few minutes, but Scarlet had trouble sleeping as she tossed around uncomfortably. In the end, she hardly get any sleep before her shift.