The ice sculptures gleamed in the biting wind. The soldiers frozen inside had twisted, agonized faces, as if still telling the story of their pain before being trapped in ice.
Matthias stared at them, and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he suppressed the tremor in his chest. He rubbed his arm, which was still stiff where the white mist had touched him. The skin there showed a faint purple discoloration, and the cold seemed to have seeped deep into his bones.
“Your Highness, the freezing breath from that spiritual stag is incredibly lethal,” Neville said, leaning on his sword.
The wound on his lone arm split open again due to the cold. Blood seeped through the bandages and left bright red spots on the snow. He looked in the direction where the spiritual stag had disappeared, and his eyes were filled with apprehension.
“We should focus on defending our camp and stop provoking the creatures on this island,” he said.
Matthias nodded in silence. The loss of several of his elite soldiers from his earlier rash action served as a bitter lesson.
He turned to the soldiers huddled around the fire. Many still shook with fear.
“Pull yourselves together,” he said, raising his voice to reassure them.
“It’s just a beast with a freezing breath.
Stay on guard, and we’ll get through this. Spread the word-two men on watch at a time, the rest get some rest. At dawn, we explore the heart of the island.”
As night deepened, faint cracking sounds came from beneath the ice, as if something was moving underneath. The soldiers on watch pulled their coats tighter, and their hands holding their weapons were trembling slightly from the cold.
Suddenly, a weak blue light flashed across the distant ice field. More blue lights began appearing in the snow, like countless eyes slowly approaching the camp.
“Something’s coming!” one soldier shouted, raising his torch toward the blue lights.
In the firelight, a pack of snow-white foxes raced across the snowy plain. Their eyes glowed with pale blue light, and they carried ice crystal fragments in their mouths. With every step, the snow beneath them froze into thin sheets of ice.
“It’s snow foxes,” another soldier called out. “Legend has it that snow foxes feed on ice and are extremely aggressive.”
Before he finished speaking, the leading fox leaped forward and hurled the ice crystal fragments from its mouth toward the soldiers.
The fragments gleamed coldly in the air like sharp daggers. One grazed a soldier’s cheek, leaving a bloody gash on his face.
Matthias jolted awake and stormed out of his tent. He drew his sword and shouted, ” Open fire!”
The soldiers quickly grabbed their guns and fired toward the foxes. Gunfire echoed across the snowy plain as bullets struck the ice around the foxes, sending up sprays of ice chips.
But the snow foxes were incredibly fast, dodging bullets with agility and quickly reaching the edge of the camp.
One fox pounced on a soldier, and its sharp claws tore through his coat. When the icy claws touched his skin, the soldier screamed as frostbite formed in blue-purple patches along his arm.
Seeing that, Neville swung his blade with his lone arm. With a flash, he cleaved the fox in half. But more snow foxes swarmed forward, and the camp was instantly thrown into chaos.
Matthias swung his sword, and the sword aura cut down the snow foxes one by one. Still, their numbers only grew. He noticed the foxes never took their eyes off the fire at the center of the camp as if some natural fear held them back.
“Everyone, gather around the fire. Use torches to drive them off,” he shouted.
The soldiers grabbed torches and formed a circle with the fire at the center. When the snow foxes saw the flames, they stopped attacking and prowled outside the perimeter while letting out low growls.
Just then, a tremendous crash echoed from the distant ice cliffs. A massive shard of ice broke loose and hurtled toward the camp.
“Take cover!” Matthias shouted, grabbing a nearby soldier to the ground.
