Chapter 277 The White Walkers [Part 1]
Upon hearing what he said, Raven tried her best to get up. It was harder than she had expected it to be; she had been crouching for a while, so her joints freaking ached as she tried to stand up.
But it was not enough to make her worried. She dismissed the pain with no expression on her face and observed her surroundings warily.
Even though what Northern had stated was pretty vague before her eyes and—to an extent—incredible senses, she investigated with keen attention to all details.
Northern, however, was less investigative; he just stood there, hands clawed as if they were getting ready to carve out one's heart.
"Northern... are you su—"
"Shhh," Northern placed a finger on his lips to shut her up quickly.
Raven had her doubts; she wasn't, after all, one that relied on others for anything.
She loved to make her own plans and deduce her own facts. Because it can be pretty uncomfortable and disappointing to rely on people.
But this right now was a helpless situation.
It pained her to admit it, but she had no choice, really.
Northern could see clearly, even though he couldn't see the creatures' forms directly; he could see their chaos constructs.
Right now, they were all inside the cold water, floating at the very edge of the ice surface Northern and Raven were on.
The striking thing about them was that their Chaos constructs rhymed so well with that of the water bodies, such that Northern would have not noticed they were there.
[Sense] was what had picked up their presence at first.
'They are probably monsters that can adapt quite well with the water,' Northern deduced.
He supposed that the water gave them some sort of invisibility, extreme cold resistance too.
He wouldn't be surprised to find out the existence of more abilities related to this climate.
Because their Chaos constructs were almost perfectly the same, except for some little ligatures here and there.
And those were what sustained the differences between the essence of a monster and that of water.
No matter how similar their compositions were, in the end, water is water, and a monster is a monster; neither is any of each other.
Those ligatures were there to uphold that fundamental fact.
Of course, Northern had a wild idea that if he probably messed with the Chaos construct of the monster, he could tweak even those fundamental principles.
But he didn't think that wasn't going to come without some heavy backlash.
As much as the thought of that experiment was interesting, he had to quickly shove it to the back of his mind.
There were more pressing matters to attend to.
Northern stared with his eyes full of skepticism.
Raven stayed next to him, silent and trying her best to, for once, trust him.
Although her eyes were desperately darting around, hoping she'd see whatever it was he was seeing.
Suddenly, the water bodies began to rise; at that moment, Raven's eyes narrowed to a slit, shimmering with deadly precision.
She watched as some figures revealed themselves from the rising waters. Northern stood a step ahead of her, his hand at the ready to summon any of his swords.
These figures, they were strange; they had whitish skin, with muscular contours rippling beneath their skins like chiseled stone, each line and sinew seemed like they were etched by a divine sculptor's hand.
Their visage was fierce, almost bestial, with sharp, angular features and piercing eyes that seemed to bore into one's soul.
Atop their heads, great twisted horns spiraled upwards like the majestic crown of some ancient force of nature.
All of them were donned in different and, at the same time, somewhat similar kinds of garments, covering the lower half of their bodies and leaving the upper half naked.
Showcasing their broad chests and ripped arms, the depth of their eyes was pitch black, carrying a heavy hint of ultra-awareness.
Amongst them, there was a particular one that was quite distinct in the way it was dressed, even though only its lower half was covered.
Compared to others that seemed to dress in just rugged materials, its was a perfect blend between rugged and regal.
Draping a tattered blue tunic across its broad shoulders. Moreover, its horns were longer than the others, its eyes carried a ferocious depth of fear.
Despite its fearsome appearance, there was a nobility to its bearing, a sense of unwavering purpose and resolve.
Northern cautiously stood against these creatures, his eyes hovering keenly on every single one of them.
He had played out several scenarios where he would kill them all and still be able to protect Raven.
But the truth was that all those simulations had either come to a walling halt or he ended up losing her.
His calculations, after all, were usually limited to how much he knew about his opponents and allies.
His eyes did the best to just find the weak points for him, and sometimes it wasn't as easy as it sounds—he had to be drenched in battle, stuck in the thin line between consciousness and unconsciousness for that to happen over and over again.
The atmosphere was silent, everything took a breathtaking pause... a serene calm before the storm.
Northern slowly and silently shifted one leg to the front.
Then black sparks bathed his hand, leaving a ghastly blade in it.
Northern observed the visitors with a strange look in his eyes.
They also stared back; they were equipped with several weapons, mostly variants of axes—made from pristine bones.
But they seemed as cautious as Northern and Raven were.
Then Northern thought of something.
Slowly, he lowered his sword.
The creatures were a little bit startled, but they continued to observe Northern with a strange and unsure look in their eyes.
Northern went low enough after dropping the sword, then he raised both hands and said... in the monster tongue,
"I mean no harm."
Raven swung her head to him with a confused frown falling upon her face like a dark storm.
"Uh? Outsider. Speak. Me. Understand. Outsider. Speak. My. Tongue?" The leader of these creatures threw his head back in stunning shock.
Northern glanced at Raven.
Of course, he had prepared himself for her shock and questions the moment he decided to go this route.
But it was better than carelessly diving into viciously strong monsters.
Another reason why he was this thoughtful was this:
[Monster Profile]
Name: [White Walker]
True Name: [Krullgath]
Rank: [Hellion]
Danger Level: [Catastrophe]
Attributes: [Snow-bound], [Snow-born], [Child of Ice]
Abilities: [Winter's Wake], [Tundra's Grasp]
Their leader was a Named Monster, probably as strong as Night Terror—considering that Night Terror wasn't named— it's probably even stronger.
And the others?
They were all Hellion ranks and the Calamity danger levels.
Right now, they were surrounded by monstrosities that would not be easy to fight off.
Northern had to use his head.